SHOW. A Gallery & Studio To Open Soon.

Above: Computer sketches of the proposed illuminated sign for SHOW. The "S" will blink on and off so it can be read two ways. The sign will be visible from the ferry terminal.
SHOW will open this Winter. The new gallery and studio allows for the art-making process to be viewed from the storefront windows. SHOW will feature the work of Cynthia von Buhler, Theo Dorian and other artists. SHOW will be located across from The Staten Island ferry terminal on Staten Island. Exit the ferry and walk up the steps between Borough Hall and The Courthouse. The address is 156 Stuyvesant Place. More information: 718-524-0855.

Update: Opening reception party postponed! We will be posting a new opening reception date soon.

Artist Talk at The Staten Island Museum

Show & Tell installation view.
Saturday, August 11, 2007, 1PM: Cynthia von Buhler will be giving an informal gallery talk about her work at The Staten Island Museum. This artist’s talk is part of the Artists/Ideas Series: Supported by JP Morgan Chase.

More information:
The Show & Tell exhibit runs from April 26, 2007 – September 23, 2007
Cynthia von Buhler's surreal three-dimensional works blend Renaissance inspired portraiture and messianic figures with natural objects. Her enigmatic paintings impart their meaning through symbol, design, and narrative. In von Buhler’s art, butterflies, snakes, birds, and plants are set into cages, boxes, and peepholes to serve as metaphors for the human condition. The layered gouache paintings and their sculptural, performance, and audio accoutrements are at once poignant and mischievous. Show and Tell is akin to a trip down an ornate rabbit hole. Many New Yorkers are familiar with von Buhler's interactive sculptures which have been exhibited frequently in the city. But few have seen an exhibit of her 3-d paintings, since most of these works are in private collections. Also on view will be characters from von Buhler's recent children's book, The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside (Houghton Mifflin, 2006). The museum is easily accessible from Manhattan via the Staten Island ferry which is a free twenty-minute ride, and lands across the street from the museum. A free exhibition catalog is available. Books are available for sale in the museum gift shop.

The Staten Island Museum
75 Stuyvesant Place
Staten Island, New York 10301
718.727.1135
Hours: Tuesdays - Fridays from 9AM to 5PM, Saturday 10AM - 5PM, Sunday 12PM- 5PM.
Show & Tell installation view.
This talk is included in the museum admission fee.
To find out more about Cynthia von Buhler and her work click on the article headline above.

Cat Workshop at The Staten Island Museum

Visit the elaborate Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside website by clicking on the headline above. Click on the picture above to see the image enlarged.
Saturday, August 25, 2007 at 2PM: Cynthia von Buhler will be reading her book, The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside, outloud and will give children a cat sculpture clay lesson at The Staten Island Museum. Each child will make their own clay cat like the one in the book to take home. For more information please visit The Staten Island Museum website. Copies of the children's book will be available in the museum gift shop and the author/artist will be signing them at this event. The clay workshop is $5 per child which includes museum admission and all supplies. Sculpture characters and press proofs from The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside will be on display as well as von Buhler's 3-d paintings.
A page from The Cat Who Wouldn't Come Inside.
Scroll to the blog entry below dated 6/7/07 "The Staten Island Museum Clay Cat Workshop" to find an article about a father who attended the last cat clay workshop with his son.

The Staten Island Museum
75 Stuyvesant Place
Staten Island, New York 10301
718.727.1135
Hours: Tuesdays - Fridays from 9AM to 5PM, Saturday 10AM - 5PM, Sunday 12PM- 5PM.
The museum is one block from the Staten Island ferry terminal.
Show & Tell installation view.
Show & Tell installation view.To find out more about the children's book click on the article headline above.

There's No Place Like HOME

The best view in New York City is from the lawn of Alice Austen's Clear Comfort.
HOME
Exhibit Opening * Lawn Party * Concert
Sunday, August 12, 2007
2 PM - 6 PM

An artist reception of "Home," curated by Christine Osinski.
Wine, Food & Summer Games

From The Alice Austen Museum website:
"Alice Austen was one of the first women photographers in this country to work outside the confines of a studio. She was also a realistic documentary photographer - a style of photography unusual until the 20th century. With a natural instinct for photojournalism some forty years before that word was coined, she saw the world with a clear eye and photographed the people and places in it, as they actually appeared, giving US a visual record of more than fifty years of social history."

"Clear Comfort (a.k.a. The Alice Austen House) was built in 1690. In 1844 it was purchased by John Haggerty Austen, Alice Austen's grandfather. Alice Austen herself moved there as a young girl in the late1860's with her mother, Alice Cornell Austen, after the two were abandoned by Alice's father. She went on to spend most of her life there, until financial problems and illness forced her to move in 1945. In her absence, the house fell into disrepair until a group of concerned citizens saved it from demolition in the 1960's. The house successfully gained status as a historic landmark, and was restored in the mid 1980's. It currently serves as a museum of Alice Austen's life and times."

The Alice Austen Museum, 2 Hylan Boulevard • Staten Island • NY • 10305 • (718) 816-4506

Directions:

From Manhattan by Staten Island Ferry
Subway to South Ferry (1/9), Whitehall Street (N/R), or Bowling Green Station (4/5) or bus or taxi to:
Staten Island Ferry (25 minute ride). At the ferry terminal in Staten Island #S51 Bus to Hylan Boulevard (15 minute ride). Walk one block east to water and house.

From Manhattan via Brooklyn by car
From the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel (toll) or the Brooklyn or Manhattan Bridge take the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway to the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to Staten Island (right lane on bridge). Take the first exit (after toll), "Bay Street". Continue to the end of street (School Road) then turn left onto Bay Street. Continue to Hylan Boulevard then turn right and follow street to water and house.

For more information on The Alice Austen House Museum click on the headline.

I No Longer Go To Manhattan To Eat. I Go To Enoteca Maria. A Restaurant Review by Uwe Kristen

Painting detail courtesy of Cynthia von Buhler
Every Wednesday morning Teresa drives from Staten Island to Brooklyn, to an old warehouse beknownst only to her and a handful of other adepts. The men in the building know her. Without wasting many words they load a heavy 100-lb bag on her pick-up truck. Then she drives back to Staten Island and parks the truck in front of the Enoteca Maria on Hyatt St.

In 2006 Denise and Joe, the owners of the enoteca, started placing ads in Italian-language newspapers of the New York City area, looking for Italian women with a passion for traditional Italian cooking. They were not looking for credentials from culinary institutes but for regional recipes that had been passed down through generations. After several months of test cookings they finally hired Caterina, Teresa, Nina, Patrizia and Argentina - and opened Enoteca Maria in February 2007.

The five women, who come from different regions in Italy, cook on alternating days. Thus the menu changes daily. Even the lunch menu differs from the dinner menu each day. The focaccia and pastries are made from scratch and baked fresh daily in the restaurant, a detail Denise insisted upon. After several visits to Enoteca Maria I am particularly impressed by the consistent excellent quality of the food, be it the rich Baccala, the wonderfully tender organ meats or the subtle bacon-infused risotto, which is cooked in small batches in order to retain its bite. Enoteca Maria now also offers a very interesting selection of artisanal cheeses imported from Italy.

The wine list offers almost 40 different wines, thoughtfully selected from different regions in Italy. Most of the wines are from small producers with a focus on traditional winemaking. Every wine on the list is also sold by the glass, a fine opportunity to try something new without having to order a whole bottle. And Joe takes it upon himself to ensure that all wines are served the way they should be. He slowly pours the wine into large goblets, allowing the wine to fully unfold their aromas. He slightly chills his red wines before serving them, a small but important detail since red wine all too often is served too warm. A decanter is always at hand for the likes of Barolo and other wines with a firm structure, that need to breathe for a while in order to show their full complexity. Enoteca Maria also offers a fairly extensive selection of Italian beers.

The idea of bringing genuine Italian cooking from different regions into one small restaurant is a wonderful concept. Once I tasted Teresa'a apple pie I began to understand why she drives her truck to Brooklyn every Wednesday. Not that Enoteca's flour is of inferior quality. But she insists on using the flour that her mother and grandmother have used before her. The crust of the pie is so heavenly flavourful that I picked every single crumb that was left on my plate while sipping the amber-colored Vin Santo at the end of my deeply satisfying meal. And I didn't even have to take the ferry afterwards to get home.

Enoteca Maria
27 Hyatt St.
St. George, Staten Island
Open Monday through Saturday
www.enotecamaria.com - Click on the article headline for a direct link to this site.

This restaurant review was sent to Prodigal Borough by Uwe Kristen. Thank you Uwe!