day in the city

Today I saw two wonderful and completely different exhibitions in NYC.  First, at one of my favorite places, the American Folk Art Museum, the first half of an exhibit that celebrates their Year of the Quilt.  Its title, bland but informative, is: “Quilts: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum.” It’s not a huge show, but has outstanding examples of a very broad range.  Part II goes up in May 2011.

Hummingbirds Quilt, artist unidentified

African American strip quilt, by Idabell Bester

Harlequin Medallion Quilt, glazed wool, artist unidentified

Then I traipsed over to another favorite place, the Metropolitan Museum.  Only another week before Big Bambú closes and I had to see it.  No way to get tickets for the tour that lets you walk through the sculpture to the top (had to be there at least three hours early to wait in line), but just wandering around under it was amazing.  This was a sculpture installation on the roof of the Met that has continued to be built during the entire exhibition.  I’ll let the photos tell how that was.

This is only one end of the sculpture, taken from a part of the roof that wasn't covered with it.

They had the colored cords they use to tie the bamboo hanging in big hanks along a piece of bamboo. Tops of Central Park trees beyond.

A stone weight hanging in its own cage/sling of bamboo

Cords tying the steps going up into the sculpture

Near sunset, nyc with bamboo fingers

Something that struck me about these two shows is a similarity of construction.  That is, you take one of something beautiful (a scrap of fabric, a stick of bamboo) and gather it and gather it, accumulating, assembling, letting it go where it will, but also watching what it does and guiding too, the ancient conversation between humans and material.  And besides, I just find a large accumulation of multiples irresistible.