Spinning around Columbus Circle

January 28th, 2009 at 03:24pm SabrinaGsch

Last Thursday morning, I took one of those SUV cabs from my Chelsea studio up to the museum. I counted all the things I stuffed into it- 4 canvas bags, 1 film projector, 1 box, and 1 spinning wheel. I kept repeating the number 7 in my head as we made our way to Columbus Circle. 7, 7, 7… so that I didn’t forget anything inside the cab. Columbus Circle is a traffic circle that goes around a monument by the Italian sculptor Gaetano Russo, circumventing but uniting midtown Manhattan, Central Park, the Time Warner center, and the Museum of Arts and Design.

There is always a lot of traffic at Columbus Circle. To the dismay of all cars behind us, the cab driver parks in front of the museum. While I grab my spinning wheel like it’s Suri Cruise and head for the museum before the paparazzi can get to us, the cab driver hoists the projector out of the trunk. We meet at the museum entrance, where I discover that the spinning wheel will not fit in the museum’s revolving door. I try the adjacent, non-revolving door. It’s locked. A museum guard comes out and tells me to use the revolving door. I say my spinning wheel cannot fit. He doesn’t fully believe me. I know what he means because it looks like it should fit. I twist my body into several different shapes, holding the spinning wheel in my arms, trying to squeeze into the revolving door while the guard watches.

In the meantime, the cab driver has been pulling my bags and box out of the cab and is kind of hurling them onto the street near the museum entrance because other drivers are honking at him to continue his journey along Columbus Circle. So as I am doing the revolving door twisting, I am also counting the things he brings out of the cab, trying to make sure to reach the lucky number 7. Soon the museum guard disappears to find a key to the non-revolving door, and the cab driver disappears as well. I stand holding the wooden spinning wheel in the middle of the sidewalk, one leg pointing towards the museum entrance and the other towards the 4 canvas bags, film projector and box that are scattered on the cement like a yard sale. A passing commuter with long legs and tall boots asks me if I’m holding a cotton gin. At first I think she’s teasing me, but then I realize she’s serious. Presently the guard returns, the non-revolving door is opened, and all 7 items are ushered safely inside.

My first order of business on the 6th floor is to un-obstruct the view of Columbus Circle. I have some help with that, so it only takes two hours to move equipment around, sweep, unpack my things, and set up the spinning wheel. My biggest accomplishment of the day was to appreciate and bear witness to Columbus Circle, which is completely stunning from the museum’s studios. You can see the tops of the trees in Central Park, the traffic going around and around, and way up Broadway. The light is faint but sunny in the beginning of the day, and then turns golden and pink in the evening. All day long, museum visitors come up to me and tell me that I should charge them for the view.

As for the spinning, I spin, but with some difficulty. This wheel is new to me and while it’s supposed to be relatively easy, I barely get it going. I sit with my spinning books in my lap reading and re-reading instructions, occasionally referencing YouTube videos on my iPhone, but I don’t get comfortable with it. I keep hoping that someone who visits will be an expert spinner. Alas, none today. At one point a tour comes in just as I realize that my hair has gotten caught in the wheel. If any of them notices me yanking on my hair and groaning, they are kind enough not to comment. Later in the day some ladies from Oaxaca cheer me on, which is encouraging. I meet a screenwriter and an artist who have never seen roving before. They admire the way it smells and how soft it is. There are photos of sheep on the bags of roving, which everyone finds very cute. By the end of the day my leg is still doing a pedaling motion even when I walk around the studio putting my things away and helping Zack get set up.

Next time I’ll have a tutor, a new bobbin, and some unusual spinning materials. Oh, and a Super 8 camera. I have to film Columbus Circle.

Entry Filed under: in the studio