Bev's Bites Blog about art, food, and life, with a dash of art history

Indoors at the New Whitney

June 7, 2015 by Beverly

Now that I’ve given you a preview of the outside of the downtown Whitney Museum building in yesterday’s blog, it’s time to move inside to the art.

The inaugural show is called “American Is Hard To See” (through September 27) and features the Whitney’s permanent collection, an impressive compendium of American art, some of which I hadn’t seen in years.

Starting with the chronologically older works on the top floor and working down, I found some old friends in more traditional paintings from Georgia O’Keefe and Wayne Thiebaud.

And I discovered new ones, like Chiura Obata, whose striking Yosemite prints caught the spirit of that magical place, which we just visited a few weeks ago.

On the 7th and 8th floors, I confess I missed the more intimate, distinctive feeling of the old galleries in the Marcel Breuer Madison Avenue building, whose space and flow felt more appropriate for the smaller works. Maybe I was even a bit disappointed, but unwilling to admit it to myself.

So I gave in to urge to explore outside once again. Jay and I revisited the Whitney sculpture collection against the Manhattan skyline, including this David Smith. Up until this point, I found the outside art more compelling than the inside.

When we went back to the art in the 6th floor gallery, I let out an involuntary sigh of relief. Maybe it was my mood or my personal taste, but all of a sudden I felt the Whitney I knew and loved was back. Once again, the art was the hero rather than the building, and was enhanced by the large open spaces.

Finally, I was caught up in the art itself rather than the design of the building and NYC views. However, we were running out of time. As I quickly walked through the rest of the galleries, a smattering of works caught my eye, like this whimsical Marisol wood sculpture.

And then there was this gallery, one of several whose floor to ceiling windows allowed a successful melding of the art, building and city.

I liked the large installations on the lower floors which worked well in the new space. And many of the smaller pieces commanded more than their fair share of attention. The innovative combinations and juxtapositions from the permanent collection offered pleasant surprises around every corner.

I was glad to see that Jay and I are not the only ones who imitate the statues in museums.

While the novelty of the new Renzo Piano building dominated this first visit, the art itself commanded my attention in the end. Unfortunately, we had to leave before I was ready to go. Fortunately, we live close by and can go back often.

As we walked down the High Line back to our car, we came across this mural.

In a way, it summarized the essence of the new Whitney and this exhibit – a labor of love – which has changed the face of the downtown art scene forever. Next time, I’ll plan a longer visit and even get the audio tour. And I promise to give the art the attention that it deserves.

New Whitney Museum Building

June 5, 2015 by Beverly

Jay and I made our maiden visit to the new downtown Whitney Museum, designed by Renzo Piano. It was an extraordinary architectural experience – with the building as hero.

We approached the Whitney from the High Line. I noticed a series of metal walkways jutting out from a stepped building with new pink accents. I thought that was the Whitney, but wasn’t sure since it was so well integrated into the neighborhood and the High Line itself.

We took an elevator to the entrance, and found an inviting public space full of tables of people eating and hanging out. Even though it was Wednesday, we waited in line to get into this lobby. I can’t imagine what it’s like on weekends!

The 8th floor was our destination, and our art emersion began when we stepped into elevator designed by artist Richard Artschwager. When we to the top, unlike my usual lingering self, I zipped through the art exhibit to get to the stunning views outside.

The icons of NYC were visible from one spot – the uptown view of the Empire State Building, the downtown view of the Freedom Tower and Statue of Liberty in the distance, and the Hudson River. (Note to self: Find the panorama setting on my new camera….).

The Freedom Tower seemed to be the most popular picture taking attraction, with people taking selfies everywhere. After taking photos of many couples against the skyline, we were rewarded with this shot.

Then we shifted our attention to the High Line and the outdoor terraces below. In one direction, we saw a scattering of dayglow chairs filled with people (an installation by Mary Heilmann) and some abstract sculptures in another.

We ventured further out on the terraces and outdoor stairs with a nautical feeling that fit with the river setting (think Fleet Week). The constantly shifting angles and views were exciting and almost dizzying with photo ops everywhere. (That’s Jay waving in the red Cardinal jacket.)

Reluctantly I dragged myself inside, and walked to the 7th floor. The indoor staircase was almost an extension of outside, so I felt I was back on a ship. I loved the airy feeling, with the play of light and shadows. I was taking more photos of the stairs than the art!

The lower we went, the more dynamic the views of the building with its protruding platforms and irregular shapes. On the 6th floor, there was an awareness of contrasting raw materials, everything from metal, concrete, to glass. Our vantage point kept changing every few feet as did our perspective of this dynamic structure and the sculptures surrounding it.

The art seemed connected to the museum and neighborhood buildings. This David Smith sculpture played off one of the water towers that punctuate the lower Manhattan skyline, and had people talking about it.
When I walked four floors down to the lobby, I was greeted by this light installation on the interior staircase.The creative Whitney Building is an experience to be savored, and I wanted more. I broke my resolution to cut down on digital clutter and not take so many photos…. oh well.

On our way out, we exchanged our tickets for a Whitney Membership to avoid wasting time in line, and to allow for short visits. Taking out an unplanned museum membership says a lot about the downtown Whitney, which will give MOMA a run for its money in 2015. See for yourself.

Helpful Hint for Parking: We broke our all-time Manhattan parking record at $58.50 for only 3 hours in one of the recommended lots, dampening our enthusiasm just a bit at the end. Next time we’ll park in Chelsea or more towards the center of Manhattan to avoid sticker shock – and we’ll look for online parking coupons elsewhere.

Test Post

May 26, 2015 by Laura

Hello everyone!
This is another test email to make sure the email system is working. When you get this, please go to Bev’s Blog to catch entries you might have missed due to a WordPress update.

Throwback…Tuesday?

Sincerely,
Laura (aka “The IT department at beverlyshipko.com“)

Still the sweetest mother I know.

May 10, 2015 by Laura

Happy Mother’s Day!

Beverly Shipko, June 2013

Sincerely,

The IT department at beverlyshipko.com

The Devil Is In The Details

May 3, 2015 by Beverly

Every year I conveniently forget one of my New Year’s resolutions, which is to think ahead and start getting ready earlier for my April Open Studio. This year was no exception.

Maybe I should start a master checklist of all the details, and at the top I would put “Remember to spray the paintings with Damar retouch varnish the week before going to the framer” – rather than days before.

Then there’s the haircut and flowers for the front porch planters, which took a beating this past winter and will need to be replaced next year.

The push to finish new work needs to start earlier.

And then there’s making space for people to move around in my studio. Here’s the before with 4 easels with no room to walk.

Here’s the after. Maybe this summer I’ll turn over a new leaf and simply donate some of the stuff in boxes that I never use.

To keep it real, I decided to leave my paints out in their gloriously messy state.

Getting the details out of the way sounds like a good plan, doesn’t it?

I just have to remember to focus on the big picture and not get too bogged down by the details that are less important. After all, I don’t want the devil to rear its ugly head.

Team 2015

May 2, 2015 by Beverly

I want to take this opportunity to thank the people who helped make this year’s Open Studio a success. It really does take a village.

First, I’ll start with Bonnie, who helped with the preparation and gave up her entire weekend, after working as a full-time elementary special ed teacher all week.

Bonnie is always full of ideas and has been a sounding board during the entire creative process. As the food artist in the family, she (and Jay) volunteered to handle the dessert table.

Next, let me introduce you to Maritza, who is great at anticipating what needs to be done and keeps me on track. She also gave up her weekend to help out after working two jobs all week! I don’t know how she does it – and with a smile.

Here she is in action overseeing the Oreo Cookie Contest in the kitchen.

Now, we come to Jay, who makes it possible to pursue my artist career. This past week, Jay ran constant errands, moved furniture, hung paintings, cooked, and cleaned, among other things too numerous to mention. I am grateful to have him in my life.

A special shout-out to Joe Sablow of Artistic Services in White Plains, NY, for coming through with beautifully crafted custom-made frames that give my paintings a distinctive look, and received many compliments this year.

I can’t end this post without acknowledging my other daughter, Laura, who developed and manages this website from Urbana, IL while getting a graduate degree in Biophysics and Computational Biology. While she’s not a visible presence, she has been a major force behind the scenes.

Now you’ve met the team. Thank you for everything! I couldn’t do this without you. Most of all, thanks for your ongoing encouragement and support to pursue the dream.

The Day Before the Open Studio

May 1, 2015 by Beverly

In times of stress, it’s so important to keep your sense of humor – and be flexible.

I’m thinking of the specific moment in time that you see here when we were attempting to hang the egg paintings in a straight line.

I was supposed to move the nail up a half-inch, only I was so tired that I moved it down! Bonnie captured the moment with my iPhone for posterity. Fortunately, we weren’t too tired to laugh about it!

Earlier in the day, I spent quite a while arranging paintings on the front steps, only to have Bonnie come home and tell me the display wasn’t working. While I already knew this which is why I asked her advice, it didn’t make me happy to hear it out loud. Nor did I know how to fix it. Apparently Bonnie did because here’s what she came up with – and it looks great!

For two days, I had experimented with numerous arrangements of small and medium paintings on this front entrance wall, and nothing felt right. When I unpacked this new and larger egg print, I knew that it belonged here (hiding the numerous holes beautifully!).

As a result, I had to find a new home for these, which ended up working well against the brown (aka Oreo Cookie brown) walls of my studio. Looking at this is making me hungry!

In the end, somehow everything came together – as it always does – and I even got some sleep Friday night. ( I also sold two paintings off this little wall – the Oreo and the Reese’s.)

Having said that, next year I am going to start my big push to get ready for the Open Studio a month or two earlier. Maybe that will help cut down the last minute stress, always a good thing. Right?

Oreo Cookie Contest 2015

April 30, 2015 by Beverly

Part of the fun of the Oreo Cookie Contest is officially unveiling the winner from the previous year. Here it is. Congratulations to Samantha who took a funky bite out of this Oreo! (And it sold too!)

“Samantha’s Bite – 2014 Oreo Cookie Contest Winner”, by Beverly Shipko, Oil on cradled panel, 8 x 8 inches.

This year, the annual Oreo Cookie Contest was an overwhelming success. As you can see, we got a lot of participants. Now it’s time to get to work photographing these entries, and whittling down the finalists.

I love to watch people as they take their bites. The expressions on their faces before and after are priceless. Here’s Blake, who comes back year after year, and arrived this time with suggestions on how to market my work online. His entry which has a lot of potential – teeth marks and all!

And these are the girls who couldn’t stay away. Their enthusiasm was contagious – and they kept coming back for more (more for the sugar than the art).

For the first time, this event was featured in two online calendars.

http://rivertowns.dailyvoice.com/events/kids-family/906537/oreo-cookie-contest

Annual Oreo Cookie Contest

By popular demand, the Oreo Cookie Contest will return next year. And I’m already looking forward to being inspired by the entries as I am this year.

Time to get to work!

Open Studio 2015

April 29, 2015 by Beverly

Thank you all for coming to my Open Studio last weekend! You helped make it a wonderful weekend event on so many levels.

First of all, it was just plain fun to see old friends and patrons.

And then there were loyal Oreo Contest contestants, like Blake, who came back for another try year after year.

Part of the beauty of being on the RiverArts Studio Tour is meeting new people, and we had a steady flow the entire weekend. My friends Eva and Steve even brought their friends (middle couple) from Australia!

It was such a luxury to spend all weekend talking about art, past and present. We continued the art dialogue we had begun last summer with our first visitors, Barbara and Howard (and their friend Linda on the right), who we met at the Seward Johnson Retrospective at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ.

Barbara made the first purchase of the weekend with Jay’s Blueberry Tart.

It was an exciting weekend that opened the door to a variety of potential new ideas and opportunities – everything from future commissions, to a request for private lessons, the possibility of another demo and talk, and an offer to explore the possibility of licensing my images to an upscale clothing company.

A great weekend by any measure. Until next year. But please don’t wait a year to stop by this blog and check in.

Simple Solution for My Open Studio

April 19, 2015 by Beverly

With one week to go before the Open Studio , I am confronted by the usual problem: Too many paintings and not enough wall space.

Since the floor plan of our home is open and airy, the walls are chopped up. So how do you hang all the work you want to show? Maybe you can’t – at least not on the walls.

It turns out that there was an option that I had never even considered in past years. When Beverly from Gallery 52 came over to pick up paintings for her window display of my work, I quickly put some of the small paintings on the front stairs to take this archive photo to go with the consignment form.

I worked fast and didn’t think about what I was doing. Then Beverly suggested using the stairs to display my work during the Open Studio. It’s a well-lit location and the work “greets” people when they first walk in.

Wow, I thought, as I stopped dead in my tracks. This is such an easy and obvious solution to a problem I have had for years. Yet this option never even occurred to me.

And those stairs sure can hold a lot of paintings that otherwise would have stayed in boxes. Thank you, Beverly! It will be fun to try something new this year and experiment with possible arrangements.

Sometimes the simplest solutions are right in front of you.

An Unexpected Opportunity

March 24, 2015 by Beverly

Sometimes good things happen when you least expect it.

Last week, I was meeting my friend, Marge, for lunch in Rye, NY, when I walked by a gallery that does custom framing. Since I had a question, I left a postcard for the owner of Gallery 52, who is coincidentally named Beverly (maybe that was a sign…).

The next day, Beverly called. Before I knew it, she was coming over on her day off with her sister, Joan, to pick up some of my work to put in Gallery 52 at 81 Purchase Street in Rye.

We certainly had fun that morning. It’s always a good thing to get feedback (especially when it’s so positive!) and to see which paintings resonate with people. Beverly’s enthusiasm for my work was contagious!

From start to finish, the whole process took less than a week. On my birthday, I went over to see how my paintings looked in the store, and got this nice present.

The colorful display is eye-catching from the street, and I couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride at this unexpected turn of events.

If you’re in the Rye neighborhood, be sure to stop by.

Story Behind The Eggs

March 23, 2015 by Beverly

When people walk into my studio these days, they smile and ask me, “Why eggs?”. So I gave this a bit of thought.

Of course, the quick and easy answer is that eggs are a key ingredient for baking, which keeps the food theme going. But I usually leave the baking to Bonnie. Eventually I realized there was more significance to these eggs.

The immediate inspiration for the egg series was a carton of double yolk eggs from last year. I couldn’t believe the whole carton was full of double yolks.

I kept my camera by the stove and took photos every day when I made my egg (or is it eggs?). I missed a few photo ops before I realized what a gold mine of inspiration this could be. I took photos of the eggs in various states – from raw in a bowl, cooking in a pan, to sunny side up. During the 30/30 Challenge in January, I did small oil paintings of eggs for the first time.

Egg Series from the 30/30 Challenge, Oil paintings on cradled panel, 5 x 7 inches.

An Egg-centric Series from the 30/30 Challenge, Oil paintings on cradled panel, 5 x 7 inches.

After someone mentioned that double yolks were lucky, I looked up the symbolism on the internet. It turns out that double yolk eggs are considered omens of abundance (as in pregnancy and fertility, twins), good fortune, and the union of two people in marriage (double yolks in one shell = union of two people in marriage).

This last point got me thinking. Then it hit me – bingo! – and I realized Mom and Dad met over a carton of eggs!

My grandfather, Sidney Fishman, used to own a gourmet grocery store on McNichols in Detroit, called the Market Basket.

He got his eggs delivered from my other grandfather, Maurice Shipko, who started talking about his son in dental school. The two men exchanged phone numbers and my parents ended up going out on a blind date. The rest was history.

Dorothy and Albert Shipko, 1947.

My parents were married for 64 years because of those eggs. So now you know the whole story. Apparently my subconscious did too.

My Upcoming Open Studio

March 18, 2015 by Beverly

After looking at everyone’s else’s artwork for 3 days at 6 New York City art fairs in early March, I was inspired to hunker down and focus on my own painting for the fast approaching Open Studio. I am pleased with what I have accomplished so far. Today I hope to finish up the raw double yolk painting (on the right).

I will be opening my Ardsley, NY home studio to the public as a participant in the 2015 RiverArts Studio Tour. This event will take place on Saturday, April 25th and Sunday, April 26th from 11am – 5pm. The location is 36 Sheldon Street, Ardsley. So save the date!

You are all invited to enter my annual Oreo Cookie Contest. Come and take a bite out of an Oreo to submit your entry! It’s that simple. I paint the winning Oreo and name the oil painting after the biter since it’s your “portrait”. Here’s what my kitchen table looked like last year.

There were so many entries that were good, it was difficult to select one winner. While I did some oil sketches, I need to pick the winning entry (and stop procrastinating!) and finish a detailed oil painting before the upcoming Open Studio.

Some of my newest works will be on display, including the largest Oreo I ever painted, call Cosmic Oreo. (Gotta keep the Oreo theme going strong….) This work was started for my Just Desserts demonstration and art marketing talk at the Scarsdale Art Association in October, 2014 (see The Sheer Joy of “Just Desserts”).

I named this painting Cosmic Oreo since the finished work reminded me of the cosmos with its planets, stars, and even space debris. How’s that for a new take on crumbs?

The entire collection of small works from the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge will be displayed for the first time. In case you were wondering if I am totally addicted to painting Oreos and desserts, you can see that I explored a variety of subjects during the Challenge.

Of course, no Open Studio would be complete without desserts – real and painted! Besides Oreos, we’ll have some of our favorite cakes, pies, and tarts from Riviera Bakehouse in Ardsley on hand. Bonnie is already picking out the dessert menu. You can see for yourselves what we served last year. Maybe something you eat will turn into my next painting… One thing you can be sure of is that I”ll be taking lots of photos!

I always look forward to this weekend – and to seeing all of you

Beverly’s Top 10 from the 30/30 Challenge: When Less is More

February 20, 2015 by Beverly

I must thank my friend Lynn for reminding me that less is more on so many levels.

Last week, Lynn and I met for lunch at the Beverly Hills Grill in Southfield, MI – our tradition when I visit my mom (Lynn likes the idea of “Beverly at Beverly Hills Grill”). How’s this for a paintable entrée?

When I told Lynn, an old art history buddy from the University of Michigan, about the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge, we started going through my blog posts on her phone. You can read about the 30/30 Challenge which began on New Year’s here.

I was pretty shocked by how intimidating those long paragraphs looked on a cell phone screen (vs. my large desktop). While I had seen my posts on my iPhone, I had never tried to actually read them. Lynn gently suggested shortening future posts for mobile devices (less copy, more photos). Good advice, don’t you think?

It turns out that even in this digital information age less is still more! This applied to my blog, my painting and the rest of my life during the Challenge.

So here are my lessons learned from the Challenge in a list which I call Beverly’s Top 10: When Less is More (missing Letterman already?):

10. Less copy means more involved readers.

9. Fewer diversions = more painting time.

8. Laboring less over my paintings translates into fresher work.

7. Using less paint can result in a more realistic impression.

6. Painting smaller allows for experimentation with more new subjects (like the double yolk egg paintings on Days 14, 30, and 31).

5. Less shopping = more money.

4. Less cooking = more painting productivity. (Thank you Bonnie and Jay!)

3. I ate less, weighed less, and was happier with how I felt and looked.

2. Less time spent cleaning = more focus (mentally and physically) = more clutter – oops! A subject for another day.

Try this instead: Cleaning less somehow resulted in more motivation now to de-clutter and get organized (go figure…), if nothing else, for the next challenge. I got so much out of this one that I will do it again.

I saw that for a month that I was very happy without using any of that stuff lying around my house, just like the Happiness Project book promised (which I highly recommend). By ruthlessly focusing on one thing that mattered, I enjoyed painting more than I had in a long time. And so, I will end this blog with something important for you to consider:

1. Less complexity = more satisfaction and fulfillment = more fun.

Katonah Museum Exhibit

February 12, 2015 by Beverly

Right before the 30/30 Challenge began, this painting was accepted to a juried show called Line Describing A Cone: Tri-State Juried Exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, NY, which is up through February 15th.

This exciting news got lost in the shuffle of cranking out 30 paintings in January.

If you haven’t been there, the Katonah Museum is an interesting building architecturally. The museum is light and airy inside, and has a lovely garden in the back with lots of trees, which you get feel for from these snow scenes. It’s a small museum whose mission is not to collect, but to service the community by putting up exhibits. The museum does’t have a permanent collection or any storage space.

The juror is Eva Respini who was a Photography Curator at The Museum of Modern Art when she put this show together. She recently became the new chief curator at Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA). So it’s not surprising that the show, which was hung in three large galleries, includes a high proportion of abstract works and has a contemporary vibe to it.

It’s always fun to go to an exhibit and look for your own painting. I found mine in this room, among some abstract and semi-representational works.

The opening was a success and very crowded, so I didn’t get to take a lot of photos. Here’s one of my friend, Ceclia Soprano, and I in front of her painting, Web, an intriguing work with crystals embedded in it, giving it many layers of meaning.

My husband and I went back another day to get a better look at the show and to take the installation photos. Another visitor was kind enough to snap shot of Jay and I in front of A World of Cakes. Zaro’s Bakery at the Grand Central Station Marketplace was the inspiration for the painting. This angle really shows how the cakes define the seemingly endless space.

This light installation by Lara Knutson won first prize. This sculpture has great presence in person and certainly does an excellent job representing the theme Line Describing a Cone.
If you like seeing a variety of contemporary art in a single exhibit, this show is for you. There’s one more week to go. So enjoy it!