Galison and "What Happens When NYC" are inspired by Renoir

Have you seen any gaily bonneted women accompanied by young men with exposed biceps and wearing straw boaters strolling toward 25 Cleveland Place in SoHo lately?

Could be these New Yorkers were headed to the pop up restaurant/arts project What Happens When, which bills itself as a "restaurant installation".

What Happens When's creators describe their enterprise thus: "What Happens When is a playground for food. It is a temporary restaurant installation that transforms every 30 days for 9 months, offering guests an ever-changing culinary, visual and sound experience. This delicious exhibition is a result of the collaboration between one chef, two designers, a photographer and a composer."

The current exhibition/feast, through April 25, is inspired by one of Galison's perennially favorite paintings: Pierre-Auguste Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party. Renoir’s oil on canvas was painted in 1880-81 and is now in the Phillips Collection in Washington.

Here's a detail of the painting from Galison's Luncheon of the Boating Party keepsake box of note cards:

 

Luncheon of the Boating Party shows Pierre-Auguste's friends on an outing at the Maison Fornaise, a small hotel overlooking the Seine in the town of Chatou, a weekend getaway west of Paris. They are lounging on a canopied terrace with sailboats on the river visible beyond the landscaping. All are flirting and dining and apparently drinking lots of wine.

And here are Galison note cards that show other details:

John Fraser of the Upper West Side restaurant Dovetail and the creative team at What Happens When call their Renoir-inspired menu and mise-en-scène "Movement 3", and they have used a 25 foot awning, string lighting, and other elements to suggest a garden party.  Have a look at their prix-fixe menu!

Seafood salad with fennel, vegetable bouillabaisse..I'd head down there as fast as you can say "haricots verts"!!!!!

 

In addition to popular boxed note cards, Galison has used the painting for a Luncheon of the Boating Party jigsaw puzzle. Why not feast, drink lots of wine, and see how many of the 1000 pieces you can asssemble!

Santé!

~Susan

P.S. Anyone for punting down the Hudson?

Mudpuppy Salutes PBS' Reading Rainbow

Yes, I’m a nerd. To me, LeVar Burton is a celebrity because for 25 years he’s hosted the Public Broadcasting Services show Reading Rainbow. It seems most people know him from Star Trek: The New Generation!

Reading Rainbow was one of my son’s and my favorite shows in the mid-90s. Just be thankful you can’t hear me sing the theme song. You know…"Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high…..Take a look, it’s in a book…a Reading Rainbow!"

So I was pleased to see that Reading Rainbow is alive and well and sponsoring their 15th Annual Young Writers and Illustrators contest for children Kindergarten through Third Grade.

According to the contest rules, stories may be fact or fiction, prose or poetry and must include at least five original, clear and colorful illustrations, which may include original photographs, collages, or 3D art. Stories may be dictated to adults, and invented spelling will be accepted. But that’s just a summary. As the kid reviewers used to say on Reading Rainbow, “but don’t take MY word for it” check out the Reading Rainbow web pages on the PBS site.

Here’s the link, or should I say "Take a Click, Do Quick"; or maybe "It’s really keen, it’s on your screen": http://pbskids.org/readingrainbow/contest/about_the_contest.html. But do have a look right away: the entries must be submitted by March 27.

We at Galison/Mudpuppy are dedicated to encouraging creativity everyone, not just children. Galison blank writing journals work for personal journaling, record-keeping, or creative writing.

Mudpuppy interactive journals encourage children to write and draw and create with prompts such as themes on travel or camp. Mudpuppy locked diaries encourage writing all sorts of thoughts and feelings--and one style even shows a butterfly in the sky!   

If your children enjoy reading, consider a gift of a Reading is Cool interactive journal from Mudpuppy:

Have a look at Reading Rainbow’s contest and encourage children you know to enter!

---Susan

William Morris, Lipstick Jungle, and Galison Home Office

Our Galison Creative Director Juanita Dharmazi recently sent an inter-office email:

I was watching lipstick jungle (one of my favorite shows), and suddenly there was a scene where Victory Ford's assistant was shown holding our william morris pink file folder.

  Oh my goshh.... i was screaming like crazy... we didn't expect the product placement at all ... and really, they show the file folder quite clearly!

Thank goodness this is on DVR, so I could rewind and pause....

Anyone who is watching lipstick jungle... pay attention, this was the recent Friday show (October 31) (the day of Victory's store opening)...

fabulous

As you can see, Juanita is enthusiastic about NBC's Lipstick Jungle and about Galison's William Morris Home Office accessories like file totes, file folders, magazine organizers, weekly organizers, sticky note sets, and more.

Galison offers other William Morris patterns, too! So thanks, Lipstick Jungle prop people, and now, stay tuned...

---Susan

Chrysanthemum Time at Galison

It seems like only yesterday that we were celebrating the Cherry Blossom festivals, and now it's time for Japanese chrysanthemums--at this rate it will be Christmas tomorrow!

Saturday seemed like a good day for an excursion to the Bronx to the New York Botanical Garden for the opening day of the Kiku: The Art of the Japanese Chrysanthemum show, which will run through November 16, 2008. The exhibit explains and displays the extremely cultivated displays of chrysanthemums, for example, this display, which is the result of training one single chrysanthemum:        

In addition to chrysanthemums, there is a display of bonsai and other Japanese plants in the Enid Haupt Conservatory. In one courtyard, there is an imposing sculpture made of bamboo by the artist Tetsunori Kawana--with the help of volunteers! It is meant to evoke clouds over the bamboo, and here's a photo I took with the real clouds above! 

But chrysanthemums aren't only in the Bronx: here are some at the promenade (leading to where the Christmas tree will be) at Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan:  

 

Here at Galison, we have lots of Chinese and Japanese flower images applied to note cards, journals, and more. Have a look at our  Asian Art Collection to see images like this "Chinese Butterflies" box of cards:   

Mudpuppy Talks Like A Pirate

Belay the skepticism and join in the fun. We can’t all look like Johnny Depp's Captain Jack, but we can talk like pirates, for September 19th is once again…

TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY!

So avast, me beauties, and check out how Mudpuppy celebrates our favorite annual event!

Young pirates can while away the hours they aren’t on deck by playing with Mudpuppy pirate themed puzzles and activities:

A 100-piece Collectible Tin Puzzle            Pirate Sticker Set Play Scene

Pirate Sticker Set Mini Play Scene                              Pirate Floor Puzzle

   

We even have a Mudpuppy pirate locked diary, urr, that is, Pirate Captain's Log in the works!

But that’s for later. For now, learn how to talk like a pirate and more from the holiday’s founders, Mark "Cap'n Slappy" Summers, John "Ol' Chumbucket" Baur at the official Talk Like a Pirate Day website.  Keep track of their latest adventures at their blog, The Ship’s Log o' the Festerin’ Boil  Too old to enjoy Mudpuppy pirate games? Check back with the Talk Like a Pirate website to learn how to pick up a pirate! 

And if you’re pirate-lingo challenged, there’s even an applet for the i-Phone, called, of course, the Aye-phone!

---Saucy Susan