Xtra
The Art of Summer
IT IS SUMMER when we allow ourselves to slow down and reflect on our personal map with the ‘You Are Here’ designation. There is a slight promise of fall, but it is the open window of time where we can meditate on the here and now. We can see more clearly through our magnifying... Read »
A Window into Art
VISITING AN ART GALLERY is almost always a visit to the past; to representations of people, places, and relics of days gone by. It’s not that you go to see the past for its own sake. You go to see the art as art. But sometimes you go deeper. Without really trying, you can... Read »
City of Change
AS YOU MOVE ALONG the crowded sidewalks and long metro corridors of St. Petersburg, you see primarily working and lower-class faces. Upper-class folks are in their new cars roaring at high speed down the busy streets along with young “new rich” on stylish motorcycles (driving scary fast). Meanwhile, the middle class hardly exists in... Read »
City of (Lots of) People
STEPPING OUT of our flat in the center of downtown St. Petersburg is like a couple of blood cells entering the heart. There is a surge of energy as we look up at the massive cathedral across the street and get swept into a rush of pedestrians. Within seconds, we join the nimble dance... Read »
City of Reconstruction
AROUND EVERY OTHER CORNER is evidence of St. Petersburg being refurbished and restored. A good example is the churches, many of which were used as storehouses during the soviet era. Lenin had adopted from Marx the idea that “religion is the opium of the masses.” He wanted Russians to honor the red flag of... Read »
City of Change
GOING TO the public produce market in St. Petersburg is like going to war. Well, not exactly. Only in the sense that someone always gets defeated and everyone ends up exhausted. Behind the displays of vibrant, today-fresh vegetables, stand working-class women, each commandeering their battalions of produce, each vying for your business. The men... Read »
City of Art
MOST VISITORS to St. Petersburg go to the Hermitage, and rightly so. It houses one of the world’s most large, if not largest, art collection in a former czar’s palace (the Winter Palace) where the Revolution of 1917 was staged, and where each room boasts a unique parquet floor, wall paneling, molding, and window... Read »
City of Palaces
ON STREET AFTER STREET and building after building, majestic facades reflect their pastel colors in the long summer sun. It’s “white nights” in St. Petersburg, Russia where we are spending the month of June and where the sun barely sets. This picture of a row of former palaces was taken at 9:30 PM just... Read »
Temporary French Art
TEMPORARY BECAUSE you can eat it—which you will do… quickly. We’re talking fresh pastries, baguettes, and macaroons made daily by a superior French pastry chef at the new Macaroon Boutique on John Street. The front door is usually open, delectable pastries loom on open shelves, enchanting co-owner Fabienne is at the cashier, and maestro... Read »
The Art of Expansion
JOCELYN NUGENT’S PHILOSOPHY about fitness is best described as “balance within the body.” Balance between tension and release, effort and ease, movement and control—all through a holistic approach and positive environment that makes exercise more enjoyable. A former dancer, Jocelyn opened Praxis Balanced Body Studio in 1996. It was the first East-of-the-Cooper studio to... Read »
