Celebrations

I managed to clock in more than ten miles yesterday, just wandering around Brooklyn to do errands, attend an art studio open house, and stroll around the park.

It was the Gowanus Open Studios weekend, and I wanted to see the Donato Giancola exhibit.  He'd thrown his home and studio open to the public, and it was really cool to see some of his kids' drawings on the walls along with his own.  (Theirs usually in the medium of crayon on paper, and dedicated to Daddy.)  At the suggestion of one of  my fellow Mythgardians, I started at his official studio on the top floor, and worked my way down.  I quickly spotted Tolkien themes - including a lovely gem of a painting of the One Ring (we wants it, yessss, my preciousss, but it was not for sale) - and soon realized (by looking at the titles) that the vast majority indeed related to Tolkien or Game of Thrones. In the studio itself, one very striking painting with swirls around two figures looked somewhat familiar; it was the cover artwork for Shattered Pillars, by Elizabeth Bear.  The artist bio he provided for Gowanus Open Studios 2015 states:

Since graduating summa cum laude in painting from Syracuse University, Donato's paintings have graced the covers of over three hundred novels and landed him numerous peer honors including three Hugo Awards, three Gold and six Silver Medals fromSpectrum: The Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, the prestigious Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators, and twenty Chesley Awards from the World Science Fiction Society.  Notable clients include: The United Nations, LucasFilm, National Geographic, CNN, DC Comics, US Postal Service, Ballantine Books, Simon & Schuster, Tor Books, Milton-Bradley, and Hasbro.  Donato recognizes the significant cultural role played by art and makes personal efforts to contribute to the expansion and appreciation of genre works; to these ends he serves as an instructor at the School of Visual Arts, the online SmArt School, and lectures extensively at conventions, seminars and universities worldwide.  His current projects include themed works for exhibition, projects on 'The Lord of the Rings',and ongoing commissioned assignments.

The works are really amazing.  Unfortunately, the ones I could actually imagine hanging on my own walls were not marked for sale.  This one, visible as one descends to the main floor, was probably my favorite:

(Yes, I have a soft spot for beautiful surrealistic paintings.)

After that, I stumbled across the joint exhibit of Abby Goldstein, Amy Stienbarger, Devin Dougherty, Michael Koehler, and Sasha Chavchavadze at 110 Nevins St.

I really liked Devin Dougherty's vases accompanied by shadow-like paintings on brown paper which echoed the design of each vase:

There were also some lovely cream-colored ceramic cups, with beautifully rendered line drawings of insects.  Beautiful - but I'd want to live in a place with absolutely perfect pest control before drinking from them!  

My favorites were the Abby Goldstein map-like drawings, especially RGBY:

There was something I found so evocative about the gradations of color and the central blackness - a sort of ambivalence between foreground and background.  As if I couldn't decide whether this was a hole in the map showing something dark behind; or a darkness growing to overtake the landscape; or even, conceivably, a wound in the landscape which might be starting to heal.  

We stop for morning glories

Safety town!

More trees grown in Brooklyn, on rooftops

Ye Olde Hat Shoppe

After this, I went for a walk around Prospect Park, and finished off the day by joining some friends to see "Allegiance," the new Takei musical about ... the American internment camps for individuals of Japanese descent during WWII.  It was a little explain-y at times, as if they were trying to make sure we understood the issues and dynamics of the situation,  but it was well done, nonetheless, overall -- and not as one-sided or grim as I'd expected.  (Indeed, there were several rather upbeat numbers.)  I did predict the little twist at the end (about 3-5 minutes before it happened), but I still had to wipe away tears.  

All in all, a good day.