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Quarterly Update and Artful Philadelphia
Apr. 1st, 2012 06:56 pmI should be writing a quarterly update on the goals I set out at the beginning of the year, but I've made so little progress on them that setting that down would only frustrate me. Most of that is because of just having had such a crappy start to the year, between splitting up with Robert and dealing with a couple of health issues. I complain enough about other people kvetching that I have no desire to spend my time doing so myself.
My fundamental philosophy of life amounts to, "if what you're doing isn't working, do something else." And that is exactly how I have been trying to deal with all the stress of the past few months. I will also note the effectiveness of the heartbreak diet. That is, if you're too torn up to have much appetite, you can lose 25 pounds surprisingly easily.
My other way of dealing with things is, of course, to go out and do fun stuff. This weekend it meant a trip up to Philadelphia for an art-filled day with my friends, Megan and Jack. We saw the Van Gogh exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which was organized in an unusual way. There's a room for blades of grass, a room for wheat, a room for trees and undergrowth, and so on. I'd say my favorite piece in the collection was the final one, "Almond Blossoms." I also speculated on what Van Gogh would have done had he ever been transported to Iowa.
While at the museum, we also checked out "Nude Descending a Staircase" by Marcel Duchamp. This has some personal significance as seeing it (in a book) changed my view of modern art. I had the epiphany that the key word was "descending" and that, if you look at it as being about the movement, it makes sense. So seeing it in person was well worthwhile.
We also saw an impressive photographic exhibit by Zoe Strauss. Her photos cover a wide range of working class experiences and I was particularly impressed by her portraits. We then chased down a few of her billboards, which are being exhibited in a wide range of places throughout Philadelphia.
After a stop for lunch at a brewpub, we visited a couple of exhibits that are part of Fiber Philadelphia. The Handweaver's Guild show was relatively conventional, with my favorite pieces there being a few needle felted birds and a set of temari balls. An exhibit at the Crane Arts Building, titled "Outisde / Inside the Box" was quite different. My favorite pieces at that one included a story quilt by Jenny Iserman which told about women who had been murdered by their husbands and a set of humanoid figures by Brigitte Amarger that were made of x-rays stitched together.
Next came coffee at Higher Grounds in Northern Liberties. Finally, we went over to South Street and the Magic Garden, which is a fascinating mosaic project, before they dropped me back at 30th Street Station for my trip home. All in all, it was a wonderful day.
Today's artwork was limited to knitting group, where I crocheted half an amigurumi uterus.
And now I need to get caught up on household paperwork. I'm hoping the next few months will improve.
My fundamental philosophy of life amounts to, "if what you're doing isn't working, do something else." And that is exactly how I have been trying to deal with all the stress of the past few months. I will also note the effectiveness of the heartbreak diet. That is, if you're too torn up to have much appetite, you can lose 25 pounds surprisingly easily.
My other way of dealing with things is, of course, to go out and do fun stuff. This weekend it meant a trip up to Philadelphia for an art-filled day with my friends, Megan and Jack. We saw the Van Gogh exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which was organized in an unusual way. There's a room for blades of grass, a room for wheat, a room for trees and undergrowth, and so on. I'd say my favorite piece in the collection was the final one, "Almond Blossoms." I also speculated on what Van Gogh would have done had he ever been transported to Iowa.
While at the museum, we also checked out "Nude Descending a Staircase" by Marcel Duchamp. This has some personal significance as seeing it (in a book) changed my view of modern art. I had the epiphany that the key word was "descending" and that, if you look at it as being about the movement, it makes sense. So seeing it in person was well worthwhile.
We also saw an impressive photographic exhibit by Zoe Strauss. Her photos cover a wide range of working class experiences and I was particularly impressed by her portraits. We then chased down a few of her billboards, which are being exhibited in a wide range of places throughout Philadelphia.
After a stop for lunch at a brewpub, we visited a couple of exhibits that are part of Fiber Philadelphia. The Handweaver's Guild show was relatively conventional, with my favorite pieces there being a few needle felted birds and a set of temari balls. An exhibit at the Crane Arts Building, titled "Outisde / Inside the Box" was quite different. My favorite pieces at that one included a story quilt by Jenny Iserman which told about women who had been murdered by their husbands and a set of humanoid figures by Brigitte Amarger that were made of x-rays stitched together.
Next came coffee at Higher Grounds in Northern Liberties. Finally, we went over to South Street and the Magic Garden, which is a fascinating mosaic project, before they dropped me back at 30th Street Station for my trip home. All in all, it was a wonderful day.
Today's artwork was limited to knitting group, where I crocheted half an amigurumi uterus.
And now I need to get caught up on household paperwork. I'm hoping the next few months will improve.
