Artfully Amused

Dear Madonna,

I was in Montreal last weekend, primarily to I attended workshops hosted by Dance Conmigo and taught by John Lindo. Had a really, really good time. Stayed in Old Montreal, walked (and walked!) all over the city, and even got to see a Waterhouse exhibit at the Musee de Beaux Arts.

His work shares a Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic, although he came much later, and I particularly loved the "woman-as-wise-soceress" motif. Sirens and Niaids, images from Greek myths and Roman history, Homer's Odyssey and, of course, the Lady of Shallott...All very erudite and fanciful and hugely satisfying. There were even parallels drawn between the themes of the works to the Zeitgeist of the 1890's, in which they were painted, addressing the "gender roles and calls for women to be socially and politically independent alongside a demand for proper sexual fulfillment".

I realized, while eating a falafel for lunch at Bustians on Crescent Street afterwards, that it's been a long time since I've fed my art habit. Far too long. So today, being a gorgeous sunny, fall day I took myself to an outdoor art installation up in Willowdale. Five war-time houses, long abandoned and slated for demolition, have been transformed into - well, it's hard to describe. The first one has been painted completely green to resemble the little plastic green houses from a Monopoly game. Another had a car crashing in the front window. There was an odd little video about gay penguins, and some archival pictures of the area. You can check out the website at www.leonadrive.ca

I've also made a date with woman who lives in my building, Maury (of indeterminate age she still wears make-up and locomotes on high heels *and* a cane) to go and see the Vanity Fair photo exhibit at the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) next month.

Missed you on SNL recently; you should have told me you were going to be on!

Ciao,
Julie