two more berlin gems

My friend Jen just reminded me that we stumbled onto an amazing little boutique on Rosa-Luxemburg Strasse in Berlin: LANGHEIN. Inge Langhein designs other-worldly confections for brides and ready-to-wear. Actually, it was the installation of her work in her boutique that took everything to the next level. Her dresses were suspended from an arching iron grid - a nesty dome across the ceiling - each piece floating gracefully like wearable art.

Am kicking myself that I didn't ask her if I could take a photo. This image that I found online doesn't do her work or her shop justice.

Inge Langhein's boutique, BerlinAnother gem was the exhibition by Terhi Heino, an installation artist from Helsinki. I love when artists elevate ordinary and recycled materials to the sublime. In Terhi's case, she uses fish fins, used tea bags, and mylar to fashion mesmerizing works, both tiny and room-sized.

Tea bag installation by Terhi HeinoMy hunger for paper dresses was nicely fed by her tea bag clothing hanging like drying laundry from wire hangers.

Skirt by Terhi HeinoAnd her mylar wall pieces look like giant icy crystals jutting from the wall.

Juhlat by Terhi Heino

berlin: a great way to begin

Has it really been over three weeks since I last posted? August has been a whirlwind of unpacking, settling in, and home-focused activities. This past weekend, Ian and I ran off to Berlin for a few days to celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary. Little did I realize how much I needed to shake loose of the tremendous impact of our big transition and just go play.

View from our hotel in Mitte, Berlin

We chose Berlin over Paris (a sentimental favorite, since we were engaged in Paris), mainly because we wanted a place where most restaurants wouldn't be shut down or venues flooded with American tourists. Instead, we got a city full of galleries on sommerpause and European tourists. But complaining I am not! It was a terrific place to begin our commitment to get away monthly for a long weekend. That is, after all, one of the reasons we made this move: to get out and experience places that otherwise would be less accessible from our home in the US.

Museum Island, Berlin

Holocaust Memorial, Berlin (image: Ian Lowe)Instead of attempting to take in all the major sites off the bat, we organized our exploration of major districts by zeroing in on what galleries we wanted to see. Well, and which ones appeared to be open. It's a fun way to see a city, fueled by something we're both passionate about. Some good resources helped us find our way, including ArtUpdate.com/Berlin and the iPhone app EyeOut.

Over three days, we entered probably twenty galleries, although we peered in the windows of far more. The search for many was not obvious - tucked back in courtyards, down alleys, and up flights of stairs only accessible by ringing a bell and being buzzed in.

Love the colors in the U-Bahn stations, Berlin

U-Bahn station, Berlin (image: Ian Lowe)Alexanderplatz U-Bahn station, Berlin (image: Ian Lowe)U-Bahn station, Berlin (image: Ian Lowe)Once inside, people were generally welcoming, if not eager to tell us about the art. The folks at Figge Von Rosen Galerie were particularly engaging and friendly, and we discovered the amazing photography of Luzia Simons at Alexander Ochs Galleries.

Berlin is, like any major city I suppose, one part gentrified, two parts gritty edge. The energy I felt there, though, was different - a kind of optimistic, happy, focused buzz of people busy getting on with the business of rebirth and reinvention. Huge swaths of the city are still rebuilding post-Wall, morphing from Cold War wasteland to thriving cafe society. This took me by surprise. I guess I didn't realize there was so much active recovery still going on there.

Potsdammer Platz, Berlin (image: Ian Lowe)

Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin

One unexpected discovery was what must have been the original inspiration for Art Whino's G40 summit. Since 1990, Kunsthaus Tacheles has been a center for artists of all walks, but particularly street art or new brow. Tacheles is Yiddish for telling it like it is. The venue's website says it best:

After the Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, a subculture which had its main focus on autonomy, spontaneity and improvisation arose in the former East Berlin areas Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain. Artists and individualists from all over the world used the plurality of available free spaces to put alternative lifestyles to the test.

Kunsthaus Tacheles, Berlin

Kunsthaus Tacheles, BerlinTacheles' artists are now in danger of being evicted by developers. While certain aspects of the space does the brand no favors (the stairwells were pretty rank), it would be a shame to see what Tacheles represents be pushed underground or marginalized.

Ian Lowe at Alexandr Rodin's Global Warning exhibition, Kunsthaus Tacheles, BerlinAnother delight was the road trip between Königstein and Berlin through endless wind turbine farms. What is it about these giant sentinels that mesmerizes me? Surely there's an artist book about them in my future. For now, I'm delighted with some of my images and am seriously considering a road trip expressly for the purpose of chasing them up close and personal. We got pretty close at a rest stop or two.

Wind turbines enroute to BerlinWind turbines enroute to BerlinWind turbines enroute to Berlin

foraging for art supplies round 2

Café Hauptwache, FrankfurtDrove into Frankfurt today to meet the AWCT's Art & Culture group for coffee. We met at the historic Café Hauptwache, directly above the Hauptwache UBahn (subway) station. After navigating a nearby parking garage (driving in these narrow garages still feels harrowing), I found my group. Once again, I got a warm welcome from a very international set of women, with only a few of us from the US.

The real reason I drove, however, was my next stop: Boesner Art. And what an art store! Their tagline is accurate:

Boesner Art Supply: professional artists materials from the international market leader at unusually low prices.

Apparently, they're a wholesaler, although the prices seemed retail (in euros, everything seems reasonable until you remember to add another 40% for the exchange rate). Nonetheless, I received my official wholesale ID on the spot, with my name, address, and barcode efficiently printed onto the little plastic card.

There are two floors of warehouse space, chock full of art materials for every medium: printmaking, painting, sculpture, metalwork, ceramics, woodworking, mozaic, and so on. After wandering around in their massive paper area with my mouth hanging open for awhile, I got my wits about me and started recognizing comfortingly familiar brands such as Arches, Hahnemühle, and Strathmore. Stacked to the ceiling, mind you, but familiar just the same. Along with your fine art and handmade papers, you can buy Kutrimmers, printing presses, and other over-sized equipment that I've only been able to order online in the states.

Boesner's Frankfurt location

There's a nice adhesives selection, where I chose a 1000 ml tub of Guardi dispersion glue, the equivalent of ph neutral PVA - or so the description indicates.

The bookbinding materials are fairly robust for a place that's not a specialty supplier, so I was able to restock my large spool of buchbinderzwirn (binder's thread) that our dog recently ate.

I couldn't resist three little red paper notebooks in different sizes, with old-school blank labels on front.

And then there are the artsy gifts I scored that I can't reveal, in case their future recipients are reading this post.

This was the first of many trips I'm sure I'll be making to Boesner's. It's only 20 minutes from home by car, dangerously close. Today's goal was to find it, and get the lay of the land. Check and check. No more foraging required, now that I've found the mothership.

foraging for art supplies

Made my first solo excursion into Frankfurt today, motivated by the search for a decent art supply store. I also wanted to test the train commute to the Goethe Institute, where I’ll probably be taking German classes three days a week soon.

Overall, I’m pleased with the outing, mishaps and all. Install and successfully configure the RMV transportation app to my iPhone? Check. Use it to find and purchase my tickets (just flash the QR code and go!) into Frankfurt? Check. Find the Goethe Institute, after wandering through a lively farmer’s market – complete with packed wine bar tent at 1 pm on a Friday? Check. Get on the connecting train to find Idee, the local crafting store? Uh, not quite.

I did get on the correct train, but failed to see (let alone understand) the “out of service” sign on the front. People got off, and I got on (clearly oblivious that I was the only one). The train pulled out and then started to slow down, stopped, and all the lights went off. Between stations. A cleaning man hopped on and picked up trash. Then another man appeared, speaking to me in German.

He did not sprechen English, but promptly got out his mobile phone, called his English-speaking wife and handed me the phone. By then, I had figured out my error. He motioned for me to follow him and sit there, right behind his driver’s compartment, and don’t move. I chatted with his wife while, train-in-service, we cruised through three more stations to my destination. This very nice man opened his compartment door to make sure I knew that this was my station, and off I went.

Idee Art & Craft, FrankfurtWhich brings me to Idee, a two-story space just around the corner from Frankfurt’s Zeil, a lively pedestrian shopping area.

Frankfurt's Zeil shopping area, near IdeeIdee is like a well-stocked, extremely neat, attractively merchandised Michael’s. They’re big into scrapbooking, artificial flowers, découpage, beading and other crafty things. Seem to have a decent painting section, too. Reminded me a bit of Pearl Art & Craft, but not as fine art-focused as say, Plaza Art Supply or book arts-oriented as Bookmakers and Talas. Idee will do in a pinch, but I’m looking forward to getting to Boesner, apparently the best fine art supply spot in Frankfurt, although more accessible by car.

Back home in Konigstein

impromptu installation

We arrived a week ago in Germany and are settling into our new home in the endlessly charming town of Königstein. While our household goods float across the Atlantic for four weeks, we’re rattling around in our empty house and making the best of our “executive expat” rental furniture package. No complaints, actually – so much nicer than living in yet another transitional place for a month.

In the meantime, in addition to navigating the myriad details of daily life in a language I don’t speak and culture that is noticeably different from the US, I’ll be working on small projects that I mailed ahead. Today, as I unpacked two boxes of art tools and materials, I thanked myself for sending the gift of something familiar and grounding: art!

One of the projects is to make progress on an edition of 50 miniature artist books for the Moving Parts boxed set. The books are small accordion-fold pieces that expand into a wearable tutu. The 234-inch long strips of handmade paper that will become tutus turned into an impromptu installation as I hung them from our second floor banister to unwrinkle.

View into my future studio on the first floorParis checks things outText is commentary on the connections between dance and lifeImpromptu installation of myTurningPointe accordion books waiting to be worked on