| TRAVEL: THE BRANT FOUNDATION ART STUDY CENTER > GREENWICH . CT
The Brant Foundation Art Study Center is 9,800- square-foot gallery and nonprofit study center located on the edge of a field in a converted stone barn in Greenwich, Connecticut. The barn was built in 1902 for fruit storage. Today, it has been converted into a gallery comprised of three showroom galleries with skylights providing natural light. In addition to the gallery space, the Center houses a library and media viewing room filled with furniture by 20th-century designers. There is no admission charge, and the collection is open to the public by appointment only.
Currently on view is the work of Urs Fischer. Born in 1973, the Swiss contemporary artist Fischer is best known for his sculptures, immersive installations and delirious environments. Fisher is on a seemingly incessant hunt for new innovative material solutions. A creator of invented worlds, Fischer has created sculptures using a wide range of materials including bread, melting wax and rotting vegetables. His work also reveals a preoccupation with reinventing the relationship between humans and their physical environment by exaggerating the scale of objects. In a well-known 2007 exhibition, Fischer excavated the floor of his New York gallery, digging a crater within the exhibition space. Fischer’s work is currently exhibited at The Brant Foundation Art Study Center in Greenwich, CT.
 
Opened in 1992, the Kirchner Museum Davos was designed by the Zürich architects Annette Gigon and Mike Guyer. It is home to the largest collection of the German expressionist painter and printmaker Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s work. In addition to over 1,400 drawings, graphic works, textiles and paintings, sculptures and sketchbooks, the collection contains over 800 photographs that document both Kirchner and the history of Expressionism. Click on the images above for further details.THE GARDEN DISTRICT > New Orleans . LA
The Garden District was originally developed as a number of plantations which were subsequently sold off into parcels. The notable architect, planner, and surveyor Barthelemy Lafon laid out the original neighborhood configuration as large residential lots, typically two per block. As lots were divided, late-style Victorian “gingerbread” houses appeared in clusters. From about 1832- 1900, the Garden District was home to the newly wealthy in New Orleans. Here they built homes which demonstrated the latest in Victorian elegance- borrowed from Greek Revival as well as Spanish, French, Italian and British styles. The neighborhood remains one of the most well-preserved and impressive collections of historical homes in America.
BEIGNETS CAFE DU MONDE > New Orleans . LA
Beignets, a New Orleans specialty, are delicious, fried, raised pieces of yeast dough, usually 2 inches in diameter. In 1986, they were declared the official doughnut of the State of Louisana. Arguably the best spot to indulge is Café du Monde, a coffee shop on Decatur Street in the French Quarter, where there is only one food item you can order – beignets.
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MARCH 2011 SERENDIPITYMASTERS OF DESIGNSPIRAL HOUSE > Old Greenwich . CTINSIDE OUT:
