Alien Freezer Landscapes and the Unwelcome Aunt
I’ve never been one to bury a lede, so here’s the big story: two of our team members tested positive for COVID-19 this week (if you follow us on Instagram, you likely already know this). Like everyone else who works at Fort Defiance, they are vaccinated, and probably contracted the virus from a visiting relative, who was the first person to test positive in that group. They’re resting at home, have shown mild flu symptoms so far, and are already feeling better, thank goodness.
Everyone working at Fort Defiance now has received a negative PCR and rapid test result in the last two days, including me. We’ll all get tested again on Monday next week, and we’ll all continue to mask while at work. Among a vaccinated, masked staff, I have to believe the chances of transmission at work are minimal.
Anyone else tired of this nonsense? This infection among our staff is nowhere near as scary as the infections we had last year, when vaccines didn't exist — and still, it triggers the same unpleasant emotions: deep concern and anxiety for the people affected, fear, anger, frustration, fear again. It’s been almost a year and a half since this whole thing started in earnest. Last night, a friend compared COVID-19 to that relative who was going to crash at your place for “just a couple of weeks,” and is still there 17 months later, and who you find in your kitchen at midnight, drinking milk right from the carton in front of an open refrigerator. It’s time to go, Aunt Mildred. Time to go!
Erin Treacy: Reciprocal Relationships
This weekend is Red Hook Open Studios, presented in conjunction with Pioneer Works Second Sundays (where we would be happily serving food this weekend if our staff was fully healthy — insert angry emoji here). There are 42 sites in all to visit this weekend, and dozens of different Red Hook–based or –affiliated artists showing work. We’re very happy to have the opportunity to display the work of artist Erin Treacy. You may be familiar with Erin’s work as a curator; she has co-curated the exhibitions at Sunny’s Bar since 2018 (with Krista Dragomer).
The work Erin is showing at Fort Defiance is from a series called Reciprocal Relationships, some of which she originally showed at Pittsburgh’s BoxHeart Gallery. During the height of the pandemic, Erin was looking for new worlds to explore and paint that didn’t involve travel. She turned to her freezer where (like every good composter) she kept bags of decomposing food waste, and these colorful clumps of stuff became the inspiration for a series of paintings. They’re “not quite still lifes,” Erin points out, because her subjects would slowly melt during the process, transforming slowly before her eyes. The results are fascinating and beautiful, and look to me like botanical studies from another planet. Ultimately, the works are about transition, about growth, life, death, and decay, and if you want to know more about that, you may be able to catch Erin at Fort Defiance this weekend, where she will answer questions about her work. There will be work for sale this weekend, and if you want to contact Erin or see more of her work, visit her website.
Just a few more notes before I hustle off to continue research and development for the cocktail menu at the Sunken Harbor Club — the cocktail bar on the second floor of Gage & Tollner that will open in November (and which started as a regular Thursday night event at Fort Defiance).
A few of the wonderful things you can now order online from Fort Defiance.
You can now ORDER ONLINE from Fort Defiance for pickup. Check out the new ordering site — it’s still a work in progress, but it’s so much better than it was last year. Sandwiches, pastries, groceries — we’ll bag them for you and have it ready when you arrive. We’ll start offering delivery in the next few weeks.
Thanksgiving catering is back! Next week, I’ll reveal the menu, which you can pre-order and pickup Thanksgiving week. I tried a few bites of Anna’s pecan pie on Tuesday, and this is something you don’t want to miss.
In last week’s Bugle, we mistakenly omitted the name of the attorney representing the bar owners in Larkin v. Grendel’s Den. It was, of course, the esteemed legal scholar Laurence Tribe. The editors of the Bugle regret the error. There have been no substantial advances in our quest to restore the “best in the known world” Irish Coffee to Red Hook, but if you see a surveyor rolling a measuring wheel on Wolcott Street this weekend, that’s our guy, measuring the distance between our door and the door of PS 15. I will keep you updated as our quest continues. Thank you for your continued support — it means a lot.
Until next time: go see some art this weekend, wear a mask when indoors, and I’ll see you on the streets!
Love,
St. John