Two days ago, Museum director Kathy Foley and I returned from New York City. I had never been to New York before. Kathy has been going there all her life.
As a Metuchen, New Jersey, native, Kathy knows the city like the back of her hand. As a naïve, small-town kid from Wisconsin, it was nice to have a streetwise person as a guide my first time there.
Actual photo of Kathy and me in New York
Really, our primary destination was Stamford, Connecticut, where the 2020 edition of Birds in Art is currently on display at the Stamford Museum & Nature Center. An event honoring the exhibition was being hosted by great friends of the Woodson Art Museum, and Kathy and I were on hand to mark the occasion.
The event was fantastic, with the group gathered at the Stamford Museum receptive to Birds in Art and the sixty artworks in the traveling exhibition. Seeing it myself was a bit surreal. As the 2021 exhibition is still on view at the Woodson, I was surprised at how many artworks I clearly remembered from last year and their associated stories. It speaks to the lasting power of the exhibition and the work created by the artists.
The event in Connecticut was also a nice change of pace because it put Kathy and me on equal footing. When we got off the train in Stamford, she really didn’t know where she was going, and of course I didn’t either. We were forced to utilize intuition (as well as Google Maps) to make it to our hotel prior to the night’s festivities.
Back in New York the next day, Kathy led the way in visiting numerous museums, galleries, and historic sites in Manhattan. It was certainly a whirlwind and am already looking forward to a future visit, hopefully with my wife, Mallory. Since Mallory has never been to New York, I am confident I can lead her around when we eventually go. I can only hope I’m half the tour guide Kathy was.
