Ah that hasty but memorable trip to New York. Three days, does anyone go halfway across the world for three days? I had guests at home, Mohammad was in charge of Ayla, Manahil and Rayyan. And I, got to hang out with my best friend from highschool (Phd student at Cornell 😮 :o) andddd visit the MET!!!!
But let’s start from the beginning. One not exhausting (once you have kids, every plane ride without them is a blessing) plane ride and four flights of stairs later we had a happy reunion. Followed by a lot of sushi eating, time square-ing, and disney store shopping (and not just for the kids mind you, I bought her a cogsworth mug and she bought me a lumiere mug lol). We did a couple of interesting things that I hadn’t done yet (I know, weird) like go to Central Park (a work of art on its own), and Brooklyn bridge. Brooklyn bridge was the most gorgeous sight; suspended lights and easels tucked into corners.
This was also a huge turning point in my practice because I discovered the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany at the Met. Which was essentially a lightbulb going off in my head. Why had this idea of fusing glass and creating iridescence never occurred to me? I found it so interesting that I had landed on that term ‘iridescence’ completely on my own, and it was the same term that had spurred Tiffany to make these amazing glass creations.
The work of Tiffany Studios was so mesmerizing. I think once I saw that exhibit, I didn’t really go to any others haha. The placard beside it described how the painting was constructed entirely of glass, the nuances in color created by adding glass confetti, the iridescence achieved through the addition of metal oxides. I researched the process a lot more when I returned home from that display and concluded that such experimentation requires a lot of the right kind of equipment. This factored into my plans for the future, i.e. a glass blowing residency.
The Met was probably the most amazing place I have visited. Their collection is astounding and there’s so much to be inspired by! I was particularly astonished (and saddened) by their Islamic history section; saddened, because I know that no muslim country on earth has ever managed or bothered to preserve their heritage in the same way.
The trip also included a trip to the Museum of Modern Art. But ’nuff said, a picture is worth a thousand words. 
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