Orchids at the New York Botanical Garden

Hidden away in a beautiful corner of New York City at 2900 Southern Boulevard in the Bronx, is an amazing place for all those in love with the plant kingdom, The New York Botanical Garden.

Just 20 minutes from the Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan, this center for all things green will surprise you with the wealth of things there to do and to see. Right now there are three exhibits and special events of interest:

•    Tropical Paradise from January 19 until February 24, 2013: Feel like you are on vacation to a tropical paradise while still in New York, in the middle of the winter.
•    Manolo Valdés: Monumental Sculpture: Until May 26, 2013: Seven huge sculptures by the famed Spanish artist are on exhibit, highlighting to observers the connection between art and nature.
•    Magnificent Trees: November 17, 2012 until April 14, 2013: Incomparable photography that highlights the beauty of the Botanical Garden’s trees by landscape photographer and member of the Board of Advisors Larry Lederman. The photographs accumulated over the years as Larry explored the Gardens throughout the years and seasons.

Aside from the special events the Garden is involved in crucial issues affecting all of us every day, including: conservation, research, education and much more. So treat yourself to a wonderful exploration of the diversity of the plant world at the New York Botanical Garden.

Have you ever thought of visiting New York’s branch of the Federal Reserve Bank? It is completely free and well worth the effort of joining a guided tour in order to see the high-security vault. Behind that impregnable door lies over 10, 000 tons of gold reserves, safely stowed 80 feet underground. For those on the tour only a small percentage of that mass of precious metal will be on view. To book your free tour, which is the only way to get a glimpse of the vault, you will need to reserve about 6 weeks in advance of your planned visit. The tour can accommodate up to 25 visitors, takes about 45 minutes, and begins several times during the day between 11:15am and 3:00pm. A visit can be reserved as far as 90 days in advance.

New York Federal Reserve Bank Vault

Self-guided visits are also possible and also need to be booked ahead on-line, and do not include a visit to the vault, but does enable you to see the Museum of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which has an interesting display of the history of money. Self-guided tours are usually available with only one day’s notice.

Judy Chicago at The Dinner Party

The Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art is celebrating its 5th anniversary this week by holding an extraordinary banquet with some of the world’s greatest women of the past three thousand years invited.

The celebratory banquet is wonderful installation artwork produced on a grand scale, created by Judy Chicago. The decorative sculpture, “The Dinner Party,” is a huge, triangular table set to host 39 special guests, 13 women from each of the past three millennia on each side. From legendary, primordial goddesses, to women from the Middle Ages and up until the 20th century, included are such luminaries as Queen Elizabeth I, Sacajawea and Emily Dickenson. An additional 999 names are inscribed in gold leaf on the tiled floor.

Curator of the Sackler Center, Catherine Morris explained why an additional fourth side to the table will be symbolically presented during the anniversary celebrations:
“The question I often get when giving tours of ‘The Dinner Party’ is ‘who would be there today, who would we add?'”

In response to this question 15 contemporary women will be honored on Wednesday at the center’s first-ever First Awards, all first in their specialties and fields.

The honorees are, in part, Sandra Day O’Conner, the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court; Toni Morrison, the first African-American woman to be honored with the Nobel Prize for literature; the first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation Wilma Pearl Mankiller (who died in 2010); and Muriel Siebert, the first woman to have a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Sackler Center is largely the result of the efforts of its chief benefactor, Elizabeth Sackler. The 8,000-square-feet Center’s main aim is to raise awareness and appreciation of feminist art.

“There is a serious underrepresentation of women and feminist artists in museums and galleries globally,” said Sackler. Sackler donated Chicago’s “The Dinner Party” to the museum, where it makes its permanent home when it is not on tour.

“The center’s purpose is not to resolve the use of the word feminism,” Sackler said. “It is a place where people can come to have dialogues about the meaning of feminism, reminding us of women’s contributions in the past, marking women’s achievements in the present, and inspiring contributions in the future.”

A Bit of Medieval Europe in New York

In upper Manhattan there is a less well-known branch of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, called The Cloisters. This fascinating building is dedicated to the art and architecture of medieval Europe, and the structure itself is an example of that, as it was assembled from both the domestic and religious elements that date back to the twelfth through fifteenth centuries.

The Cloisters and its surrounding gardens are located in Fort Tryon Park, in the northernmost end of Manhattan, overlooking the Hudson River on the west. A visit there is like visiting a medieval European monastery, but without the monks. In place of the monks you will find about three thousand artworks dating from as long ago as the ninth century, and no more recent than the sixteenth century.

The Cloisters is easy to get to by bus, car or subway, and from April through October the Trie Café offers light meals and snacks which are served outdoors in the French medieval Trie Cloister. If you visit now until April 22 you will be treated to a unique exhibit of what are most likely the most famous chess pieces in the world, the Lewis Chessmen. These carved ivory chessmen were discovered in 1831 on the Isle of

12th Century Lewis Chessmen

Lewis off the coast of Scotland, and date from the twelfth century.  The chessmen rarely leave their home in the British Museum, but for this exhibit over thirty of the chessmen are on display, representing the largest assembly of these unique objects outside of the United Kingdom.

What helped to make these chessmen so famous is that replicas of them were used in the famous “Chess Game” scene in one of the Harry Potter movies, only enlarged to the size of people.

Check out The Cloisters and the Lewis Chessmen; It’s like a visit it Europe of the Middle Ages.

Ground Zero Museum Workshop is Kid Friendly

This is an appropriate time to remember the events of September 11, 2001, now that it is exactly ten years after that horrific attack on New York’s World Trade Center, Washington DC’s Pentagon, and a downed airliner whose final destination can only be nightmarishly imagined.

In New York the Ground Zero Museum Workshop:Images and Remnants from the Recovery is the ideal place to spend some time, looking at stunning and rare photos taken by the “Official Ground Zero Photographer for the Uniformed Firefighters Association,” Gary Marlon Suson.

Visitors have described the one room exhibit as the “biggest little museum” in New York; with large content in a small facility.

Many photos are displayed in realistic 3D installations. Also on display are remnants from the towers and rare video footage.

There are daily two-hour long tours with your own tour guide for explanations. Entrance fees are donated to 9/11 and FDNY related charities. The images are non-graphic, making this memorial to the tragic day a kid-friendly venue.

Please note that the Ground Zero Museum Workshop is NOT located at Ground Zero, but in the meat-packing district just 7 minutes away on the “E” train from the site of the WTC at 420 West 14^th Street, 2^nd floor, 212-209-3370.

On most days there are two tours, and it is strongly recommended to buy tickets in advance, they sell out quickly since only 28 people can be on any one tour at a time. Follow the link for more information.

Kids Love Science

If you have a child, or children four years old or older, consider a mind-expanding visit to the New York Hall of Science.

NY Hall of Science

Located in one of the original structures built for the 1964 New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens, it is New York’s only science and technology center that gives visitors a truly hands-on experience.

Explore with All Your Senses

The museum incorporates over 450 permanent exhibits which are organized into a variety of intriguing subjects including Hidden Kingdoms, Realm of the Atom, Seeing the Light, Marvelous Molecules and much more. Expect to utilize all your senses when exploring these exhibits.

Understand Birds in Decline

The feature exhibit which will be on view until August 14th is called “The Sweet-Voiced Bird Has Flown: Portraits of Common Birds in Decline.” This is an art exhibit featuring paintings and monochrome sketches of a variety of bird species whose numbers are in decline.

NYSCI also has exhibitions on tour, including ‘Charlie Kiwi’s Evolutionary Adventure,’ ‘Molecules and Health,’ and ‘Wild Minds-What Animals Really Think.’

Check out NYSCI here and plan to spend a fun day with the family on an adventure into the great world of science.

Pulling in visitors in numbers greater than any other Costume Institute Show in history, the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art had to suspend their guided tours because of overflow crowds.

Garnering an astounding 5,100 people to opening day last Wednesday, the new Alexander McQueen exhibit came close to the record set by the museum’s most busy opening day ever in its history: “Vincent van Gogh: The Drawings,” which brought in 5,400 people back in 2005.

Savage Beauty Showcases McQueen’s Contrasts

Alexander McQueen

Alexander McQueen, the world famous clothing designer, who died last year, was not afraid to explore the world of contrasts: Dark and light; past and future; masculine and feminine. Thus the name of the exhibit, “Savage Beauty,” the first such show since his passing, is certainly apropos.

The Met’s Costume Institute explores the fabulous world of McQueen extremes, an intellectual and an artist, whose career as a designer was celebrated until his suicide at the age of 40 in February of 2010. His was a journey into the world of contrasts, where he challenged the usual ideas about beauty, while going for the shocking statement whenever he felt it was appropriate.

McQueen Challenged Normal Notions of Beauty

The exhibit curator, Andrew Bolton said that McQueen was always exploring ways to question normal conventions of fashion and beauty, citing a quote from Shakespeare which he had tattooed on his arm, which is also the starting point for the show: “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind.”

These words were said by Helena from a Midsummer Night’s Dream, explained Bolton, who was someone who believed that love had the power to transform the ordinary into the beautiful.

Designer was Also a Believer

Bolton continued to explain that McQueen was not unlike Helena, for he, too was a believer:

“All of McQueen’s collections were fashioned around elaborate narratives, and the exhibition is intended to evoke a gothic fairy tale, a fairy tale that is pushed forward by McQueen’s imagination.”

When you think of New York, you probably think of great restaurants, Broadway shows, endless kinds of entertainment, and of course, museums.

New York has about 80 museums, most of which are found in Manhattan. Here is a list of some of New York’s most famous (and rightfully so) temples of western culture.

•    The Museum of Modern Art–

MOMA has an astounding collection of at least 150,000 pieces of art, including sculptures, paintings, drawings, photographs and more. Also stored with her walls are 22,000 works of media, videos and films. The library of the museum has 300,000 books, periodicals and artist books. MUSEUM HOURS Galleries open Sat., Sun., Mon., Wed., and Thurs. 10:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m.; Fri. 10:30 a.m.–8:00 p.m. Thurs. in July and August 10:30 a.m.–8:45 p.m. Closed Tues., Thanksgiving day, and Christmas day. (212) 708-9400.

•    Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum–

This extraordinary museum is itself a piece of artwork. Designed by the avant-garde architect Frank Lloyd Wright, this museum of modern and contemporary art or as the Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the Guggenheim, Nancy Spector says, “It’s the museum of the new,” is certainly worth a visit.  1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10128, Phone: 212 423 3500.

•    Ellis Island Immigration Museum–

Part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, at this unique museum the immigrant experience comes to life as visitors learn about the moving stories of the 12 million people who entered the US through the ‘golden door’ of Ellis Island. It is necessary to take a ferry to the island, which is located at the mouth of New York Harbor. Ellis Island is one of the country’s most important historic sites and also one of the most heavily visited monuments. Carefully planning your trip will make it more enjoyable. Statue Cruises provides ferry transportation to Ellis Island from Battery Park in New York and Liberty State Park in New Jersey from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily, with extended hours in the summers. For ticket rates and availability and schedule information, call 1-877-LADY TIX or 1-877-523-9849 or visit www.statuecruises.com. The audio tour can be purchased along with your ferry ticket or on site at the Discovery Audio booth.

The American Museum of Natural History is one of the  jewels in the crown of New York’s special significance as a world center of culture. No matter what you love, or what your interests might be, there is something that will fascinate you at this repository of some of the world’s most unique, educational and enlightening artifacts.

If you have never been to the AMNH, or if it’s been a while since your last visit, then you should take my advice and get over there soon. Here is a list of some of the special exhibitions which will without a doubt intrigue and inspire you.

• Brain: The Inside Story–

This exhibit, which is open until August 14, 2011, will bring you inside what is the most amazing product of evolution, developed over millions of years. “The human brain is the most complex and fascinating biological structure known, and we are delighted to explore its many facets in Brain: The Inside Story,” says Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History. “This exhibition illustrates how our remarkable brains work and what makes them so special, while featuring what is currently one of the hottest and most promising fields in science today—neuroscience. Visitors will not only learn what’s in store for our brains in the 21st century, but will come away with an enriched perspective on the extraordinary brain, the vehicle for all of the things that makes us human.”

• Body and Spirit: Tibetan Medical Paintings—

This exhibit features 64 Tagkas, or Tibetan medical paintings, which are part of the AMNH’s collection. These are hand-painted reproductions of traditional scroll paintings, and are on view for the first time in a museum exhibition. The paintings allow us to get a glimpse into the history of early medical knowledge in Tibet, and it is also thought that this group of paintings is among only a tiny number of such sets which exist in the world. “The Museum’s Tibetan collection, from which these paintings are taken, comprises nearly 2,800 objects, and is among the finest in the United States,” said Ellen V. Futter, President of the American Museum of Natural History. “This new exhibition represents the continuation of a great artistic tradition and will offer visitors a unique and fascinating perspective on early Tibetan culture.” Until July 17th.

• Hayden Planetarium Space Shows—

Using the most up-to-the-minute technology the Hayden Planetarium at the Rose Center of Earth and Space is able to bring the world of science into sharp focus. Showing now are two fascinating presentations: “Journey to the Stars,” narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, will take you back 13 billion years to the very beginning of the universe. The second show is  a double feature, with “Passport to the Universe,” narrated by Tom Hanks, and “The Search for Life: Are We Alone?” narrated by Harrison Ford.

For More Information Contact the Museum: (212) 769-5100

You may not think of Brooklyn as a cultural capital. But in fact, the borough south of Manhattan has many delightful cultural attractions, often with fewer crowds and lower prices than their counterparts across the bridge.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music, or BAM as it is usually known, is a flourishing urban arts center that offers a wide-ranging repertoire of theater, opera, dance, music, literature, film, and the visual arts to Brooklyn. BAM’s current programming can be seen on their website: www.bam.org