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Today, we go behind the scenes of the august Metropolitan Museum of Art. Patrick Bringley is the author of All the Beauty in the World: the Metropolitan Museum of Art & Me, a highly well-received new book about his 10 years as a museum guard – and more than that, about how he worked through his grief over the too-soon loss of his brother and the power art has to heal, educate, and excite us.

It’s a rich and beautiful story full of insights – some of them funny — born of his meditative standing and looking – with visitors and without – for hours at a time in the rooms of the Met and interacting with coworkers who, as he points out in our interview, are often described as “characters.” Were they characters before they came to work at the Met or did working there making them so? Probably a little of both, he says.

As for him, yes, his Met life, as it were, did change him. You’ll learn exactly how from our conversation which, if you’re like me, will make you even more eagerly look forward to your next visit to the Met.

But before I introduce Patrick Bringley, I’d like to take a moment to say WESU has launched its fall pledge drive. If this is the kind of unusual programming you enjoy, please support the station by making a donation. There are way-cool gifts. Jus’ sayin. Okay, without further ado: Patrick Bringley.

The Met, at 1000 Fifth Avenue, an ideal setting for profound, even religious, experiences!

Mentioned in our interview: The Cloisters, in Upper Manhattan’s Tryon Park, full of medieval art; a crucifixion by Bernardo Doddi, a favorite of Bringley’s; the poster for a magnificent Michelangelo exhibit; the famous Temple of Dendur; the poster for a show of unfinished work; and a book explaining early American art.

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Today, a new exhibit at the Simsbury Public Library, up through Nov 30^th,  provides the opportunity to explore collage. Nancy Jensen has been making art with the same group of women – they call themselves The Paper Dolls – for nearly 20 years.

Nancy was a guest on the show nearly two years ago, on an episode about becoming an artist later in life and you can find that episode archived at the openstudioradio.org blog. What you need to know this time is that Nancy is, quote, “so seduced by paper.”

And if the meaning of collage work can prove elusive, well, as Nancy says, “it should be mystifying and annoying because no one’s gonna hand it to you. Sorry.” We began our conversation  in the Program Room of Simsbury Library as Nancy was carrying in paper cups and rugulah for the opening reception of the show, appropriately titled Cutting Up.

Later in the episode, we also hear from Paper Doll poet/collagist Jennifer Glick, who’s exhibiting her art for the first time, and from the Simsbury Library’s art coordinator Barbara Butterworth on the value of displaying art in libraries.

Before we meet our guests, letting you know that the nonprofit Spectrum Gallery opens its holiday exhibit this Friday, the 17^th, with an opening reception from 6:30 to 9, and then an open house that weekend starting at noon. There’ll be fine art of all kinds, plus artisan-made jewelry, ornaments, repurposed clothing, and stocking stuffers.

And now Nancy Jensen.

The Paper Dolls are: Vibeke Dressler, Jennifer Glick, Nancy Jensen, Jill Pasanen,
Barbara Ross, Jane Shaskan, Carol Schiffman, Linda Rahm, and Diane Zibell