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Archive for the ‘Reviews’ Category

Flasback to last summer- Color Factory in NYC’s Soho: “Kid-tested mother approved!”

  The Color Factory in NYC’s Soho- a treat for the senses! by Leticia Marie Sanchez Visting the Color Factory in NYC’s Soho was like stepping into the whimsical novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Even before entering the galleries we were greeted with savory Mochi and once inside treats galore: macaroons, vanilla blueberry gelato, and candies! Left: One of many sweet treats on our visit: Macaroons!     But the sweetest part of the day was the stimulating visual lesson on color!   At the entrance of the exhibit was 100 colors by Artist Emanuelle Moureax.         One of my son’s favorite rooms was “Balloon Wishes” with a welcoming placard, “When you wish upon a balloon/You find yourself in this Ombre Room.” Each balloon had a delightful wish bestowed by a student from 826 NYC.    

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Flashback to last summer- Painting à la Pollock, East Hampton, 2019

    Painting à la Pollock: Child’s Painting Class and Tour at Jackson Pollock’s Home,  East Hampton by Leticia Marie Sanchez Photography and text © 2019 Leticia Marie Sanchez Cultural Cocktail Hour® is a registered trademark Painting with my 4-year-old son underneath the sun dappled trees at Jackson Pollock’s home as we overlooked the abundant natural beauty of the Accabonac Creek proved one of the most treasured moments on my artistic foray to the Hamptons. My son and I participated in the wonderful Imagine That! Tour and art class led by engaging art educator Joyce Raimondo. The class commenced with a tour of Jackson Pollock’s studio, where the children searched for traces of the artist’s footprints in the vibrant floor covered by vestiges of his drip painting. The children then peered through a book showcasing Pollock masterpieces that currently hang at world

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Michelangelo: Mind of the Master at the Getty Center – MUST SEE Exhibit

Review: Michelangelo: Mind of the Master-  Must SEE Exhibit February 25-June 7, 2020  Getty Center by Leticia Marie Sanchez What does it mean to be a genius? Artists throughout history have sought to mythologize their own personas, creating an aura of mystique around their identities as divinely inspired individuals. As part his self-created flamboyant persona, Salvador Dalí drove a cauliflower-stuffed Rolls Royce and showed up to a surrealistic exhibit dressed head-to-toe in scuba gear. In Michelangelo’s case, the Renaissance maestro tragically destroyed the majority of his 28,000 drawings so that the public would not realize that he had struggled for his art; Michelangelo preferred that people believed that his breathtaking masterpieces, like the frescoes on the Sistine Ceiling, were works that he created spontaneously. On several occasions, Michelangelo ordered his drawings to be burned. His biographer Giorgio Vasari noted that

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Review: “Egypt’s Lost Cities” at the Reagan Library- MUST-SEE exhibit

 Review: “Egypt’s Lost Cities” Uncovering an archaeological mystery at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library On View Until April 12, 2020  by Leticia Marie Sanchez The exhibit “Egypt’s Lost Cities” is intriguing for many reasons. Firstly, the exhibit takes the viewer on a journey to see the forgotten ancient cities of Thonis-Heracleion and Canopus, which were discovered by mathematician-economist Franck Goddio and his team of underwater archaeologists. Secondly, the blockbuster exhibition at the Reagan Library contains an astonishing treasure trove of more than 200 artifacts, including gold coins, bronze vessels, jewelry, ceramics, statues of Cleopatra III, and Ptolemy XII as a Sphinx. The works are exceptionally intact, despite having been buried under the sea for more than two thousand years. Prior to the founding of Alexandria in 331 B.C. the harbor of Thonis-Heracleion controlled all the trade into Egypt and was

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Review- Hope Springs Eternal: “Manet and Modern Beauty at the Getty Center”

Édouard Manet French, 1832 – 1883 Flowers in a Crystal Vase, about 1882 Oil on canvas Unframed: 32.7 × 24.5 cm (12 7/8 × 9 5/8 in.) National Gallery of Art, Washington, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection,1970.17.37 Image courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington EX.2019.3.100  Hope Springs Eternal:   Manet and Modern Beauty at the Getty Center  by    Leticia Marie Sanchez                                                                                                                           October 8, 2019 to January 12, 2020 Manet and Modern Beauty at the Getty Center is a MUST-SEE exhibit, not only due to the abundant works on view

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Review: By Day and by Night: Paris in the Belle Époque- A MUST SEE Exhibit at the Norton Simon

Review The darkness and light of LA Belle Époque at the Norton Simon Museum October 4, 2019-March 2, 2020 by Leticia Marie Sanchez La Belle Époque, which means the “beautiful age,” evokes thoughts of frothy, light-hearted spectacle: can can dancers, entertainment posters, cabarets, bistros, and electrifying nights at the theater during France’s Gilded Age. However, the Norton Simon Museum’s exhibit By Day & by Night: Paris in the Belle Époque reveals the deeper psychological dimensions beneath the glittering surface: the dichotomy between dynamic crowds and a sense of isolation, between affluent patrons and an often despairing working class, and between a frenzied pace and moments of pause. This vast exhibit includes works by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Édouard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, Edgar Degas, and Pablo Picasso. The exhibit was expertly curated by Norton Simon Acting Chief Curator Emily Talbot whose curation revealed

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Review: The 2019 Hampton Designer Showcase House in Southampton

Cultural Cocktail Hour® is a registered trademark Review: An artistic oasis in Southampton by Leticia Marie Sanchez Photo Left: Cultural Cocktail Hour Editor-In-Chief Leticia Marie Sanchez at the 2019 Hampton Designer Showhouse presented by Traditional Home to benefit Stonybrook Southampton Hospital. What struck me about the design of this Southampton retreat on Rosko Lane was that it was simultaneously a calm, light-filled seaside escape as well as a dynamic, cosmopolitan space for entertaining guests. This moveable feast of textures and colors made both the indoors and outdoors an artistic oasis.   Many design firms were involved in creating the distinct features of the house, and I will highlight a few that caught my eye: Alessandra Branca designed the living room that balanced tranquility with modern touches like these on the left.     In the Master Bedroom by Morgan Harrison Home, a dreamy peach palette framed the verdant nature of the Hamptons outdoors;

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Throwback Thursday to Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week!

 by Leticia Marie Sanchez Throwback Thursday to last year at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week! A highlight for me was hearing one of the most moving pieces of classical music, “Lark Ascending” during the show, in the video clip below! — Editor’s Note: This article first appeared in Cultural Cocktail Hour in 2018 Greetings from Paris! At Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week Fall Winter 2018, the uplifting strains of Ralph Vaughan Williams’s “Lark Ascending” played during the presentation of the ethereal designs by Azulant Akora.    The stirring music was befitting of a collection that proved inspirational, ethereal, and exquisite. Akron’s presentation was filled with showstoppers including a intricate floral-imbued gown and a royal green dress that was regal and perfectly showcased in the golden, classically gilded room at La Maison Champs Elysées. What was even more impressive about Akora’s collection was

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Get Lost! (Lost in Liberty Park, that is)

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Cultural Cocktail Hour in 2008. In 2017, the Sphere moved from Battery Park to Liberty Park, where it now overlooks the World Trade Center site.  Fritz Koenig’s The Sphere by Leticia Marie Sanchez It is the stillness after the storm, a place for reflection on the violence that occurred nearby in lower Manhattan. It is what Mayor Michael Bloomberg called a symbol of the “power of art to heal.” The Sphere, a globe sculpted by the German artist Fritz Koenig, is the only structure to survive and remain standing after the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The 45,000-pound steel and brass work, its face dented, chipped, fragmented, scuffed and scratched, now rests in a quiet place in Liberty Park, a short distance from Ground Zero. More than survivor, the

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CCH is reading “Gin Austen: 50 Cocktails to celebrate the novels of Jane Austen”

       Gin Austen: A book that’s Top Shelf! by Leticia Marie Sanchez  The introduction to Gin Austen: 50 Cocktails To Celebrate the Novels of Jane Austen includes a revealing quote from Jane Austen to Cassandra Austen: “I believe I drank too much wine last night at Hurstbourne; I know not else how to account for the shaking of my hand to-day.” Despite being an Austen fan, I never realized how freely drinks flowed at the social engagements during her time. I could not put down the book down, mainly due to the chuckle-factor and wit of Colleen Mullaney. Firstly, the names of the concoctions are hilarious, from Jane’s Addiction to Bloody Elliot to Gin and Bennet to No Weymouth. Secondly, the author integrates, with finesse, the literary works of Jane Austen, with each chapter devoted to novels like Sense and

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