So! It went like this!
For whatever reason, my family and I had 4 airplane tickets to burn by April 30th, 2016.
We’ve known about them for years. But, we/I tend to “put things off” until the last minute. We could go anywhere in the US…anywhere. My husband and I hashed around a few ideas. My head immediately went to the West Coast..Seattle or Portland. Take in some culture and some GLASS and good food…I’ve had a blast in both cities and I got my kids excited about it too.
Then my brain kinda headed south…Sedona, Grand Canyon etc. Some very artsy ideas started flowing in my head…I imagined me and my kids in a tent in the desert etc. Then, my husband weighed in. (He’s the complete OPPOSITE of artist…he doesn’t even “get” art. He’s not a camper either.)
We ended up going to NYC.
My kids moaned. They wanted the West Coast too. But, they had been to NYC last summer, and they knew it would be fun. I was excited too. There is CULTURE in NYC. And, there’s great food. It’s really all I need to have a good time!!!
We did a ton while we were there. And, I kept my eyes open for good glass, good art, and good ideas.
As soon as we got to Times Square from Kennedy Airport, all the lights were Purple. It had just been announced that Prince had died. Everyone was mourning. All the shows on Broadway paid tribute to him in one way or another while we were there. Even at Madame Trousseau’s Wax Museum, they hauled out Prince and set him up by the street. My kids posed with him.
We saw a couple of Broadway Shows, and one “Off Broadway” show while we were there. The kicker is that the STAR of The Shard Shop, Robin Cannon, JUST HAPPENED TO BE IN NYC TOO!!!! I didn’t just run into her!!!! I knew she’d be there. Her niece has THE LEAD ROLE in “Tuck, Everlasting!” So, she was there with her family and we got to see her niece in action! It was AMAZING!!!! An excellent show, and, an excellent performance. Waaaay to gooooo Sarah!!!!
One day, we went to the Guggenheim. My kids weren’t too excited at first, but when we got there…all went well!
My daughter is my clone. She’s the artist and she finds comfort in creating. It’s her zen. I get it. My son, he likes action. He likes to see how things work. There was an exhibit showing a movie called, “The Way Things Go.”
He couldn’t take his eyes from it. Neither could I! When you first enter the museum, there are helpers at a kiosk that loan you a nice tote, complete with a sketch pad and pencils, so you can sketch what you see while you’re there.
How cool is that?!!! My daughter latched right on to that one! She sat FOR A LONG TIME sketching the paintings on exhibit. She LOVED it! I LOVED that she LOVED it! What a treat! What a GREAT IDEA!! (Kinda reminded me of The Shard Shop.)
Another day, we found ourselves at Ripley’s “Believe it or Not.” It was kinda cool, kinda weird. My kids felt the same way. What did I like about it? Well, the correlation between some odd artifacts and the art I make! So basically, I take broken glass, and lay it out in a way that’s recognizable.
At Ripley’s I found a portrait of Frank Sinatra made from hundreds of BUTTERFLY WINGS! I “Get” it! And then, a portrait of John Lennon made from Dog Hair! Yep! It’s the same idea! Just different stuff! (and, can you imagine if I taught a class like that?! ummmm…no.)
I needed a break from my family, and headed over to Dylan’s Candy Bar. I knew it would give me good “Shard Shop” ideas. You see, it’s all how you look at it! Dylan took an item: “Candy” and then went CRAZY with it. I do the same thing with glass. I went crazy with it!!!!
Look at the rows and rows of colorful glass, noooo…I mean candy! But, it COULD be glass! She even took a bunch of jelly beans and made quite a nice self portrait out of them. (It’s on my list to make the same with glass…but I never have the time….) I loved her display of “famous candy.”
All sorts of famous people put a collection of their fave candy in a box and it’s on display. Future Shard Shop museums will do the same! I can’t wait to ask Martha for her fave box of glass chunks!!!!
THEN, I saw the sign for M&M’s for sale BY THE POUND! Just like our glass! Can you believe it costs $13.99 for a POUND of M&M’s?! They’re gone in minutes and they put inches on your figure! But our glass, we only charge half that for glass! And, there’s no calories!
Just great art and a ton of fun! I snapped that photo and this blog was born!!!!
We did so much, and saw so much and were inspired on so many levels. My son said it best. We were walking down West 43rd street on our last day in New York City and just passed a man with no legs begging on a street corner.
“Mom, this is sin city number two. If Las Vegas is Sin City, then so is this place!”
(I dragged my dear children to Las Vegas last year…to say the least, it was an eye opener. We live a well protected life here in beach-land. They have to know what else is out there!) I had to laugh at his comment. It was a struggle to walk the packed streets of NYC.
They hung in there tho! My husband got to eat at John’s Pizza. My kids saw wild people, GREAT BROADWAY PLAYS and world-class museums. I laid back and pulled out “ART” from every day stuff.
Rock on..
Mary