This is a very long article by Jon Gertner from the Sunday Times, but it is full of fascinating insights and worth the read if you have the time. I’ve included the first section but to continue reading, go to the Times site link at the bottom. Two days after Barack Obama was sworn in […]
Month: April 2009
Steve Reich Wins the Pulitzer Prize
This is such good news—composer Steve Reich won the Pulitzer Prize for his Double Sextet. Reich’s music has played such a significant role in my life. Back in 1976 I was living in Manhattan and I heard my first live performance of his legendary Music for 18 Musicians that year. It was unlike anything I […]
In Love with the One to Whom Every That Belongs
Open Window, Collioure, by Matisse What Was Told, That What was said to the rose that made it open was said to me here in my chest. What was told the cypress that made it strong and straight, what was whispered the jasmine so it is what it is, whatever made sugarcane sweet, whatever was […]
More on Ann Hamilton
Continuing from yesterday’s posting about the Guggenheim show, The Third Mind, here is Ann Hamilton discussing her installation, “human carriage” from an article by Scarlet Cheng in the Los Angeles Times: “You become aware of something through the culture and atmosphere you inhabit,” says Hamilton, who’s based in Ohio. “It’s an influence everywhere and nowhere […]
Misreadings, Mediations, Denials and Imaginary Projections
Ann Hamilton, human carriage What an extraordinary day spent in Manhattan at the Guggenheim and the Met. I’ll parse the joy one show at a time. “The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia: 1860-1989” is curator Alexandra Munroe’s brave revision of the influences that affected the complexity and richness of the American art tradition. Raised […]
Inwardness, Seamus Style
Seamus Heaney. He’s a legend, at home and abroad. The first time I traveled through Ireland 10 years ago, I was incredulous to find his books for sale at the grocery check out counter and at the petrol station. While we get People magazine shoved in our faces, the Irish get volumes of Heaney. But […]
The Ones Who Knew So Little
Seasonal Much melting, and crows close to home. Snow giving its fingerprints this March morning. If I could, I would take your arm in the manner of our European forebears, linked elbows, fist pressed close to the heart, singing songs to the springtime, singing old songs. It would be this much to give the world, […]
Pulitzer’s Ideal (Dis-)Placements
Sometimes a shout out is needed. Here’s a link to a show at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts website that came to my attention by way of Tyler Green’s excellent blog, Modern Art Notes: Ideal (Dis-)Placements Here’s what Green wrote: Small, independent museums can do things big museums can’t (or don’t). They can take […]
Preferring the Hidden
The White Room The obvious is difficult To prove. Many prefer The hidden. I did, too. I listened to the trees. They had a secret Which they were about to Make known to me– And then didn’t. Summer came. Each tree On my street had its own Scheherazade. My nights Were a part of their […]
Thwarted by Awe
My posting about poetry from a few days ago (see April 1 below) drew some thoughtful and insightful responses. Here’s one from my dear friend and gifted poet Nicole that deserves highlighting up front. There are two thoughts I have regarding your posting on poetry today. As an instructor at a historically black college, I […]