Russian Archive at Alice Austen House
Please join us for a sunset garden party to celebrate Russian Archive by Donald Weber at the Alice Austen House Museum.
Saturday Sept. 26 from 4:00-8:00 p.m.
Refreshments by the Bubble Lounge NYC.
Bring a picnic, a blanket, sit by the water, and enjoy one of the last few days to relax outside.
I liked what I saw of Weber’s work online. I’m really looking forward to this.
Annie Marie Musselman’s Finding Trust exhibit is showing now at the Alice Austen House here on Staten Island.
The opening reception was on Saturday, but it should be hanging in the museum for a little while. The image above is kind of washed out, but the prints they have hanging at the museum are large and really beautiful.
The photos were taken at the Sarvey Wildlife Center in Washington state. The center takes in wild animals that are injured and rehabilitates them, even our friend, the raccoon.
Outside the Austen House, looking out to the Narrows, just when the snow started mixing with a torrent of ice pellets. It was gray and beautiful, but here it looks like a scene from the trailer of The Exorcism of Emily Rose, which I’ve never seen because I can’t handle movies about demonic possesion.
I’ve heard it’s very good, though.
I started volunteering at the House today. I’m starting out doing data entry, but I also edited a transcript of an audio tour of the house. The accent of the woman on the tape was peculiar. We were sure she was making up words as she went. But the good thing about editing a transcript of audio tours is that there are plenty of pauses, to allow visitors time for walking.
If you didn’t know, Alice Austen was a documentary photographer during the late 1800s to early 1900s. She is notable for capturing immigrants who landed in New York. I really like her work, I think she’s a fascinating figure and I love anything that involves the history of the city. But I’m volunteering, because she’s from my neighborhood, and back when I was a pothead kid, the rocky beach beneath her home (Penny Beach) was my favorite place to smoke up. I’d watch the ships come in, cars merge on to the Belt Parkway and stare at the city skyline until I got the hungry and walked up Hylan Boulevard to the Convenient Store, where I’d buy Little Debbie Fudge Rounds for a quarter. I still go there and watch the Narrows, but nowadays, I just bring a few White Castles.
This is my way of saying thanks.
“In Victorian New York, Alice Austen experimented not only with photography, but also with the boundaries for women of her time. Born in 1866 to a well-to-do Staten Island family, Miss Austen lived what she called a “larky life,” full of fun and pranks. She hauled her camera and 50-odd pounds of equipment to tennis matches, beach outings and masquerade parties, poking fun while documenting the social life of her generation.” - New York Times, 1991
Alice Austen, the original Cobrasnake.
View from Sun Room at “Clear Comfort,” Alice Austen House. Crappy cell phone artistry by me.
