What an extraordinary twelve months it has been!
A year ago, an exhibition of my artwork on upcycled paper coffee cups was just an idea. This almost accidental art form had become my principal means of expression and stacks of cups covered in drawings and paintings were mounting up in the studio. But the how, where, when and why of an exhibit called "Hypergraphia" were all question marks.
Hypergraphia cup drawings in the studio, January 2011
Early in January 2011, the details of a window exhibition in the Garment District fell into place. Cheryl McGinnis curated a first show which opened in the Fashion Center Window Space for Public Art in February. Then in the summer, we went on to another pop-up exhibit, this time at Buck House on the Upper East Side, as well as a drawing group show in Cheryl's 8th Avenue Gallery.
Hypergraphia, Fashion Center Space for Public Art,
March 2011
Hypergraphia at Buck House, July 2011
Cheryl McGinnis Gallery, July/August 2011
Now, over three months has flown by in the Sprint Prow Artspace at the Flatiron Building, with fifty more days to go in 2012. Five hundred thousand people see the cup drawing exhibition from the sidewalks and surrounding streets - every week.
Views of, and from the Flatiron Prow, October 2011
Articles and reviews have appeared in a dozen languages on over a hundred web-publications and blogs. Videos and innumerable photos have been posted on every conceivable photo sharing site. Cheryl and I have hosted impromptu salons in the Prow almost every day with New Yorkers of all professions, visitors from around the world, and eager young people from neighborhood schools and colleges who talk, draw with us and get a brief taste of the unearthly serenity inside the prow, of what it feels like to make art in the midst of this installation as the world swirls by outside.
Cheryl McGinnis teaching visual thinking
in a late afternoon drawing session in the Prow
December, 2011
An artist friend sent me an e-mail recently which she has allowed me to share:
"Though at a regrettable distance, I'm closely following the Saga of the Coffee Cups with awe and admiration. It's really a story of what happens when one is obsessed with a marvelous, preposterous idea and, despite all logic and reason, doggedly follows it through to its impossible, unattainable conclusion. If someone had said, several years ago when I sat across from you at the NYAC meeting, watching you cover a cup with beautiful lines and shapes, that you would be exhibiting such things in NYC and have write-ups and videos made of the resulting artwork, I would have wondered what hallucinating drug they were on."
Marjorie, I know exactly what you mean. Whoever would have thunk it?!
Hanging more cups, December 2011. Photo by Fran Beallor
A short rest in the studio corner, December 2011.
Photo by Fran Beallor
So with a nod to the improbable possible, the Full Brew wishes everyone a happy and prosperous 2012, and no end of unexpected wonders around every corner.
ROTC lined up to march, Veterans Day, November 2011
Unexpected smiles and a secret coffee cup, Veterans Day, 2011
Thanks for the smiles of the people looking at the cups. Great! You're work is really touching people in ways that you could never have imagined. I just love looking at the images of them and feel so happy to have seen them in person. Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteThank you, mim. It has been a pleasure to meet so many people around the Hypergraphia exhibit this past year - in person, through the plate glass and online. Here's to another year of unbridled art-making!
ReplyDeleteHow amazing is this installation!? Each and every coffee cup is hand-illustrated. Of course I check it out after walking past the Flatiron Building enough times, and couldn't keep my mouth shut! Fine work.
ReplyDeleteAustin, Thanks for the shout-out. I am delighted to be a part of the Flatiron neighborhood!
ReplyDeleteThe pleasure is all mine, Gwyneth! I'm looking forward to admiring your work through February.
ReplyDelete