Tag Archives: Rye Arts Center

Tough Choices

  It’s going to be a tough choice no matter how you slice it. No, I’m not talking about the election. I’m talking about the weekend. Jazz Fest is sizzling this weekend in White Plains with a terrific line-up of musicians from Brazil, Africa and New Orleans. Two outstanding evenings are Friday with the Gary Smulyan […]

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The Queen of Collage

Ann Ladd is known around our digs as the Queen of Collage.  That’s because she trolls her White Plains neighborhood for what she calls “bits and pieces” that she turns into works of art. Recently, her work was on view at my local Chappaqua Library, in a show curated by artist Larry D’Amico who keeps […]

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What’s in a Life?

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What’s in a life?  Last weekend, friends and relatives gathered at separate memorial services to honor and celebrate two artists whose lives resonated widely, but ended too soon. Artists have a way of building our engagement by presenting us with ideas and new ways to think about things. Their messages live on through their work […]

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Let’s Talk

Like Ed Koch, I frequently ask the question, “How’re we doing?” Mine is not a personal question, not quite a global one, but more or less a national one. My yardstick is more moral than monetary. I tend to fall back on President Kennedy’s standard that, “This country cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor.” […]

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Nature is Art

Beauty, we are told, is in the eye of the beholder. So for some beauty is a sunset.  For others, it’s a sports car or a diamond.  For Robert Wiener, Chairman of Maxx Properties and ArtsWestchester board member, beauty is a geode.  For more than 40 years, Wiener has been collecting geodes, some 2,000 of […]

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Swimming Upstream

How is an artist like a salmon? Well, they are both used to swimming upstream. Artists work hard to get their work out there, building a following and an impressive resume so that people get comfortable with their track record.  Perhaps the public’s theory is that if an artist is “known,” he/she must be good.  […]

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