The City

Yesterday, Lida and I went to NYC. One of the main reasons I do not believe that I could live on the West Coast (no matter how crafty Portland, OR is!) is that I wouldn't be able to skip over to New York. Just knowing that I can get to a show if I wanted is very important. If I had a billion dollars, I'd move to New York in a heartbeat but I think that I would really have to have a billion dollars (OK, or at least a couple million) to be happy there. Anyway, for under $25 bucks, I CAN take NJ transit to get to the city for a day:) We went to the fashion district and drooled over fabric and buttons, but were really in the market for beads and were not disappointed. I found a store with these great colored shell disks that made me want 200 in every shape and size. I restrained myself but some designs should be appearing in the shop soon.

Most importantly, I saw the Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting show at the Museum of Arts and Design. YUM. I lean towards the fiber arts, so I'm a bit biased, but I really think it's a show worth heading to NY for. They had a video of Dave Cole's Knitting Machine which I'd seen still photos of but enjoyed seeing in action. Also an incredible piece by Cal Lane which was the body of a dead car that was carved out with the most intricate lace pattern. I think it was called Lace Car Bombing...the car was pretty beat up and burned, but made entirely beautiful with this all-over lace carving. The dirt that the car was piled on had been laid down over a lace pattern, so the dirt was even mirroring the pattern on the car. I really love details like that. Another favorite installation (combining my love for biology and art, even!) was Ruth Marshall's snake skins. She knitted anatomically correct skins of every species in a particular genus of snake. ACK! I'm going nuts just thinking about it all.

GO SEE IT. 'Nuff said.