Tag Archives: Out and About

Escape Plan

February 17, 2012UncategorizedOut and AboutMrs. Blandings

For the last few days my brain has been spinning. Do. Don’t. Good idea, bad idea. This. That. Finally, this afternoon, I said, “Enough,” and rose from my desk. I escaped to the Nelson. I had not visited the Chinese Galleries since they reopened. Honestly, I don’t know them that well as I tend to circle my favorites again and again. But, I started on the first floor. I wanted to go back to see the miniatures, which reside at the end of this very severe hall.

To my delight a small collection of Josef Albers’s pieces awaited me, cheerful with their surprise.

We promised to meet again soon.

I had been a few weeks ago with my middle son and we fortuitously skipped into sculpture. Reviewing today’s visit it seemed to be mostly about squares.

So intent had I been on the exhibits in the past, that I had never before noticed the beauty of this gallery. One of the few rooms without a bench, I wanted to sit on the floor to enjoy it. I did not. I am too conventional.

But I did walk away reassured that sometimes the best things come without planning.

I did not have my camera and took these with my phone. I was pretty darned pleased.

Dim Sum

December 6, 2011UncategorizedOut and AboutMrs. Blandings

In New York to attend the celebration of the New AD100, I found myself with a pretty swell dress and pretty tired stockings so I cut a quick path to Bergdorf’s.

Descending the escalator, I was dropped into cosmetics where I felt like an unsuspecting tourist in a 19th century opium den. I tried to keep my head up and avoid eye contact, but my naked lips advertised my naiveté and the calls for “make-up freshen” and “free gift” came fast and furious.

A bolder soul stepped directly in my path. “I need to show you something,” she said as she grasped my right hand. She never broke eye contact as she held my fingers in hers, eased some elixer from a bottle and rubbed it on the back of my hand. My bare lips forgotten, I stared at the raised veins and sunspots of my long and well-baked skin. She swirled the creamy substance in circles, pausing only briefly to hold her fingers just under my nose, “See,”she reassured, “there’s no scent. And see?” she coaxed,” the redness is gone, the spots are gone. It’s like porcelain. You wouldn’t even need foundation. Now, let’s step over here…” she lured.

Unable to break her gaze, I carefully extracted my now flawless paw from her grasp. Anything this wonderful, I knew would be dear; worse, it could be addictive. Forty dollars for tights suddenly seemed reasonable and I stuck with a vice I knew.

I backed away, apologized profusely and made a clean escape. And hoped for dim lighting at the event.

The January issue of AD is on newsstands now. Pick it up to see beautiful rooms by: Bunny Williams, top, photography by Pieter Estersohn, produced by Howard Christian; Stephen Sills, next, photography by Francois Halard, produced by Robert Rufino; and, Daniel Romualdez, photography by Roger Davies, produced by Carolina Irving, styled by Robert Rufino. The New AD100 list can also be found here.

Images from the event at the Guggenheim of the Maurizio Cattelan installation and Architectural Digest Editor-in-Chief, Margaret Russell, courtesy of Lee Mindel.

Shopping the Show with Charlotte

December 5, 2011UncategorizedOut and AboutMrs. Blandings

Sketch by Raymond Espinasse, Soloman Suchard Antiques and Fine Art, Shaker Heights, OH.

In September, I attended the Lauritzen Garden Antique Show in Omaha, Nebraska. The fundraiser was founded by Mary Seina and the late Kim Lauritzen. “It was partly thanks to John Roselli. We were in his shop [Treillage in New York] and he said, ‘You should go to the Brooklyn Show,'” remembers Seina.

Tortoise Dressing Mirror, Sallea Antiques, New Canaan, CT.

After visiting the New York Botanical Garden’s Antique Garden Furniture Show, Seina and Lauritzen decided that they needed to something similar in Omaha, a city long on interest, resources and taste, but short on antique shops.

Tiffany Bamboo Tea Service, Atlanta Silver and Antiques

Aiming to attract top national dealers, the pair figured the best way to get the dealers’ attention was to buy from them.

Cane Folding Garden Chairs, Linda Pearce, Kansas City, MO.

“It turned out to be an expensive project,” notes Seina. But it worked.

Leeds Pottery Horse, Earle Vandekar, Maryknoll, NY.

These were some of my favorite pieces.

Pair of Venetian mirrors, Anthony Armand Scornavacco, Minneapolis MN

Click over to Architectural Digest to see some of the things that Charlotte Moss pointed out and pick up some tips on shopping antique shows.

All images my own except the last which is via AD from Lauritzen Gardens.

Out and About – Pear Tree

November 7, 2011UncategorizedOut and AboutMrs. Blandings

If you would rather stand barefooted on the cool, textured tile and admire a crisp collection

than empty your purse for a pair of matching shoes

then you are in luck. Pear Tree Design and Antiques has received their shipment, including the most delightful blue and white porcelain.

Call or stop in:

Pear Tree Design and Antiques

313 East 55th Street

816-333-2100

Images, top, Oliver Messel: In the Theatre of Design, edited by Thomas Messel, Rizzoli New York, 2011, photography Derry Moore. The two images bottom are my own; click on them to see them larger.

New Heights

October 4, 2011UncategorizedOut and AboutMrs. Blandings

A reader recently asked me about the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts. In case you are out of the loops Kansas City, performing arts and architecture, the Center, designed by Moshe Safdie, is the recently completed home of our symphony, ballet and a venue for a variety of performing arts organizations in town.

Mr. Blandings and I took a hard hat tour last Fall and the space is remarkable.

I was working at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation when his widow, Muriel McBrien Kauffman, began to envision this project.

While Mrs. Kauffman’s foundation could have absorbed much of the original projected costs of the building, the trustees felt it was significant that the community feel that the Center was its own. It is a testament to their leadership that it was built with private funds and the city has embraced it so completely.

Opening weekend was a few weeks ago with loads of hoopla, though Bill and I did not attend. I am taking our middle son to see Tom Sawyer next week and am filled with anticipation for the performance, but also with seeing the ballet, and the building, through 11-year-old eyes.

Seriously, you cannot take a bad picture of this remarkable structure; it soars. For more information on the Kauffman Center click here; to purchase tickets to Tom Sawyer, a new ballet choreographed by William Whitener, music by Maury Yeston, click here. To see a terrific slideshow of the space with images by Paul Warchol (including this one) at ArchDigest.com click here. All other images my own.