…and the good times just keep on rolling!

This is certainly one trip I will never forget. It has given me so much culturally, creatively, intellectually and socially. My days and nights are full of exciting events, great food, intense conversations and hard work. Here are just a few of the recent highlights. The Elles exhibition at the Centre Pompidou is mind blowing. A wonderfully curated exhibition from the Pompidou center’s collection following the path of modern and contemporary women artists, and very relevant to the work I am doing here in Paris on female sexuality. Many of the works were very risque and explicit and it was quite incongruous to see a group of nuns there. Followed them around a bit to get some shots.

Waiting in line at the Pompidou center it finally dawned on me what THE French accessory is. Scarves. Big, huge, wrap-around-your-head scarves, like the gorgeous young woman below. The bigger the better. And of course you must wear it as though you are not almost choking to death in its tentacles!                                                                                                             

Yesterday even though it was below zero, I headed off with a friend to Auvers sur l’Oise to make a pilgrimage to Van Gogh’s house and his final resting place. It was a wonderful experience to walk in his footsteps and see where he set up his easel for some of his most famous works. The cemetery where he is buried is delightfully understated, making it feel so much more authentic.

Sign leading to the cemetery

Typical village house Van Gogh loved to paint

Caught in a sudden snow storm

I have also been printing my etchings whenever I get the chance to use Yael Braverman’s press. I have now completed four copper etchings and really love the process and the results!

Me at the etching press

Additionally I have been invited to Israeli folk dancing classes, salsa discos, champagne lunches, studio visits, avoided stepping in French doggie doo, have gotten used to the slight whiff of sewage in many old Parisian buildings, seen the most incredible collection of Islamic art in the world, and have survived waking up in the middle of the night with a mouse on my pillow, but that’s another story… All this is over and above the daily work I am pursuing at the Musee d’Orsay, which I hope will lead to a very interesting project.

Now to leave you with a good taste in your mouth, so-to-speak, this is the dessert platter I had recently at a very ordinary bistro. It is called cafe gourmand, which has a little bit of everything. Bon appetit!

 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…

Being in Paris seems to be sending out good vibes for my work back home. Here are the highlights regarding exhibitions and art-related news.

1. An announcement that the Fuller Museum exhibition The Perfect Fit will be travelling around the US visiting various museums over the next 24 months. Among the works will be my installation If the Shoe Fits.

2. Shocham Gallery in Tel Aviv is including my work in their February exhibition on Balance/Imbalance featuring artist mobiles. They are featuring a small number of my floating porcelain pages from the Living Without Them exhibition at the American University Museum in 2008. Last month they included my video from the same installation for a group exhibition called Eco-Book.

3. Two of my works will  be exhibited at a very interesting show in Washington DC called Art of the Soul. My video entitled If The Shoe Fits…Buy It and an installation called Basic Needs.

4. My painting of a couple of DC detectives Double Trouble was admitted into the prestigious national portrait show opening in February in Punta Gorda Florida. The judge is Peter Trippi.

5. My porcelain sculpture The Unbearable Heaviness of Being I has been selected for inclusion in the Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts in a show entitled For and About Women.

I’m exhausted just listing all this, and the coordination from this part of the world has required a group effort. Thank you.