Category: New York

Staten Island Ferry

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For those of us who live and work in Manhattan and don’t have to commute, a boat trip to Staten Island is one of those short cruises one usually reserves for visiting family or friends: it is free, runs on a 24/7 basis, offers dreamy vistas of Manhattan, New York harbour and the Statue of Liberty – and is totally fun!

The ferry departs from Whitehall Terminal at the southernmost tip of Manhattan and the crossing to Staten Island takes about 25 minutes. If you do not plan to explore Staten Island itself, you can just line up for the next ferry back and continue on foot along the Battery Park Esplanade for even more gorgeous views.

July 1st, 2017

Cityscapes || Dancing in the streets

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1/Two Bridges
Sculpture: “5 in 1”, 1973-74, Tony Rosenthal. On permanent display at One Police Plaza, it consists of five interlocking discs which represent the interconnectedness of the City’s Five Boroughs, Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island.

2-3-4-5-6/Financial district
Sculpture: ”Untitled, (Two Dancing Figures)”, 1989, Keith Haring. On display in 17 State St.

July 1st, 2017

Defiant

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”Fearless Girl” by Kristen Visbal.

After facing Wall Street’s ”Charging Bull” for about a year, it was decided that she be moved to her permanent spot, facing the New York Stock Exchange. Actually, the ”Charging Bull” was also supposed to have been moved with her, but I haven’t been in the area in a while to see what happened.

July 1st, 2017

summer of mischief

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there were turtles and peacocks and ethereal angels,
a huge creepy face and menacing eagles,
smiling piglets and playful hounds,
proud looking stags and graceful felines –

all kinds of furry, feathered and mischievous creatures
dancing and stalking and flying –
sweeping across from wall to sacred wall
of one of the world’s largest cathedrals ”Ursus”, Dan Ostermiller

‘‘Sun Face”, full scale production section by Greg Wyatt, Plaster cast

”River Mates”, Tim Cherry

”Circle of Friends”, Gary Lee Price

”Trouble”, Bob Guelich

”Eagle Rock”, Kent Ullberg

”Peacocks”, Dan Chen

”Stella”, André Harvey

”High Four” and ”Tickled”, Louise Peterson

”Two Peacocks”, Greg Wyatt

”Hope”, Elwira Jarecka, La Guardia Community College

”Hidden Behind”, Chitra Mamidela, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

”Scottish Stag”, Wesley Wofford

”Top Gun”, Stefan Savides

”Wild Instinct”, Joshua Tobey

A Summer of Sculpture was an exhibition that featured Cathedral Artist in Residence Greg Wyatt’s Peace Fountain and Animals of Freedom; A Blessing of Animals, curated by the National Sculpture Society; and the Art Students League of New York’s Model to Monument Retrospective. It ran in the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, until September 2017.

June 29th, 2017

Bear in mind

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They come in peace

1/Installation courtesy of Q Florist
2/”Ursus”, the gigantic bronze sculpture by Dan Ostermiller was inviting visitors to cross the monumental entrance of St. John the Divine Cathedral. Inside, more wild creatures had taken their places all over the Cathedral in celebration of ”A Summer of Sculpture” – an exhibition that ran through September 2017.

More photos from ”A Summer of Sculpture” coming up tomorrow.

June 29th, 2017

Do not go gentle into that good night

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Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Dylan Thomas

June 25th, 2017

Smaller bites

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Feed them if you must, but tread carefully! Feeding turtles in the mouth is a very bad idea…

It isn’t clearly visible in the photo (low resolution), but there is quite a lot of blood dripping from the man’s finger; he’s just been bitten by the turtle who -surprise- mistook it for food. Totally unintentional but no less painful! 

The man didn’t seem to mind too much but I silently hoped, for his sake, that he would look into some tetanus shots possibilities…

Adventures @ The Turtle Pond, Central Park

June 24th, 2017

Spotted: The ‘real’ Daily Planet

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We were on our way back from a lunch break when my co-worker, who had been in the City much longer than I, pulled me aside:

”Wait, have you seen this?” ”C’mon, you’ll love it!”

In, he dragged me, through a revolving door and before I knew it I was facing a giant revolving globe amidst a stunning art deco interior with just a touch of brass, as if Jules Verne had walked by and left his mark, and I could hardly contain my excitement. For the lobby we had walked into belongs to The Daily News Building, the iconic skyscraper built in 1929–1930 to become the headquarters of the New York Daily News paper, up until the mid 1990s. But it gets better: this, as I discovered by looking at the photographs on the wall, was the very building that served as the offices of the ”Daily Planet”, the newspaper where none other than Clark Kent and Lois Lane, played by Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder, worked as reporters in the 1978 Superman and its 1980 sequel.

I am still in awe!

Today the New York Daily News has moved on but the building is still home to its broadcast subsidiary WPIX.

The News Building was designed by architects Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells, in the Art Deco style. Other Art Deco designs by the same architects include: the American Radiator Building, Rockefeller Center (Hood) and McGraw-Hill Building (Hood).

The News Building
42nd St., between 2nd & 3rd Avenues

June 22nd, 2017