Field Notes: Storm King

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Took a field trip to Storm King, a 500 acre sculpture park in Orange County, NY. I was surprised to learn that this space was originally to be a museum for Hudson River School paintings!

Now dedicated to large scale sculpture, we enjoyed exploring the grounds, soaking in the November sunshine. Knowing winter is around the corner made it all the more worthwhile.

Side note: that is Noguchi’s- Momo Taro that I am sitting in. (Visitors are welcome to touch and sit in it.)

I only connected with sculpture more recently, after i moved to NYC. Makes me wonder if my relationship between the form and the space it occupies has become all the more meaningful…now that I inhabit a dense city!

Happy Friday and thanks for reading, whoever and wherever you are!

Studio Notes

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I mentioned my hiatus from ceramics and realized I never shared these pieces I've made in the past! They've been quietly hanging out around my home and I still have so many more not pictured. My personal favorite is the mug with the potato dressed in various costumes. He’s the Tayto Potato which I cannot get enough of lol.

Glaze Parties

Glazing used to be the part of ceramics I dreaded, but it totally grew on me. It was messy and unpredictable, but that’s what made it fun in the end.

Some pieces with underglazes below. I’ve started to love drawing on my ceramics as you can see. Pictured below are works in progress, before the final firing.

Perhaps 2025 will bring in a regular pottery practice again!!

What I've Been Up To! Autumn 2024

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Oh my old neglected blog! I’m reviving my little corner of the web. Dusting off cobwebs and will likely give a facelift in the coming weeks.

But life has been going!

Rothko and me above- both pics taken in San Diego. @MCASD la Jolla

What I’ve Been Up To

I made this Chomp Chomps poster which cracks me up. It’s a pass at making a cohesive art series and I just find them so cute. I used Lisa Bardots Playful Painters brush set in Procreate which is really fun to play with.

I also recently learned how to create repeating patterns so I’ve been having fun with that. I should definitely go back in and add more Gilmore Girls icons, perhaps a key from Dragonfly Inn or a Hep Alien poster?

The second print was just messing around with random shapes. It literally took 30 seconds to make, but I like the festive happy mood it gives.

Also after a long hiatus, I got back on the pottery wheel at a local studio. While I’ve taken a step back with pottery this year, I just know I cannot live without some clay in my life, so I’ll continue to squeeze in a session here and there.

And lastly some pics from our recent California visit. While I may spend more time in NYC, I still feel like California is home. We stopped by San Diego, LA and of course San Francisco.

The Dia De Los Muertos photos are from the Mission District, SF. I made an altar with some folks at Lotusland Yoga which is an amazing studio I would recommend if you are in SF.

I first moved the Mission District over 10 years ago, on the same year my grandmother passed away. When I saw the procession and altars, I was touched. Inevitably, as time goes on I have lost more loved ones and I take comfort to think of their spirits visiting temporarily this time of year.

It’s hard to believe its nearly halfway through November already. I resolve to work on updating this blog more!

Travel Log: Europe 2024 Pyrenees and San Sebastian

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Pyrenees

This has been on my bucket list for so long! Ironically it rained during most of our stay but we made the best of it. We stayed in the most cozy yurt, and found that a fun rainy activity was exploring the caves. The Pyrenees is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to, I can’t believe people live in this paradise!

We stayed in this little yurt, which was essentially 10/10 glamping. Despite the treacherous road to get here, we would come back in a heartbeat

San Sebastian

We crossed over to Spain arriving in San Sebastian.

Influenced by Anthony Bourdain (he has said there is no better place to eat in Europe!) we went on a mission to eat all the pintxos and basque cheesecake we could find.

This unbelievably beautiful city has it all. The natural beauty with beaches and hills with car free Parte Vieja (Old Town) nestled in, it was truly a delight to wander around and get lost.

It was my first time exploring Basque Country. I did try learning some basic phrases in Euskara: Kaixo! Zer moduz? but I found it was best to just struggle with Spanish lol.

Amazing meal at Arzak which I had been fantasizing about since seeing Anthony Bourdain’s A Cooks Tour. It is an exquisite modern take on Basque cuisine and we even got to meet Elena Arzak whom I admire. Definitely one for the books!

Travel Log: Europe 2024 Loire Valley and Bordeaux

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Loire Valley

Exploring more of France, now venturing out to Loire Valley. We visited Chateaus, went wine tasting, and even had a spa day.

Sitting in Café Corbon, enjoying an amazing meal, we told our waiter Antoine how special everything felt here. He shrugged with a grin, saying, 'This? This is everyday! It should not be only for special times..'

Love it! Thank you for the reminder Antoine!

We loved our stay at Auberge du bon Laboreur and enjoyed a lovely dinner there. Worth a visit!

Bordeaux

One of my 2024 goals was to learn all about wine. Not sure if I’ve gotten very far with this goal lol, but hoping my visit to Bordeaux somewhat makes up for months of slacking.

With how extensive the Cite du Vin is, we did learn so much!

My favorite were the smelling tubes (if these have a different name please let me know!) There was one with literal animal scents and this poor unsuspecting lady went up to it, smelled it and went “Bleck!” very loudly. She and I had a good laugh about it but my morbid curiosity went right up in that after her. Gotta love that animal or wet dog aromas which you might find with certain reds or aged wines. (I’m not quite sure I love it just yet lol)

Field Notes: Chatsworth House, UK

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The English countryside! I’m in love. Even the characteristically gray skies were embraced with enthusiasm.

While recently reading The Revolutionary Genius of Plants by Stefano Mancuso, I came to the chapter about Joseph Paxton and learned about the beautiful Chatsworth Garden.

Paxton was the head gardener of this estate and was a genius in his own right; merging architecture and botany (see the Crystal Palace, featured in Mancuso’s book)

I was so intrigued by Paxton and Chatsworth that I decided to make a trip out there. And so I went! I’m proud I made this trip happen instead of making it a “someday” as I had to cross the pond for this one.

It was a lovely time and I’m so grateful that the Duke of Devonshire keeps this estate open for the public to enjoy.

Some pics from our visit to Chatworth below.

We had a lovely dinner at The Gallery at the Cavendish Hotel, where we stayed. The dishes are prepared with produce grown from Paxton’s very own kitchen garden!