Wow! What a trip we had! On Tuesday morning, we got up and ate breakfast at the club level and then met in the hotel lobby to check our bags for the day. We took cabs to the Hanesbrand Design Center and arrived promptly at 10 a.m. Once inside, we were treated to a second breakfast of fruit and pastries and coffee. It was wonderful! Afterward, we had a two-and-a-half hour tour of the design process from the research stage to the final product. It was AMAZING. The students were exposed to clothing and technical design as well as the creative process and critical analysis that goes into inventing fabric patterning for design. The entire staff was incredibly gracious and to have the team spend the time with us was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As an instructor, I learned a tremendous amount that I can filter back into the classroom and I am so grateful for the exposure offered to us from Hanesbrand!
After our tour, we went to Silo for lunch and enjoyed more wonderful food! Then, we began our journey across town. Liz and Kacy wanted to sample Dylan's Candy Bar: http://www.dylanscandybar.com/ and so we walked about 25 or so blocks to get there! We ate yet again and then I was insistent that we see art. So, we headed to a contemporary auction house that looked interesting but unfortunately was closed (as was the Whitney and MOMA). The Guggenheim was 2 miles away but we started walking in that direction anyway. I also wanted to see the Frick gallery so I was on my journey with the students to see how we would end up! During the second half of our trek, we stopped in Trump Towers, Tiffany's, and Longchamp. We saw a fleet of very expensive cars including several Maybachs and so we stood outside of the Four Seasons waiting to see who would emerge. We lost patience when no one showed up so we traveled to the other side of the block where the entire street was blocked off. It turns out that it was all for the Prime Minister of Israel: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40056917/ns/world_news-mideastn_africa/ who was on a four-day stay in NYC. We did not see him but suspected that the fleet of cars we saw earlier was really for Netanyahu to leave the building. After this excitement, we passed a homeless man who asked me several times if anyone was home. I turned around to make sure he wasn't bothering the rest of my group only to have missed walking directly past Harrison Ford! Ms. Marshall grabbed Liz and she ran back and got a photo of him for our records! Wow!
Just when we thought that we would never make it to the art museum, we turned the corner to walk along Central Park and there it was - the home of Frick Collection: http://www.frick.org/collection/history.htm/! I treated everyone to a ticket to the museum compliments of the FCDS Arts Alliance and we spent 90-minutes touring the former home of Mr. Henry Clay Frick. Truly, it was one of the most impressive art collections I have seen in quite some time. The collection housed the likes of Goya, El Greco, Vermeer, Turner, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Hans, Hals, Manet, Renoir, and many others, it was a staggering collection of Western art from the Renaissance to the late 19th Century! The students walked through the museum with me and although I am no expert on every time period, I was able to give a brief overview of each artist and point out important parts of many of the paintings. Seeing Vermeer and Rembrandt were the highlights of my day!
Once we departed the Frick House, we walked along Central Park and back to Times Square. Just when we thought that we could not walk another step, we found Ellen's Stardust diner: http://www.ellensstardustdiner.com/ and enjoyed dinner and entertainment! Afterward, we hit the grand opening of the Disney store and then headed back to the hotel to grab our bags and a taxi to LaGuardia for our 9:45 pm flight home. The group was more tired than we had ever been and the writer of this blog post wasn't sure she would make it! However, after sleeping the entire flight home, we arrived safe and sound in Greensboro and concluded our journey of RISD, Brown, Roger Williams University, the Hanesbrand Design Center, and NYC.
What a great experience!
No comments:
Post a Comment