Hubbard Street Dance Chicago at the Power Center

Under the auspices of the UMS (University Musical Society), the Hubbard Street Dance Chicago dance troupe returned to Ann Arbor to perform on  Thursday, April 22, through Saturday, April 24.  Each night the program would vary slightly to showcases their diverse repertoire.

I attended tonight's performance with a former co-worker who has been an angel during times when I've really needed one.  Her behavior is dictated by what she knows to be righteous, not what is politically or socially beneficial to her.  It is a rare display of gentility and graciousness that is seemingly outdated.  For me, she exemplifies humanity in the most forthright, unprissy manner.  How lucky I have been to know her.  It has been at least two years since we've done anything together in a social setting so tonight was a treat for me in many ways.

Walking Mad

The performance was all it was touted to be.

Extraordinary.  Innovative.  Mesmerizing.

On their next visit to Ann Arbor,
I hope to see them again.
http://www.ums.org/assets/pdf/PressRelease/Hubbard_Street_Dance.pdf

Joanne Leonard, Photographer/Collage Artist

Tonight I attended a presentation by Joanne Leonard about the work encompassed in her book, Being in Pictures: An Intimate Photo Memoir.  Ms. Leonard is a renowned photographer who recently retired from her professorial position in the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan.  She entered the field of photography in the 60's when it was still a male-dominated field.  Within the book are stunningly personal photographs including one of a former husband shaving and others of people sleeping.  Particularly artful is Sonia, 1966, a photograph of her very pregnant sister-in-law that is still highly praised for Ms. Leonard's use of light.

http://art-design.umich.edu/people/detail/joanne_leonard

Tradition Transformed

Also today at UMMA I viewed the Tradition Transformed exhibit featuring the work of Chinese master painter, Chang Nu-kien, a member of Taiwan's fabled Seven Friends Painting Society.  The exhibit showcased his transition from his early very formal traditional Chinese painting to a much more personal and expressive technique.  The exhibit had been running since January 23 and was scheduled to close tomorrow.   Even for the untrained eye, his evolving style was evident.  His landscape scenes in Taiwan contrasted nicely with his North American landscapes to provide perspective.  I was especially struck by a simple sketch he did on a sheet of styrofoam which may have served as a cooler lid at some point.  I wish I could remember what the piece was entitled - it was something like True Food and pictured a carrot and other vegetables - a pleasing piece of whimsy.

Taiwan Cross-Island Highway

Valley Curtain - collage, 1971

The first Christo and Jean-Claude work collected by Herb and Dorothy Vogel was a collage entitled Valley Curtain, a preliminary piece for their environmental installation in Rifle, Colorado, 1970-1972, by the same name.  The addition of the collage to the Vogel collection led to a friendship spanning almost 40 years.

 

                               collage                               installation

There was a missed opportunity earlier this year to see a Christo/Jean-Claude exhibit in Detroit which may have been especially meaningful since Jean-Claude unexpectedly and suddenly passed away last November - a lesson for me about hesitation. 

"You Can't Spell Heart Without Art"

Today I met a friend at UMMA to see the Economy of Means exhibit.  The exhibit is less about the artwork displayed and more about the married couple, a postal worker and a librarian, who managed to build a world-class art collection.  The documentary film, Herb and Dorothy, chronicles their story.

Herbert and Dorothy Vogel
 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/18/AR2008061802720.html

The Nature of Diamonds - The Milky Way

My Favorite, Truly A Work of Art

I saw a picture of  The Milky Way necklace designed by Toronto artist, Dieter Huebner, before I went to the exhibit and had marveled at its sheer beauty and extraordinary sculptural design.  However, this turned out to be another case of having an unexpectedly magnified impression when seeing something in person. I had imagined myself attempting to pull off wearing something like this at an elegant fundraising event perhaps, but when I saw it, I knew the whole scenario would have to be reconsidered because for one thing, I had the scale all wrong - the dimensions were so much more sumptuous than what I had visualized in my head!

The exhibit portrayed this piece as capturing the look of billowing fabric - a very apt description indeed!  It contains exactly 2000 diamonds on a platinum grid and won the award at the De Beers Diamonds International Awards 2000 Exhibition in Paris for creative commemoration of the new millennium.

Huebner noted the design is a nod to nature and to the stars.

Yum~!

The Nature of Diamonds - The Incomparable

Even though the Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice exhibit was very interesting, The Nature of Diamonds exhibit is the reason I went to Chicago yesterday.  This exhibit will close at the Field Museum on Sunday.  It was fabulous!  The first part was a meticulous and extensive scientific examination of how diamonds are formed, their physical properties such as light dispersion (of which, surprisingly enough, are exceeded by CZs~!) and thermal conductivity, why they are concentrated in certain areas of the world, etc - quite thorough and informative but not really the part I wanted to see.

The second part was an awesome display of jewelry and unmounted stones.  It was SO worth my long, long day!

The exhibit included The Incomparable, graded by the GIA in 1988 as a 407.48 carat internally flawless diamond categorized as having a fancy brownish-yellow color.

The Incomparable, initially named The Golden Giant,
was exhibited with some of its 14 "satellite" stones - all gorgeous.

Here's a picture of it with its special stand:

Mammoths and Mastodons - Lyuba - 37,000 year old baby

The Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age exhibit opened at the Field Museum in Chicago on March 5 and will run through September 6, 2010.  Undeniably, the wholly intact baby woolly mammoth was the star of the exhibit.  She was only approximately one month old when she suffocated from mud inhalation and had remained in permafrost until she was discovered only three years ago in Siberia.  Lyuba, named after the wife of the reindeer herder who discovered her, is so perfectly preserved that scientists were able to find mother's milk in her stomach and collect DNA.

 Lyuba, the baby woolly mammoth

For more information, please visit:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/5262616/Secrets-of-37000-year-old-baby-mammoth-revealed.html
or
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/mammoths/exhibitionhighlights.asp

Life Coming to Life . . . Finally!

It is 12:31 p.m. on Saturday, March 6, 2010, and precisely 43.3 degrees with abundant sunshine.

	43.3 °F Clear

http://www.wunderground.com/ 

I was scheduled to work today but since I don't work Saturdays anymore, I'm FREE. Free to walk around in the sunshine today and shed my heaviest winter coat. Free to have a leisurely browse at the bookstore after breakfast. Free to stroll down to the art center to see what workshops are still open.  Free to meet a new friend to lunch with at Dalat and to visit a new exhibit at the Riverside Arts Center in Ypsilanti.

Free!   Free!   Free!

Now that I am FREEr than I have been in a long time, I feel obliged not to take this for granted. When I'm able to attend ignite3 on a Thursday evening, I really must relish it and remember that not so long ago, I did NOT have the FREEdom.

Another one of my long-winded points:  I know it's hard to be grateful and upbeat every moment, but really, sometimes to keep things in perspective, we have to imagine what our lives would be like without what seems to be the smallest things.  Would I have ever thought about knees in the same way if after three years I wasn't still struggling with the aftermath of shattering my right one?   Hmmm.

good 'shop/BAD 'Shop (see 05.06.2010)

This is "Bad 'Shop" before and after . . .

Gorgeous Dignified Harvey

Punker Harvey

I'm having a little too much fun learning Photoshop.  Obviously!