I was shopping at IKEA the other day, and I saw the “Wrapping Table” below. The strips hanging from the ceiling are ribbons that you can use to wrap the packages on the table on the right.

It reminded me of the “Wall” piece by Rachel Welty, currently displayed at the ICA. A series of128,000 silver twist ties hangs from the ceiling in a 2 foot by 4 foot block, to create a sculpture that looks impressive but is made of cheap material; it seems like a solid silver mass, but yields with the slightest wind.

It makes a nice contrast with “two page spread,” one of a series of walls using twist-ties she’s collected over the years. The same material of twist ties, formed into two very different pieces of contemporary art.

More of Rachel Perry Welty’s can be found at her web site, at www.rachelperrywelty.com. She seems to specialize in taking everyday items and transforming them into works of art, using an almost obsessive manner of assembling them. Just observe “208,896 loaves,” made of individual bread tags.

As a final note on the Foster Prize – looks like the four finalists have a friendly relationship that extends to karaoke sessions, which reflects itself when they’re interviewed together.

For the ICA’s Foster Prize finalists, it’s all about camaraderie, not competition
They aren’t the Go-Go’s, but the four finalists for the Institute of Contemporary Art’s James and Audrey Foster Prize have got the beat.

Kelly Sherman , Sheila Gallagher , Jane D. Marsching, and Rachel Perry Welty — plus a couple of friends for moral support — have gathered behind two microphones onstage at All Star Karaoke in the Milky Way Lounge . The Nickel and Dime Band strikes up “We Got the Beat.”

I must say I’m glad I attended the Foster Prize presentation at the ICA – it gave me new eyes to view contemporary art.  Hopefully the next time I visit, there will be some presentation that could be equally as interesting.

Kelly Sherman (the ICA artist whose work I blogged about) won the Foster Prize at the ICA!

Cambridge artist gets a prize

Kelly Sherman got the call Sunday. That’s when the Cambridge artist learned she had won the Institute of Contemporary Art’s $25,000 James and Audrey Foster Prize, a biennial award for a Boston-area artist. “I jumped up and down and screamed and cried,” Sherman said yesterday. “I had done a pretty good job of convincing myself that I wouldn’t get it.” For her exhibition, Sherman, 28, created “The Family House,” a work of diagrammatic drawings of her childhood home showing shifts in household arrangements caused by divorce; “Wish Lists,” an evocative collection of 40 personal wish lists gathered from the Internet; and “Chairs,” a video featuring a parade of seating items for sale on eBay. The other finalists for the ICA’s prize were Sheila Gallagher, Jane D. Marsching, and Rachel Perry Welty. The work of all four artists will be at the ICA through March 11.

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/02/13/message_in_a_ballpark/

Found a new donation booth at the St. Anthony Shrine on Arch Street in Boston.  Click “Make donation,” follow the onscreen instructions, and swipe your credit card – easy as a airplane kiosk or a CharlieCard.

Even church donations are cashless these days!

 

  

In the last episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, there was a scene between Jordan (a high-powered TV exec, recently pregnant) and a new, attractive female employee.  The scene began with Jordan insulting the woman and ended with the new employee replying, “There’s a new pretty girl in town, and she’s not pregnant.”

The scene was an unusually quick and lively break in a show that’s gotten steadily more unfunny and somewhat boring.  The romantic entanglements are convoluted and bizarre (Danny’s stalking of Jordan is more creepy than touching) and the actual skits are, if possible, much less funny than most SNL skits.

It occurred to me that Sorkin (creator and writer of Studio 60) writes best when he writes about power struggles – whether it’s a hotshot lawyer taking down a high-powered general, the machinations of life in the Oval Office, or the backstage bickerings of a television show.  His writing is snappiest when it involves verbal sparring.

When Studio 60 began I was hoping to see more of television’s backstage politics, but I think the last few episodes have been full of the kind of bizarre romantic entanglements that bogged down Sports Night.  And, while Ed Asner’s rumbling proclamations about MacAOWWW sound weighty, they don’t have the same weight as the presidential speechifying of President Bartlett.

Here’s hoping Sorkin gets more power struggles into Studio 60, and leaves the comedy and love triangles to other shows.

This editorial lists a lot of the reasons I’m a Catholic.  Here’s the full article:

What do we Catholics have to offer?
The newspapers and magazines are awash with reviews and reports on the new militant atheism that is making sport of religion and lumping Catholics in the same soup with fanatical jihadists. The message from these apostles of a godless scientism is hardly fresh, but it seems to be getting great press and a new respectability. However, once one is past their tired attacks on the concept of a God-centered universe, the writers have little to offer but a vision of human life as a brief and meaningless consciousness in an equally meaningless universe. They give us an extended echo of Thomas Hobbes’s famous description of life as “brutal, nasty, and short.”

All this media chatter, however, has started us thinking about what exactly Catholics have to offer. What is it that gives meaning to our lives? What follows is a partial list.

For openers, in direct contrast to their “harsh, cold world” viewpoint, we Catholics have a vision where every single thing in our lives is vibrant with meaning.

We Catholics have an intellectual structure that informs us about our existence and the big questions of who we are and what life’s purpose is. This theological structure can be taught to young children and can enchant the minds of our greatest intellectuals.

We Catholics have a history. We are part of a long parade of individuals marching through the centuries, trying with varying degrees of success to follow in the footsteps of our Leader.

We Catholics have these wonderful feast days, like Easter and Christmas, that with the Church’s help we can save for our children from being totally “Disney-fied.” And we have others, like the Epiphany and All Saints’ Day, which punctuate the year, give structure to the passage of time and make us rich with stories.

We Catholics have all these generous people — priests and other religious — who have dedicated their lives to helping us get through our lives.

We Catholics have a rich tableau of saints who have already gained the kingdom of heaven and who are there rooting us on. From austere mystics to social activists, from John of the Cross to Mother Teresa, together they enliven our imaginations and inspire our lives. Not just plaster saints, they are flesh and blood examples to turn to when life gets messy and ugly.

We Catholics can join together weekly and even daily with friends and strangers in the Mass and have a sense of human solidarity and shared purpose. Our individual parish communities and our feeling of connectedness to our parish community is a constant reminder of how we are connected through Christ to all the world’s people.

We Catholics have time-tested rules, like “take care of your children,” “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit” and “be honest in your dealings with others.” They point the way and save us from having to start from scratch and learn everything the hard way. Call it our Catholic moral compass.

We Catholics hold fast to a vision of the family as our primary focus and as our means to sanctity. As such, family is a metaphor for our larger connections in the world. And, therefore, we defend the family as a pillar of civilization.

We Catholics “own” a world of art treasures — paintings, sculpture, music, poetry and now film — that expands and quickens our understanding and devotion.

We Catholics have a liturgy, among humanity’s great works of art, which guides our worship and helps us reach for God.

We Catholics can travel all over the globe, be it Brazil or Thailand or Poland, and be at home at Mass with fellow worshipers.

We Catholics have a vast, institutional Church, which like us is imperfect, but mirrors our own struggle with sin and weakness and our own aspirations to fulfill the plan of the Creator.

We Catholics have a concept of work as the means of our becoming closer to God. Whether scrubbing a floor, tapping at a computer or flipping burgers, our work can be transformed into God’s work.

We Catholics have a place, a mental vantage point, from which to consider and evaluate the affairs of the world. While we are called to be good and faithful citizens, we have an identity that transcends national boundaries. As a result, we are more than just Americans or Italians or Chinese. Frightening as it is, we are each called to be a saint. We are, then, first and foremost, pilgrims seeking our true home. This identity provides a reference point for looking at the big and small events of the day.

And we Catholics have sacraments, sources of graces and blessings, which signal the key passages in our lives: birth, marriage, death. In the Eucharist, we receive into our own bodies the True Presence.

What divine gifts!

Kevin and Marilyn Ryan edited “Why I am still a Catholic” [Riverhead Books, 1998] and live in Chestnut Hill.

http://www.thebostonpilot.com/articleopinion.asp?ID=4009

My mom gave me the printed article, but I wanted to keep a “copy” here for later.