TASTE OF BRAZIL IS NEW YORK'S HOT BEAT(c) By Polly Guerin

The city is bursting forth in early bloom but the beat heats up on Broadway where Macy’s annual flower show, a veritable botonical wonderland, lets us escape into tropical gardens in paradise right here in the Big Apple. Here’s the scoop!!!
BRAZIL 'GARDENS IN PARADISE' at Macy’s Herald Square is a floral salute to Brazil and a teaser to the store’s upcoming Brazil promotion in May. It’s the great escape to paradise where you can view indigenous plants and brilliant blooms come to life in lush gardens and paths that pass a Bahia urban barrio setting, an old Salvadoran mission and a rainforest with a waterfall. The flower show has been transported from the main floor of the flagship store, which is undergoing renovations, to a 5,000- square-foot, climate controlled tent right outside on the Broadway Plaza in Herald Square. Breathtaking!!! it is filled to the most gorgeous orchids and waxy plants, even a rare white bird of paradise and a giant eight-foot toucan topiary made of Brazilian button flowers and dried magnolia leaves. Events throughout the two-weeks from March 25-April 7 will also feature Carnival windows, Brazilian dancers and planting lessons. For more information visit: www.macys.com/flowershow.
THE EARTH EXHALES: Ceramic Sculptures. Working with only "earth, fire and emotions," Kathy Rutternberg's fairytale-like ceramic sculptures create a world that is immediately captivating, but you might be surprised by what's down the rabbit hole. In her first show at Stux Gallery, Ruttenberg's world is filled with lush foliage, woodland creatures and puzzling slightly grim yet open-ended reveries of gender relations. Men are always portrayed as animals in gentlemen's clothing, and women are always well-groomed and dressed in rounded skirts. It is hard to tell if the men are masquerading as animals, or vice versa. Death, in works such as "The Moment After," is the stark aftermath of failed love, but also an opportunity to blossom imaginatively and become one with earth. Not to be missed!!! Delightful, enchanting, magical and full of surprise are words that describe this New York based, Chicago born sculptor. At Stefan Stux Gallery, 530 West 25 Street, through May 5, 2012. http://www.stuxgallery.com.
ROSIE THE RIVEETER "We can Do It" women's stories come to life April 3 at NYUs Tamiment Library at 6 pm. In conjujnction with filmmakiers Anne de Mare and Kirsten Kelly of Spagel Productions and executive producer, writer and playwright Elizabeth Hemmerdinger, celebrate the opening of a new collection of film oral histories entitled "The Real Rosie the Riveter Oral History Archive." A panel discussion featuring two real "Rosies" will be featured at Tamiment Library, tenth floor, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, 70 Washington Square South (at LaGuardia Place). A reception follows immediately after the panel. The public may RSVP to rsvp.bobst@nyu.edu.
TAMARA de LEMPICKA a pioneering artist who occupied an important position in "Roaring Twenties" Paris, embodied the spirit of the Art Deco era and its sense of style and modernity. Nu adosse I, the major work, a lost masterpiece by the modern artist Tamara de Lempicka, thought to be lost since the 1920s has only recently brought to light. It will be offered in Sotheby's sale of Impressionist & Modern Art on the evening of May 2, 2012, and is estimated to sell at $3/5 million. Nu adosse I is a classic example of the artist's elegant and sensuous aesthetic and was included in her groundbreaking solo exhibition at Milan's Bottega de Poesia gallery in 1925, the same year that it was painted. Sotheby's at 72nd St. & York Ave. For pre-sale viewing schedule visit www.sothebys.com.
Ta Ta Darlings!!! Brazil on my mind, reminds me of last year's fabulous trip I made to Rio de Janeiro to attend the 11th Art Deco World Congress with the Art Deco Society of New York. However, a vicarious trip to the Jardim Botanico do Rio de Janeiro can be had right here in the Big Apple at Macy's Brazil 'Gardens in Paradise.' It's just so goregous, don't miss it!! Love to hear from you. Fan mail welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net and do visit my Blogs at www.pollytalk.com and just click on the link in the left hand column. Choose from any of the five Blogs listed or read my poem "Remind Us to Remember" on poetryfromtheheartbypollyguerin.blogspot.com

SHAPING ART and CULTURE IN THE BIG APPLE(c) By Polly Guerin

Asia Week in New York may have come and gone but the galleries still linger on with art and culture that shapes the vision of New York as the Art and Antiques capital of the world. Here’s the Scoop!!!
BYZANTIUM and ISLAM: Age of Transition begins with the arts of the region under Byzantium rule, then demonstrates their influence on the traditions that evolved under the new political and religious dominance of Islam, including new Muslim traditions that emerged in the process. Image: St. Mark Preaching from Ivories of the So-called Grado Chair. (Eastern Mediterranean or Egypt, 7-8th century) Courtesy of Civiche Raccolte d'Art Applicata, Castello Sforzesco, Milan. The exhibit through July 8, 2012 represents the first major museum exhibition to focus on this pivotal era in the history of the eastern Mediterranean. Two Centuries that shaped the Medieval world showcases some 300 exceptional works of art, revealing the artistic and cultural adaptations and innovative works drawn primarily from the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Benaki Museum, Athens, and from the Dept. of Antiquities of Jordan. 1000 Fifth Ave. www.metmuseum.org.
DECO JAPAN: 1920-1945 Art Deco aficionados, just day trip over to the Japan Society, showcasing the spectacular craftsmanship and sophisticated design associated with Japan and the Art Deco style. This exhibition is the first in the United States to explore the little known brand of pre-WWII modernism born of competitive ingenuity that shaped Art Deco Japan with metalwork, ceramics, lacquer, glass, furniture and jewelry dramatically designed to meet discerning modern tastes. Sheet music, posters, postcards, prints and photography introduce the Moga (the Modern Girl)who emerged in the Art Deco style of the 1920s and 30s. On going through June 12, 2012. Docent-led walk-in tours are conducted Tue. – Sun. at 12:30 pm. At Japan Society, 333 W. 47th St. www.japansociety.org.
NOEL COWARD-NEW YORK FESTIVAL 2012 Opens at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts exhibition, Star Quality: The World of Noel Coward, which explores the wonderful world NC with lectures and events at the Bruno Walter Auditorium, 111 Amsterdam Avenue (at 65th Street). All events are FREE. Tickets on first come first serve basis. Monday April 9th the Mabel Mercer Foundation presents an evening of Coward in Cabaret at 7 pm; Monday June 4thfeatures Made About the Boy a lecture by Alan Pally 6pm; Talking of Noel CowArd, an informal panel of friends, performers and others discuss Coward's work takes place June 11th at 6pm. Exhibit through August 18. for further info: www.noelcowardinnewyork.com/ny_festival. Additionally, the Film Society of Lincoln Center presents "Coward on Film" May 11-13; Feinstein's at the Regency hosts Christine Ebersole and Edward Hibbert in "Love, Noel," two weeks June 3-18.
SANFORD BIGGERS AND JENNIFER ZACKIN...A Small World video installation opens March 30th at The Jewish Museum. Sanford Biggers and Jennifer Zackin juxtapose home movies of their families--one African American and one Jewish American--to explore the commonalities of middle-class across racial lines. The similarities of both family narratives are striking, and the tone is playful. The duo celebrates birthdays, travel to Disneyland, and entertain at indoor and outdoor gatherings. Sanford Biggers, a Los Angeles native, lives in New York and creates artworks that integrate film video, installation, sculpture music and performance. Jennifer Zackin is a new York-based mixed-media artist. Her sculptures, videos, and site-specific installations have been widely exhibited internationally. Through August 26, 2012. In the Goodkind Media Center, located on the 3rd floor of The Jewish Musuem, 1109 Fifth Ave. (92nd St) www.thejewishmuseum.org,
Ta Ta Darlings!!! There is so much Art and Culture shaping the collective minds of New Yorker’s that I am quite out-of-breath as I take in all these exhibits. Fan mail welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net. Visit Polly’s Blogs at www.pollytalk.com and click on the links in the left-hand column. Get inspired and read http://www.poetryfromtheheartbypollyguerin.blogspot .

ASIA WEEK, A WORLD-MARKET IN NEW YORK (c) By Polly Guerin

Asian art specialists, auction houses, and 17 museums and cultural institutions celebrate the surging world-market for Asian Art, antiques and design during ASIA WEEK in New York 2012, which runs from March 16 to March 24 with museum exhibitions, lectures and special events. The nine-day celebration is filled with a non-stop schedule of simultaneous gallery open houses which will exhibit the rarest and finest treasures of Asian art and antiques. To help visitors easily navigate the week’s myriad activities, a comprehensive 88-page guide and map will be available at galleries, auction houses, and cultural institutions & www.AsiaWeekNewYork.com. It’s a rare opportunity to participate in this Asian Adventure and I mention but a few highlights to encourage your participation. Here’s the Scoop!!!
CARLO CRISTI from Daverio, Italy presents “Tibetan and Indian Arts and Central Asian Textiles, and features a superbly modeled and finely detailed 15th century Yongle bronze of Mahakala from Tibet and 7th and 8th-century silks from Central Asia. At Arader Galleries, 1016 Madison Ave.
FRANCESCA GALLOWAY joins Asia Week from London and shows “Indian miniatures & Courtly Objects,” including depictions of yalis, mythological felines seen mainly in Hindu temples in South India as well as other parts of India. At the Leslie Feely Fine Art, 33 East 68th St.
KOONEW YORK’S “Portraits & Pantheons in Korean Art” offers a rare opportunity to see extraordinary portraits of late Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910AD) civil court officials, Buddhist priests, and deities rendered in full-length scrolls, album paintings, and wooden sculptures. At Mark Murray Gallery, 39 East 72nd St.
ERIK THOMSEN presents “Japanese Paintings: Screens and Scrolls from the 17th through the 20th Centuries,” including Plovers Flying over Waves by Suzuki Kinji, on a two-panel screen referencing a poem in the famous poetry anthology Kokin Wakashu. At Eric Thomsen, 23 East 67th St.
CHAMBERS FINE ART includes a large-scale installation by Wu Jian’an, one of china’s most celebrated emerging artists. For his creation, the artist uses thousands of cut-out forms derived from Chinese mythology. At Chambers Fine Art, 522 West 19th St.
JOAN B. MIRVISS LTD. Presents “Approaching the Horizon: Important Japanese Prints from the collection of Brewster Hanson, among them some of the most coveted designs by Katsushika Hokusai, such as Amid a Waterfall on the Kisokaido and other masterworks assembled from around the world. At Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd., 39 East 78th St.
THE CHINESE PORCELAIN COMPANY exhibits “Transcending Reality: New Ink Paintings by Tai Xiangzhou,” who is well-known for his dedication to ancient papermaking and for his exclusive use of 18th-century ink and his deft command of materials evident in his landscape paintings reveal the romance between ink and paper. At The Chinese Porcelain Company, 475 Park Ave.
Ta Ta Darlings!!! This was just a small sampling of Asia Week in New York. There are auctions at Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle and Sotheby’s, lectures and book signings at the China Institute. Gallery Talks at The Korea Society, Brooklyn Museum, Rubin Museum, the Arts of Pacific Asia Show, the Japanese Art Society of America (JASA) on Deco Japan, and symposiums and gala events. Not to be Missed! Asia Week in New York is a rare opportunity that is both educational and entertaining.

Polly Guerin http://www.pollytalk.com/ Fan Mail Welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net

MAGICAL VERTICAL GARDENS, THE NEW YORK WONDERLAND (c) by Polly Guerin

Spring has sprung like a magical leprechaun, the Youthquake! is shaking up fashion, Dreamy Music and Women’s History Month invite your cultural dalliance and the time of the year to welcome the harbingers of spring. It’s the Best of New York my friends, the very best of venues, so you can’t blame a gal for putting a cultural feather in her cap can you? Here’s the scoop!!!
10th ANNUAL ORCHID SHOW at the New York Botanical Garden takes you on a magical tour into the realm of Patrick Blanc, (pictured above) world-renowned French botanist and landscape artist who has transformed the orchid show into a wonderland with his vertical gardens of living foliage and flowers. It’s unlike any other orchid show ever seen because Blanc with his green dyed hair, green splashed shirt and green leather shoes looks every bit the Forest Sprite that he is by introducing color-rich towering spectacular vertical walls. In an explosion of alluring design and fragrance the exotic walls rise high above, some featuring purple-leaved foliage, orchids from the forests of India or green leaves from the slopes of Montana. Not to be Missed! It’s time to get some color into your life. www.nybg.org. March 3-April 22nd.
YOUTHQUAKE! The 1960s Fashion Revolution ought to shake you up, wake you up to the youth culture of fashion during the 1960s, a decade defined by the ascendancy of young people, who were warning each other not to trust anyone over 30, as a political, social and aesthetic force. Featuring garments, accessories, videos, and other related media, the exhibit at the Museum at FIT and the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Master of Arts program in fashion and Textile Studies draws primarily from the museum’s collection to create the exhibition featuring clothing and accessories from cutting-edge boutique and mass-market labels, as well as high fashion ready-to-wear and couture including a metallic copper mini dress, wing Dings, boots imprinted with images of the Beatles, Dress with photograph of Bob Dylan. FREE at the Museum at FIT. Through April 7th. www.fitnyc.edu/museum.
OUT OF MY DREAMS AND INTO YOUR HEART comes the lilting music of Oscar Hammerstein that springs us forward into another era. PBS hosts a look at the man who changed the American Musical forever. Hosted by Matthew Morrison, the program on March 6th at 8pm is a celebration of the most acclaimed lyricist and librettist of the 20th Century, who worked in the theater for over 40 years, writing lyrics for over a thousand songs and the libretti for dozens of operettas and musicals on Broadway, in London and Hollywood films. Remember Show Boat, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The Sound of Music, The King and I, the show is brimming over with movie clips and interview with celebrities and Hammerstein family members. Not to be missed!!!
THE CENTER FOR FEMINIST ART takes center stage during Women’s History Month at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum with public and events during March. The center had hosted hundreds of artist talk, panel discussion and lectures and who can ever forget The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago still on view with two exhibitions that celebrate the 5th anniversary of the center: Rachel Kneebone’s Regarding Rodin presents the artist’s intricately wrought, large-scale porcelain sculptures paired with 15 Rodin sculptures and Newspaper Fiction: The New York journalism of Djuna Barnes features drawings, works on paper, documentary photographs and newsprint stories through August. www.brooklynmuseum.org.
Ta Ta darlings!!! I entered the vertical world of landscaped foliage walls at the New York Botanical Garden and you should, too. It’s like nothing you have ever seen before. Fan mail welcome: pollytalk@verizon.net. View Polly’s Blogs at www.pollytalk.com, just click in the left-hand column to view a Blog, like http://www.amazingartdecodivas.com.