Excursion to Washington Heights

Armed with a March 25th NY Times article, Paula and I took a ride on the C train to 163rd Street, to find some of those hidden gems mentioned by the author. The first was a pleasant surprise. Right next to the C-Town supermarket is a lovely stone staircase. We climbed the stairs to the cobblestone street of Sylvan Terrace, to see the beautiful painted wood row houses emerge. It was like going back in time.

Continuing with the directions we passed the Morris-Jumel Mansion, Manhattan's oldest house, built in 1765 as a summer country escape from Downtown. It is famous for the fact that George Washington spent five weeks here during the Revolution, in an octagonal room on the second floor from where he could see the British Navy ships in the harbor. I guess it is true that Washington got around!

We then walked the High Bridge and Aqueduct Trail. It is a recently paved bike and foot path above the Harlem river and runs from 165th street to the High Bridge entrance, which I believe is around 175th street. It is a beautiful tree-lined path. At the end of the trail we climbed the stairs to Highbridge Park and its water tower, a bit of a feat for the two of us, since we haven't been exercising. Before the climb I took some photos of the bridge and the traffic on the Harlem River Drive.



It was well worth the trip. My only regret is that we didn't stop at the Carrot Top Pastries at 3931 Broadway. According to the article, the owner began baking carrot cakes for prisoners in the 1970s and now bakes about a thousand carrot muffins every day between this shop and the one in the Bronx. Guess I'll save that for next time!

How to translate our vision...

I love the friendship of this group. We all seem to be in love with the creative aspects of life. Our last show together at St. Francis College in Brooklyn was wonderful. The gallery room at the college was such that our individual styles stood out.

This journal is pushing us to find new ways to translate our vision. I'm a mother and a grandmother and my emotions are tied up on that plane but I'm also an individual who seeks creativity.

With color my passion and snow covering New York City this week I found a way to put color in my photos.

Women And Suffering

A woman author who I love to read is Isabel Allende. Her words in the book "My Invented Country" had a particular appeal to me and influenced the image shown here:

The world is a vale of tears that we come here only to suffer.

Talking about Chilean women (to me it means most Catholic-bred women):

Most are martyrs by vocation: they are the first up to wait on their families and the last to go to bed; they take pride in suffering and sacrificing. They sigh and weep with great gusto as they tell one another the stories of abuse from husband and children!

Women and their Mothers

The writer Louise Erdrich, wrote an interesting passage in her book "The Painted Drum" about the relationship between the mother daughter characters. I could relate to this. I want to make an image to go with these words and will be working on it.

It is difficult for a woman to admit that she gets along with her own mother-somehow it seems a form of betrayal, at least, it used to among women of my generation. To join in the company of women, to be adults, we go through a period of proudly boasting of having survived our mother's indifference, anger, overpowering love, the burden of her pain, her tendency to drink or teetotal, her warmth or coldness, praise or criticism, sexual confusions or embarrassing clarity. It isn't enough that she sweat, labored, bore her daughters howling or under total anesthesia or both. No. She must be responsible for our psychic weaknesses the rest of her life. It is all right to feel kinship with your father, to forgive. We all know that. But your mother is held to a standard so exacting that it has no principles. She simply must be to blame.

From the series "Chinoiserie"

I've attached photos from my "Chinoiserie" collection.
Rebecca Swanson

The journey begins.....

Today, we had a breakthrough lunch meeting. After working together for nearly 9 years, we decided to start a journal to document our journey to finding a cohesive theme for our work.