HUNGRY GERALD

Followers of HungryGerald.com have learned that BSK is an excellent, inventive cook. BSK’s dinners, breakfast omelets and casseroles, provide daily delight for discerning HG. Fortunately, HG/BSK’s children, Lesley R. and SJ, have both learned kitchen skills from BSK and are splendid home cooks appreciated by their families. (SJ’s wife, Exquisite Maiko, is a professional chef and the favorite of the entire clan including HG’s daughter, Victoria, the noted New York restaurateur. But, Maiko is glad to turn pasta and barbecue over to SJ so she can get a rest from culinary work). HG may have erred in emphasizing BSK’s cooking. This is just one of BSK’s mundane talents which include gardening, home repairs and interior design. Plus, well paid professional ventures as a political and economic development strategist, public relations counselor and publicist. An avocation is ecological activism. Primarily, BSK is an artist. Permit HG to fill in some biographical details. BSK’s first interest in the arts was theatrical. BSK studied theater at Ohio State University, performed on stage in student productions, was on local television, did improvisations at Columbus coffee houses. Later, BSK did summer stock in Hyde Park, N.Y., and repertory in the Ford Foundation-sponsored Fred Miller Theater in Milwaukee. BSK came to New York to study with Lloyd Richards and Lee Strassberg. Had to make money to support herself while making the casting rounds. Became an office temp. Worked at HG’s office (among other things, BSK was a skilled and accurate typist and efficient in office administration.) That’s how HG/BSK met. The rest is 56 years of loving history. In the early years of marriage to HG, BSK was occupied with raising children but found time (with a partner) to design pillows (sold at the Henri Bendel, W.J. Sloane and Lord & Taylor in New York). Sloane featured the pillows in the store’s Fifth Avenue showcase window. The partners also invented and manufactured a tote called the “Billybag”. And, in spare moments, BSK painted. At first, BSK’s art was representational, many painting inspired by old photos. (A BSK Fire Island-inspired landscape hung for many years over the bar at Bradley’s, the jazz club and restaurant on University Place in Greenwich Village. Bradley’s closed a few years after the owner, Bradley Cunningham, died in 1988). As years went by, BSK did color field work, abstractions, landscapes inspired by Milton Avery and paintings more expressionist than naturalist. For decades, BSK was the photographer and art director for HG/BSK’s growing and successful public relations firm. (BSK photos appeared in newspapers and magazines throughout the country including Time Magazine, Metropolitan Home and The New York Times). BSK was a skilled photo printer utilizing a basement darkroom in HG/BSK’s Montclair, N.J. home. Beyond commercial work, BSK also did fine art photography often incorporating hand-painting. Since moving to New Mexico, BSK has become a wonderful potter. BSK’s large studio building has a kiln and BSK has been hand forming and glazing an astonishing array of pots, sculptures, bowls, trays, etc. BSK’s pottery is included in collections from California to New York. HG/BSK’s children (and grandchildren) love BSK’s art and their homes are decorated with an array of her works. HG/BSK homes in New Mexico and Prince Edward Island are suffused with BSK art. On PEI, there’s a long foyer wall lined with various PEI seascapes. The master bedroom’s walls feature brilliant blue, white and green abstractions of PEI. In New Mexico, there are many pots on the living room mantelpiece, the coffee table, and an antique linen table. There are paintings in the bedrooms and HG’s office plus photos of Florence, Venice, Bologna, Nantucket, Coney Island, etc. BSK’s work enhances HG’s life and every day HG is stimulated by another aspect of BSK’s artwork. Best of all, are HG’s long afternoon swims in HG/BSK’s New Mexico pool house As HG paddles in the pool, HG gazes at three oversized canvases of nudes, a landscape, two collages and two abstractions. Also Montclair swimming pool photos of HG and Fire Island snapshots. Thanks to BSK, HG is plunged into visual and physical pleasure. Ah, BSK, you are a treasure.