Pow! Kablam! NYC watch out for Boston!

I just got this great email from one of my favorite artists, Jane Marsching, in which she describes how she is involved with an "absurd, crazy, ambitious, bold campaign to change how the world views the Boston art scene. Imagined and coordinated by the brilliant Brian Burkhardt, it features twenty Boston area artists dressed up as superheroes (I will be Rogue from X-Men)." This Saturday is the big shoot at EP Levine's with an afterparty to follow.

This is wicked cool. Sign me up! More info and image:

The project starts with a photograph: an iconic image of twenty Boston-based artists dressed as superheroes, posing against the Boston skyline. Through the production and distribution of this image, we intend to lay the groundwork for a local and national/international advertising campaign to raise awareness of the caliber and accomplishments of artists residing in Boston.

The photograph and the advertising campaign is a non-profit initiative that is by artists, for artists. The artists who are involved live in Boston, and have varying levels of career recognition. Some of the artists have gallery representation, while others are independent. Some have national and/or international exposure, while others are more local. The group of artists represents a variety of media and mediums, concepts, and interests.

We intend to spearhead the initial phases of this project. This includes the production of the photograph, hosting of a launch party, and development of a website. We also intend to leverage the photo shoot and launch party as an opportunity to get press exposure. Looking ahead, we feel that a strategic national/international advertising campaign featuring the Superheroes photograph and website link is critical to building significant awareness of Boston’s vibrant art scene. The photograph and related publicity has the potential to act as a blueprint for an on-going and evolving awareness campaign designed serve Boston, its artists and its public.

Antiques Roadshow meets Robot Wars

Anyone who know me knows I love stuff. My apartment looks like a Victorian parlor. I am also an Antiques Roadshow geek. I was thrilled when a friend started working for them and got Bruce and I behind the scenes at a show in Philadelphia. I was disappointed that our stuff wasn't worth anything (and the appraisers weren't as excited about them as we were), but my heart beat fast when we were allowed to hang out in the green room where those who were chosen for taping were being prepped. We got to see their objects up close and hear even more stories. I keep hoping that I will discover a treasure someday, something that the shop owner won't recognize. So, I read with a mixture of horror and glee about a new Chinese television show in my latest Kovel's Komment's e-newsletter (seen below). What's next? Antiques Roadshow survivor? Wait, they've come close.

"'Collecting Everything Under Heaven' is the latest hot TV show in China, according to Reuters. It starts out like the Antiques Roadshow -- bring in an antique and get it appraised. But this is literally a "hit" show. If the piece is deemed a fake by the experts, it is smashed to bits with a hammer by Wang Gang, host of the show, famous actor, and collector. Since China is the largest source of fakes in the world -- everything from DVDs to medicine -- the show claims to be symbolic. Wang says, "We must eliminate the false and retain the true. I want to shock people with a smash." We bet this is one show that won't be copied in the U.S." - from Kovel's

What's next Boston?

Sign the petition before August 3rd if you disagree with the following:

From http://www.blogger.com/www.pictureny.com "The NY Times reports that the city’s tentative rules include requiring any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour (including setup and breakdown time) to get a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance. The regulation would also apply to any group of five or more people who would be using a tripod for more than ten minutes, including setup and breakdown time."

This is includes everyone from the amateur to the professional and most that use large format photography and just about every class or group of students that desire to experience NYC on film, not to mention it is a challenge to a historical legacy. Being with a photographer, I understand the hassle that can go along with an 8 x 10 camera even without such a measure.

Sign the petition here: www.pictureny.org/petition/index.php

UPDATE: In response to the now over 20,000 signatures and other outcries, NYC is revisiting and redrafting their proposed rules. Even though this is a minor win, let's not have this fall off of the radar. Be on the lookout for another public 30-day response period. More information here: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/03/after-uproar-revised-rules-coming-on-filmmaking-and-photography/index.html

Non-rectangle, Non-square, and Oval photographs

Over on the Soth blog, it's circle time. It started here with George Eastman and Emmet Gowin, then went to photographs captured on a rabbit's eyeball, and continued today with more sure to follow. Good stuff! The non-quadrilateral photograph is a topic I have been thinking about for some time. More specifically, I am particularly interested in the oval or shaped photograph, such as seen in Julia Margaret Cameron's or Lewis Carroll's work, and the oval "view," as seen in the pre-photographic device, the Claude Glass.

William Gilpin was one of the 18th century writers who promoted the oval as the most picturesque shape, being that it closely resembled the purview of the human eye. The plates in his numerous books were almost all oval and washed in a continuous tone. Gilpin and others advocated the use of the Claude Glass, a shaped and tinted convex mirror. (Not all Claude Glasses were oval, some were rectangle or circular, but I'd venture to say that the majority were.) The Claude Glass was named in honor of the French painter Claude Lorrain. Further popularized by the poet Thomas Gray with his set viewing "stations" in the English countryside (think Kodak Picture Spots, but with no camera), the Claude Glass was used by British and American tourists from the early 18th century to well into the late 19th century. Oddly, its even shows up in conjunction with tourist photography! I wrote a graduate seminar paper on this device in the late 1990s for Garden History and Picturesque Aesthetics and this MIT book came out in 2004, but there is much more to be done. They rarely pop up on ebay, but I hope to acquire one for myself someday and continue writing/thinking about this fascinating object.


1ST IMAGE (below): Although not an antique Claude Glass and not with black or tinted glass, this image shows how one would be used: a tourist would find a scene to "compose" or "take" and turn their back to admire it! From www.re-picture.info/inspiration/inspiration.html

2ND IMAGE (below): A Claude Glass, Manufactured in England, 18th century
3RD IMAGE (below): The Reverend William Gilpin (1724-1804), View from the bank of a river, watercolour.
From www.vam.ac.uk/images/image/5478-popup.html


4TH IMAGE (below): Julia Margaret Cameron, Mrs. Herbert Duckworth, 1867

Soft opening for my humble website

My new website was born this weekend out of procrastination. I had been meaning to do it, but finally the act of avoiding writing for work pushed me over the edge. So, I bought and downloaded a simple piece of visual software, Coffeecup, and went to bluehost for hosting. Even though I have a basic knowledge of these things (I taught myself some html way back in 1997 and can update things in Dreamweaver), WYSI (definitely not) WY (always) G. I've tried loading it on every kind of computer/browser I can find (they all look different) and the statcounter is still stuck at 1. Blogging is so much simpler! I am glad that the simple "retro" html look has seemingly come back, and thus I can get away with my attempt at graphic design and organization. Most all of the information is here, so I figure the bells and whistles are not really needed...that is, until it is reborn again.

So, I push the little guy out into the world while at the same time *promising* myself that I will stop tweaking it. So, without further ado, www.lesliekbrown.com is now online.

PRC on Flak Photo!

Thanks to the inventive and kind Andy Adams, the PRC juried show lives on in cyberspace! From July 10-25 or so (does that make 16?), one image per day from the artists of the PRC's recently closed Exposure: The 12th Annual PRC Juried Exhibition juried by Jen Bekman will be posted online at Flak Photo and emailed to those who subscribe. Check back too, our NEO series of emerging photographers will also be highlighted in recommended reading. Explore the whole site, there are lots of great photos and projects to be seen!

From FlakPhoto.com

John Szarkowski story number #1

As promised, I share the first of two personal stories about John Szarkowski. As Jen Bekman has pointed out, his death as reverberated across the blog-o-sphere. I read a great email anecdote today courtesy of Karl Baden, which I wish was online. Wait, it is...in a comment on Alec Soth's blog along with several other great ones too. I might not have as much history behind me or as powerful a pen, such as seen in this great post by Mark Feeney, but I do hope you enjoy it.

What I liked about Karl's remembrance of Szarkowski was that it was personal. He told the story of when he dropped off his portfolio at MoMA and was called back to chat. At first he thought Szarkowski wasn't talking about his images; then he walked out with a check. There is no denying that he and others such as Edward Steichen and Beaumont Newhall had a profound effect on the creation of a canon--both good and bad--that has become the history of photography we know today. He was instrumental in promoting photography as a fine art, a fact that seems lost on younger students born in the late 1980s after the battle had been essentially won, and had a poet's pen. There will be many dissertations on the effect of Szarkowski on photography and photohistory, but there is something about meeting such greats in person no matter what has been said about them in your graduate art history seminar.

During College Art Association (CAA) in Boston a year or so ago, we attended a special session about and with John Szarkowski. Peter Galassi and a few others were also on the panel. When John got up, he shook it all up by saying "I am going to talk about what you do, while showing you images I made." Then he proceeded to critique the art teaching establishment by saying that they are coddling students and graduating too many MFAs. He was especially critical of the practice of encouraging students who are not good, but are told that they are and not dissuaded so as to keep money in the coffers. This is especially prescient given the recent Art in America 'Art School Symposium' that I am still reading. If this collection of essays is any measure, Szarkwoski was not the only one thinking about these issues and even in in his 80s, knew how and when to talk about things that need to be addressed.

After the lecture, there was a special reception and we were all invited to stay. Everyone made a beeline for the food and drink, but oddly, no one approached Szarkowski to chat or shake his hand. Was everyone in shock from the talk, or simply too scared to talk to or meet him? Our crew headed on over and Lisa Kessler and Terri Smith struck up a conversation with him (the latter more of a full-blown Leo than myself). Lisa actually found his misplaced slides and was immediately hailed as his savior. We bantered about and he was incredibly funny (not to mention fond of the ladies) and above all, human. I share these 2 photos taken by Bruce with you. You can tell how much fun we had with Mr. Szarkowski from the photos. I think he had fun with us too.

Next up: Bruce's story about having dinner with John Szarkwoski after his talk at Colorado College with Robert Adams, Stuart Klipper, Frank Golhke. Hint -it was a heated discussion about panoramas.

TOP: Szarkwoski and Terri; BOTTOM: Lisa and Szarkowski

John Szarkowski (December 18, 1925 – July 7, 2007)

I was out on a studio visit to NH and VT most of today, so I didn't hear until now that John Szarkowski had passed away due to complications of a stroke here in Massachusetts. I guess it was apt that I was doing photo-type things rather than at my computer. In my next post/s, I will share a couple of stories about Mr. Szarkowski--one from the College Art Association (CAA) in Boston and one from Bruce when he lived in Colorado--and some pics from CAA.

You can read the New York Times obituary here.

More art & accident and black suns

Speaking of "black suns" and "art and accident" in the last post, I wanted to share the work of Chris McCaw of San Francisco. I saw his work at Photolucida and have been coveting it ever since (don't be surprised if it shows up in a PRC show in the future). As Chris explains on his website, his Sunburn photographs are his "new experiments in starting fires in my camera." Not only are these aesthetically and conceptually gorgeous, but Chris is a very nice person to boot (always a good thing for a curator!). Before packing a picnic to go hear a live taping of Prairie Home Companion on the lawn at Tanglewood, I share with you a few images and part of his artist statement:

This new project initially began completely by accident. In 2003 an all night exposure of the stars made during a camping trip was lost due to the effects of whiskey. Unable to wake up to close the shutter before sunrise, all the information of the night’s exposure was destroyed. The intense light of the rising sun was so focused and intense that it physically changed the film, creating a new way for me to think about photography.

In this process the sun burns its path onto the film base. The sky as a result of the intense light exposure reacts in an effect called solarization. The resulting negative literally has a burnt hole in it with the subject in complete reversal. ... After experimenting with burning film and working with this minimalist aesthetic, I wanted to see what else could be done with different media. I chose to use fiberbased gelatin silver black & white photographic paper. By putting the paper in my film holder, in place of film, I create a one of a kind paper negative. Each negative due to varying sky conditions and length of exposure is scorched by the sun to differing degrees, sometimes burning completely through the paper base. I used both an 8”x10” view camera and a home made 16”x20” camera to create the paper negatives.

Not only is the resulting image a representation of the subject photographed, but part of the subject (the sun) is an active participant in the printmaking. This is just the beginning of this new body of work. I plan to continue to investigate the possibilities of this method of printmaking. My favorite part is watching smoke come out of the camera during the exposure. Thank you for looking.

All images from www.chrismccaw.com

The Seldom Seen or Aberrant Photo

While in Rochester, we made the mandatory stop at the Eastman House and saw the Ansel Adams exhibition. This proved an interesting comparison with another collection-based exhibition from the Museum of Fine Art, Boston. The GEH offering was a wonderfully comprehensive exhibition that also included photographs taken in and around the University of Rochester, which I had never seen before. This grouping as well as "The Black Sun," a long exposure of landscape of a stream and tree, leads me to ponder the issues surrounding the seldom seen and the aberrant photograph - images that don't quite fit neatly into a series or haven't seen as much exposure.

Interestingly enough, an extensive internet search did not reveal an image of Adams's THE BLACK SUN, TUNGSTEN HILLS, OWENS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA, 1939/print ca. 1970. I could find a few references here and there in terms of solarization and Sabatier effects, but no image - not on GEH's online collections not Ansel Adams gallery's website and not on yahoo or google images. It seems this photograph is reproduced in his book, The Negative, likely as a teaching tool, but are such images deemed too aberrant to showcase online?

Over on his See, Hear, and Remember blog, Christian Patterson recently discussed the idea of "difference vs. sameness" within constructing a series and Shane Lavalette followed up with a post that garnered many comments and another on repetition. I'd like to take up another angle on this discussion: Is the aberrant image within a body of work or portfolio perhaps not one of intentional variety, but an issue of quality, editing, or maybe style, or rather, is it not understanding the role of this particular image at that particular time? Or, is it simply blind luck to capture something so disparate from one's style? (Is the latter even possible?) Further, are such images deemed unfitting by the photographer, the curator, the collector, or the museum, and thus put away and then overlooked? Are the images that are taken for a different reason or as an experiment, relegated to the metaphorical and physical shelf to be "discovered" later? Conversely, do such square pegs simply need to gestate, find their mates, and thus make sense later in one's life, oeuvre, or even decades later from the perspective of a third party? As a juror and reviewer, I must admit some guilt, as often I recommend that photographers build and submit a series that holds together in a juried situation. In such a quick fire method, straight-up aberrant images simply don't hold up and thus often result in the elimination of the whole series. This is not to say that an image cannot be different from others, it can and still fit, but it is the "fittingness" that is hard to explain and a definition of "style" not easy to teach or communicate. As an art historian, we often benefit from looking through the long lens of history when analyzing such groupings (or creating them?).

On the other hand, do such seldom seen images or those created for other purposes lead to new avenues and series? Do these transitional images sow the seeds of a later style shift or are simply accidents? Robin Kelsey, photohistorian at Harvard, gave us a sneak peak at his musings on photography and chance as well as art and accident at the Clark symposium and Boston's CAA respectively. I look forward to what hopes to be a pending book!

Off to Rachacha, Land of Photo

My oh my! It's been a long time since I've written. I've been really concentrating on summer, or at least trying. Since my last post, I went to another wedding, explored the Cambridge arts festival, hiked around Mt. Misery (mentioned in Thoreau's writings), moved my car twice for street cleaning, and sat and then got dismissed from jury duty. Needing a little more head clearing, Bruce and I are now off to Rochester to visit friends and family. Interestingly enough, in the last few weeks, I've corresponded or met with 4 photographers that had ties to Rochester. Usually, it's through school, be it RIT or VSW, and at least 2 of them repeated the nickname above, Rachacha. I don't know where this epithet came from; I thought I was the only one who said it, but apparently not!

While in Rochester, we will go to the Keuka Lake winery Dr. Konstantin Frank, have a barbecue with friends, check out the Rochester Criterium (a fast-paced short bike race held downtown), pop in the Eastman House to see the Steichen autochromes, and maybe hit MassMoca on the way back to witness the Christoph Büchel spectacle/debacle. You can read the whole back story on the massive installation here, and read an archive of his demands here. When we were there last time, we could only see the theatre entrance and it was completely closed. Either way, neither no one wins in this situation. I am sure that it will fuel many dissertations for a long time to come.

Addendum: the real autochromes weren't on display, reproductions were. Although I understand why from a conservation perspective, it was slightly disappointing not to see the real things. I think I'll post on the Ansel Adams exhibition soon.

Image: Edward Steichen, (American, 1879–1973). [Charlotte Spaulding Albright with flowers], ca. 1908. Color plate screen (autochrome) process. George Eastman House collections.

The Oldest Darkoom

From a recent list-serv posting about the newly-discovered "oldest darkroom" in the world:

"The darkroom was owned by Joseph Fortuné Petiot-Groffier who died in 1855. The lab was left untouched by children, grand-children,... after his death until today when a great-great... decided to open the doors to the director of la Maison Nicéphore Niepce in Chalon-sur-Saone in France. The lab was full of ancient chemicals (many still in sealed containers), photo equipment, and over 400 books dating prior to 1830 covering the full knowledge on photography as of that time. It will be recreated at the Maison Nicéphore Niepce." - (translated?) by Guy Glorieux

From my dad's email reply:

"Pierre-Yves Mahe, is the founder of SPEOS photographic school in Paris, and he rents the part of the house where Niépce had his laboratory-workshop in Saint-Loup de Varennes, on the Gras estate. Pierre-Yves was the first photographer to occupy the place since the inventor’s death...The historical residence had remained unexplored until then, just gazed at from outside by some curious people. Pierre-Yves, along with Dr. Zakia and I, wrote the book, The Stop System which was published in French and in English in 1999. The Stop System is still being taught at Speos.

Pierre-Yves visits Rochester from time to time and was here recently when he showed me numerous pictures of the Petiot-Groffier darkroom. It was amazing to hear his recounting of the story of being the first person to enter this historic darkroom in approximately 150 years! The lab was frozen in time as if it were a time capsule, which, undoubtedly, it was. Pierre-Yves showed many pictures of the investigation of the lab with full-time chemists in masks checking over the curious, centuries-old bottles to make sure that they were not dangerous (some were!) and arranging and cataloging them. Eventually, the darkroom will become part of the Niépce house for all to see! What a great find to discover the darkroom, chemicals, cameras, books, and processing apparatus that were exactly contemporaneous with Niépce, many of which were used in his investigations!"

Here are some more articles on this discovery: one in French and one in English.

Off to HOT-lanta and flickring

Sorry for a delay in posting, it's just been so beautiful out in the Northeast. Bruce and I leave tomorrow for Atlanta for a wedding and to visit a friend. I've always had crazy times in this city so I look forward to seeing what will happen. We'll likely hit the High Museum and the Botanical Garden, among other things. I've been to the World of Coke, but maybe Bruce will want to go as he has never been.

In the meantime, there are some new pics posted on our various flickrs. It's always fun to look at pics of people. Check them out!

• Juried show opening fun at the PRC
• A trip to the beach cowboy-style

For Sale: 2 million square feet of Kodak

I just learned that Kodak is putting up for sale more than 2 million square feet of distribution space. According to my dad, "The buildings are some of the largest in the U.S. for distribution with millions of square feet condition space and 22-foot (HUGE) doors of massive truck entry....This was the main distribution center for all of Kodak. All of our products that were made in Rochester, and made elsewhere were shipped from/to here. Actually, this is where Paul (my brother) worked for the summer as a forklift operator."

As Kodak moves to digital and outsources more and more, such large spaces aren't needed anymore. The Marketing Education Center (MEC) where my dad worked for many years is still vacant. Add to that Elmgrove (left in 1999), a handful of buildings in Kodak Park, and several other buildings are/were being demolished, put up for sale, or offered for rent. This is not new news, buildings and products have been slowly downsized and as such they have even been the subject of documentary films, including "The Last Slide Projector," and short films. The artist Tacita Dean was spurred to make several films after learning that a film facility was closing down [Addendum: my film friends are disputing her understanding of what kind of film in the interview, I will try to nail down more and post on this soon]. She traveled to the French manufacturing plant to make Kodak, Noir et Blanc, and Found Obsolescence (all 2006). Her work is now showing at the Guggenheim. You can read an interview with Dean concerning her films about film here.

In keeping with the ideas of the last 2 posts, I think this requires a new approach: You are getting sleepy....buy Kodak, buy Kodak...

More info on the sale/auction at this link
(and you can click on the below image for a closer look): www.cbre.com/usa/us/ny/rochester+partner/property/kodakparksouth

Join the campaign - vote film

The amazing photoblogger Christian Patterson recently found an animated gif that touts "FILM IS NOT DEAD!" and has invited others to copy and post it. (He also found the PRC's color photography timeline a little while back.) The changing world of film and photo has long been an interest of mine. As you can see by the the following post, I am a product of a Kodak family and several family members and friends still work for Kodak (I hope), thus I am keen to spread the word of film!

Bummer, I couldn't figure out to save and post this so it blinks,
until then here are the urls. I'll keep trying.
Feel free to copy this and keep it going....
http://christianpatterson.com/blog/archives/446
a href="http://christianpatterson.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/film_not_dead.gif"

5 Things Meme (long overdue)

I was tagged...a long time ago! The "Five Things Readers Don't Know about You" meme was going around and it came to me. I did an earlier post to buy myself some time and included an explanation of the word "meme" and some links, but then this main post languished in my drafts box. Below, I present 5 things that some might know, but many may not. I figured most won't know all of them, so I will repeat some of my favorite odd stories here and with few family ones sprinkled in -- at least now they'd be all in the same place. Jeremias Paul, who tagged me, tried to track this meme to find its source. Thus, without further ado, I present:

1.) My dad named T-Max film

Yes, it is true. He presented several variants of TriX and ~Max, including TMax. As he was a company man, he received no compensation, but has the letter framed in his office. Older Kodak folks at trade shows know him simply as "Gordie."

2.) My brother and I were exposed to tuberculous when we were younger

Neither of us have it, but if we get a "tine" test, it would come back positive. We have no idea when or how this happened. Both of us were put on a medication and xray regimen for a year. The drugs basically killed the bacterium. All the doom and gloom aside, I feel in good art and historical company; many artists, authors, and musicians had TB. When I took a seminar on modernism in graduate school, I read a fascinating paper that compared Kazimir Malevich's abstractions to the spread of tuberculous and bacteria in petri dishes, both in terms of formal and philosophical concerns.

3.) My last name should be Green, not Brown

My grandfather was born in Cuba to Christian missionaries, the Greens. My great grandparents came to Cuba not knowing how tough it would be to raise a family. My great-grandmother died in Cuba when my grandfather was 2 and my great-grandfather couldn't still minister, provide, and take care of the kids so some went to family, others to friends. He was adopted by family friends in the US, the Browns! Thus, I should be Leslie Green - technically.

3.5) This same grandfather helped to design the engine on the first plane to break the sound barrier, Model B-29, the Bell X-1. He went to Syracuse for aerospace engineering but never finished due to the depression and later worked for Bell Aircraft of Buffalo. He died when my father was 18, so I never met him. The plane is on display at the Smithsonian.

4.) In elementary school, I participated in a super geek thing called "Olympics of the Mind"

Yes, I was one of those kids pulled out of classes occasionally to attend "gifted" sessions. In elementary school, this was so NOT cool. It was not fun to stand up, walk out of class with everyone watching and walk down the hall. In retrospect, it was amazing and taught me creative problem solving. We got to do all this cool stuff like make up board games and play with early computers and robots (programming a turtle to make math shapes). I believe it was fourth grade in which I started doing doing the competitions, which are now called "Odyssey of the Mind," but my group participated in the "build a balsa wood structure" problem. We had to build a light weight structure out of balsa wood and glue. Weights would be periodically placed on top of it and occasionally a billiard ball would come crashing into it on the side. While all this was happening, we also had to dress up and sing a song (our song was based on Kermit's "Rainbow Connection"). Much as in the Pinewood Derby, the kids that won definitely had adult help!

5.) Ansel Adams printed this picture of me (see below)

As you can probably see by now, my Dad is a font of great stories and experiences. During his Kodak days, he was the rep to the Ansel Adams workshops in the 1970s. He had heard that Ansel, at some point during a demonstration, would ask for a negative. So, my Dad put one in his pocket and saddled up beside him. When asked, my father furnished this negative to Ansel. He burned, dodged, and then printed it and then afterwards called my dad over to sign it and give it to him. My father, a RIT grad, was thrilled to meet the master, but his heart sank when he heard what he had to say: "Thank you so much for letting me print this. It's always great to demonstrate on a problem negative." That's me, age 2, sitting on the grounds of Sonnenberg Gardens in Canandaguia, NY in 1975. I guess I was a good compositional element early on!

I have a few more that I will use as Monday Show and Tells (including, bowling and painting). Whew! Done!

Off to NYC...

I wish NYC was closer to Boston. It is the closest I've ever lived, but makes for a long day if you go and come back in one day (about 3 1/2-4 hours each way). We're off to make a quick trip to see some art, namely Jeff Wall at MoMA and all of the goodies at the Whitney (Taryn Simon, Lorna Simpson, etc.). We'll have to go again soon and just do galleries!

I have to have a blog day, but it has just been so beautiful out (finally). Here are the posts I owe:

• One on our Picture Show closing film night with Zampano's Playhouse and the films and amazing artwork of Joseph Cornell at the Peabody Essex


• The 5 things meme, yes Jeremias I promise I'll do it! It's in my drafts I swear.

Jeff Wall, "A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai)" (1993), MoMA, From: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/02/24/arts/design/20070224_WALL_SLIDESHOW_3.html