meredith cutler :: arts marketing :: artist

Art has finally slept...I had to slow it down a bit this week, given that my domestic unit has obtained the mysterious, mid-spring flu (plague). After a solid week of summer weather (the devil's trickery), the sky transitioned to cold, miserable rain for two days straight. With it pounding on my skylight, I awoke early yesterday morning with my bones rattling with fever and the evil one climbing out of my stomach. (Sadly, because of "once sick, never again" rules, it will be a cold day in hell before I am able to enjoy my husband's mushroom risotto.)

The truly "sick" thing about a household stricken is the dilemma: who will care for the ill if all are indisposed? Maybe this guy can help, he seems to be parked on the emergency defibrillator...

Above: "Bunny": First Aid Station, East Side/Mt. Hope YMCA, Providence, RI

It has been a light week for writing, due to the fact that I have had family in town and therefore the rare chance to show people around Providence, which I still feel that I am getting to know myself as a relatively new Boston transplant.

Locals may have seen me dragging my eerily resemblant mother and aunt down Thayer and Benefit streets (note: the latter relative = me in 20 years, the former = me in 30 years), with a very unenthusiastic 11-year old cousin in tow. It isn't family day without a stop at the gift shop, so after a brief stint at the RISD Museum to skim the concise and impressive Styrofoam and Evo/Revo shows, we hit up RISD Works.

I wasn't planning on any purchases, but my intrepid mother scouted out the sole copy of Dirty Wow Wow and other love stories, by Cheryl and Jeffrey Katz. I had to treat myself to this sweet, little hard-cover book, which documents in neutral, portrait-style photography the well-loved, tattered and often humorously repaired softies and blankies of childhood in their "sunset years". With short, fable-like biographical essays accompanying each portrait, I find this collection in pleasing contrast to my "Lost and Found" cell-phone photo documentary series of abandoned softies.

Oh, and the dust-jacket cover art features the retro-pup "Le Mutt" (in this edition knighted "Rover" by his small person).

I was once the proud owner of both a "Le Mutt" and his paramour, "Fi-Fi La Femme" back in the good 'ol early 1980's. I recall that "Le Mutt" had a very weak ear, but that didn't stop me from spinning him by it like a windmill until it came off, catapulting the poor canine into outer space.

The city is a strange and often dangerous place to make a home, especially when pets and children are part of the equation. Still, there are advantages to keeping a domesticated animal in an urban environment...

Above: "Tiger" - Off Manhattan Ave., Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY

Yesterday was the day of the amazing journey. I made my $28.84 way home (including gas) to Providence, from Williamsburg, via a snaking, pulsing and sometimes oozing network of mass-transit, adrenaline, fantastic timing and pure luck. I feel like Ferris Buehler.

I have to say my favorite part of the journey took place around Rockefeller Center, where I ran smack into the gooey center of a full-on Saint Patrick's Day parade. Che casino! How can it be that I am from Boston, yet totally blanked on Saint Patrick's Day until the beer breath of hundreds of thousands of green-hatted drunken revelers on W51st and 5th Avenue smacked me upside the head?

New York was a craic; I'm still downloading my mental notes on the shows I was able to breeze through between bars. But until then, as a tribute to my favorite art school professor inspired adjective of all time, behold:

See if you can guess what it is (hint: it's not hot).

Anyone with eyes, ears and a wallet knows that these days are lean days here in the good ol' U.S.A. As a veteran of art school, student loans, freelancing, layoffs and studio life, I have seen my share of these times through (with nary a scar on my credit rating, I might add). Although our current economic climate can be a bit anxiety provoking, in a way I welcome the familiar challenge of tightening the belt. It reminds me how to prioritize, how to edit and how to live as well as I can at all times. The secret? The above three points are key ingredients to a successful life.

As a blushing newlywed, I find myself in charge of our household finances, as well as much (though not all!) of the meal planning. Good thing, too: I have plenty of experience in budgeting, from my nitty-gritty basement arts collaborative days to a 500K corporate trade show budget…you could say I know my way around a spreadsheet (just adjust the zeroes to get where we are right about now :).

My lovely mother recently sent an insightful email on Peter Menzel's photo documentary Hungry Planet, which highlights families around the world, depicting all household members alongside their weekly grocery purchases, and noting the amount spent (both in local currency and U.S. dollars). I found this book simply fascinating, and given the far reaching economic, ecological and health implications of our “weekly bread”, felt inspired to add to the project.

Unfortunately, my better half has been burning the night oil as of late, and I assumed the role of photographer, so we are not depicted alongside our haul.  Needless to say, we are a household of two (alas, no children or pets!)

As you can see, we keep a vegetarian house, and it is my goal to keep our menu full of as many whole foods as possible. And folks...if you have to buy pasta (which you do if your husband is from Italy), buy DeCecco.

Total amount spent: $110.73*
*Includes $0.15 credit for bringing our own, reusable grocery bags!