Tag Archives: New York

Gloria Ortiz-Hernández at the Morgan Library and Museum

Gloria Ortiz-Hernández’s Plate/Shift #10 (2006, Graphite pencil, charcoal powder, and pigment on wove paper, 22″ x 22″) is currently on view at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. The piece is part of the museum’s permanent collection. Gift of Sally and Howard Lepow.

Notes from the museum: plateshift10

In 1998, Gloria Ortiz-Hernandez gave up the brightly colored figurative paintings that she had been doing for years and began drawing simple geometric forms. Like many of these drawings, Plate/Shift #10 belongs to a series in which the artist explores different combinations of a similar composition. Made of numerous layers of almost imperceptible strokes the subtle gradation from dark to light suggests volume and depth, and gives this deceptively simple composition a great tactile beauty. The drawing is typical of Ortiz-Hernandez’s work in its fusion of a minimalist aesthetic with an exquisite sense of refinement.

View more on AnitaRogersGallery.com

Visit the Morgan Library and Museum website

Anita Rogers Gallery in Southampton, NY in Collaboration with Laviano Design Studio

Works by Virva Hinemo, Gordon Moore, George Negroponte and Kazimira Rachfal are on view at 77 Jobs Lane, Southampton, NY through October 1 in collaboration with Laviano Design Studio.

View more on the gallery’s website: http://www.anitarogersgallery.com/

More information on Laviano Design Studio: https://www.lavianodesignstudio.com/

Making and Looking at Art May Reduce Depression and Doctor Visits, Report Suggests

We all know that art can change your life, but what about helping to save it? A new report has found evidence that the arts bring a wide range of health benefits, speeding medical recoveries and improving overall quality of life. Released last week in the U.K., “Creative Health: The Arts for Health and Wellbeing” details numerous instances where the arts offered medical improvements for those of every age. That includes art therapy (which reduced agitation in those with dementia) and music (lullabies were seen to calm the heart, lessening the hospital stays for newborn children in neonatal intensive care).

Read the full post on Artsy.com

Hiring Seasonal Domestic Staff

Hiring the right temporary domestic staff for your summer home is a large project for any principle or family. This article discusses why this can be so challenging and offers potential solutions to common problems I have seen every season. I am someone with extensive experience in the luxury hospitality and staffing industry and I have run British American Household Staffing and British American Yachts, the leading domestic staffing and yacht crew agency in the USA and UK as well as British American Newborn Care, which works with the best childcare professionals in the USA and UK. Most agencies have a roster of recurring staff in all the domestic staff categories. The earlier you start the hiring process the more likely you will secure the most qualified candidates. If you have very specific requirements and early start will help you find the ideal person for a potentially harder match to find.

A family looking for a live-in housekeeper-cook for their Hamptons home should look at contacting agencies in New York as well as the Hamptons, but nowhere too far for the housekeeper-cook to travel back and forth to on their days off (for instance New Jersey is too far from Easthampton, one full day off will be used for traveling). A live-in housekeeper-cook for the Hamptons will have to drive so this is a challenging order as many domestic candidates don’t want to live in and many housekeepers do not like to cook, especially cook the volume needed for the summer season, which is typically filled with parties and extra guests.

The best solution is to do the following: – Start the hiring process early – Contact high end agencies only, both local and non-local (as it is live in) – Set a salary range that is generous to allow you to find the best fit more easily – Make sure you have set an appealing schedule so you open-up the pool of qualified candidates. The schedule should always have 2 consecutive days off and usually a Sunday is given as a day off, in conjunction with Monday or Saturday – Phone screen the candidates first – Check their level of experience – Check they have been a flexible worker in the past.

One of the most common recurring issues for larger estates lies in the team of domestic staff. Staffing a larger home or estates is like running a small business in your home. The pyramid model works well for estate staffing. Start by hiring a house manager or a butler house manager. This person can then help you screen the rest of the staff, which helps them establish their authority with the staff you decide to hire for the summer that this house manager will be overseeing. This is the most important hire you will make over the summer, so screen this person for the following qualities:

– Ask their management style and ask for two or more references from staff they managed previously – Find out why they are looking for the summer only – Hire someone who has experience in the area they will be working – Ensure they have estate staff management experience – Once you hire them, hire the domestic staff with them and keep an open line of communication with the staff in case there are revolving door problems and it is the fault of the house manager – Make sure they have relationships with the top agencies in the area and ask who they liaise with at those agencies – Ensure they understand scheduling for staff – Pay them very well with the promise of a bonus at the end of the season In case you are doing the hiring alone or with a remote house manager, you will need to know how to attract the best staff (housekeepers, chefs and nannies) for your summer home Housekeepers: – Other than nannies, most high quality domestic are looking for a secure full-time job position, preferably with benefits. This is something every principle hiring only for the summer with deal with and lose staff too.

The best solution for this is to hire the best local candidates on a lower full time salary, offer benefits and give them a bonus at the end of the summer. This is the best solution for retaining top talent in a seasonal area such as the Hamptons – Housekeepers, more than any other domestic staff category, like a regular schedule with overtime, which is the law. A constant live in or Wednesday to Sunday schedule is always unpopular, but more-often-than-not needed for summer hires, especially in the Hamptons. Hire one more extra housekeeper than you need so each housekeeper gets one weekend of a month. This will attract the best talent – A standard and suggested formal housekeeper salary is $70,000 plus benefits and overtime.  A seasonal housekeeper is $35 to $40 an hour.

Chefs: –

Chefs often like a temporary position that helps them earn a solid income and allows them more freedom to freelance during the year, or travel etc. – Yacht chefs are some of the best chefs you can find and they are accustomed to short-term gigs, long schedules, catering to large formal parties in a small space and working 7 day or more stretches. I would recommend this direction if you can accommodate a live- in chef. – Use an agency that works with both yacht and domestic staff – Top chefs are often happy to do the Hamptons in between jobs. Again, starting this search early and constantly checking in is an excellent way of increasing your chances of securing the best private chef for the summer – Suggested salary for a summer chef is $8-12,000 a month.

Nannies: –

Nannies fall into many different categories: 1. Career nannies 2. Mother’s helpers 3. Nanny/housekeepers 4. Second language nannies 5. Newborn Care Specialist nannies 6. Travel nannies Childcare is the most delicate of all domestic hires to make, as they need to be fully-qualified for your particular childcare situation. I recommend using an agency with a specialized childcare department. Screen the head of the department and make sure they are qualified in childhood education and development and hold the appropriate degrees (and newborn care specialist should be an expert in their field and should have experience training, screening and offering certificates to newborn care specialists). If your children are older (3 and up) a travel nanny or student nanny could be a great option. These nannies are often students, actresses, singers, writers or have another unrelated career during the year. They must be experienced nannies with your children’s age group and this should be screened by the agency childcare branch. This can be a good option if they are able to tutor and educate your children over the summer, or teach them a musical instrument etc. This is the more economical option, with a salary usually starting at $25 an hour plus overtime. Travel pay is not a legal prerequisite but overtime pay is. If you have an infant, or infant twins, a certified and educated newborn care specialist or baby nurse is the best option. A regular nanny (career nanny, nanny/housekeepers, second language nanny, mother’s helper or suchlike) will be looking for a permanent position, so they are harder to pin down for the summer. If you do, the career nannies will likely be expensive at $35-45 an hour. Some will accept a summer position in between jobs but this is rare. For all childcare positions we highly recommend going through the childcare division at a reputed agency. Again, screen the person who heads this branch.

Examples are British American Household Staffing (bahs.com) and British American Newborn Care (bababynurses.com). Ashley Mundt and Katie Morin are both childhood and infant development specialists and highly certified, their bios below. For more information on domestic staffing, temporary or permanent, feel free to reach out to me at: info@bahs.com

By Anita Rogers www.bahs.com www.babynurses.com

View on British American Household Staffing’s blog: http://bahs.com/news/detail/hiring-the-best-domestic-staff-for-your-summer-home1

Blouin ArtInfo Features Joan Waltemath: Fecund Algorithms

Fecund Algorithms,” an exhibition of works by artist Joan Waltemath (b.1953) started on April 5 and will run through May 13, 2017 at Anita Rogers Gallery, New York.

The selection of works on display features new paintings from the artist’s ‘Torso/Roots’ series. The new paintings by Waltemath were created with a range of unique materials including oil, graphite and various metallic and fluorescent pigments on aluminum panels, many of which took years for the artist to complete.

The artworks deal with the complex and inextricable relationships between the human body and the mind, the physical and the spiritual and art, architecture and the natural world. Due to the reflective and absorbent nature of the pigments used in the paintings, new details can be observed when viewed from different perspectives at different times of the day, hence every interaction with one of the panels is a new experience.

View more on BlouinArtInfo.com

Art Break: Math and Art Merge With Joan Waltemath’s ‘Fecund Algorithms’

Zeal NYC Recommends Joan Waltemath’s Exhibition

Art Break Downtown:

Where: Anita Rogers Gallery, 77 Mercer Street, #2-N

When: Now through May 10, Tue – Fri: 10-6, Sat: 12-4

Who: Joan Waltemath: Fecund Algorithms

What: Abstract paintings based on harmonic mathematical relationships

Why: The relationship between math and art is stronger than you might think

View More on ZealNYC.com

Joan Waltemath: Fecund Algorithms Featured in Wall Street International

Fecund Algorithms [at Anita Rogers Gallery] introduces a new collection of paintings in a range of unique materials including oil, graphite, and various metallic and florescent pigments on aluminum panels, many of which take years for the artist to complete. Titled with anagrammatic terms, the series Torso/ Roots grapples with the complex and inextricable relationships between the human body and the mind, the physical and the spiritual, and art, architecture and the natural world. The pieces, at once bold and rich with subtleties, are vertically structured and based on a grid derived from harmonic mathematical relationships. Due to the reflective and absorbent nature of the pigments the artist chooses, new details emerge from the works as they are viewed from different perspectives and at various times of day; in this way, every interaction with one of the panels is a new experience. The works demand a physical reaction from the viewer, keeping them consistently aware, awake and engaged.

View More on WSIMag.com

NY-ArtNews Reviews Joan Waltemath: Fecund Algorithms

Upon entering the open space of the Anita Rogers Gallery you are greeted with rectangular aluminum canvas’ that immediately draw your eye and are painted like multi-paneled grids. The subtly decadent, organized planes of color and texture serve as visual offsets and underline the surrounding architecture of the Anita Rogers Gallery. Both the rigorous lines of Piet Mondrian’s seminal paintings and the tempered emotive undertones of Agnes Martin’s work come to mind.

Waltemath’s paintings do not assault the space but complement and summarize it. The canvaswhat happens for web site 2880es’ precisely organized colors and textures create a prevailing mood of a restful oasis. The sumptuous dilapidation of the gallery walls and fixtures enhance this mood. On a recent trip to Washington D.C. surrounded by historic monuments and nature I felt the same sense of peace and contemplation. These paintings provide the mental space to think, contemplate, and consider. The rigidly organized lines and colors force the consciousness inward or similarly condense the surrounding space and architecture onto a single plane. As such the paintings are correspondingly simple and complex.

Juxtaposed to the paintings are smaller textile pieces Waltemath considers her “rest” pieces intended to break up the complexity of the paintings and provide an inviting tactility. The soft construct of these pieces provide a nice counterbalance to the paintings and provide a narrative as to how Waltemath may have arrived at her painting techniques. While it is my belief that good painting often deceptively hides the evidence of time, the textile pieces through their meticulously attended stitching, provide not only a rest  for the eye but also a welcome relief in the revelation of the lovely preciseness, rigor, and disciplined labor that underpin the paintings on view.

Rather than lines that recede into the paintings at an angle creating the illusion of depth what happens(West 1  1,2,3,5,8…), creates a conceptual understanding of space through horizontal lines. Comparing Waltemath’s paintings in relation to depth, you could say that the amount of uninterrupted open space in what happens(West 1  1,2,3,5,8…), creates a greater depth than Waltemath’s interwoven (East 2  1,2,3,5,8…), which fragments and stratifies its plane.  One could say then that these paintings act as windows or looking glasses to greater expanses, however what is depicted is an interior world, both of the viewer and the paintings’ surroundings. Another noteworthy element of the paintings are the specific materials used, graphite, zinc, bronze, lead, that bring to mind layered geological formations or the raw material of industrial spaces. Indeed taking the first analogy, one could analyze her paintings as cross sectional slices of stone compressed and combined with a richness of pure and impure minerals. These windows and geological slices attune the viewer to an interstitial space and perhaps a pataphsycial belief that all will work out as it should.

View full post on NY-ArtNews.com

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artnet Asks: Artist Joan Waltemath and the Secret Beauty in Math

Opening April 5 at Anita Rogers Gallery, “Fecund Algorithms” is the latest solo exhibition by Joan Waltemath. Grappling with the complex and often contradictory relationships between the body and mind, the artist’s abstract paintings look to mathematical equations for their harmonious and inventive grid-based compositions.

Waltemath is not only an artist, however: She is also known as an influential educator and a writer, having taught architecture for years at Cooper Union and serving as editor-at-large for the esteemed Brooklyn Rail since 2001. Here, she discusses her new work, the beauty in mathematics, and what to expect at her show.

What inspired you to create the Torso/Roots series?
I am intrigued watching people perform tasks they know by heart, observing movements that seem to stem from the corporeal, rather than being directed by the mind. I want to create something that speaks directly to the body that touches our movement in the way architecture does.  The more all our devices assert their dominance over the mode of our communications, the more compelled I feel to explore the multi-faceted nature of perception. How the body knows things, remembers a thing is my tabula rasa.

Read the full interview on artnet.com

Hamptons Art Hub’s “New Shows to Know” Features Joan Waltemath: Fecund Algorithms

SOHO — Anita Rogers Gallery: “Joan Waltemath: Fecund Algorithms”

April 5 through May 10, 2017

Opening Reception: Wednesday, April 5, at 6 p.m.

Joan Waltemath’s solo exhibition “Fecund Algorithms” at Anita Rogers Gallery will feature new paintings from her “Torso/Roots” series. The paintings, many of which took years to create, are made out of materials such as oil, graphite and metallic and fluorescent pigments on aluminum panels and were structured on harmonic mathematical relationships. Titled with anagrammatic terms, “Torso/ Roots” grapples with the complex and inextricable relationships between the human body and the mind, the physical and the spiritual, and art, architecture and the natural world.

Joan Waltemath, a New York-based painter, has shown work in New York, Chicago, Portland, Baltimore, London, Basel and Cologne and is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Art, the Hammer Museum and the Harvard University Art Museum, among others.