








When I arranged to meet my friend writer Judy Colbert in Atlantic City last week, I thought I’d hit Manhattan first. A two-day trip turned into a much bigger adventure when I realized October was the perfect time to cross something off my bucket list: Amtrak’s Adirondack, one of the most scenic rail trips in the […]
A visit to an exhibition sparks a remarkable memory. Once upon a time in Toronto… **** I first saw the blockbuster exhibition David Bowie is at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London this spring and couldn’t wait to see it here at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. The V&A show had much the […]
From its 18th-century Pagoda to its magnificent Victorian glass conservatories, the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew contain wonders of garden architecture as well as nature. A new experience for me this year was the Xstrata Treetop Walkway, an exhilarating stroll in the treetops of the Gardens’ arboretum. Xstrata was designed by Marks Barfield Architects, who […]
After a month off for good times, I’m back in time for September’s ArtSmart Roundtable. Scroll to the end of this post for more on the Roundtable and links to my colleagues’ great blogs. This month’s theme of Travel Art/Art in Travel inspired me to write about Victorian artist and traveller, Marianne North. The gallery […]
It was immense fun to visit the Atomium in Brussels, Belgium, one of Europe’s top landmarks and icon of mid-century design. Gleaming under beautiful Belgian skies, the Atomium is both symbol of Brussels and the space age. Constructed as centerpiece of the 1958 World Exhibition, the Atomium’s mid-century architecture expresses the optimism and confidence of […]
There are some great shows in Toronto this summer. A must-see is Mesopotamia: Inventing Our World at the Royal Ontario Museum until January 5, 2014. This blockbuster exhibition features over 170 treasures from the acclaimed antiquities collection of the British Museum in London, England. Mesopotamia (meaning ‘between rivers’) lay in the Middle East between the Tigris and […]
George Billiris oversees his sponge empire from a modest clapboard office on the sponge docks of Tarpon Springs, Florida. He’s also a repository of local history, a past and present that includes links to the legendary sponge divers of Greece. The finest sponges in the world grow in the nutrient-rich waters of the Gulf of […]
The ArtSmart Roundtable is focusing on painting this month. I’ll be deciphering a mindblowing painting I saw at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida: Salvador Dalí’s The Hallucinogenic Toreador (1969-1970). Be sure to scroll down for more on the Roundtable and links to my colleagues’ posts. Now, The Hallucinogenic Toreador. The Hallucinogenic Toreador is 13 […]
After too many years, I recently made a trip home to Winnipeg. In between sorting boxes of my childhood books and looking at old photos with my mother and godmother, I went out with my sister and revisited old haunts. Walking home from Bar Italia on Corydon Avenue one evening, I took these photos. Being […]
Green apples, bowler hats, clouds–the imagery of Belgian Surrealist painter René Magritte (1898-1967) is familiar to all of us. His personal iconography has pervaded popular culture via countless movies (Toys, I Heart Huckabees, The Thomas Crown Affair), posters (The Exorcist), video games, television shows (the Simpsons), music videos and rock album covers (Paul McCartney owns many of his […]