Savor Dallas 2010

This March marked the Sixth Annual Savor Dallas wine tasting event. I got the opportunity to attent the Arts District Wine Stroll on Friday night, the Reserve Tasting and International Grand Tasting on Saturday.

Each of the differnt events hosted amazing wine and food, but my favorite event was the Arts District Wine Stroll. Good friends, great food, great wine, and Picasso...it doesn't get any better than that for me! Savor Dallas participants got to sample world-class wines and light hors d'oeurves inside the beautiful setttings of the Meyerson Symphony Center, Nasher Sculpture Garden, Winspear Opera House and Wyly Theatre. Thanks to all the amazing improvements that have been made to Dallas Arts District in the last few years, you actually can "stroll" in downtown! All the Savor Dallas 2010 events were first class and I look forward to attending again in 2011.

The Rachofsky House

Last Thursday my History of Architecture II class took a field trip to the Rachofsky House off Preston Road in Dallas. The 10,000 sq. ft. house was designed by architect Richard Meier (hmm wonder if we're related!) and completed in 1996. It was built as a private residence for the Roachofskys, they still use it as a vacation home, but it now also serves as a gallery space for their extensive art collection and is open for the public to tour.

Our tour guide told us to think of the house as part of a 3-dimensional grid, the grid is visible on the exterior of the house. As you enter the house you see rooms that appear to be floating arbitrarily in space, but they are actually all part of the 3-D grid that the house is organized on. Each space within the 3 story house is custom designed for its purpose; the large open gallery space at the entrance sits in opposition to the intimate living areas with lower ceilings. The house was designed to optimize the picturesque landscaping of the property. In addition to the architecture we looked at the art collection in the house, many of the pieces had humorous elements to them, there was sculpture, photography, paintings and some artistic video pieces. As a whole the trip was very enjoyable, it didn't hurt that it was a beautiful day-80 degrees in March!

This art piece is a baby crib made completely of glass. Silence by Mona Hatoum. This piece like a lot of the others has a kind of dark or morbid feeling. I think the artist may be making a statement about the fragility of life, infants in particular. And the name "Silence" only ellaborates on that idea.

As you can see some areas are open to all 3 floors.

This is a painting by Anselm Kiefer, I love the classical architecture of this painting in such a modern house, and the texture is great!

Here you can see some of my classmates in the dining room.

This little guy is great, he bangs his head against the bell every 10 minutes, it's super loud! This is Attempt to Raise Hell, 1969 by Dennis Oppenheim.

Believe it or not behind that white wall is Preston Road! You would never know that this jewel of art and architecture was here.

This is the back of the Rachofsky House.

Me at the Rachofsky House.

THE IMPRESSIONISTS

MASTER PAINTINGS FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO

JUNE 29 - NOVEMBER 2

We saw this show at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Yes we drove to Fort Worth, and we stood in the longest line in the world because we waited to the second to last weekend to see it...but hey it was easier than going to see these works when they go back home to Chicago (although Chicago would have been more fun!)

In Pursuit of the Masters: Stories from the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection

September 20, 2008 – January 4, 2009

To mark its 5th anniversary, the Nasher Sculpture Center will mount an exhibition in celebration of its founders. In Pursuit of the Masters: Stories from the Raymond and Patsy Nasher Collection presents a personalized and intimate view of the Nasher Collection and the couple that assembled it.

• My husband John and I went to see this exhibit last week. I strongly recommend it not only because it features works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Paul Gauguin, Andy Warhol and many more, but you will also gain an understanding of the impact the Nashers have made on the world of art collecting and on the city of Dallas...not to mention the beautiful sculpture garden!

Some of the outstanding features to me were the Nasher's collection of works by Alberto Giacometti and of course my favorite piece in the Nasher collection, Hammering Man by Jonathan Borofsky (pictured to the right). This work has special meaning for me; as a little girl my mother and I would take special trips to North Park Mall and have lunch at the Little Mermaid Cafe in Neiman Marcus. Borofsky's Hammering Men are familiar figures to anyone who frequents North Park, I adored them as a child and do to this day. But you must see them in person to get the full effect, moving parts and all.

Magnolia (18'' x 24'')

My last apartment in Uptown had magnolia trees all around it and they really inspired this painting.

Waterlilies (18'' x 24'')

I loved doing this painting so much, I want to do a larger version.

Village on a Hillside (8'' x 10'')

This is a view of a village in Italy. I wish we had cypress trees in Texas!