Installment S
450W14, the thesis site
eventeen
April 2, 2010
Hey Everybody!
I’ve received some really wonderful and constructive criticism this past semester (and some high praise but if I go on about that my head won’t fit through the door), and the outstanding comment in my mind has been, repeatedly, “I like the way you think.”
I like that, and I like the implication that brings up. If I’m thinking well and they understand how I’m thinking, it shows that I’m presenting my thinking in a clear and cogent, and perhaps even intelligent way. I’m very pleased with that because I can think myself blue in the face but if I can’t express my thinking then I’m just another frustrated designer/artist/writer/dilettante who’s working at Starbucks because nobody’s buying my stuff. No offense to Starbucks. At least they offer benefits. And I won’t say no to a job there right about now because the designer jobs, the lowly ones for college students, are few and far between.
It’s almost Spring here in the big city, and not a moment too soon for my taste. March was not a pleasant month for being outside and I walk everywhere. Lots of cold rain, lots of intense wind, and three broken umbrellas. I doubt that buying anything better than the $3 umbrella from the corner bodega would be of much help. The streets are littered with broken umbrellas after every storm in March. And now it’s April and the flowers are growing and the grass is up, and yesterday and today, lo and behold, the sun is shining. I’m a happy bunny on this Good Friday.
I presented two more iterations of two projects from last semester to my professor this afternoon. I had taken an incomplete for Design Studio last semester, partly because of the time I took being away at Dad’s funeral, and partly because I wasn’t getting what she was teaching, and partly because I knew I could do better. I’m grateful that she allowed me to re-do these projects even though re-doing them took away some of the Christmas break and most of the spring break. The time it took to do the work wasn’t the big issue. The difficult thing was doing and re-doing and re-doing the same projects. I was getting bored, and boredom and creativity aren’t necessarily good bedfellows.
Wednesday, April 7th
It’s my old friend Joedy’s birthday today. Happy birthday Joedy.
I think I like Wednesdays almost better than any other day of the week, at least this semester. I have Wednesdays off currently, which really only means that I don’t have class or work, just homework, which happens every other day anyway, should I choose to remember it and do something about it.
I’m heading into the city to meet Barbara, who is a producer of a show here and elsewhere around the world. It’ll be nice to have lunch with someone who isn’t directly related to school or interior design, someone who has a real job, who does things other than homework and classes, and has time and resources to go places other than campus and the grocery store. Don’t get me wrong. I love my life, and there are times when I am less than fantastically grateful for it; times when the homework seems endless and I am sleepy, times when the understanding of a concept just escapes me. Times when I can’t seem to draw one more line. Ah. Whining. The essence of life!
So, this particular Wednesday is a beautiful one, warm, slight breeze, sunny, and promising warmer and sunnier. I’m going to visit a classmate later today after lunch with Barbara. As Tom and I don’t have class together this semester we don’t get to visit as often as last. And we both happened to not be quite so busy today so we’ll sit and chat for a while.
And then I’ll go back downtown to the High Line and take some more pictures. The site I’ve chosen for my thesis work (next year, although the research work has already started) is a building that sits above the High Line. Check it out.
http://www.thehighline.org/
The building is in a bad state of disrepair, or at least it was when the school took photos of it. Now the old warehouse building with the rail lines running through it has another building sprouting out it’s top. I’ll attach some photos here if I remember how (ah how the mind frizzles when left to its own devices). Not to worry, the thesis I’vm developing isn’t for a real building or real developers or real people, only an imaginary project that has slim chances of ever being realized, unless one of the jurors happens to be a developer who happens to really like the thesis and design and happens to want to build a hospice center over the High Line. Like I said, slim.
So, the old part is the bottom, and the new top isn’t what I’m designing. Somebody else is doing that part. And the High Line runs right through the bottom of the building, which is kind of cool, but poses some challenges for the thesis. One of the large issues with the hospice idea is to have a park nearby where clients can be outside, or at least see nice things outside. This building has incredible views of the Hudson River to the west and the south, and nice views of midtown to the east. And there’s that lovely High Line Park just below. Another big issue is access. The actual street is about 30 feet (or so) below the level of the High Line, which means that the physical entrance to the building is rather dark, uneventful, hidden, gloomy, oppressive, well, you get the picture. So the challenge will be to make an entrance sequence that is inviting, comforting, welcoming, warm, loving, and above all, a reflection of the elegance, sensitivity, meaningfulness and care which will be offered by the hospice environment, and in the services rendered from the caregivers and the staff. I’m up for the challenge.
Okay, that old friend Protestant Work Ethic is calling. I’m sitting here writing to you when I should be writing homework, or drawing a plan of the office building design for Studio, or something other than lolly-gagging in my jimmies. Okay, too much information. Here are some photos of the thesis site.
Just ignore that multi-storied structure coming out the top of the old brick part, and remember that there’s another floor below the one I’m standing on while taking this picture…
May 17, 2010
Can you believe it? I finished the final draft and printing of the pre-design research and analysis book for thesis last Monday! I delivered the bound copy that afternoon and celebrated the end of the first year of grad school by taking a nap. Ahhhhhh. Four days ago, Wednesday, I went online and discovered that I had received straight “A’s” for the past semester. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh. Yippee! The anxiety and sleepless nights paid off. That’ll show those 25- and 26-year-olds, huh.
Since then I’ve had naps, and good food, and social events that I had postponed until after the semester was over. Ahhhhhhhh.
Thursday I treated myself to an afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum. I went specifically to see the new show “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity”. I had read a really great review in the New Yorker several days before. Having worked with fashion and costumes for a long time I wanted to see the collection, and how they had displayed it. Along the way I ran into a classmate so we wandered around the museum looking at various exhibits. If you’ve never been I can tell you it’s easy to get lost. It’s HUGE! Got to see the new exhibit of medieval sculptures call “The Mourners”. Incredible! Each statue is about 12 or so inches tall and there must be about 40 of them. The faces on each mourner have such human expressions of sadness and loss that it’s overwhelming. They are carved of alabaster and are lined up in pairs on a long black pedestal, lit beautifully so they have an inner glow. Breathtaking.
He had to leave for an appointment so I went up to the costume exhibit alone. I was impressed with the exhibit, with the progression of spaces from late nineteenth century to today. It was a beautiful exhibit except for the hair. They had some nu-nu hair dresser make wigs out of what looked like rat skins, gel’d and glittered into submission. Not pretty, and very distracting from the pure beauty of the costumes. The settings were glorious. Beautifully painted backdrops executed in a loose painterly style. The final room of display was entirely digital within a circular room. Video displays of choreographed images danced around the space. Images of Bette Davis, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Ali McGraw, Billie Holiday, photos of hundreds of women shown with Lenny Kravitz singing “American Woman” over the images. Okay, I’m a sentimental sap. But you knew that, right? Truly beautiful.
Friday I met my friends James, Donna, Kevin and Jon from Indianapolis and we took the subway to The Cloisters, built in 1930 to resemble an Italian villa and to house a huge collection of medieval art collected by the likes of John D. Rockefeller and his buddies. It is part of the Metropolitan Museum collection and is stunning. The work ranges from the 11th century to the 15th century. It’s mostly religious in nature, statues, reliquary, chalices of silver and gold, carved and polychromed walnut statues of saints and angels, architectural fragments of cloisters, colonnades of columns carved in every style imaginable. The villa sits on cliffs above the Hudson River, just north of the 190th Street subway station, in a large forested park. There are illuminated manuscripts with gilded pages that are incredibly beautiful. Here are some photos.
That afternoon we walked through midtown, up Fifth Avenue through Rockefeller Center
where Prometheus presides over the skating rink except it’s warm outside so there’s no ice, just dining al fresco. We dropped Kevin (in gray) at Saks Fifth Avenue. He likes shopping. And then we dropped Jon (in black) at a subway stop near the Warwick Hotel. He was on a mission to get a postcard for a friend back home. Donna (guess) and James (in the baseball cap) and I walked over to Grand Central Terminal, had a brief tour, and then enjoyed bowls of clam chowder at the famous “Oyster Bar” downstairs. Mmmmmm! Lovely! A long day of walking, seeing the sites, and enjoying great company. And a long subway and bus ride home.
Saturday I attended a sweat lodge in Harriman State Park (Yes Peter, I thought about you all day long. He was raised very near here.) It’s north of Manhattan somewhere. I have a difficult time understanding where I am when I leave the subway and bus system. Stephen drove us and it was really early and I wasn’t paying much attention. Great lodge. Thanks Stephen. Great day. Here’s the lake, just below where the lodge was.
Nothing like a day by the lake after a really challenging semester. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.
And today I took a long walk through my neighborhood with my editor friend Willy. She has been a kind new friend who invited me to her home for a Halloween party last year. We met at the Whitney Museum last summer when I first got here. She’s a friend of Mary Ann who lives in Santa Fe. Thanks for the introduction, Mary Ann! There’s a group here called SONYA. That stands for South Of Navy Yard Artists, and I live just south of the Navy Yard in Clinton Hill. This collection of artists open their studios for a self-guided walking tour each spring. Wow! There are a lot of inspiring, talented, hard-working artists here in the ‘hood, and now I know some of them. There were 34 studios open over the weekend and I bet we got to 10 of them. Really great! New friends in the neighborhood!
So, that’s some news that I can share. There’s a ton more that will have to wait. I’m heading to bed early tonight, because I can, and because I’m going to the Javitz Convention Center tomorrow for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. Big event, big designers, new furniture from around the world. Can’t wait!
Tuesday I haven’t decided what to do yet, except for getting to bed early because I’m heading to Taos and points west on Wednesday and I’ve got a really early flight, which means it’ll be dark outside when I head to the airport. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh. Mountains, here I come, for rest, friends, and work! Yippeeeeee! See you all soon. Ciao.
Okay, it doesn’t look like the photos loaded. I have no idea, and I’m going to bed. manana….
K.C. How lovely to hear all about your life in New York. And congratulations on your “A’s” and the successful completion of the first year. My mind went back to my own graduate school days with similar feelings to yours: joy at the glory of the studies but frustration and sometimes boredom at the plethora of assignments and tests. I swore I’d never again step foot in a classroom! Is it true that you are coming to Taos? Maureen hasn’t said anything but what a joy that would be. I can’t tell you how you are missed here, not only for all the help and advice you gave but also for the person that you are; the “hum” is missing a beat.
Thanks for sharing and know that you are in my thoughts and in my prayers.
Hooray for an extremely happy ending! Is there a photo somewhere of people in gray, black, and baseball cap, etc.? I couldn’t see it but don’t know if there’s a blog do-dah that I’m missing.