Van Gogh Up Close – Trip to the Philadelphia Museum

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Cost: $120

This compelling Van Gogh exhibit has inspired us to offer you this wonderful day trip to enjoy it at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Sunday, March 18.

The exhibition focuses on the extraordinary burst of creativity and experimentation during the last five years of Van Gogh’s turbulent life. You’ll find forty-five paintings, on loan from private collectors and museums worldwide, including works from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, and The Hague. You’ll also find a major source of inspiration for Van Gogh’s paintings — a display of stunning Japanese woodblock prints.

When he moved to Arles in 1888, Van Gogh wrote that being in the south of France was the closest thing to going to Japan. During these last years, he created still lifes and landscapes, experimenting with depth of field and focus. He used shifting perspectives and brought familiar objects “up close” into the foreground. In “Almond Blossom,” painted in 1890, while at the asylum in Saint Remy, Van Gogh looks up through the stunning white branches of the almond tree supported by an intense blue sky.

About the painting “Ears of Wheat,” also painted while at the asylum, the artist wrote to his friend and painter Paul Gauguin, “I tried to paint the sound of the wind in the ears of the wheat.” Here there is no sky at all; just the long, sweeping brushstrokes suggesting the swaying grasses.”

In the painting “Undergrowth with Two Figures” neither the treetops nor the skyline are significant. With the ghostly images, unconventionally colored trees, and muted foliage, he creates immense anticipation.

In the recent NY Times review  (February 3, 2012), Roberta Smith wrote, “These paintings convey another aspect of the restless intelligence, always looking, always striving, that permeates and is also given a new sense of order and forthrightness by this marvelous show. Van Gogh knew what he was about and wanted us to also know.”

In addition to the Van Gogh exhibit, you can visit many of the other wonderful artworks in the museum’s collection. Whether it’s American, Asian, or European art you like, there are over 200 galleries for you to explore and enjoy. Other current exhibitions include works by the architect Zaha Hadid and photographer Zoe Strauss.

Here’s what the trip includes:

The bus departs from the back of the former Ames parking lot in the Kingston Plaza at 8am and returns at approximately 7:30pm. The cost includes

  • Timed exhibit tickets and audio tour for “Van Gogh Up Close”
  • Luxury coach and gratuities
  • Champagne breakfast en route
  • Box dinner (see below) with a selection of wines on the return trip

Lunch is “dutch-treat” in any of the museum restaurants.This trip is based on a minimum of 25 participants.

To Reserve: Reservations are on a first come first served basis. Your early sign-up will ensure a spot. Make your check for $120 payable to AAUW, and mail it along with your phone number and email address to: Linda Gold, 1 Jacobs Lane, New Paltz, NY 12561.

For further information, email Linda at artladyLG@aol.com or call Linda at 845-255-5256 or ViVi Hlavsa at 845-331-0155.  There will be no refunds unless your spot is filled by someone on the waiting list.

Visit the Metropolitan Museum and NYC on March 8, 2012

On Thursday, March 8th, the AAUW plans a bus trip to New York City and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Here are the top ten reasons you may want to visit the Met at this time:

1) The New American Wing
2) The New Islamic Wing

3) Rembrandt and Degas: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

4) The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini

5) Chinese Art in an Age of Revolution (1904 to 1965)

6) Duncan Phyfe: New York’s Master Cabinetmaker

7) Spies in the House of Art: Photography, Film, and Video

8) Victorian Electrotypes: Old Treasures, New Technology of Metal

9) Red and Black: Chinese Lacquer, 13th to 16th Century

10) The Steins (Gertrude, Leo & Michael) Collect

Matisse, Picasso & others

I hope you can join us for this special trip to one of the greatest museums in the world.

Best wishes–ViVi

Learning about Modern Mongolia

Butch Stedge

Butch Stedge loves Mongolia and the Mongol people.

On Saturday, about 30 people gathered to hear Butch Stedge talk about modern Mongolia. Originally scheduled as our AAUW speaker at the January branch meeting (cancelled due to snow), Butch graciously  rescheduled.

He shared slides of the countryside and some of the ancient history — Ghengis Khan — and more recent history — since the break up of the USSR.

Mongolia is now a democracy. About half of the population lives in modern cities, the other half are semi-nomadic. 98% of the population is literate. It’s mineral rich and has very little land suitable for agriculture. Most of the rural population herd goats or sheep. Religious tolerance has long been part of their history.

Special thanks to Glenn Packert who worked hard to manage the technical difficulties for us.

Update: Komen loses our support

Last week, in the midst of the Komen/Planned Parenthood controversy, AAUW nationally and the Kingston branch withdrew our support of the Komen Foundation. Locally, we sent a letter to the editor at the Freeman stating our position.

Minutes Late

No sooner did I hit the send button than Komen’s policy reversal hit twitter and the blog-o-sphere. Our letter wasn’t printed. Old news, I assumed.

That is, it wasn’t printed until TODAY!  The letter, today, is out of date, of course, but the principle still stands.And, we’ll be watching to see how this plays out over the long run.

Why Today?

I find it interesting that our letter is printed right below Kathleen Parker’s column today, Birth control redux supporting the Catholic Church in their fight over the Federal decision not to exempt their organizations that serve the public from including women’s preventive care in their employee healthcare insurance coverage. But, then, that’s another letter.

You can read our letter to the editor here.  And tell us what you think about either issue in the comments below.

Day Trip to Van Gogh Exhibit at Philadelphia Museum, March 18

Linda Gold of Gourmet Art Tours and AAUW-Kingston present

Van Gogh Up Close

The Philadelphia Museum
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Cost: $120

This compelling Van Gogh exhibit has inspired us to offer you a wonderful day trip to enjoy at the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Sunday, March 18.

The exhibition focuses on the extraordinary burst of creativity and experimentation during the last five years of Van Gogh’s turbulent life. You’ll find forty-five paintings, on loan from private collectors and museums worldwide, including works from the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, the Centraal Museum in Utrecht, and The Hague. You’ll also find a major source of inspiration for Van Gogh’s paintings — a display of stunning Japanese woodblock prints.

For all the details, click here.

Off the Sidelines Book Club

From Susan Holland:

What better place to start than learning what made an upstate NY woman get off the sidelines and run for Congress?

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s web site Off The Sidelines is about bringing women’s voices to the forefront. They’re starting a book club that focuses on the issues and stories that are important to us.  And, they’re currently accepting ideas for books to read and discuss.
The first book will be Half the Sky by Kristof and WuDunn, which we read together last year.  Kirsten will lead a live online discussion of the book on their Facebook page. You can sign up for the book club at: http://offthesidelines.org/bookclub

Commission on the Status of Women

From Jenn Mayfield, International Chair

The next major international event will be the meetings of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) (27 February – 9 March 2012),which will also be held at the United Nations.  The CSW is an organ within the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN that surveys women’s issues worldwide, sets international standards, and formulates policies to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment. Founded in 1946, the member states of the Commission meet every year to evaluate progress, identify pressing issues, and develop policies.

The Commission’s meetings always select a specific area or issue to focus on. This year’s key theme is rural women, their empowerment, and “their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development, and current challenges.” The review theme is “financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women.” That was theme of the meetings in 2008, member states will analyze the successes and failures of the policies and programs towards the goals outlined in that session. The meetings also have an emerging theme, the focus theme of the 2013 session, “engaging young women and men, girls and boys, to advance gender equality.” Along with other AAUW representatives, I will attend some of the state meetings and NGO sessions.

I am already looking forward to reporting back to the Branch about the meetings, if you are as excited as I am for the CSW meetings, it isn’t too late to get involved with some of the proceedings. In addition to the government-level meetings, there will be a session of NGO events, workshops, meetings, and lectures that shadows the CSW meetings. The NGO calendar is not available yet, but judging by past sessions, there will be an abundance of fascinating sessions. Additionally, most of those events will be free and open to the public, no registration required.

Committee on Teaching About the UN Conference

From Jenn Mayfield, International Chair

On February 3, the Committee for Teaching About the UN (CTAUN) will hold its annual conference and the United Nations. The title of this year’s conference is “Education IS a Human Right.”

The concept of education as a human right was first formally written into international law in 1948. Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserts that every person has the right to a free and compulsory elementary education. Furthermore, it states that all technical, professional, and higher education should be “equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.” Since then, the right to education and its importance has been emphasized time and again. Still, about 69 million children are not in school. Around the world, the lack of access to education hinders development and social progress as unschooled children grow into uneducated, unempowered adults.

One in six adults cannot read or write, and two out of every three illiterate adults are women. This year’s CTAUN conference will explore the various factors that contribute to the gap between stated goals and targets and the actual results of education initiatives around the world.

This year, the CTAUN conference is especially exciting for New York State AAUW members. At the conference, Joan Monk and Cecilia Dinio-Durkin will be given an award for best practices by CTAUN. They are being honored for their My Sister’s Keeper Project, the NYS AAUW program aimed at international women’s issues. I am very excited to say that I will be attending the conference with Joan and Melissa Guardaro, the chair of the State International Committee.

Kingston Branch to Host Screening of the Award-Winning Film, Miss Representation

Too often media and advertising send boys and young men the message that they should be in control, violent, and unemotional and women should be treated like objects and second class citizens.

Miss Representation, the award-winning documentary introduced at Sundance in 2011, assesses the impact that the media has on attitudes toward women and girls in American society. It explores links between limited, often negative or overly sexualized, representations of women in media and the continued underrepresentation of women in positions of power.

AAUW Kingston is hosting a screening and panel discussion of Miss Representation at the Rosendale Theater March 7, 2012 at 7:15. Purchase tickets for the screening here.

The film presents examples of those media messages and introduces startling facts and statistics through interviews with a diverse group of concerned men and women. The discussion includes politicians, journalists, entertainers, young students, activists, and academics such as Condoleezza Rice, Katie Couric, Corey Booker, and Rosario Dawson.

AAUW’s screening of Miss Representation will be followed by a panel discussing these issues and exploring some of the action steps needed to bring about a more accurate and inclusive representation of women. Panelists include:

 Watch the Miss Representation trailer here

Purchase tickets for the screening here: $10 on-line, in advance; $15 at the door

If you have any questions, please email: events.aauw.kingston.ny@gmail.com

This film is rated TV-14 DL