Project Neon, a photography exhibit celebrating New York City’s great collection of glowing neon signs, is coming to the City Reliquary. The show will open with a reception on Friday, Sept. 23, at 7pm.

Project Neon began as a personal photography project by Kirsten Hively in commemoration of the centenary of neon’s first commercial display. It quickly grew into a larger project to explore the city and document all of New York’s major working neon signs (and many of the smaller ones, too). Now firmly established as a blog with a popular following, Project Neon’s goal is to inspire New Yorkers to visit the great signs that light up the night across the five boroughs.

Commercial neon signs–free and accessible to all–are repositories for stories both grand and personal. Some say they are a dying breed, but Project Neon believes they are a unique and vital part of New York’s identity. The signs’ particular quality of light, their lovely typography and design, and the history they embody all make neon signage worth celebrating, preserving, and perpetuating.

The exhibit will feature several dozen of Hively’s neon photos and will also mark the release of the (free!) Project Neon iPhone app, which visitors will be able to download on-site. The app features photographs and information about many of the signs featured in the show, as well as maps to help people find them in person.

Hively co-produced the Candela Structures show at the City Reliquary in 2009. This is her first solo show.

Normally, I don’t include the host of Show and Tell’s stories in the blog posts because it’s more about what the public brings than what the Reliquary has to share. However, this story was to endearing to not write up. Paul brought in an antique, wooden dog for May’s Show and Tell. In addition to being a cute dog, it also slides open to reveal an interior drawer.

Every day Paul’s brother would walk by his local thrift store on the way home from the train. One day he finally went in and asked about the price. However, Paul described his brother as a very frugal person; whatever the cost of the dog was, it was too much for his brother. Every day he would keep walking by the wooden dog, wishing he could have it, until one day it was gone. He comes home and tells his wife how sad he is that the wooden dog was finally gone and how he knew he should have bought it. As it turns out, she went down to the thrift store, after hearing about the dog for months, and bought it for him as a surprise.

In honor of the return of Third Thursdays, I wanted to share some stories from previous Show and Tells that never quite made it to the blog.

These three women all came to Show and Tell together in May and shared three of the most amazing stories I’ve ever heard. These women know how to spin a tale.

The woman on the left brought a silver feather necklace to share with the Reliquary. Every summer, she makes her way out West to help with the set-up and break-down of the Burning Man festival. One year while working in the desert she lost one of a pair of silver feather earrings. While working at the festival, however, she did find the necklace that she brought to Show and Tell. She thought it was serendipity that she found this feather necklace after loosing one of her earrings and gave up on looking for the missing jewelry. Fast forward to the following year, when she was back in the Black Rock Desert, telling someone about the missing earring and the found necklace over a game of cards. The person she was playing cards with mentioned finding an earring the year before when working at Burning Man, but did not know if it was with her this year. As it turns out, she did bring it and our visitor was reunited with her missing earring, only to then lose it again in the desert.

The woman in the middle brought a picture of the first person she ever slept with. That story is perhaps best left with the people who were at Show and Tell that night.

And, finally, the woman on the right brought a piece of heart-shaped stone from Athena’s temple in Greece with her. Originally, she was supposed to travel with someone she was seeing. When that relationship fell through she went to Greece alone. Needless to say she was feeling rather lonely when walking around the numerous monuments alone. That was when she saw this heart-shaped piece of stone in Athena’s temple. Ignoring the “Caution: Do Not Touch” signs in various languages, she took the piece of rock and stuffed it in her purse. (Upon asking a friend in the field, it turns out that the piece of stone would most likely have been thrown out. So, she feels less bad about taking it.)

Anna Grant and Marissa Hiller will wow, stupend and amaze you with their craftery skillery. What will be crafted? What will intrepid adventurers bring home to show their roommates and loved ones? Only time (and Anna and Marissa) can tell. Surprises! August surprises!

Thursday August 25th
7-10pm, Craftery begins at 8.
$5 suggested donation

This past week was our monthly craft night. Guests came and made miniature terrariums out of baby food jars or brought their own. We had some creative guests bring fish tanks and coffee pots to build put their moss in. So far, this craft was my favorite, which may account for the lack of photos. I was too busy making my own terrarium. That is how much fun was had!

This Craft Night Anna Grant will be teaching us how to make terrariums. For $5 you will be supplied with a plant as well as materials to decorate your terrarium. Just be sure to bring your own glass container.