Dad and Frank continue nomadically wandering the (as Frank puts it) "Holyish" Land, armed only with a sketching box and a camera

Sporadic communication these days from dad and Frank as they wander around the Golan Heights region in the north east of Israel. Frank kindly posted some more amazing photos though, and is describing this as the trip of a lifetime.

left: Frank Forrestall and Tom Forrestall looking very happy indeed.

above: Dad paints Love sculpture

below: Dad and a Henry Moore

What's Up? Inflatable fun when art joins the parade

  Max begged, I caved and I found myself on the subway, headed uptown to catch an hour of the Macy's Day parade. The payoff for me was that we arrived in time to see artist Takashi Murakami's balloon (his first) in the Macy's Day Parade yesterday. The spectacle of watching his Kakai and Kiki characters floating overhead, drifting quietly down Broadway was surreal in a Pillsbury-Doughboy-Ghostbusters-scene kind of way.  Bill Murray's line from that scene "Well there's something you don't see everyday,"sums up what's up Thanksgiving morning in NYC.

  You're gazing at a world famous familiar landscape: Times Square's north side with famous flashing coke sign, and suddenly it's obscured by a massive cartoon characther. The way-bigger-than-life scale of these floating creatures don't translate on TV, but when they loom out over and above you taking up the sky of Times Square--it's crazy dramatic---and strangely beautiful.

Max's motivation to go was a hair less artful, being currently obsessed with Victoria Justice (of show Victorious on Nickolodian) and HAD to see her sing on the Build-A-Bear float. My informing Max that she only performs in front of Macy's, which is blocked off to the general public and reserved for the company executives and their families and there was no way we would see her had zero effect. I countered with suggesting we run up, see some balloons and then go downtown and try to catch her on TV. That worked for him. We cozied ourselves up against a fence, facing uptown, on 40th street, where we could watch the balloons weave towards us down Broadway, then turn and go past us.

Past artists to have their art-balloons included in the parade have been Jeff Koons with his metallic, monochromatic blow-up bunny, based on his famous stainless steel sculpture in 2007 and Keith Haring's "Figure with a Heart" floated down the white way in 2008.

From the website Freshnessmag.com:
"The newest addition to the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year was Takashi Murakami – not only were Murakami’s Kakai and Kiki characters included in the parade, the designer himself was there, and was impossible to miss in an oversized furry flower suit – with a technicolor flower on his head, and a giant silver flower medallion on his chest. Murakami is a blue chip artist who recently took over the Palace at Versailles for a solo show – anyone who was questioning whether or not Murakami has earned a place in American pop culture, could simply look up on 7th Ave today, and see the artist’s work flying alongside Ronald McDonald."


http://www.freshnessmag.com/2010/11/26/macys-thanksgiving-day-parade-with-takashi-murakami/

Gotta love it when art shows up, in all it's overblown glory, in some unexpected places, yet in the end makes so much sense. This duo were in fine company with the Pokemon character, Pikachu, who elicited more glass-breaking shrieks from the 1000's of kids gazing upward.

above: Pikachu peeks out from behind a building.

Spidey crawls by.

--Monica Forrestall

Elisabeth Biondi of The New Yorker blogs about James Hamilton's show at KS Art

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/photobooth/2010/11/james-hamilton.html

Tom Forrestall travels (and paints) in the Holy Land

Our dear dad, Tom Forrestall is fully immersed in his 6-week trip to Israel to create a series of paintings there. My brother, Frank Forrestall, who is a film maker based in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia is along for the adventure. Frank is carefully documenting the trip in video and taking photographs with the goal of making a film about their trip and dad's experiences while painting all over this extraordinary country. Dad managed to meet up with an old friend from the Annapolis Valley, Yehuda Mitklaf.

Frank is being a big mensch (for the non-Yiddish it means a person you would be happy to befriend and associate with, because you feel genuine in their presence) for keeping the rest of the family updated with stories filtered through his hilarious take on things. His photos add to the fun of hearing of their many adventures---and misadventures (broken stool and Frank learning the fine art of haggling to buy a new one.) From ten days in Jerusalem to two excursions to the Dead Sea and Massada, the mountain in the desert, and on and on, they are both having a memorable, moving and fun time together and we are all grateful Frank was free to accompany dad on this trip.
above: Tom Forrestall paints the old city of Jerusalem. 

Tom Forrestall with the Temple Mount in the background. 

Tom Forrestall (above) painting a scene of the wandering alleyways and streets 

of the old city of Jerusalem. 

Tom Forrestall with his watercolor of the Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem. 

Frank (disguised as a native) with The Temple Mount in the background. 

The cemetary on the Mount of Olives.

The Western Wall at night. 

Ancient Hebrew tomb.

Frank shows his animators fondness for unusual sculptures.

Frank said the restaurant had a "no guns" policy. Much like umbrellas by the door, how will you remember which one is yours?

The desert view stretching out to the Dead Sea from half-way up the mountain to Masada. 

The square on the right is the remains of a Roman siege camp.

All photography taken and owned by: Frank Forrestall

-Monica Forrestall

Gallery of Rock: James Hamilton's first show of photographs of music world luminaries at KS Art

The room was packed with a downtown musicians, film makers, writers and editors on November 12th, all gathered to celebrate and pay homage to one of the (THE?) greatest documentary photographer of the American rock scene, James Hamilton who opened his first exhibition of B & W photographs of music world luminaries at KS Art in Tribeca.  This uber glam party was in conjunction with the launching of his monograph published by Ecstatic Peace Library. All of the images included in this book were edited by musician Thurston Moore, who working closely over a period of weeks with James. The exhibition was curated by Elisabeth Biondi, editor of images at The New Yorker.




The scene:

Book editor Thurston Moore chats with writer Catherine Greenman, Kim Gordon and film director Tamra Davis. 

Below: Mary Barone, Artnet writer looks at James monograph.

Kerry Schuss (left) and curator of this exhibition, New Yorker Images Editor, Elisabeth Biondi at the opening.

above: Kerry Schuss and exhibition curator Elisabeth Biondi.

---Monica Forrestall

Two Family Art Programs, Two Museums (The Whitney & MoMA), One Weekend

The take away message up front: one art workshop per weekend is plenty!

Max and I hit two last weekend, the first at The Whitney, based on Edward Hopper's show Modern Life  Saturday morning at 10:30, and then an action painting workshop inspired by the Abstract Expressionist show at MoMA on Sunday at 2:30.

The Whitney Family Art Workshop
Headed up by the bubbliest, nicest and most child-friendly art instructor of all time, Rachel, Max and I headed up to the galleries with the afore mentioned teach, and four other children (all girls) early, before the museum even opened to the public. There's a real " NY insider" feeling to having to have a security guard unlock an elevator to have it be able to stop on the floor where the exhibition is. The first painting we all gathered in front of to discuss was "Barber Shop" (1931.)

"Hopper’s 1931 Barber Shop recalls an era when—aside from the manicure girl—the barbershop was an exclusively male-dominated place. Unisex salons were nowhere to be found. A man’s hair was cut regularly and uniformly, and because few men grew beards then, shaving was a frequent routine. Barbers wore white tunic uniforms and treated their male customers with respect and formality. The barbershop was also a networking center for businessmen, particularly hotel barbershops, which tended to be the most lavish. There were face massages, treatments for baldness, nail buffing and trimming, and shoe shines."

Max paints a figure sweating in a swimming pool. 

Max with the group as they all discuss their painting. 

Max takes a good look at an exhibit of artists sketchbooks at MoMA before the workshop.

Max working on an action painting. 

Action painting based on Franz Kline painting the children analyzed in the galleries.

Altar Piece for St. Benedict's church in Halifax by Renee Forrestall

                   Renee Forrestall's altar piece at St. Ben's church in Halifax.

            

My sister Renee took on a major commission in early 2010, to do the altar piece for a new church in Clayton Park, Halifax, Nova Scotia. She has done several icon, and smaller church altar pieces in the past, but this project was her most ambitious to date. She took this on, as a collaborative project with her husband, Nick Webb who is a professor at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. Nick designed the piece, and constructed the frames then installed the piece. As Renee said, "He did all of the work, and got none of the glory." Renee chose Parousia as the theme of the multi-paneled piece, "Communion of the living and the dead." Parousia is a Greek word meaning "coming or arrival" and is often used in the New Testament to indicate the second coming of the Son of Man. In her work Renee created a six-panel work showing a communion of people both living and dead, welcoming the Son of Man. 

 Renee conceived the drawing, and did that as well as the painting. In her piece, she included many, many members of the family and friends as models for the figures. Our dear mother, Natalie LeBlanc Forrestall is in there, with her favorite pet rabbit (left) dressed in a Franciscan robe. A friend of her daughter's, Miranda is there, in a baseball hat. Her nephew Max is there. The pope, Mother Theresa and others.

"Miranda posing (below)- I drew it all in palm ashes, and charcoal I made from the Palm Sunday Palm Stalks sent from Israel. Then I sealed it in, then covered it with different iron oxide powders, erased & rubbed  with bread, sealed them in, then used pigment from all over the world - including Blues from Afghanistan," said Renee. It was done on Baltic Russian-ply. 

Renee sent me some images of the altar piece in progress, from the drawing with charcoal to the painting in, to standing the enormous panels outside in her backyard on a sunny day to see them all together. 

        Drawing that includes our mother's favorite saint, Mother Theresa.

                                               Detail of same drawing. 

  One of the right panels, Renee painted our mother in on the far left in a Franciscan robe, holding her pet rabbit. 

                                        Renee's altar piece set up in her backyard in Halifax. 
Even before this piece was finished she was commissioned to do a second piece, an Icon for the same church. 

--Monica Forrestall

The Day of the Dead or Dia de los Muertos is about honoring and remembering loved ones who have passed on

Our darling mother, here on her wedding day.

A memory of mine, I needed to make an ancient recipe for Greek history study at my school, and mom made a Bouillabaise for me to bring. It was the hit of my 7th grade class, as I explained all of the fresh seafood the Greek might have included in seafood based stews.-Monica

A memory of my brother Curphey's:
I remember the humour she maintained when dealing with idiosyncratic misbehaving. That smile, like she would be mad, if it weren't so funny.
 
Honoring mom on All Saints Day by my sister Renee:

On Nov 1st - All Saints, Day of the Dead, I was invited to speak about the Altar piece at St. Bens. Here below are some images I showed in the talk. Mom in the hospital a week before she died. I painted her into the altar piece holding her bunnikins and wearing her Fransiscan jabala. There was a gathering of about 300. I

noted how the eastern window (part of the altar piece), is in a direct line to Jerusalem. At that moment I thought of Frank and Dad over there at this time, with moms ashes. A Fransiscan brother led the prayer service, while we held candles and chanted- it was beautiful. I met a woman named Pansy who had spent an afternoon walking with mom- she came up to tell me. She was the same height as mom and had beautiful brown eyes, just like moms. God Bless, R