Author Archives: j.mizhquiri1

malcolm x poster

These posters represent what campaign advertisement would look like if Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. were civil rights leaders today.

Wednesday April 24, 2018 it was raining. I was tired and cold. I arrived at 68^thStreet around 1 in the afternoon. As I walked to the museum I decided to look at what hour the museum’s pay what you wishpolicy begins. The pay what you wish policy begins at 2PM and when I checked my phone it was 1:13AM. I decided to stand under scaffolding for about 15 minutes and waited for the rain to pass. Then I decided to walk around Central Park until the time came. Time passed very slowly but I enjoyed walking through the park. When it was time I walked to the museum located on 1 East 70th Streetand got my bag checked. Then I walked to get my ticket. I paid a dollar. After that I got my ticket checked and proceeded to go explore the museum. I checked in with one of the employees to see if they allowed pictures to be taken. They did not allow photos anywhere except the garden. I took a couple of pictures in the garden and then entered the Oval Gallery. There was nothing special there, so I continued on to the West Gallery. At this moment I decided to take notes since I couldn’t take pictures.

The first painting that caught my attention was Hobbema’s Village with Watermill among Trees. This painting reminded me of the kind of genre paintings my mom likes. The landscape gave a quaint vibe. The green, blue, and grey colors gave the painting a slight feel of melancholy which I liked. The next painting that caught my attention was a Rembrandt. It was a portrait of a man which upon closer inspection one could notice the thin brush strokes which surrounded his beard. I looked at the art pieces for about 3-5 minutes each. Turner’s Cologne, the Arrival of a Packet Boat, Eveninghad very pretty peach tones. I really enjoyed this piece for the balance of peach and green-blue washes. I walked over to the Enamels Room. Gerard David’s TheDepositioncaught my attention because of its depiction of the foreground. At first, I thought it was odd or off but then after looking at it for about 4 minutes I realized that its depiction was alright. Barna da Siena, Christ Bearing the Cross, with a Dominican Friarwas done with tempera paint. Siena’s painting stuck in the back of my mind because the gold used in the background was so vibrant. Enclosed behind glass was a clock. A Clock with Astronomical and Calendrical Dialsby Veyt Schaufeel was interesting because it had the astrological signs engraved into it. Although I do not believe fully in astrology I found this aspect of the clock impressive. I understand that this room is small in size, but I was stared at a lot in this room which I did not appreciate. This happened in other rooms as well.

I finished looking at all of the paintings in the Enamels Room and walked back to the West Gallery into the North Hall. The North Hall caught my attention from before when I passed through the Garden Court. Walking into the hall I fell in love with the drapes. Comtesse d’Haussonville’s Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres was beautiful. I could not find from at least my perspective any brush strokes. Everything was blended together seamlessly that it did not look like it was painted. I observed this painting for about five minutes not only because it was so well done but because I was in awe. I later looked up the painting and found out that it was oil paint, which is why the painting looked luminous and very pleasing to the eye. As I continued to explore I walked over to the Library Room. This room was memorable for two reasons. The first was because of Vase Japon. The vase had a lovely burnt sienna color with white and gold designs. The second reason the room was memorable because of the conversation I overheard of two elderly men. They spoke in Spanish with Spanish accents. The two of them stood in front of a painting. One of them talked about life, smoking and drinking while the other listened quietly giggling. I smiled to myself as listened to the man go on about what he had done back in his country.

The Portico Gallery was the last hall that had anything of interest to me. The Fired by Passion: Masterpieces of Du Paquier Porcelin from the Sullivanmade me want to buy porcelain tea sets. Everything in the collection was so delicately done that you could see the details of the faces of people distinctly. I enjoyed these pieces because of the lively burnt orange and blue colors in some of the designs. In all, I enjoyed the art very much. My favorite piece in the entire collection would be Comtesse d’Haussonville’s Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. I recommend everyone to look at this piece even if you’re not into art.

For this day long event I choose to go to the art club event of wax seal stamp making. We walked into the room and there were a couple of people already there. I was with Marcia and Brenn. We had meet Jessica and others there. When we got we were introduced to a series of wax sculpting instruments. A member from the art club told us what to do the clay and the process that would be needed to harden the stamp. She then handed all of us pieces of clay. I sat down and began to mold the clay into a stamp. I tried drawing the face of someone but it wasn’t working out so I smeared it off. I figured then that I would cutout a flower. The flower didn’t turn out as I expected so I smeared it off. The art club girl mentioned that five minutes were left before we had to hand in the stamp. I settled and decided to write “Hi”. I handed my stamp in and waited for 30 minutes for it to bake. Ten minutes before time was up the art club member taught everyone how to pour the wax and properly place the stamp. When they were ready I grabbed mine. It was very warm. I took an orange wax candle and lit it. I held the wax candle at an angle and let the wax drip on paper. When the wax puddle came to be of a sufficient size I blew out the candle. I dampened the stamp and then pressed it firm on the waxy puddle. After a minute I took the stamp off and it revealed the “Hi”. The workshop had come to an end at this time. I gathered all my materials and left with my stamp. It was fun making stamps because I had friends to talk to and I learned how to make wax stamps. 

On Sunday April 15,  I was given the opportunity to work at a show at the Playstation Theater. I work under the Cleaver Co. as a waiter in their catering division. The company was scheduled to cater the Shorty Awards. The Shorty Awards is a show that honors social media influencers across most platforms. These platforms include Youtube, Twitter, Instagram and more. My call time was 11AM. I woke up at 7AM because I was nervous about being late. I got ready and waited for my dad to pick me up. He knew where the theater was located and I did not so we agreed to go together. We got off the train and arrived at the theater around 10:30 AM. When I arrived to the theater I had to empty my pockets and give the security guard my backpack so that he could be inspect it. I signed in. I wrote down my name, time of arrival and scribbled gibberish in the position column. The security guard gave me directions to where my company was located. I only got that I had to go down the stairs and nodded as a sign of my “understanding”. The theater was dark and didn’t seem too exciting, it was sort of a letdown for me. I was expecting the theater to be grand and extravagant. After signing in I walked down the stairs since the escalators were not on at that time. When I get to the bottom I turn around and begin to walk until I am met with a split path. I continue to walk the path in front of me but then find myself with two suspicious looking doors. I decide to turn around and circle around the split path section. I walk again to the end of the suspicious doors but immediately go back to where the path splits again. When I went back I decided to ask someone for help. I asked this stocky looking man if he had any idea where I could find the Cleaver Co. and his response was no. I then looked around in frustration and walked to the door which led to a stage. I went back again and decided to ask a lady. She turned around and immediately answered my question. She was clear in her instruction. She told me to walk to the end of the suspicious looking doors past the freight elevators and then to make a right. I did as I was told and was relieved to have spotted my supervisor. (Attached is a link with a map of my complicated journey.) split path

My supervisor gave me a tour of the entire floor and introduced me to another supervisor for the event. I was ready to learn and to make zero mistakes. I was greeted with a warm smile and then quickly bombarded with information on the table set up. The event was going to be set in a family style dinner. I was verbally told the dimensions of each of the tables on three individual floors. The main floor had 60 inch tables, the mezzanine 54 inches in diameter and the balcony 50 inches. The tables first needed to be covered with styrofoam liners so as to prevent the tablecloth from slipping. Then the cloth was to be placed with a seam facing front. After that it was time to set the table. The table was set with a dinner fork, salad fork, dinner knife, plate, napkin, wine glass, and then lastly water glass. Before the napkins could be placed they had to be folded. Approximately 500 napkins were needed. I and six other people folded napkins for two hours straight. After folding all of the waiters were called to a pre-meeting and were told to change. I was already dressed in all black so I did not need to change. We placed our items in a coat check room and were then given a company meal. I ate herb grilled chicken with tapenade pasta and pita bread. Around 4PM after our meal we were called to the general meeting and told which groups we belonged to and what our duties were. I was assigned hor d’oeuvres, team P-A. When the time came I had to memorize the names of five of the appetizers being served. It was 5PM and time to serve and I was indifferent but also a little nervous. I had a good time passing through the crowd until it got unbearably full. The only people who made my night were this couple that always grabbed three hor d’oeuvres at a time and Keke Palmer who was funny and extremely humble. I urged her to take three of the mini pot pies. I served the Backpack Kid however, it was after the event that I realized who he was.

After serving hors d’oeuvres my feet were really sore. I took a folding chair, opened it and sat on it. I contemplated life and imagined doing exactly what I did today for the rest of my life. I got really scared opened my eyes. I thought about school, my family and friends. Although some of the people who I served were generally nice some of them were not and that stuck with me. It reminded me of an article I read about amusement park mascots. People would think it acceptable to disrespect them, to hit them and ridicule them just because they could not see the person behind the costume. I felt like my uniform was also an agent that represented my position among the members of the party. The rest of night went by quickly and I was sent home early. I appreciated my experience and was glad I learned something from it. I learned that I did not want to work like that for the rest of my life and that I wanted to find a passion to pursue. This day motivated me to become better not only for my own sake and then for the sake of the ones I love. Hopefully this motivation last enough to get me through the semester. Thank you for reading until the end.

I’m going to visit the NY botanical garden in the Bronx.

Hello everyone,

Last year I had the opportunity to eat at a Japanese restaurant called Zen 6. I was accompanied by two of my now friends from Baruch. It was around 7 p.m. and we decided to have dinner before going to see an off-broadway show. When I got there I was greeted by a lady with a warm smile. She bowed at us and to be honest it took me off guard because I’ve never been bowed to. We settled down and she came over handing each of us menus. I decided to get shrimp udon because I love seafood and udon taste really good. The menu had a lot to offer so I really recommend checking this place out if you like trying new foods. My friends got fried calamari, curry over rice and sweet chicken. Our meal was delicious and I had a great time with my friends. This place is located at 328 E 6th St New York, NY. If you do happen to stop by please comment on what your experience was like. (:

– Jasmine

New York Minute – Frieze Art Fair 

Last year I went to the Frieze Art Fair on Randall’s Island. This year it will be held from May 3-6. There are a lot of galleries which offer multiple forms of visual, auditory, and tactile expression. Last year I was lucky to attend the event with my AP Graphic Design class. What made this day so memorable was the not only the artwork but my journey to  this event. On May 5, there was a terrible rain storm. The class had to walk from 56th to 33rd St to catch the Frieze Ferry to Randall’s Island. Needless to say everyone was soaked by the time we reached the ferry. When we got there we were given complimentary totes, “art passports” and mechanical color pencils. As I ventured further into the exhibits I found the first painting that really caught my attention. Koichi Enomoto’s  “Phantom Ship/ 1853”, brought over me a sense of wonder. Looking into Enomoto’s artist statement she meant for her pieces to reflect reality. This piece reflects Enomoto’s accepted perception of the world. I like the piece for its delicate detail and color scheme. Green is a predominant color which gives a sense of harmony according to color theory. The asymmetrical placement of red is what makes this piece dynamic. If you zoom into any section of the picture you’ll notice that there are various activities going on. These are activities are narratives which can be interpreted as the factions of Enomoto’s reality. Lastly, this piece really moved me because of the subject of reality depicted. I had a wonderful time with my friends and peers and am looking forward to experiencing new art this year. If you are interested in attending the art fair you can visit them at https://frieze.com/fairs/frieze-new-york and purchase tickets at  https://friezeny.tix123.com . Tickets on Friday, May 3 for 18-25 year olds are $12.00 with a $4.00 service charge per item. This is a great deal when compared to general admission for one day at $48.00 with a $4.00 service charge. I recommend checking it out as soon as possible if you are interested.

– Jasmine Mizhquiri

This is a mural I pass by every morning on my way to the train. From time to time the artists/activists behind this mural address issues about the East Harlem community. Currently this mural is a homage to these social change agents.