Macarons

Back in March, I took a Macarons class at the Cook'n With Class school in Paris' 18th district. The school was recommended by David Lebovitz.

Ceiling in the class room at Cook'n With Class

We were 6 students and 4 were Canadian!

Macarons, piped and waiting

Even though I had made the french delicacies twice before, (see past post here) I learned so much from the professional pastry chef!

Caramel Beurre Salé filling

Italian Meringues, bird's peak ready

a gold dusting

I will definitely be making more when I get home.

Chef, Briony Laberthonnière, holds up a macaron
with blackberry jam filling...Look at those 'feet'!

Me learning to pipe properly

Always creating!

I am heading back to Paris from Vienna and will be taking a few more classes at this school.

Hundertwasser's Eastern Influence

The Orangerie at the Belvedere Palace has an exhibit on right now showing many of Hundertwasser's work.

The Big Way, 1955, was used as the advertisement
for the exhibit.

The Belvedere in Vienna.

I spent 3 hours in a small room looking at his work and reading and seeing other artists' work inspired by the writings of Zen Buddhism.

I love his art and his philosophy about creativity and life.

The curator chose some of his photographs for the exhibit. He had an image of a sewer grate covered in garbage.

Hundertwasser explained his photographs.
He said something like-
It looks like a simple sewer grate but it resembles a
prison window of our civilization. Only the filth lying
over it seems like something liberating.
It frees us from spiritual poverty and
the rectilinear structures of our modern era.

 I  was living in Vienna while he was still living there! He created a stamp for the United Nations in the 80's while my dad was working there. I have that stamp somewhere!! (when I get back to Toronto one of my first big jobs is to clean out the basement boxes!! I am sure it is in one of those.)

The Lower Belvedere where I had lunch

In 1983, while I lived inVienna, the construction of the Hundertwasser House as a public project was undergo.

He died in 2000 on the Queen Elizabeth 2 returning from New Zealand.

Art in Vienna

After a melange at my favorite place, Café Bräunerhof, I spent the morning at the Albertina.

The vertical part of the steps leading
to the main entrance of the Albertina
are painted advertising their latest exhibit, Monet bis Picasso.

I had been there since they renovated the space.

The Albertina seen from the side of the painted steps

The main walkway leading to the exhibits.

I went to see 180 works by Max Ernst.

He and some art colleagues founded the Dada group and he was a pioneer of surrealism. I particularly liked his collage work. I made a few sketches in my journal. Not being allowed to take photographs of the exhibit made me look at the work more closely.

I went to get my hair done before my ballet friends and I got together.

The hair salon, Thoma & Bari,
 is on the third floor in this building.

It was great catching up with my dance friends.

Degas' Two Dancers, c. 1905

Some I hadn't seen in 29 years!

Vienna

I forgot how impressive the Kunsthistorisches Museum is.

I forgot how Vienna is able to put together the very old with the very modern.

I forgot how clean the streets are.

I forgot how gorgeous the art galleries are and how amazing the antiques shops are.

View from my breakfast spot.
Michaelerplatz.

I forgot when you say good-bye to a well-mannered Austrian he bows forward.

Saying good-bye to friends yesterday evening.
 I was told that Maria Callas and Pablo Picasso both walked
through this entrance in Vienna's 13th district.
Upstairs lived a famous Austrian photographer
and both artists were photographed in his apartment!

I forgot that when you order coffee it comes on a little silver tray with a glass of water and a treat.

I forgot because I lived here over 30 years ago.

Lunch with a Friend

Barbara is a textile restorer.

Barbara's hand made example

After our lunch together at her house just outside Verona...

...she showed me a few of the samples she made during her textile studies.

This is the pattern for the above piece.
You'll notice it is upside down.

The work was incredible!

If you could see this up close
you would see the tiny stitching!
 It is really beautiful.

All hand done!

This is a piece of embroidery made by her grandmother.
It was never finished.

You can see that this corner is done...

...but this corner piece is not. You can see the pencil circle marks.
That is the pattern she would have followed.
Also not finished is the centre of the 4-sided shape.

Barbara is Austrian and gave me a few suggestions of what I should do in Vienna while I am here. Yesterday, I went to the Wunderkammer at the Kunsthistorisches Museum.

The Kunst Historisches Museum in Vienna

Studio Magazine

If you are Canadian you may have heard about Studio Magazine.

It is the only national publication dedicated to contemporary craft in Canada. It has been around for 30 years (formerly known as Ontario Craft). Their readership is approximately 17,500 people.

The magazine features stories by leading craft and design writers and they have published an article about Tradition in Transition for their Spring/Summer Issue 2013.

Check out page 38

Try to get a copy! If you live in Toronto you can buy one at The Guild Shop on Cumberland in Yorkville or the OCC gallery, 990 Queen Street West (419-925-4222). Maybe try Indigo at Bay/Bloor.

Tradition in Transition is the exhibit I curated for a festival in France.

Leaving Verona

I left Verona today.

I always love being there.

A road in Verona's historical district

There is always so much to do and see and I have so many friends to share things with. This time, I didn't do much sewing because I was busy with the Canadian group and Verona Tessile event.

The Sanctuary very close to where I stay.

I will be back in Italy in September for teaching in Mantova, Padova and in Clusone, a small town in the mountains near Bergamo.

A small street in the historical centre of Verona.

I am looking forward to that!

Me at Lago di Garda on Labour Day, May 1.

I arrived in Vienna, Austria, this evening.

Vienna International Airport