Tag Archives: art

An Artistic Interlude

Posted on March 19, 2026 by mohawkvalleygirl

Yesterday when I was in Rome, NY I enjoyed coffee and a scone at the most delightful cafe, Superofficial on West Dominick Street, right next to the Capitol Theatre.  It is actually Superofficial and the Copper Easel Art Gallery, so I enjoyed art and atmosphere as well.

I especially liked the guy shooting the red stuff in the shed, but it does not show up here very well.

I did not want to eat too much, so as not to spoil my lunch, but after much debate I had to try the scone with Rosemary, figs, and goat cheese. It looked more substantial than what I had in mind, but it just sounded so different.  I also had a cup of regular coffee.

You can’t really read the menu, but that’s OK. I understand it changes weekly.

The scone did not disappoint.  The coffee was good, too.  While I ate, I looked around at the art on the walls, all of which was by local artists.  Then I laughed out loud, because I saw a skeleton sitting on the counter.  I love skeletons!

It looks like he’s laughing out loud too!

There were several other customers, most of them looking rather artistic themselves.  Some were working on computers.  I wondered what creative endeavors they were working on.  I myself worked on a letter to a friend, which I believe my friend will appreciate.

Cool logo.

I felt I was in a very artsy spot, and wished there was such a spot in Herkimer (where I live).  Maybe somebody will open one.  In the meantime, I will try to feel creative in the coffee spots I live near, and make sure I stop by Superofficial when I am in Rome.

Superofficial and The Copper Easel are located at 216 W. Dominick St., Rome, NY.  You can find them both on Facebook.

 

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More Parking Lot Commentary

Posted on October 5, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Here are the last of the senior parking spaces from Herkimer Junior Senior High School.  I have not walked or run by them recently but may tomorrow.  I know, I could only wait till then and use these as part of a Running Commentary post.  However, I cannot count on myself to either run or comment.  OK, I can usually be counted upon to comment.  As you see.

Class president with a dog and a Bob Marley quote. Nice!

“Love the life you have; live the life you love.”  -Bob Marley.  I’ll have to put that on my to-do list.

Now this one is minimalist.

Just the essentials from Logan, I guess.

Who knew, when she was just a kindergartner?

My 12 years in school did not seem to fly by, but the years certainly are careening along now.

I do like the white on black.

Is that Sponge Bob?  I don’t recognize him when he is not in color.  Anyways, he is past my time.  I am Bugs Bunny generation.

I suppose those count as “comments from the Peanut Gallery.”  That used to be a big saying, “And no comments from the Peanut Gallery!”  meaning you didn’t want anybody to say anything.  I think the Peanut Gallery was on the Howdy Doody Show, but that was before my time.  That’s me, somewhere between Howdy Doody and Sponge Bob.  It’s better than a rock and a hard place!

 

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I Practice Art Interpretation

Posted on October 2, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

I just realized I had not shared all the senior parking space art at Herkimer Junior Senior High School.  As I frantically type prior to going out to breakfast with friends (preview of coming attractions), I will repair the omission, at least in part.

I can identify!

I loved that movie Clueless!  What year did it come out?  Too lazy to look it up, and perhaps this senior is not referring to that at all.  I am SO not up on current pop culture (it’s probably not even referred to as pop culture any more).

Oh, I get it!

At first I thought this was just minimalist, then I saw it is a pencil!  Clever!  Unless it is something totally else and I am silly, not uncommon for me, as regular readers know.  I am seeing a theme here of me having no faith in my ability to interpret art.

Pretty!

What’s not to like about this one?  My intent was to share three pictures, but I see I am well under my self-imposed minimum of 200 words.  A minimalist blog? Once I was accused of having Minimalist Monday, because I posted on Facebook:  “Long story, not very interesting.”

It is interesting to me how the words add up, because that little bit of nonsense put me over the top.  Good thing, because it is not Monday, and I am no minimalist (although I used to wear mini skirts) (I would imagine I still could; I have a pretty good set of gams, I can say without overly flattering myself) (preview of coming attractions?)

In any case, I thank my readers for tuning in.

 

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More Parking Lot Pictures

Posted on September 26, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

Wednesday I ran early in the morning to beat the rain, and I ran through the Herkimer Junior Senior High School parking lot so I could use more pictures of the seniors’ parking spaces as illustration for a Running Commentary post.  Then I went a different way with my Wednesday post (as you may have read).  Today I ran in the afternoon, when I thought it had stopped raining.  I ran towards the high school, for the same reason, but cars were still parked in the lot as well as driving along the streets, and it just seemed a better idea not to go there.  However, that is no reason not to make a blog post using more of my parking lot pictures.

This one is cool!

I see two names on this one.  I don’t know if that means it is a shared space or merely collaborative artwork. Perhaps I ought to research these things.

Rewind or fast forward?

I had forgotten Kanye West’s full name.  I think he goes by “Ye” now, but I really do not follow rap.

This seems like an athletic guy.

I like the different lettering on this one.

A more minimalist approach.

This one seems quieter compared to some of the others, but that is what makes the parking lot as a whole such a work of art.  It takes all different kinds to make a world.  Let’s embrace it!

 

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Late Post, More Art

Posted on September 23, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

After falling down on my daily blogging ambitions once again, I try to pick things up with a few more examples of parking lot artwork by Herkimer High School Seniors.  I ran by the art on once of my morning runs recently, a great addition of something fun to look at while I thunk along.

Who doesn’t love Spiderman?

This is a good one for me to run by, because for the next mile or so the Spiderman theme song plays in my head.  Yes, I know all the words.

Kitty is nice, too.

This is another one I wish I had gotten a better shot of.  Well, local readers are encouraged to take a walk down and check these out for themselves.  They are even better in person.

Is he surrendering? Or part of a wave?

I’m not sure who this fellow is, because I am not up on current popular characters.  Perhaps it is an invention of the senior who painted it.  That would be cool.

I like the lettering.

I do four instead of my usual three pictures, and I still have some left for future posts.  Which I hope to make in a timely fashion and stop missing days.  As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

 

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Those Seniors Are Creative

Posted on September 18, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

I make my Wordless Wednesday post late and share more Herkimer High School Seniors’ parking lot art.  Full disclosure:  it isn’t really a wordless Wednesday, because obviously there are some words.  However, since it is more about the pictures, I make bold to label it so.

Nice incorporation of technology.

I think this one is clever.  I just imagine they will neither pause nor rewind.  I never wanted to do so when I was a senior.  Oh dear, as soon as I typed that I remembered something:  I AM a senior: a senior citizen.

Nice.

I like the water effect.  I suppose Arriana is on the swim team.

This one is simpler.

A more straightforward space, no?  But I like it.  As I said in my first post about this, these seniors are expressing their personalities.

I see I am not up to 200 words, my usual goal for myself.  So I guess this is not a Wordless Wednesday but a Less Words Wednesday.  That could be a new category for Mohawk Valley Girl. Any thoughts?  Oh dear, as I went to add Categories and Tags, I realized:  it should not be Less Words but Fewer Words, which makes it not a play on words of Wordless Wednesday.  That’s no good!  What’s a silly blogger to do?

However, adding that bit of dithering got me over 200 words.  Phew!

 

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I Get a Little Culture at MVCA

Posted on May 20, 2025 by mohawkvalleygirl

I got some culture Saturday when I attended an art opening at Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts’ (MVCA) new location at 410 Canal Place in Little Falls, NY.  It is just across the street from their old location, a nice bright space with views of the canal out the windows. I enjoyed looking at the art of Justin Como as well as checking out the new space.

Love the real hardwood floors!

It was difficult to get a wide view with bright sunshine pouring in the windows, but how can I complain about sunshine?  Not with some of the weather we’ve been having!

It’s so different!

This was my favorite piece.  It’s called “Participating in Reality.”

This one is sweet too!

This one is, “I’m Too Sad to Tell You.”  After I had looked at all the pieces in the exhibit, I checked out the gift shop and chatted up a few fellow art lovers.  I think I have been recruited to volunteer for MVCA.  I don’t see why not if I can get my life a little better organized.

MVCA is open from noon to four p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  I encourage you to stop by when you’re near Canal Place.  You can get a little culture and pick up some cool items at the gift shop.  The phone number is 315-823-0808.

 

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A Little Art, A Little Music…

Posted on April 18, 2024 by mohawkvalleygirl

I have just returned from the Renaissance Pub in Little Falls, NY, where I attended a Meet the Artist event with Oscar Stivala.

Oscar Stivala is a jazz trumpeter as well as an artist.  The Renaissance is displaying some of his works, and he was playing music tonight.  Some friends joined him.

They were awesome!

I sat at the bar and ordered a glass of wine.  Oscar was already playing with a guy on guitar.  He was soon joined by a man on bongos and then a woman on trumpet.  The music was wonderful.  As I sipped, I looked at his paintings, which I foolishly did not get any pictures of.  It took me long enough to get pictures of the musicians, because different ones played at different times.

Here were two without Oscar.

I was joined by my friend Angela Harris, who wrote Strike Story, a play I had the honor of being in a few years ago.  She also wrote the cheese plays that were part of Little Falls Cheese Festival.  She is working on one for the next festival.  If there is a part for me, I assured her of my willingness to participate. We were soon joined by a couple other friends, and it was a very nice evening.

Here are Oscar and another musician whose name I did not ask.

I did not get the names of the other musicians playing.  My bad.  I hope to go to the Renaissance Pub again and write more blog posts about it.  I would also like to blog more about Oscar Stivala’s music and art.  However, for today, this will have to do.  Once again, I thank you for tuning in.

 

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And That’s Just Three Places!

Posted on February 11, 2016 by mohawkvalleygirl

I had heard that Clinton, NY boasted many fun, quirky places to shop.  It is quite true.  Cheryl, Penny and I hit a few of them on our day of adventures last Saturday.

We started at Adirondack Cheese Store.  They had a lot more good things to eat than cheese — fancy mustards, chutney and all kinds of candy.  Additionally, they carry many fun, gifty items.  Penny was especially interested in the jigsaw puzzles, but she also pointed out a pot holder that read, “You are what you drink.”

“Just call me Char,” I said.

“You can call me Pinot,” she answered.

Cheryl said we could call her water (party pooper!).  I said we could make it H (you know, H2O?).

From the cheese store, we went to Dawn Marie’s Treasures, a boutiquey consignment store with all kinds of fun things.  As we walked by a row of neck ties near the entrance I regretted that Steven doesn’t have a job that requires he wear one.  I do so love a man in a tie.  We admired all kinds of jewelry and clothing, but I did not see anything I just had to have.

Our final stop in Clinton was Artisans’ Corner.  I was immediately taken by some bird houses with license plates for roofs on display outside.  I love art that recycles!  Inside there was art, clothing, jewelry and more.  We admired photography and paintings by several artists.  I was tempted by a display of hats.  Another section featured soup and bread mixes, some in distinctive containers.

We spent a long time wandering around Artisans’ Corner.  I picked up a lot of business cards, thinking I could highlight the individual artists.  I may do that in future posts.  Today I hope a brief overview will suffice.

I may have mentioned in a previous post that this was my first visit to Clinton.  It certainly will not be my last.  In fact, I have to wonder what took me so long.

 

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I Shop Small

Posted on December 1, 2015 by mohawkvalleygirl

One of my favorite destinations in Little Falls, NY is the Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts (MVCA).  I knew the Selective Eye, the MVCA gift shop, would be a good stop on my Shop Small Spree the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Side Note:  Shop Small Spree is my name for my day last Saturday.  I don’t know if the official name was Shop Small Saturday or Small Business Saturday or even Shop Local Saturday.  I suppose I would look these things up if I was a responsible journalist, but oh well, here we come to the ugly truth about me.

And I just remembered, I can’t write about this before Christmas!  What if I bought a present there for somebody who reads my blog? I’m not saying I did.  Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t.  In fact, already I’ve said too much.

Nevertheless, I need a blog post today and I’ve already typed in this many words.  I can mention one thing we saw at MVCA.  We went into the gallery, where they were setting up their next exhibit, a Student Art Show,which is to open on Saturday, Dec. 5 and runs to Dec. 24.  The show was open to any students who had taken a class at MVCA in the past year.  Just imagine!  If I would have taken a class, I could have submitted a work!  Definitely something to think about for the future.

There will be an opening reception for the show Saturday, Dec. 5 from 2 to 4 p.m.  I have attended openings there before and enjoyed them.  I’ve talked to other art lovers, and sometimes the artist speaks about his or her work.  However, to really appreciate the works I prefer to go when the gallery is less crowded.   I hope to do that sometime before the 24th.  For another reason, I can shop some more at the Selective Eye.

While looking at MVCA’s Facebook page to confirm the dates of the exhibit, I noticed an event called “Bedazzled” will take place Saturday, Dec 19 from noon to 4 p.m.  It is a sale of gently used jewelry, purses, scarves and other items.  Sounds good to me!

Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts and the Selective Eye are located at 401 Canal Place, Little Falls, NY, phone number 315-823-0808.  For more information you can visit their website at www.mohawkvalleyarts.org.  You can also Like them on Facebook.

Further note:  I did just a little kind of, sort of research… OK, I typed stuff into the search bar in Facebook and learned that many communities held events Saturday with any number of titles utilizing some of all of the words Shop, Small, Local, Business, and Saturday.  Whatever you call it, it’s a good thing to do.  You can have a lot of fun, and you can buy some good stuff.

 

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