I’m back in New York, safe and sound, after a lovely week of work in La Jolla, California. One of my roles at the symposium was to lead fifty academics in an ice breaker– you’ll be happy to learn that I utilized a reproduction of Vermeer’s Woman Holding a Balance as the focal point of my ice breaking exercise, creating a comfortable and dynamic environment by having each person state a personal observation about the work. And it worked like a charm.
La Jolla is simply beautiful, and culturally superior to downtown San Diego. You can engage any of the town’s residents in conversation by asking their opinion on the decades-long feud between moms and environmentalists in a no holds barred public policy fight between swimming children and sunbathing seals. I heart seals a bit more.
It’s worth stopping by the small Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, La Jolla. One of the institution’s semi-recent acquisitions is a hefty, lovely sculpture by Nancy Rubins (my picture above). Here is the Museum’s brief description:
Nancy Rubins transforms discarded, everday objects into innovative monumental sculpture. In Pleasure Point, an arc of salvaged vessels projects from the Museum’s La Jolla exterior toward the shores of the Pacific Ocean. Rubins has described her works as drawings in three dimensions; suspending the weathered boats in the air, she gives them graceful, dramatic form.
I’m staying put in NYC until the end of next week, when I head to Chicago (home of my favorite female rapper, Kid Sister!) for a four-day conference. If you live there, be a doll and let me know if there are any current must-see exhibits.
