This May has seen me away more than home. At the beginning of the month it was across the pond to Paris for just over a week to absorb culture, history, and culinary delights. While I had been to Paris before it was over 10 years ago and barely enough time to become familiar with the city. This time I felt comfortable navigating, but there is never enough time to do everything you want, let alone hope to do.

The primary art focus was of course the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay. Certainly there was plenty of art and architecture throughout the city and on the outskirts at Versailles. The latter was just a bit over the top on the ornate side for my personal taste; but a good review of French history nevertheless. Speaking of history, The Hôtel des Invalides – with Napoleon’s tomb and the Musée du l’Armée among other highlights provided an intriguing overview of military history as well as fascinating uniforms, armor, and weapons from the 12^th c. through WWII.

Paris is more than museums, monuments, and cathedrals of course; there are culinary delights, divine wines, and captivating people to watch. Before I wanted it to be so, it was time to say “au revoir” and return home, temporarily.

While I did unpack, not everything was put away because five days later I was back on a plane this time up the east coast to NYC. Another appraisal class adventure enveloping my days and studying in the evenings. I did manage one play evening however; I enjoyed a delightful time hanging out with my friends Hal and Don. I met them at their place - the Hal Bromm Gallery in Tribeca - and enjoyed the current exhibit “Anti-Anti / Non-Non.” Then we headed to the east side to attend the Historic Districts Council’s 2010 Grassroots Preservation Awards and Preservation Party. Pretty humbling to see all the hard work to save monuments, buildings, and even neighborhoods! Dinner and further fellowship followed.

Upon the completion of the four day class; I headed to the MET for the special exhibition “Picasso In the Metropolitan Museum of Art,” which continues through August 1^st, 2010. An undeniably extensive collection of the MET’s holdings of Picasso’s paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, and ceramics; almost 400 objects! The accompanying catalogue is an art library essential. There was a wonderful continuum from my experiences in Paris, reading Hemmingway’s “A Movable Feast,” and this show and the thread of Gertrude Stein’s connection through all of them.

Following my return from NYC, I was back on a plane again four days later, unfortunately for a funeral. Even worse, after Mother Nature’s five hour storm delay, I did not even make it for the family gathering. Now I have a two week break to complete the current projects, follow up on loose ends, and tackle the planning and implementation of the next travel adventure. For its back into the field for the summer’s excavation season at Mt. Lykaion in the SW Peloponnesus of Greece; see you again in August!

Earlier this month I had the great pleasure of being in “THE CITY” – Manhattan! At times steel and concrete can be a sight for sore eyes. It must be the vibrancy of this city and all it has to offer that that draws me in so intently. Here for official work reasons, I unfortunately had little time to play. Nevertheless, just being there was invigorating; and I am not referring to the fluffy white stuff that fell from the sky either.

I was pretty excited because my timing could not have been better – it was Arts Week and “The Armory Show” was in full swing. Friday evening I made my way from Chelsea, uptown to Pier 92/94 for the show. I found myself being most drawn to the strong showings of more of the European galleries than American ones, which did not seem to be the case when I recently attended Art Basel Miami Beach.

Works or gallery displays that made me look twice included many sculptural works, but other media as well. Galerie Nathalie Obadia’s (Paris/Bruxelles) installation titled “Without Face: Cultivating the Foreign” by artist Rina Banerjee was captivating overall, but the individual works enticed you to look closer. Kristof Kintera’s installation of a black crow swinging above you on a tree branch made you want to listen to his mumblings in the booth of Jiri Svestka Gallery (Prague/Berlin).

Fun works by Sean Landers (above center: MacGregor, Tartan Buck, Ram), represented by New York gallery Friedrich Petzel, just make you smile. And while we are on the animal theme, the sculpture by Joachim Schönfeldt in the Goodman Gallery’s (Johannesburg/Cape Town) display fascinates and disgusts at the same time. Also from Cape Town, I loved the literary heads (above right - yes those are books!) by artist Michael Stevenson.    

In addition to art, I squeezed in a bit of local history with a visit to the Chelsea Hotel (rip Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen). Ok, so maybe there might have been some art in the hotel as well, sorry. One of the other many pleasures of being in NY is the colossal variety of food from which to choose. I think I spent more time looking and being overwhelmed by all the options than the time I actually spent eating what I purchased! I have a new favorite spot, sorry Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods, I am ALL about Westside Market! YUM!

This past week I had the joy to return to the museum setting and put the finishing touches on a project that has been in development since the fall of 2008. Lynn Whitelaw, Director of the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art on the Tarpon Springs campus of St. Petersburg College, invited me as guest curator for the exhibit Dean Mitchell: Visions with Heart & Soul. On view through May 2^nd, this exhibit features a diversely talented artist whose breadth and depth of style, technique, subject, and medium is extremely rare.

Collaborating with Mitchell has been a wonderful journey of insight, respect, and perspective. Becoming increasingly familiar with he and his work has only added to my respect of him as an artist and a positive soul in a world and time that often leaves one wishing for a simpler day and times with less negativity.

Fun too was the opportunity to work with the staff of the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art. Throughout the process of coordinating loans of Mitchell’s work from California to New York and many places in between, to revising the checklist, to snow storms leaving us wondering if loan works would arrive on time, and installing the works as track lighting malfunctions; it’s all part of the process that keeps us on our toes and adept at crisis management.

This past weekend the Museum  hosted a very successful opening reception to its membership, with over 300 in attendance. It was a pleasure to meet many family, friends, collectors, and supporters of Mitchell’s work and of the Leepa-Rattner Museum. Many programming opportunities support the exhibit including a Family Day celebration on March 27, 2010 which will include my interview with Dean Mitchell at 2pm.

A full-color catalogue accompanies the exhibit and includes a checklist of all 65 works in the exhibit, many of which are illustrated, and my essay regarding the amazing work of Dean Mitchell. I strongly encourage you to treat yourself to Mitchell’s work; I promise you will not be disappointed.

In addition to the publication of the companion catalogue for this exhibit, I just received a copy of a long-awaited academic publication Encounters with Mycenaean Figures and Figurines. This publication presents the papers delivered during a seminar at the Swedish Institute at Athens, Greece. The paper I presented at this seminar, “Figurines, cultic space and the miniature vase,” is included among these proceedings.

Post Script: This past Wednesday evening Dean Mitchell was honored at the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee, FL as the Featured Artist for the State’s celebration of Black History Month for 2010. Are we on the cutting edge or what; Congrats Dean!

Whew what a month! October 1st kicked off the month with “Saluting the Arts” program hosted by Marion Cultural Alliance at which they not only presented their grants to the winning recipients but also announced the intent of the Marion County Board of County Commissioners to create a cultural plan to be integrated into the county wide master plan. Yes, the visual and performing arts do contribute to the economic and cultural health of Marion County!

October 2nd was the opening reception for the exhibit “Healing HeART” at Brick City Center for the Arts (operated by MCA) with which I had the pleasure to help install. Presented by the Mental Wellness Coalition and The Centers, this exhibit features artwork from The Centers, NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness), Alzheimer’s & Dementia Alliance, The Vines, and Munroe Regional Medical Center. The majority of the creations resulted from artists and art therapists working with patients and the accompanying stories were indeed moving.

Collaborative programming about the healing power of the arts continued throughout the month and included a discussion panel which addressed case studies. As a panel participant I had the opportunity to look at prominent artist throughout history with mental illness and the movements of art they inspired such as Surrealism and Art Brut.

Contiguously relate to arts and healing was an exhibit at Munroe Regional Medical Center. A lovely reception hosted by the hospital’s Foundation provided the opportunity to share the private collection of retired pediatrician and nurse Dr. John and Susan Stechschulte (pictured at left).

FAFO (Fine Arts for Ocala) once again hosted their annual art festival; bringing artist from across the country to display their works amid the unusually warm weekend of 24-25th. With the heat index well above 90 degrees staying hydrated was paramount in order to avoid health disasters!

As October comes to a close I was about to think that this “healthy dose of art” theme was about over, but no! On Halloween day I am installing yet another show for a power-packed group of women artist collaboratively known as OOHA (Out of Hands Artist). The opening reception for their exhibit will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 pm on November 6th at Brick City Center for the Arts. A portion of the proceeds from all sales will go to the H.U.G.S. Charities, Inc. of Ocala. H.U.G.S. is a non-profit organization that raises funds for the research, prevention, detection and treatment of all forms of cancer and assists individuals and families whose lives have been adversely affected by it.

Truly this month has been crazy, but the power of the arts really does make a difference in our own health and those of others. 

The intensity of the Mt. Lykaion excavation and survey project - in which we have six weeks to accomplish as much as possible for a task that is by nature slow and meticulous - can be incredibly stressful and exhausting. Six day weeks and typically 10 hour days although the last two weeks – for me are non-stop; 12-14 hr days with none off.

Because I am responsible for archiving all excavation photos and overseeing the processing of all the archaeological artifacts uncovered I am often pulled in countless directions as excavators, artists, conservators, photographers, scientists, guest scholars, and student assistants need things simultaneously while I am trying to also attend to the delicate artifacts. This past summer’s excavations alone produced 128 small finds, over 13, 300 pieces of pottery, and 13,400 pieces of tile! We also spent a week attending to the backlog from the 2008 season’s materials, another 12,000 plus pottery sherds – for the summer – approximately 40,000 pieces of pottery and tile - WHEW! But alas, there is nothing more I can do about that now; it’s all in hibernation until next summer’s season. I Love it, its Xmas every day!

Recover? How & when? The next round of flurry begins as projects and clients on this side of the pond vie for attention. Recent updates to the web site note the juggling of many exciting tasks that not only keep me from being board, often keeps me awake at night as well.

Please take a few minutes to review the links “eye on Leslie” and “services / art gallery.” Eye on Leslie outlines upcoming events like attending the Florida Association of Museum’s annual meeting, exhibits I am curating, courses I am teaching, and writings published. Keep an “eye” out for additional publications – scholarly and popular – appear in the coming months.

The current economy had prompted many calls from clients asking – what is it and how much is it worth? We can certainly assist with this! Take a moment to visit the expanded offerings in our virtual art gallery. From a 19^th century Toulouse-Lautrec lithograph to 20^th century works by noted Italian artists Filippo di Pisis and reported madman Antonio Ligabue (at left) to International contemporary works by Erté (French), Ferjo (Brazilian),  Jiang (Chinese), American Larissa Holt (above right) and more; there is something for every eye of style and price ranging from a few hundred dollars and up.

If you are curious to know what you have and its value or are potentially interested in selling; contact us today!