A Year in New England: Weekend Eight

Began our weekend on Thursday with a concert by the Farmington Valley Band in Bloomfield. It was raining, so the show was moved inside the senior center. Yes, the small band outnumbered the even smaller audience.

It was raining Friday night as well, so the Hartford Symphony concert in Simsbury was postponed until Saturday night. After a good morning of tag sales, we went to the Mark Twain House on Farmington Avenue for the ceremonial unveiling of the new Mark Twain stamp. The official unveiling was being held in Hannibal, MO, but that was no reason there should not be some recognition in Hartford, where he lived and did most of his best writing.

Governor Malloy

Governor Dannel Malloy agreed, as he attended and made some very knowledgeable remarks. Afterward, we signed up for a tour of the house and went to look at the exhibit of Norman Rockwell pictures and prints relating to Mark Twain.

Not being a fan of house tours, I was skeptical, but there were enough interesting tidbits to make it interesting, and it is a very unique place. Did you know Sam Clemens was a redhead?

That night, shortly after finishing our dinner at what is called the Talcott Mountain Music Festival in Simsbury, the Hartford Symphony began playing some Tchaikovsky. Then it began raining on and off. And then it poured.

The orchestra played for a while longer, as we ducked under umbrellas during the deluge, before stopping. While I don't think it ever completely stopped, it lightened up so the orchestra came back out and played the Hayden Trumpet Concerto. I have to say that I don't think I've heard a soloist mess this up so much since high school (apologies to Steve and Ernie). So after the rained picked up again, we decided to leave.

Drove to NYC on Sunday morning making our first stop on Riverside Drive at around East 73rd Street where we found the statue of Eleanor Roosevelt.

This statue was done by Penelope Jencks and kicked off one of our goals for the day: to see as much work by women sculptors as we could. After Mrs. Roosevelt, we found Anna Vaughn Hyatt Huntington's equestrian statue of Joan of Arc also on Riverside Drive. Copies of this piece are in San Francisco and Gloucester, MA.

Then to Frederick Douglas' statue at the corner of Central Park North by Gabriel Koren, and the bust of Golda Meir by Beatrice Goldfine on Broadway at W. 39th Street.

After visiting my Aunt Claire on East 22nd Street, we took the subway down to Bowling Green and caught a free ferry to Governor's Island. We were going for the temporary Art exhibit called Figment. What we found was a show by Mark di Suvero and an event called Jazz Age Lawn Party. What fun!

Tamimiami 2010

For Chris 1991

Fruit Loops 2003

New Beginnings 2002

Po-Um (Lyric) 2003

After a thorough tour of the island, we joined the crush returning to Manhattan and subwayed up to Central Park. One of the other missions of the day was to see the exhibition of Ai Wei Wei's Circle of Animals/Heads of the Zodiac. Currently in the Pulitzer Fountain in front of the Plaza, it will be heading out on tour in July.

Central Park is a treasure trove of sculpture by women, beginning with another by Anna Huntington of Jose Marti.

And the Angel of the Waters in the Bethesda Fountain done by Emma Stebbins in 1873.

There there was the famous Central Park Carousel. We got there just in time to listen to the old band organ play the last song of the day.

And there's always lots to look at on 5th Avenue:

Atlas by Lee Lawrie

At Dag Hammarskjold Park, along a block of West 47th Street, we found the installation done by Steinunn Thorarisndottir called Borders. I checked and that is a girl's name. This work will remain only until the end of September. There are twenty-six figures in the project.

And at the end of the plaza there is another piece done by Ulia and Gustave Kraitz. The Raoul Wallenberg memorial is on a traffic island in front of the U.N.