The Season of Transition
A page from our October notebook – New York, 2020
Memory Maps Transitions & Third Places
October, 2020
interstice — n. 1. an intervening space. 2. a small or narrow space between things or parts; small chink, crevice, or opening. Latin: space between. —interstitial adj.
What a strange year it has been for our diverse team of creatives—many of us still here in New York, others now scattered across the country. We come together (virtually) to reflect on the sounds, scents, and cultures that remind us of our homebase in the Lower East Side, while sharing stories and new discoveries found elsewhere…
Change is all around us. Bars have become general stores, hotels transformed into co-working spaces, and independent boutiques are now local polling sites. Our downtown streets, boarded up this spring, came alive in the summer revitalized with street art, musicians and outdoor dining, reminiscent of an endless street fair.
We are in a state of transition, in-between the old and the new, changing the way we interact with one another, socialize, communicate and think. Living through this state of flux has not been easy, but as nostalgic as we are for the “good old days” we are also inspired by the transformation we’ve witnessed in our chosen communities, our cities, and ourselves.
Photo by Annie Wermiel / New York Post
Places We’ve Called Home
- New York City
- Berkeley, CA
- Dallas, TX
- Philadelphia, PA
- Blue Ridge Mountains, NC
- Los Angeles, CA
- Brooklyn, NY
- Washington, D.C.
- Atlanta, GA
- Chicago, IL
- Phoenix, AZ
- San Francisco, CA
- Old Saybrook, CT
- Westerly, RI
“I studied drawing and painting and we were encouraged to use whatever we could find. Since we didn’t have anything to work with, we worked with the leaves which were plentiful in North Carolina, the wild leaves. The dogwood leaves turned a brilliant red when the frost came.” — Ruth Asawa
Local Artists, Makers & Muses
Artists on our radar embracing sustainability, natural processes, and memory mapping.
Miya Ando: Calendar of Moons
Miya Ando—Mixed-Media Artist
In the early stages of lockdown, the New York- and Los Angeles-based artist Miya Ando immersed herself in an investigation of indigo, which she’s used to create a series of moon drawings based on her observations of the night sky. She produced one every day of the closure as a way to mark time and chronicle the experience. The drawings inspired an entirely new body of work, including the piece pictured here.
Adam Pogue: Samplers (Untitled)
Adam Pogue—Textile Artist
For the textile artist Adam Pogue, necessity has always bred invention. “I didn’t have money, and I wanted to decorate my place,” he says, so Pogue, 41, began crafting things for his Los Angeles apartment, upholstering a sofa in a Japanese boro-style hodgepodge of thrifted denim, knotting a rag rug for the floor and making curtains to use as room dividers.
Excerpt from New York Times, “An Eclectic German Getaway, Utilitarian Fall Boots and More”
Janaki Larsen: Cobalt Earthenware
Janaki Larsen—Ceramicist & Restaurateur
Janaki was raised amongst a community of artists in Alberta and on BC’s Salt Spring Island. Hanging out in studios and absorbing conversations on the politics of making art, she grew up believing everyone was an artist. It was while completing her studies at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (1995–1999), in making ceramic bowls required for an installation piece, that her chosen craft was confirmed.
Janaki also founded the lovely restaurant Le Marché St George in Vancouver, BC and has supplied beautiful serving vessels for Noma, in Copenhagen.
“I love dirt. Everything about it, the colors, the smell, the feel. It wasn’t the academic aspect of art that really interested me, I just wanted to make things.” — Janaki Larsen
Kristin Texeira: Industry City, ‘Assemblage’ (2019)
Kristin Texeira—Painter, Mixed-Media
“I paint to provide proof—for myself and others—of existing in certain moments in time. I paint to capture, document, and preserve memories. I translate the essence of moments through color by mixing up the poetics of people and places. I retell stories through various methods of mark-making using paint, collage, sketching and writing. This process preserves memories as tangible ‘maps.’ I often juxtapose these memory maps with short captions that form the foundation for the colors I mix.” — Kristin Texeira
BODE Store by Green River Project, Lower East Side, NYC (Photo by William Jess Laird)
Emily Adam Bode—Fashion Designer (one of our our Neighborhood Heros)
“It starts with the fact that sustainability doesn’t mean what you think it means,” she sighs. “People love using that word, but look: sustainability doesn’t mean you’re making new clothes out of new fabric, even if that fabric is easier on the environment. If you’re over-producing clothes you can’t sell, even if they’re made from eco-friendly fabrics, then guess what? It’s not sustainable! And maybe you’re not even looking towards the communities you affect with your production. Maybe the fabric is sustainable but the way you treat people or the way you run your facility is toxic. And I know it’s complex. I know we still have to sell things.”
Excerpt from Elle Magazine, “Emily Bode is Going to Change How You Shop”
In Our Lives: Objects, Artifacts, Momentos
Jakub Alexander: Cast
“Keeping mementos, creating pictures, diaries and other autobiographical representations of experiences are important practices for preserving precious memories. The current shift from physical mementos to digital collections is impacting people’s practice of self-reflection and self-representation.”
Thudt, A., Baur, D., Huron, S., & Carpendale, S. (2016). Visual Mementos: Reflecting Memories with Personal Data. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 22(1), 369-378. doi:10.1109/tvcg.2015.2467831
Left: Photo by Best Ceramics
Photo by Adventures in Cooking
Seasonal Cravings
- Homemade Moroccan Lentil Soup, ‘Traditional Moroccan Cooking From Fez’
- Natural Wines from Ruffian or our neighborhood’s Peoples Wine and the Ten Bells
- Warm Masala Chai Lattes from Plantshed
- Lemon Semolina Olive Oil Cake by Yotam Ottolenghi
- Taiwanese Noodles and Beer from Ho Foods in the East Village, NYC
Left: Photo by Square Trade Goods, Right: Photo by Priya Means Love
Scents of a Season
- A vintage leather jacket on the first cool morning of fall
- Hayride (Organic Perfume) from Baltimore alchemist called ‘Priya Means Love’, smells like a warm, peaty Scotch Whisky sipped on a crisp evening around a campfire
- ‘Big Sur’ cedar-scented incense cones by Square Trade Goods
Source Unknown
Pages We’ve Turned
- How to be an Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi
- Just Kids by Patti Smith
- 20 Minutes in Manhattan by Micheal Sorkin
- We Should All be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
- The Atlantic
- The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
- Anything recommended by Jackson McNalley or the Strand (our local NYC bookshops)
The Temple of Dendur at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, photo by Lauren Bearfield
Places and Spaces
- Opening Night of the Met for it’s new Fall Exhibits followed by cocktails at Bemelman’s Bar in the Carlyle Hotel
- Apple picking in the Hudson Valley
- Dog parks with friends and furry ones
- Community centers for CSA pickups and neighborly connections
- Washington Square Park to sketch all of the new NYU students socializing
- Playgrounds that allow for playtime
- Domino Park, Brooklyn
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (John Hughes)
The Holy Mountain (Alejandro Jodorowsky)
Streaming
- John Hughes films
- Nirvana music videos
- Twin Peaks by David Lynch
- The Holy Mountain by Alejandro Jodorowsky
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