Oh, The Places You'll Go.

Sometimes the art world takes you to unlikely places, like Jacksonville, Florida.  I was surprised to learn that Jacksonville has a Museum of Contemporary Art, even more surprising was the fact that they were organizing a retrospective of the work of the Abstract Expressionist, Michael Goldberg. Thus began my odyssey of going to Jacksonville.

The boss and myself journeyed across the country to Jacksonville to view the Goldberg exhibition which turned out to be quite terrific, as were the staff at MOCA Jacksonville and the many people we met during our 48 hours there. Attending a dinner left us with one full, free day in Jacksonville. How we would spend our time, we had no idea.  By very timely coincidence, a colleague, upon hearing of my upcoming trip, quite enthusiastically recommended we visit  the White Oak Conservation Center in nearby Yulee.  She said it was amazing, unlike any place she had ever been and they had exotic animals.  My curiosity was peeked.  Upon viewing their website and seeing all the many species of exotic animals, I was quite impressed.  Even more impressed that they have hosted numerous heads of state and was the hide-out for Mikhail Baryshnikov upon his defection from Russia!  Who every heard of this place?

The earliest record of White Oak Plantation is 1768 where it provided timber and a good, swampy environment for growing rice.  This land served as the suthern most rice paddy with 350 acres, on the Atlantic Coast (who knew?)  In more recent times, The Gillman Paper Company purchased 7300 acres at White Oak to supply timber to it's paper business.  Howard Gillman, lover of animals and ballet, made it what it is today, a world class animal conservation institute, respected by conservation groups worldwide and home to Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project.  WHO KNEW!!!

Here are a few highlight pix of our day spent at White Oak.  It goes without saying that if you ever find yourself in Jacksonville, don't miss visiting White Oak.  It's unlike any place you've ever been.

These White Rhinos were our first sighting of the many exotic animals living at White Oak.

Want to pet the Cheetah, Manny?

  

Unlikely but best friends.

Addra Gazelle

Very rare Bongos from Kenya.

Even more rare Okapi from Congo.

Reticulated Giraffe

Roan Antelope

One of a herd of Somali Wild Ass

From Bongos to Ballet, here is Baryshnikov's rehearsal studio and a rare photo of Mr. Gillman seen dancing with his friend "Misha."

For more information on White Oak Conservation Center, check out their website:

www.whiteoakwildlife.org

It was time to head back to MOCA, Jacksville for Michael Goldberg: Abstraction Over Time.

For more information on MOCA, Jacksonville, check out their website:
www.mocajacksonville.org

Good bye Jacksonville.  It was short but sweet.

Dia:Beacon

Last stop on our Hudson Valley weekend was Dia:Beacon.  Dia, the institution that has brought the world The Lightning Field and the Spiral Jetty houses their permanent collection in a former Nabisco cracker factory along the beautiful Hudson River in Beacon, New York.  The Dia Foundation's collection concentrates on works of art from the 1960s to the present.  It comprises some really large art, minimal art, very cerebral art and it was a fabulous way to end Art Girls Weekend 2013.   (Full disclosure: Dia has a strict no photos policy so most of these pix are from postcards except for a few covert cell phone pix.)

Andy Warhol's Shadows, 1978-79

Michael Heizer's North, East, South, West, 1967/2002

On Kawara, One Thousand Days One Million Years

Fred Sandback, Untitled (from Ten Vertical Constructions), 1977

Blinky Palermo,  To the People of New York, 1976-1977

John Chamberlain

Dan Flavin

Louise Bourgeois

Richard Serra

www.diabeacon.org

Storming Storm King

Continuing our art tour of the Hudson Valley, our next stop was Storm King Art Center in Mountainville, New York.   For those of you who haven't experienced Storm King, it is 500 acres of beautiful landscape dotted with over 100 monumental sculptures located about an hour's drive from New York City.  Started in 1960 by Ralph Ogden as an exhibition space for Hudson Valley painters, it soon grew into a major venue for sculpture beginning with acquisitions by David Smith.  It currently boasts multiple monumental works by Mark diSuvero, as well as works by Richard Serra, Alexander Calder, Alexander Lieberman, George Rickey,  Andy Goldsworthy, Maya Lin, Zhang Huan and many many others.  We spent the day riding bikes around the property, enjoying the glorious weather and the magnificent art.  As for the autumn landscape, we couldn't have timed our trip better.

Mark diSuveros everywhere!

This is some BIG art!

Roy Lichtenstein in the background

Andy Goldsworthy Storm King Wall goes under the lake and up on the other side.

and continues to wind around the trees for 2,278 feet.

Maya Lin's Wavefield

Richard Serra's Schunnemunk Fork 

 Sarcophagi in Glass Houses by Magdalena Abakanowicz (left)

Zhang Huan's Three Legged Buddha

Boys will be boys...checking the football scores in the shade of the Huan Buddha

Calder with Lieberman seen in the next field to the right (Muchane adds a sense of scale of this work)

Alexander Lieberman

Art Girls on bench by Daniel Buren

Check out their website and don't miss the video.

http://www.stormking.org/