Must See Museums: Italy in NYC

I won't make it to Italy again before the end of the year, but I will be headed to New York City, and I will head straight to the Metropolitan Museum of Art .  This fall the Met features several exhibits that bring a little bit of Italy to NYC just in time for the holidays:

Now through December 14
We so often think of Italian Renaissance artists and the Baroque forgetting that Italy continues to give the world great artists like Giorgio Morandi.  Morandi painted landscapes and still-lifes, but in his later years his work became more and more abstract.

November 18, 2008 - February 16, 2009
But perhaps you are longing for the Italian Renaissance?  The Met promises an exhibit of sensuality, love, marriage, and seduction.  Featuring jewelry and portraits, glassware and birth trays, as well as "drawings and prints of amorous subjects" Art and Love in Renaissance Italy promises to be a sweet Valentine no matter when you go to see it.  

November 25, 2008 - April 12, 2009
Not all that long ago, literacy was an expensive luxury.
"To illustrate the dramatic impact of the printing press, consider this:  forty-five scribs could, under ideal conditions, produce a maximum of one hundred manuscripts in a one-year period.  The first printing press in Rome, run by two Germans, Sweynheym and Pannartz, printed twelve thousand books in its first five years of production.  By the 1480s, there were more than one hundred presses in Italy."
On one of my first trips to Florence I was stunned to see an illuminated manuscript -- gorgeous and detailed -- that had been horribly damaged in Florence's flood of 1966.  Imagine the hours of labor that had been simply washed away!  The Met's exhibit of Italian Choir Books focuses on music books -- all hand-copied and beautifully illustrated.  It is a profound reminder of the expense and luxury of literacy before the invention of the printing press.
November 25, 2008 - January, 6, 2009
Regardless of your holiday traditions, I urge you to go see the Met's Christmas Tree and the Neapolitan Baroque Creche .  Italians have a rich tradition of beautiful creches.  In fact, during the Christmas season places like Piazza Navona are filled with stalls, each selling individual pieces for creches from the Holy Family and the traditional donkeys to tiny baskets of fish and teeny ducks.  The Met's creche is from the eighteenth century.  It is truly beautiful!

And while you are in New York, I'll remind you about one more exhibit:  

Through January 4, 2009
The Louise and Bernard Palitz Gallery at Syracuse University's Lubin House in Manhattan has an incredible exhibit:  Michelangelo : the Man and the Myth.  You know how I feel about Michelangelo.  Well, this exhibit includes sketches, letters, and poems in his own hand.  The collection comes from Casa Buonarroti in Florence and brings a bit of the great artist to the US.  

Words in the World: Chautauqua

The Chautauqua movement is a uniquely American experience and one which shaped this country during the 19th and early 20th centuries.  Born on Chautauqua Lake in New York, the movement started as an effort to support and professionalize teaching.  It had loose connections to various Protestant denominations, but it was a largely secular movement. 

So, what happened at a Chautauqua?

Well, people got together for an extended period of time to listen to lectures and music, to watch plays and operas, to read, to discuss, and to enjoy educational activities together.  Chautauquas were often held in camp setting – something of an educational summer camp for adults.  There were hundreds of Chautauqua locations across the country, and Teddy Roosevelt once called the Chautauqua movement “the most American thing in America.”

As the car, the radio, movies and television shaped the country, the Chautauqua movement faded away.

However, there are still several places in the US that preserve the Chautauqua spirit.  Prime among them:  the Colorado Chautauqua in Boulder, Colorado.  Last weekend I stayed at the Colorado Chautauqua , a National Historic Landmark at the base of the Flatiron Mountains.  It was lovely!  I was not there for a Chautauqua event, though there are many there throughout the year.  But our little two bedroom, one bathroom cottage was cozy and comfortable – a great place for a long weekend away.   It was clean, tidy, and had a nicely furnished kitchen as well as a great screened-in porch. The cottages range in size from an efficiency to three bedrooms.  Additionally, there are two larger lodges on the grounds. 

Within the park there is an Auditorium which is included on the National Register of Historic Places.  Additionally, the Dining Hall is open all year and serves delicious meals at reasonable prices. 

The lodging can be hard to come by, so make your reservations early.  Information about reservations as well as a calendar of upcoming events can be found on the Colorado Chautauqua National Historic Landmark website. 

There are other places in the country that carry on the Chautauqua spirit.  Have you ever been to a Chautauqua? 

I Heart... Followers

Do you Follow ?  Until a few weeks ago, I didn't.  Now I do. And I am delighted to be a leader in Following !

Google has created a new feature for iGoogle users called "Following."  It is a VERY easy way to keep up with your favorite blogs, and has simplified my reading life significantly.

I used to subscribe to blogs via email and rss feeds.  That was great, but my list of blogs to follow keeps getting longer and longer --and I found I was missing some of the best posts.  Those methods became quite cumbersome.

Enter Following .

Now on my Blogger dashboard I have a handy list of blogs which I am Following (as of today:  33 different blogs).  I can keep tabs on which blogs are updated and even get a snippet of the blog post to see if it is something which interests me.  I love it!  And the blogs do not have to be Blogger blogs -- you can Follow any platform.  For those of you who I am following, I am reading much more of your work!  Well done!

And because I am really busy, it is important for me to stay up-to-date without much effort or energy.  Following has allowed me to do that much more easily!

To start following:  click "Follow this Blog" in the sidebar.  You can choose to follow publicly -- everyone will know that you do -- or privately (you will be the only one in the know).  

Follow me and learn how to Follow .  If you have a blog, invite your readers to do the same!  Heck!  You might have Followers of your own and not even know it yet!