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The year 2024 started with a fine New Year's Eve gathering at Daniel and Gary's in New York City. We declared "Happy New Year" at 9 pm so we could get home before the subways got crowded and crazy. I ran into some of the other guests in Long Island City on the 30th. We were all out galleryhopping. So much for being a surprise guest on New Year's Eve.
Last year's southern road trip had been so enjoyable that I did it again. My February route south was similar, on the blue highways but quite coastal with a stop in South Carolina to see Jeanette. Then on to Florida. After visiting Elizabeth in Orlando, I headed over to Sarasota to see the Ringling Museum. There is a recent pavilion designed by Machado Silvetti with a green ceramic tile facade. Getting lost on my way north from Sarasota led to an interesting architectural treat northeast of Tampa: a pre-Vatican II chapel done up in Romanesque garb. They had a dress code for men (no jeans, no earrings) so I didn't get to see the interior. I headed north from the Gulf Coast near Tallahassee which surprised me as we got into significant hilliness soon after leaving the coast. I went pretty much straight north through west Georgia. One of the treats was Kolomoki Mounds State Historic Park, with one 56-foot-high Woodland period earthwork mound and some smaller ones, from the first millennium CE. The Columbus Museum was under renovation wraps though I did see some interesting buildings in Columbus and some art at the state university including a Bo Bartlett show. And a good used bookshop. I discovered later that I could have gone a bit east to see Warm Springs where FDR vacationed. I stopped in Sherman, Kentucky, which isn't too far from the Ark Encounter. I did look through the gate at the Ark but it's quite far from the road. Turned northeast beyond Cincinnati. Elizabeth has sold her Orlando condo so no southern road trip this winter but good memories from the last two years.
The Art Libraries Society of North America conference was held in Pittsburgh in April. There was the usual mix of programs and socializing. One of the receptions was held at the August Wilson Center that had very interesting exhibits. I got a chance to have meals with a couple Pittsburghers: one my former neighbor from the 1970s and the other an NYU colleague. I meandered in the Oakland neighborhood one day, visiting the Frick Fine Arts Library where I worked, and the Carnegie Museums. Pittsburgh is fairly close to Alfred (5 hours or so driving) so I drove but was glad to park the car in the garage near the hotel and let it rest. The route between Alfred and Pittsburgh is very familiar from when we lived there and came to Alfred for family visits.
The day after I got home from Pittsburgh was the day of the total solar eclipse. Alfred was not too far from totality and the university arranged a rental of the Dansville Country Club, and provided pizza and wings. It was cloudy but we did go way down to pitch black. Awesome, actually awe-full.
John needed a catsitter in early May so I got a week of New York City with the predictable and enjoyable museum visits. While I was in the city, sister Carol texted me that she was picking up sister Cathy from the Rochester airport to bring her to Alfred. Cathy's life on Long Island was in turmoil with family health issues and moving to an apartment after selling the house where they'd been for more than 20 years. She needed a respite and spent several months in Alfred, staying downstairs here at the family homestead. Her daughter Ilana joined her up here for part of the time, along with Carol's cat who got "replaced" by a dog. Carol can only have one pet in her apartment. Cathy and Ilana headed back to Long Island in early September and my older sister Roberta died just after they headed to Long Island. Roberta's daughter and son and the grandkids put together a fine memorial gathering in Glens Falls, N.Y., in October.
I had plans to go to Ogunquit with Bill and others in mid October so I was in Maine and Boston the weekend before Berta's memorial gathering. I took a New England road trip over the days between Ogunquit and Glens Falls. I went to Shelburne, Vermont, to the museum where there was a Paul Scott exhibition (contemporary transferware interspersed in the historic collection) and to Bennington for the North Bennington Outdoor Sculpture Show where my buddy Sam Horowitz had a work entitled Forced Perspective.
Throughout the year, my siblings and I have been having virtual conversations via Zoom, on Saturday nights. It has been especially important and emotional with Roberta's death and Cathy's turmoil. I am also in a discussion group. We meet every other week (more or less, mostly on Zoom) with one of us proposing a discussion topic. Like most discussion groups and book clubs, we sometimes stick to the topic or book and sometimes we don't.
So I guess, by now, you have figured out that most of my year was pretty close to home and quite emotional. My travels were mostly a mix of vicarious and nostalgic. Places in Europe, particularly Italy, come to mind with little provocation. Portugal is on the list but never quite comes together. I haven't even gotten to Buffalo to see the new building of the Albright Knox (now the Buffalo AKG Art Museum).
As usual, I read about two dozen books this past year. I'm not sure what gets the "favorite book" award this year. Some of the more appreciated titles were Didn't nobody give a shit what happened to Carlotta by James Hannaham; The color of law by Richard Rothstein; What she ate by Laura Shapiro; and The box by Marc Levinson. You can see the full list on my blog (https://shermaniablog.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-books-i-read-in-2024.html).
I vacillate between being a lazy stay-at-home and dreaming of adventure. Regardless, I wish you plenty of joy and peace in the new year.
Sherman Clarke
33 South Main Street
Alfred, NY 14802
... go to more at Sherman's miscellaneous page ...