Last Friday I went with a couple of friends to Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, NY (about an hour north of the GW bridge). The weather couldn't have been better. The sun was shining, it was cool in the shade and cozy in the sun.
Fall is the perfect time -- as the leaves are changing -- to explore the sprawling 500-acre landscape where art intersects nature. I was sad to learn that the art center is closed to the public from November to April. I would love to come back in the Winter to see how the views change through the seasons.
Here are a few of the sculptures on view, the way that I saw them.
Alexander Calder The Arch
We speculated as to what inspired this. I say it's an elephant, a friend says it's a cat with an arched back, a ship coming in to harbor. Whatever it is it was imposing, and magnificent.
Alexander Liberman Adonai
I just love how the color of the steel matches the leaves of this tree.
Sol Lewitt Five Modular Units
From this angle, it looks like the trees downhill from the sculpture are actually placed inside the cubes.
Ionic columns
These were salvaged from Danskammer, a mansion built in 1834 that overlooked the Hudson, north of Newburgh.
Hey Mr. Grasshopper!
(Click on me for more detail)
Mark Di Suvero Mon Père, Mon Père
Di Suvero created this in memory of his father. To me it looks like a piece of farm equipment, fitting right in with the once agricultural landscape.
A pastoral scene
This land was farmed for over 200 years, before Hudson Valley farming became difficult to sustain on the scale it once was. Later in the last century, the fields became overrun with invasive plants. Today, native long grasses and wildflowers have been reincorporated into the fields, adding depth to the scenery and contributing to the beauty of the sculptures.
Richard Serra Schunnemunk Fork
I'm a big Serra fan, but I'm more familiar with his gigantic twisted pieces of steel that tower over you like a Hokusai wave. This "fork" took a while to get a hold of me. There were four of these pieces of steel jutting out of the farmland. I really like the way the metal weathers, the pits that emerge. The smooth reflections cast are surprising for such a matte surface.
[Hey Mr. Spider!]
Turkey vulture
This was all I could think of while watching this bird soar above, "Old turkey buzzard... Old turkey buzzard. Fly-ing, flying high" (If you watch David Letterman, you might know this tune).
Menashe Kadishman Suspended
What the? This thing freaked me out big time. It really screws with your perception of depth and balance. My friends had the audioguide, so they learned this seemingly impossible sculpture has counterweights that go underground to support it. After the demystification, we felt comfortable enough to stand under it.
I highly recommend a visit to Storm King. I may even be going back before it closes for the Winter.
14 October 2008
storm king
13 October 2008
exciting news!
Well, I'm excited at least. I just set up shop. Maybe you noticed the new widget on the right side of the page. (Yeah, I have a lot of them, I'm working on curbing my widget enthusiasm).
I've selected a bunch of eco-friendly products for sale on Amazon that I thought you'd like to know about. Right now you'll find my recommendations for cleaning products, kitchen supplies, paper products, and beauty & hygiene goods. In the near future I'll be adding book recommendations as well as eco-friendly apparel for the whole family. Stay tuned for more goods, and feel free to browse the current selections at the supereco shop!
10 October 2008
when kids know best
They are inheriting the planet of their parents and grandparents, so it's only natural that children are vigilant when it comes to protecting it. A recent NY Times article reports on the experiences of modern day parents in the aptly titled, "Pint-Size Eco-Police, Making Parents Proud and Sometimes Crazy."
Read the full NYT article.
In Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, Jan Schmidt, a stay-at-home mother, and Mark Goetz, a professor of furniture design, have watched, amazed, as their 4-year-old son chastises them for letting the water run while they brush their teeth. “He’ll come over and turn it off and say, ‘Every day is Earth Day,’ ” Ms. Schmidt said. “He learned it at school.”
[Image: Denver Recycles]
09 October 2008
The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment
Nature Conservancy Event
Books @ Butler Showcases
The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
6:00 - 8:00pm
The Cosmopolitan Club, NYC
Overview:
Paul Ehrlich helped ignite the modern environmental movement with The Population Bomb in 1968. Now, four decades after he first ignited debate and action around the globe, author and scientist Paul R. Ehrlich is back with a new book, The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment.
In The Dominant Animal, Paul along with his wife, Anne H. Ehrlich, a prize-winning scientist herself, take a new look at our future on the planet as evidence mounts that the population bomb may have gone off. It is a powerful examination of how the humans today are creating the world of humans of tomorrow—and what it will take for our civilization to survive.
The lecture is free, but donations are suggested. Reservations are recommended. More details here.
action, action, we want action!
Election
- Tell the presidential candidates, there's no such thing as clean coal
- Find out where your local candidates stand on environmental issues
- Support a green energy agenda
- Last chance to register to vote and submit absentee ballots!
Conservation
- Take the Watch Out for Wildlife pledge
- Help save Alaska's beluga whales
- Thank Indonesian officials for protecting Sumatran Forests
Climate Change
Agriculture
08 October 2008
save on eco-fashion at the greenloop
Save up to 60% on great sustainable threads at Greenloop -- eco-friendly clothing for men and women from big name designers like Edun, Linda Loudermilk, Loomstate, and Stewart+Brown. The sale starts today and ends Sunday 10/12.
07 October 2008
economic downturn? yoga can help
What does yoga have to do with money? Two ethical precepts of yoga are do no harm and tell the truth. Both of these come in handy when considering our relationship with money and a consumer-based economy. There's a highly insightful article from Yoga Journal that teaches us how we can apply these and other yogic principles to our financial habits.
A little taste:
Few Americans celebrate the devastation of individual lives, families, and local communities that occurs every time a corporation orders a mass layoff to bump up its stock price. But that didn't stop us from cheering as our 401Ks swelled fabulously in the late 1990s—helped in part, yes, by layoffs. Given a simple choice on a ballot, most people would vote against polluted water, sweatshop labor, and global warming. But all three problems enjoy landslide victories every day at the checkout stand in the form of non-organic food, cheap clothing, leaf blowers, and other ethically questionable but popular products.
Almost everyone, it seems, gets a little crazy about money. Even the wealthy sweat about having enough, notes Brent Kessel, a certified financial planner and president of Abacus Wealth Management, Inc., in Pacific Palisades, California. For instance, some of his richest clients worry that the next market plunge will take their pricey lifestyle down with it, he says. And that's exactly why Kessel, a longtime student of Ashtanga Yoga whose financial counseling is influenced by the Yoga Sutra, thinks money is an underrated spiritual tool. "It can become a bell of awakening in your spiritual practice just by watching how you react to it," he says. "Where am I holding tension in my body as I do this transaction, pay bills, watch my portfolio increasing or decreasing? All of these are just opportunities to be conscious. I think that's my primary passion in my work—to use it that way."
"...We can never be perfect. I'll never know exactly how everything I'm consuming affects everyone along the chain, but I'll do the best I can, without becoming neurotic, to decrease the impact I have on others through consumption."
Topics covered:
• Earning ethically
• Living lightly
• Voting with your dollars
• Investing from the heart
• Giving effectively
• Living in balance
Read the rest.
Read the Yoga Sutras.
carl pope and t. boone
Sierra Club Executive Director, Carl Pope, is urging you to join him tonight after the debate for an energy independence e-rally in support of the Pickens Plan. While we all might not agree with Mr. Pickens' politics and past tactics, his progressive energy plan does deserve some attention.
Join the rally here.
On January 20th, 2009, a new President will take office. We’re organizing behind the Pickens Plan now to ensure our voices will be heard by the next administration. Together we can raise a call for change and set a new course for America’s energy future in the first hundred days of the new presidency — breaking the hammerlock of foreign oil and building a new domestic energy future for America with a focus on sustainability.
You can start changing America's future today by supporting the Pickens Plan. Join now.
happy re-birthday prospect park zoo!
Prospect Park Zoo is celebrating its 15th birthday this year, but its history is pretty rich. It started as a menagerie in the late 1800s, housing various animals, probably not in the most humane way.
[Image: Prospect Park, Menagerie c.1900]
In 1935, following the Central Park Zoo's example, it reopened as a zoo.
Sadly, the Prospect Park Zoo closed in 1987 after a tragic incident.
The zoo reopened in 1993 under the management of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and has been thriving ever since. I'm lucky enough to have the zoo right in my backyard (well, close enough).
So the zoo is celebrating their birthday in some unique ways. Like giving presents to baboons. Maybe it's a bit ridiculous to give baboons gifts, but they seem mildly entertained. (This video is from last year, but the same shenanigans went on this year for the zoo's birthday.)
Read more about the 15th birthday here.
Visit the Prospect Park Zoo.
Become a member of the WCS and enjoy access to all of the city's zoos and aquarium, and more!
silly fun: are you id, ego, or superego?
I'm getting distracted by silly things online. I just found this quiz and thought it would be amusing. Surprise, surprise, I'm superego.
You Are the Superego |
 While some people may think first and act later... you often don't act at all. You rather be safe than sorry, and you take ethics pretty seriously. Like everyone, you have some pretty crazy desires. But unlike everyone, you restrain yourself. You have high standards for your own behavior. And you happily exceed them. |
plastic chicken inspiration
It resembles one of those cheap plastic Hawaiian leis that are handed out by DJs at Bar Mitzvahs and children's birthday parties. But really, what inspired designer Ryan Frank to make this recycled plastic chair was "Inkuku" here:
Read more at Gizmodo.
