Last Chance to See Families/Cities SHIFT at Susan Teller Gallery

Cups of the Day #122

Mixed Media on upcycled paper coffee cups

Individual cups from "An Immigrants Dream of Home"

at Susan Teller Gallery, For Ideas City Festival 2013

It was an exciting week in New York City. The New Museum's Ideas City festival took over Lower Manhattan and the Lower East Side from May 1st - 4th with an extensive program of events, including a conference, workshops, art exhibitions, special projects, public art installations and a large, offbeat StreetFest on the Bowery on Saturday.


My particular contribution to the festival was at Susan Teller Gallery, 568 Broadway, #502, as part of her current exhibition Families/Cities SHIFT, which includes artwork by five members of the Leech/Gallagher family and four members of the Pinto family. My sister, Kitty Leech and I were on hand from 1-5 PM for informal discussion of life in a multi-generational art family. There are lots of stories to share! Anna Pinto, calligrapher was also there for part of the afternoon.


But if you missed it on that day, not to worry. The exhibition is still open Tuesday - Saturday by appointment through the end of May. Call the gallery at  212 941 7335 for more information.

Gwyneth Leech, Ecuador/New York, A Dream of Home, 2010-12
mixed media with 55 used paper coffee cups, 120 x 24 x 30 inches

An installation for Families/Cities SHIFT at Susan Teller Gallery, NYC

   
 

Jody Pinto, Fingerspan Bridge. Preparatory to the installation of the 

nine-ton bridge of Wissahickon Creek in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia., 1987
mixed media, 60 x 72 inches, Image: Susan Teller Gallery

Families/Cities Shift

The Gallagher-Leech & Pinto Families,
Philadelphia and New York
In conjunction with the Ideas City Festival,
sponsored by the New Museum
www.ideas-city.org/view/family-city-shift

On view: April 5 - May 11, 2013
Open: Tuesdays - Saturdays, 11-6

SUSAN TELLER GALLERY
568 Broadway (Room 502)
New York, NY 10012
212-941-7335
info@susantellergallery.com
www.susantellergallery.com

"This is a show about two families making significant contributions to Philadelphia and New York, the cities in which they live, including and beyond the form of individual works of art.

In the 1930s, Michael Gallagher, an administrator on the WPA, recruited impoverished artists including previously ignored African-Americans. (There, Dox Thrash helped invent carborundum printmaking, a technique that at once repurposed the material while compensating for meager supplies). Angelo Pinto taught at the Barnes Foundation for decades and in the late ’30s developed location photography techniques that freed the process from the studio.

The current generation inherited a Depression-Era ability to make do, reinvent, and inspire, especially regarding venues, resources, and people. They respond to urban conditions and they work collaboratively.

Jody Pinto, environmental artist, Anna Pinto, calligrapher, and Kitty Leech, costume designer, are teachers; Jody and Gwyneth Leech are community activists."

Anna Pinto, Solitude, with poem by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 1998

mixed media, 7 x 20 inches, Image: Susan Teller Gallery 

 

 Kitty Leech, Three Men From Waiting Imprints on a Landscape, The Mining Project, 2008
hand-colored photostats, 11 x 8 inches.  The dancers are three WPA printmakers, 

left to right, Hugh Mesibov, Michael J. Gallagher, and Dox Thrash.

Image: Susan Teller Gallery

Michael J. Gallagher, Anthracite, 1939-40
carborundum print, 8 x 10 inches
Image: Susan Teller Gallery 

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Potted Palms and Sand Tarts: A Bookish Tea at the Plaza

 

Cup of the Day #105

"Loose Leaf "by Gwyneth Leech

Colored ink on upcycled paper coffee cup

My sister, Kitty Leech called the other day and said, "do you want to have afternoon tea to celebrate?"
"Celebrate what?"
"The launch of the Mermaid Picnic."
Awesome! Kitty's fishy children's tale of a rainy afternoon at the seashore, which she wrote and illustrated, was a work is progress for ten years. Now it had finally met the public.
And not only had it launched, but it got a lovely write-up on the blog Wide-Eyed and Legless: Musings of a Modern Mermaid.

The Mermaid Picnic
Written and illustrated by Kitty Leech

So this called for a major celebration, a really special afternoon tea. We decided that the Plaza Hotel was definitely in order!

A few days later, there we were, in the fish bowl which is the Palm Court, at a beautifully laid table trying to choose a tea. This is the renovated Plaza, of course. I was here for afternoon tea one other time, as a college student a decade or so, or so, ago and it had a faded air back then. But since the doors reopened in 2008, all is brilliant and regal, the stained glass ceiling magnificent, the table settings and service immpecable. I felt only the faintest touch of guilt at coming here without my children to celebrate a book for children.

 

But back to the tea selection. We perused the menu, which proved to be a literary work in itself. How to choose between "a stout and robust blend of February high grown Kenyans and astringent 2nd flush Assam, full bodied and rich" (Breakfast Tea) or "rich and moody off the nose, it opens with malty astringency and finishes with hints of oak cask and a dusting of delicate citrus (Afternoon Tea). I was actually torn between the two Reserve Black Teas: "Golden liquor cups ethereal notes of baking bread, light lingering finish "(Golden Monkey Picked (China)) and the "ultra rare, full round body with light notes of Wuyi Forest Preserve pine smoke". The latter was none other than the Organic Tong Mu Phoenix Tree Lapsong Souchong (China).
I went for Golden Monkey Picked.
Kitty ordered coffee.

Having made these difficult and lofty choices, we turned our attention to the accompanying delights.
Should we go with the Classic, the New Yorker, the Chocolate or the Eloise? This was easier.
They all included cucumber finger sandwiches, scones and pastries. We decided on the Classic.
When it came, I was surprised that the servings were so petite. Sandwiches for very little fingers indeed, and such tiny tarts. We set to with gusto... and only made it halfway through!
But this is New York City. Even at the Plaza Hotel they will wrap for you.

That evening after dinner at home, I set a monogrammed box on the table. "Look," I said, "treats from the Plaza." My two little mermaids never suspected a thing.

The Mermaid Picnic is now my daughter's favorite book. It comes with a recipe for Sand Tarts, the ideal cookie for mermaids on land and sea, and we have successfully made the recipe several times.
Sand tarts are not served at the Plaza, nor is rain drop punch (which apparently Mermaids prefer to tea) but if you bring one with you, she may be able to make do with the "cold cold pink lemonade " featured on the Eloise Tea menu.
 
For more information about tea at the Plaza, including the full menu, visit the official website here.The Mermaid's Picnic is available on Blurb and Amazon.

Cinnamon Apple Crisp with Coffee: Chickens Coming Home to Roost

I came across an apple sale on 9th Avenue the other day. 43rd Street Kids Preschool were raising money with a fine selection of New York States apples - Macoun, Macinstosh, Honey Crisp and Empire. I am a sucker for apples generally and the New York State varieties are terrific in season. I staggered home with plenty (watch the elbow!) and now need a recipe. I am still dreaming about a dish of hot apple crisp and a hearty cup of coffee I had with it at the 165th Annual Dutchess County Fair not too long ago.

Cup of the Day #43

Strutting Cup by Gwyneth Leech

Colored ink on white cup, 2010

I was there at the tail end of the summer with my sister, her husband Scot and my younger daughter. Kitty and Scot have a farm in Dutchess (Scot is a Timothy Hay farmer among other things, but that is another story) and they go every year. There are animals, agricultural exhibits, carnival rides and food, food food. Where to begin? How could anyone eat their way through it? We did our best, and here I am two months later still thinking about that apple crisp. 

On the animal front, there were cows, pigs, sheep, goats, rabbits. All highly entertaining to the seven year old member of the party. Being a city kid, Grace usually only sees these in books.

Cup of the Day #43

Strutting Cup, Verso by Gwyneth Leech

Colored ink on white cup, 2010

Towards the end of the animal exhibits we entered a large hall - chickens and roosters! The fancy breed poultry!! The cages in rank upon rank took me straight back to the first time I saw this type of exhibit - 1983, the Royal Highland Show outside Edinburgh, Scotland. I was an art student. Those birds were heaven-sent. At least five years of poultry-inspired art ensued: paintings, drawings, sculpture and videos. There is something in the shape of a rooster as it cranes and struts that has persistently fascinated me. Generally, I don't use chickens as subject matter anymore but an underlying form is still lurking in my artwork and pops out when I least expect it. Why, a veritable flock of chickens appeared unexpectedly on this cup drawing just the other day.

They reckon dinosaurs looked a lot and walked a lot like chickens (and ostriches and Emus). I like that thought.

La Poule, Video Installation by Gwyneth Leech 1988

With a 2008 Soundtrack by Martha Sullivan

inspired by Jean Phillipe Rameau's 

18th Century harpsichord piece, La Poule
(Paolo Bordignon on harpsichord)

By the spoonful

 Cup of the Day #6

Midtown Cup by Gwyneth Leech

India Ink brush pen on cardboard cup

2009

 At last, I was back in the studio painting yesterday. However, I had to break off early to collect my six year old daughter from school and take her in a taxi back to the Garment District to meet my sister for a photo shoot. Kitty Leech is a costume designer and illustrator. She lives in Brooklyn, teaches at NYU and designs off-Broadway shows. Some years ago we had the thrill of going to London to see her costumes in the West End production of "Gross Indecency - the Three Trials of Oscar Wilde".

On the domestic front, Kitty has for years done a phenomenal job of creating lavish costumes for my girls for Halloween. Megan, my eldest, has worn a long series of royal costumes including Marie Antoinette, Cleopatra, Queen Victoria at her coronation, the Snow Queen and 2009's ethereal Queen of the Night.

Last Halloween, Grace, now six, was Mary Poppins and Kitty wants a studio portrait for the archives. So here we are in Midtown in the studio of Barry Burns, photographer. Grace submits to full make up and costume. But the giant steam radiator is hissing and we are all melting when Grace finally gets in front of the lights with carpet bag and parrot-head umbrella lifted high while Barry shoots away, lights flashing. Five - yes 5! - minutes later Grace says "all done" and starts getting out of her costume as fast as she can. Persuasion, entreaties and bribes are useless.

 Sister Kitty dressing Grace as Mary Poppins
for Halloween, 2009

But Barry has got some great shots. And all is not quite over. Grace insists on doing MY hair and makeup and then we go in front of the camera together. One more round with me and my sister, under Grace's direction - two parrot head umbrellas this time - and in all we have a great photo shoot.

While waiting for proofs Kitty recollects the genesis of her coffee habit. When she was three years old, she would sit on the lap of our adored, white-haired Great Aunt Martha, who would feed her black coffee sweetened with sugar from a silver spoon. Kitty was hooked for life.  She says I drank the same elixir, but I don't remember it. I swear I never drank coffee until college.

Kitty is a Starbucks gal and has saved a very large quantity of cups for me to draw on. But she indulges my taste when we emerge into the neighborhood of button shops and fabric emporia. We sample New York Lunchbox on 36th between 7th and 8th, a Kosher family business open less than a year. We admire the green glass wall tiles and the dark blue ceiling and Grace enjoys two orders of Sushi, but the espresso machine is broken  and the brewed Lavazza coffee tepid.

We try again closer to home, turning in at New York Gourmet Marketplace on the corner of 43rd and 8th (no website!). Grace sits down in the window right next to a man in MTA uniform. He is wearing the largest digital wristwatch I have ever seen and is diligently writing numbers in a notebook as he  checks the time-keeping of buses going up 8th avenue. Grace is fascinated by the crackle from his two way radio.

This spotless eatery is another family-run business, open since September, and caters largely to Times Square tourists.  My decaf latte comes from one of those pre-programmed machines which the New York Times coffee article decried, but it is delicious to me at the end of a complicated afternoon. Grace wants to know how my coffee is. I consider giving her a taste. Instead I try the frozen yogurt which she is offering me on a plastic spoon.

Guest Cup of the Day

Rose Teacup Fairy by Kitty Leech

Gouache on paper