‘Tis the Season December 11, 2022
Posted by judylobo in Zoo.Tags: Arsenal Gallery, art, art exhibitions, Central Park Zoo, NYC, NYC Parks Dept., photography, Wreath Interpretation
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I go to this fun exhibit every year. The NYC Parks’ annual Wreath Interpretations exhibition returned to the Arsenal Gallery (the Arsenal is near the Central Park Zoo). This year’s collection of wreaths was created by artists, designers, and creative individuals of all ages who have used inventive and unexpected materials to re-envision the traditional holiday decoration. Wreaths included in this year’s exhibition use a wide range of unusual materials, including caution tape, traffic light reflectors, safety pins, bath sponges, rulers, Mardi Gras beads, and sugar meringue. They explore a wide range of themes, such as family history, volunteerism, endangered animals, and chemistry. Each wreath is accompanied by a short artist statement that tells gallery visitors about the meaning behind the wreath. The Arsenal Gallery is located on the third floor of NYC Parks’ Headquarters in Central Park, on Fifth Avenue at 64th Street. Gallery hours are Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., except holidays. Admission is free. 
The Tree (no, not that one) December 4, 2022
Posted by judylobo in Zoo.Tags: animals, art, Christmas Tree, creche, Madison Square Park, Metropolitan Museum, NYC, photography
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The Rockefeller Christmas tree steals all of the hype and publicity but my favorite holiday tree is at the Metropolitan Museum. The ornaments and figurines were donated in 1964 by private collector Loretta Hines Howard. The crèche is much older than that. It was made in the 18th century by Italian sculptor Giuseppe Sanmartino from Naples.The magnificently lit 20 foot blue spruce looms over the 18th century Neapolitan Nativity scene surrounded by an abundant array of lifelike figures with robed angels hovering above. You can see this beauty thru January 8 2023. New York City’s first public Christmas tree was actually located in Madison Square Park in 1912. The tree arrived in Madison Square Park on December 21,1912, measuring 60 feet tall. The tree was draped with 2,300 colored electric bulbs donated by the Edison Company. Emilie D. Lee Herreshoff. She proposed a way that would allow everyone, even those who couldn’t afford their own tree, to celebrate the holiday season and participate in the tree lighting. 
The Great Five Boro NYC Bake-off November 20, 2022
Posted by judylobo in Zoo.Tags: art, Five Boro NYC Bake-off, Gingerbread, Museum of the City if NY, NYC, photography
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The Museum of the City of New York has begun a great tradition with the Five Boro Gingerbread Bake-off. Bakers from each of the five boroughs were tasked with creating a gingerbread display from their neighborhood home borough. I was very excited to see that not only was my neighborhood represented for Manhattan but my actual building was featured as well (directly across for the Flatiron building). Other than the overwhelming smell of gingerbread it was a fun experience. It is on display until January 8th. 
Junk in the Trunk November 13, 2022
Posted by judylobo in Zoo.Tags: art, Louis Vuitton, NYC, photography
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On August 4, 2021, visionary Louis Vuitton would have turned 200 years old. To celebrate the man, his innovative spirit, and his ongoing legacy (try to avoid the Nazi collaboration part), the company invited 200 visionaries spanning the fields of art to science across the world to express their creativity. In response these creative people have shared their dreams, fears, ideas and reflections. An amalgamation of the past, present and future. This is a fun, wild, colorful, quirky exhibit in the former Barney’s on Madison Avenue and 60th Street. It is free with a timed ticket and runs thru the end of December, 2022.
Razzle Dazzle October 16, 2022
Posted by judylobo in Zoo.Tags: art, Machine Dazzle, Museum of Art and Design, NYC, photography, Photography Workshop, queer maximalism
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I love the Museum of Art and Design. They always have fascinating and unique exhibits. If you are not sure what you will be wearing this coming Halloween I suggest you get some inspiration from this amazing exhibit. ‘Queer Maximalism x Machine Dazzle is the first solo exhibition dedicated to the genre-defying artist Matthew Flower, better known as Machine Dazzle. A provocateur commanding an expanding repertoire of stagecraft, design, performance, and music, Machine Dazzle is a virtuoso practitioner of queer maximalism’s aesthetic language of liberation. The exhibition brings together nearly 100 of the artist’s creations for stage, spectacles, and street theater, alongside a variety of environments, ephemera, material samples, photography, and video. The result is an explosive “queer maximalism” aesthetic that joyfully counters the prejudices of high culture regarding extravagance and the overly decorated and embraces these associations as queer for affirming hybridity over purity, rejecting cultural hierarchies, and valuing different kinds of bodies.
Last chance to sign up for next Sunday’s adult photo sessions at the Central Park Zoo. We are featuring my favorite – PUMPKINS! It is being held on October 23rd and you can sign up here. See you there! 
Farm to Table September 4, 2022
Posted by judylobo in Zoo.Tags: art, farm to table, NYC, photography, produce, Union Square Greenmarket
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The Union Square Green Market has been around since 1976. I like to stroll thru the market even though I admit to not being a good cook and I am also a picky eater. That said, I still love the color, form and design found at all of the food and product stands. Enjoy!
Analog City – NYC B.C. (Before Computers) July 10, 2022
Posted by judylobo in Zoo.Tags: Analog, art, art exhibitions, Museum of the City if NY, NYC, photography
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Ever wonder how anything got done before computers? I went to see this new exhibit at the Museum of the City of NY with a friend who is 25 years my junior. I recollected more than she did and we had lots of laughs, shared stories and generally recalled most of the treasures in this exhibit. Analog City: NYC B.C. (Before Computers) uncovers the array of tools, technologies, and lost professions that supported New York City as it exploded into a global metropolis in the pre-digital era. Focusing on the period between the 1870s and the 1970s, Analog City examines the technologies that enabled the city to reach its position as the “capital of the world” in an age before the speed and capacity of today’s digital technologies. Set against a contemporary backdrop of 24-hour news cycles and high-speed trading—in which questions about privacy, truth, and the impact of social media are increasingly pressing—the exhibition uncovers this bygone era of paper files and pneumatic tubes, of note cards and telephone directories, and examines how New York thrived as a center of finance, news, research, and real estate in an era before personal computers and the internet’. This exhibit is on thru the end of the year. Check it out and enjoy!
Pride and Prejudice June 26, 2022
Posted by judylobo in Zoo.Tags: animals, art, Audrey and Roberta, Empire State Building, NYC, NYC Pride Parade, photography, Pride, rainbow
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It has been a long tough week for most of us. It is incomprehensible to lose a Constitutional right. The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides a fundamental “right to privacy” that protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose whether to have an abortion. That all changed on Friday with the outrageous SCOTUS decision. Thought I would try to put a smile or two on faces out there by sharing some photos of my little collection of critters as they celebrate Pride without prejudice.
Different Strokes for Different Folks May 15, 2022
Posted by judylobo in Zoo.Tags: Amrican Folk Art Museum, art, folk art, NYC, photography, weather vanes
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The Folk Art Museum is a wonderful place to visit (and it is free.) Folk art is self taught art and is rooted in traditions that come from community and culture. Examples include: weather vanes, old store signs and carved figures, itinerant portraits, carousel horses, fire buckets, painted game boards, cast iron doorstops and many other similar lines of highly collectible “whimsical” antiques. For six decades, the American Folk Art Museum’s exhibition program has inspired critical acclaim and public interest while breaking new scholarly ground. This current installation in the Audrey B. Heckler Gallery highlights key exhibitions in the history of the Museum and features a selection of beloved works of art and rarely seen documents from the Museum’s archives. I shared another wonderful exhibit from this space last summer called Blowin’ in the Wind.
Who are you wearing? April 3, 2022
Posted by judylobo in Zoo.Tags: art, costumes, Fashion as art, Garmenting, Museum of Art and Design, NYC, photography
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I am not a fashionista. I pretty much wear the same thing everyday. That said – I do appreciate fashion as expression and as an art form. The Museum of Art and Design never fails to have thought provoking and unusual exhibitions and this is one of them. From their website – ‘The first global survey exhibition dedicated to the use of clothing as a medium of visual art, Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art examines work by thirty-five international contemporary artists. By making or altering clothing for expressive purposes, these artists create garments, sculpture, installation, and performance art that transform dress into a critical tool. Adopted globally as an artistic strategy, garmenting uses the language of fashion to challenge traditional divisions of form and function, cast a critical eye on the construction of gender, advance political activism, and address cultural difference’. If you have never been to this place I highly suggest you visit. It is at Columbus Circle and has grand views of Central Park and a wonderful restaurant on the top floor.
While at the Zoo 