Anita and I went off to the Brooklyn Museum. We walked to Penn Station to get the subway. What a confusing system. Subway, Transit and Tracks. Even now I am not sure what the difference is. We managed to buy a ticket (no all-day rover tickets, just a return) and struggled with the ticket barrier - you need to swish the ticket through really fast (and we were too slow!). We found the train indicators confusing, as we could get a 2 or 3 train (no line names, but letters or numbers on the same coloured line) - I think the different numbers relate to the destinations. Whereas in London, a line might be named the Central, with a destination of Hainault or Epping, in New York the 2 or 3 run on the same line but with different destinations. Confusing, but a useful experience to remind me how it feels to be stranger in an unfamiliar city. Easy when you know how, but unsettling when you don't.
Then we were puzzled by the line diagram on the train. We were on a red line going to Eastern Parkway (Brooklyn Museum). But the train had a green line diagram, and the stations we stopped at seemed intermittently different to the diagram. We sat tight until we were sure we were in Brooklyn, then asked another passenger. She said there were engineering works as it was the weekend, and the train company had put different rolling stock into service on the 2/3 train service. And the next station was ours! Yippee!
Judy Chicago was wonderful. I had not realised it was a history of women from Primordal Goddess to Georgia O'Keeffe. Most of the first place settings were about generic, historically researched types, then moved on to specific people. When it was made, all but one of the people depicted were dead (Georgia O'Keeffe was still alive) so I wondered about the ethics of making work about them. I found all the artworks to be positive and respectful, but Anita loathed the depiction of vulvas in each ceramic plate and found them deeply vulgar and offensive. So where is the positioning of ethics? Did remaining family members need to give their consent (like I am doing for my samplers) or does the statement "there is no slander for the dead" apply?
I considered how to document my thoughts. Without looking at the detail of the postcards, I decided to buy the box of postcards, and stick each one on the left hand leaf of an A5 book. I made very brief notes about my thoughts on the right hand facing page, for each artwork. I was looking at what values I could see depicted, and maybe a little sketch of something in the place setting. Unfortunately when I bought the box of cards, it was only the ceramic plate/vulva that was depicted, not the textile place setting. I also bought the book (weighs a ton) - looks fantastic and should answer my many questions. As I am not American, I don't understand the symbolism behind many of the place settings. So how do you convey narrative, meaning and value in an artwork. I wanted to understand it, but was limited by lack of knowledge, and Anita was deeply offended. So how do you position your work?
I caught a couple of snatches of conversation about the artworks from a couple of guides going round. I need to go back and do a tour with a guide to get more from it. Anita won't want to come so we need a day or half day apart. I am frustrated by my lack of knowledge. I need to check the tour times, to make best use of time.
No photos as I was so busy just looking.
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| Mosiac station sign. |
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| Empire State Building as we walked back, exhausted, to the hotel |
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