MICHAEL FILMUS
“View from Mt. Greylock, Brilliant Sky” 20” x 30” oil
413-528-5471
www.michaelfilmus.com
MYRON SCHIFFER
"Study in Greens" a selection from the "Urban Scenes" series.
NEW DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
www.myronschiffer.com Online Galleries at
Come browse the over 250 photographs currently for sale online.
413-637-2659
myron@myronschiffer.com WWW.ARTFULMIND.NET
MAY 2010 ~ THE ARTFUL MIND • 1
S C H A N TZ G A LLER I ES c o n t e m p o r a r y
g l a s s
UN
LAUREN CLARK FINE ART presents
WILTED PROCESSED CONVENTIONAL
FOUR NEWLY PICKED GARDEN-FRESH ARTISTS
Charles Miner
3 Elm Street Stockgridge,MA 413-298-3044 www.schantzgalleries.com
Koi Shallows 6 x 22 x 6”
Joan Ciolfi, Susan Dibble, Abby DuBow, Lorraine Klagsbrun May 29 through July 4 Reception for the Artists: Saturday, May 29, 5-8 pm
Lauren Clark Fine Art
402 Park Street, Housatonic, MA
413-274-1432
LaurenClarkFineArt.com
ROBERT CAPUTO
Landscape Oil-Painting Workshop
Reggie
RUTH KOLBERT
Oil on Canvas
56” x 50”
“FRIENDS, ARTISTS & SPECIAL PLACES” May 19 – June 13
RECEPTION FOR THE ARTIST
SATURDAY, MAY 29 • 2 to 5 PM
FRONT ST. GALLERY
Housatonic, MA • 413-274-6607
Gallery Hours: Friday 1-5 pm, Saturday, Sunday 12-5 pm or by appointment 413-229-0380
2 • THE ARTFUL MIND
MAY 2010
Saturday & Sunday, June 5-6 Sheffield, Massachusetts
All levels welcome. Robert will focus on drawing, color, and value with an emphasis on capturing a sense of light and atmosphere.
Offered by the Housatonic Valley Art League, 9-12 am, 1-4pm each day. Members $200, non-members $225. Limit 15 students. For more info visit www.hvart.org or contact Leslie Watkins at
860 542 3920 or lesliewatkins@lesliewatkins.com You can see examples of Robert's paintings at
www.rcaputo.com
MUSEUMS & GALLERIES
S PRING / M AY .2010. / C ALENDAR
land and Tuscany. Original watercolors and Fine Art Reproductions. Visit website for exhibit schedule PARK ROW GALLERY 2 Park Row, Chatham, NY • 518-392-4800 John Sideli, Altered States. April 1 - May 31. Reception for artist April 10, 4 -6pm
ALBANY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Albany International Gallery, 3rd fl, 7am11pm daily Material Witness, thru June 20.
RUTH KOLBERT FRONT SREET GALLERY Front Street, Housatonic, MA. • 413-229-0380 “Friends, Artists & Special Places” will be on exhibit at Front Street Gallery May 19 through June 12.Gallery open Fridays 1 – 5 pm, Saturday and Sunday 12 – 5pm, and / or by appointment.
BERKSHIRE ART GALLERY 80 Railroad St, Gt Barrington, MA • 528-2690 www.berkshireartgallery.com 19th and early 20th Century American & European art and sculpture, contemporary artists
BERKSHIRE ART KITCHEN CREATIVITY / CONNECTION / CHANGE 400 Main St, Gt Barrington, MA • 413-717-0031 www.berkshireartkitchen.com Mon - Fri, 3:30-5:30, Sat 12-5, & by appt. Exhibition of mail art by Karen Arp Sandel and Suzi Banks Baum, Mar - April. BERKSHIRE GOLD AND SILVERSMITH THE GALLERY 152 Main St, Gt Barrington, MA • 528-5227 May artist to be announced
Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor - second major endeavor since revamping Commonwealth Opera into a professional opera company last fall. This fully staged opera will be directed by our Artistic Director Eve Summer and conducted by our Music Director Ian Watson. With brand new sets and costumes, this period opera - known as Donizetti's most compelling work - will be presented at the Academy of Music Theater in Northampton, Massachusetts on Friday May 7th at 7:00 pm and Sunday May 9th at 2:00 pm. The opera will be sung in Italian with projected English supertitles.Tickets are now on sale and I encourage you to attend -- and to forward this message to your colleagues, friends & family. Ticket prices range from $10 up to $50 and we'll be offering an$8 student rush prior to each performance.
CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY 622 Warren St, Hudson, NY • 518-8281915 Carrie Haddad Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibit featuring the works of James O’Shea, Russell Smith and Sarah Berney, on view from April 15th through May 23rd, 2010. A reception will be held on Saturday, April 17th from 6 to 8 pm. Members of the public are welcome. CARRIE HADDAD PHOTOGRAPHS 318 Warren St, Hudson, NY • 518-828-7655 Ida Weygandt & Eliot Kaufman, Mar 1 April 18. Polaroids: Works by William Wegman, Mark Beard, John Dugdale, Melinda McDaniel and Tanya Marcuse. April 22 - May 30.
DAVID DEW BRUNER DESIGN 610 Warren street, Hudson, NY • 914-466-4857 Japanese textiles, mainly focusing on the abstract patterns. There will be several fireman's jacket as well as a fireman's hat. There will a early 19th century vermillion samurai's vest as well as a 1860's cotton footman's jacket. The textiles range from a 1780's jacket to a 1950's summer kimono in a wild blue and white wave pattern. The show will run through May14th. The gallery is open Friday through Monday 11-5 or appointment. FERRIN GALLERY 437 North St, Pittsfield, MA • 413-442-1622 Paul Graubard: Stories from the Bible and Other Places a solo exhibition of constructed paintings through May 8th. Closing Conversation with the artist and Ute Stebich, expert in Haitian and outsider art, and director of the Ute Stebich Gallery, Lenox, 1990 – 2004. , 2010. Saturday, May 8th, 5:00 pm
OLD CHATHAM COUNTRY STORE CAFÉ GALLERY Village Square, Old Chatham New York Patrick Casey, Oil Paintings. April 30 through June 2 with an opening reception Sunday, May 2nd from 3 p.m. – 5 p.m
CHURCH STREET ART GALLERY 34 Church St, Lenox, MA • 637-9600 Significant folk art pieces. Also works by David Eddy, Paul Graubard, Paul Jarvis and Larry Zingale. (Fri-Mon, 11am-4:30pm or by appointment)
CRIMI STUDIO Located 2 miles from the Ancram/Hudson exit of the Taconic State Parkway. • Viewing by appointment 518-851-7904 Paintings of rich color and form. Crimi studio in idyllic setting. DON MULLER GALLERY 40 Main St, Northampton, MA • 586-1119 Beautiful American crafts, jewelry and glass, more FRONT STREET GALLERY Front St, Housatonic, MA • 413-274-6607 www.kateknappartist.com
THE ECLIPSE MILL GALLERY 243 Union StreetNorth Adams, MA When My Soul Dances, Curated by Julie Seitel. April 16-May 16. Opening Reception: Friday, April 16, from 6 to 8 PM Gallery Hours: Saturday and Sunday from 12 to 5 PM GALLERY AT ART ON NO. 311 North Street, Pittsfield May 15, 5-8 pm - Grand Re-Opening celebration of the Upstairs Gallery at Art on No. See new art and meet the 17 artists and tour their studios. Music, refreshments. . Check us out at Pittsfieldcontemporary.com/is/art-on-north-street and become our fan on facebook
GLORIA MALCOLM ARNOLD FINE ART Upstairs at 69 Church St, Lenox, MA • 637-2400 Realistic art that never goes out of style, artwork that evokes the mood and memories of yesterday. Rotating exhibitions of scratchboard by Lois I. Ryder and oils and watercolors by Gloria Malcolm Arnold. Open year round. HUDSON VALLEY ARTS CENTER 337 Warren St, Hudson, NY • 800-456-0507 Regional and nationally-known artisans
JACOB’S PILLOW DANCE FESTIVAL GALLERY EXHIBIT Becket, MA • 413-243-0745 Lois Greenfield: Imagined Moments Blake's Barn (open Mon-Fri, 10am-5pm)
JOHN DAVIS GALLERY 362 1/2 Warren St., Hudson, New York McWillie Chambers will open a solo exhibition of new paintings at the John Davis Gallery. The work will be on display through May 23rd with a reception for the artist on Saturday, May 1st from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. LAUREN CLARK FINE ART GALLERY 402 Park St, Housatonic, MA • 274-1432 www.LaurenClarkFineArt.com UNWILTED, UNPROCESSED, UNCONVENTIONAL FOUR NEWLY PICKED GARDEN-FRESH ARTISTS Abby DuBow, Joan Ciolfi, Lorraine Klagsbrun, Susan Dibble May 29 through July 4. Reception for the Artists Saturday, May 29 5-8pm Fine art and contemporary crafts and framing service. (Open Wed-Mon 11-5:30, Sun Noon-4, year-round)
MARGUERITE BRIDE STUDIO www.margebride.com Custom House and Business Portraits, “Local Color”, watercolor scenes of the Berkshires, New Eng-
SCHANTZ GALLERIES 3 Elm St, Stockbridge, MA • 413-298-3044 “Inspirations and Illuminations: Survey or Works by Dan Dailey”. This exhibit runs May 20 – June 30.Over 30 years of providing representation to internationally recognized artists to exhibit their work and share it with the world. (Open 11-5 daily.) THE LENOX GALLERY OF FINE ART 69 Church St, Lenox, MA • 413-637-2276 Featuring artists such as Stephen Filmus along with many others including Paula Stern, Sculpture
WILLIAM BACZEK FINE ARTS 36 Main St, Northampton, MA wmbacsek@wbfinearts.com William Baczek Fine Arts, in Northampton, Mass. is pleased to announce the opening of the 2010 Annual Landscape Exhibition. The show will be on display from Wednesday, April 21 through Saturday, June 5. The public is invited to an opening reception with the artists on Saturday, April 24 from 5 to 7 p.m.
MUSIC, THEATRE AND DANCE
BOSSA TRIBA and the BERKSHIRE BATERIA Crissey farm in Great Barrington, MA Playing bazilian Music-will be performing at a benefit for KONBIT FOOTBALL AYITI a 501 c3 nonprofit organization - has worked in Haiti for the past 4 years bringing Soccer, education, and food to small communities in Port au Prince. Now more then ever the need is great Together we can help feed, educate, and provide recreation for children. Donation $25.00 Sat. May 8th at HAITI BENEFIT CONCERT 2nd Annual, from 8pm -12:00 pm
Berkshire Bach Society First Congregational Church, Stockbridge, MA • 413-528-9277 Choral and Instrumental Works by Purcell and Haydn Sat, May 22, 8pm
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center • 413-528-0100 / 800-8430778 / www.cewm.org Chopin and His Circle, Sat, Apr 24, 6pm; Prague Spring - Czech Idyll, Sat, June 5, 6 @ 6pm
GHENT PLAYHOUSE Town Hall Road, just off Route 66 in Ghent, adjacent to the Ghent Firehouse. • 518-392-6264 For the final production of the 2009-2010 season, the Ghent Playhouse will present Neil Simon’s wry comedy “The Prisoner of Second Avenue” directed by Flo Hayle. The play opens on Friday evening, May 14 and runs through Sunday, May 30.Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.The Ghent Playhouse is located on Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 each. Members’ price is $12.
MICRO THEATRE 413-442-2223 / 413-212-7180 microtheatre@hotmail.com “Lost and Found”, a theatrical event of satire, farce and absurdity. Featuring Bob Balogh, Michael Hitchcock and Becky Sterpka. Sun May 9, 3pm, Dewey Hall, 91 Main st, Sheffield, MA; Thurs May 13, 7pm, Mason Library, 231 Main St, Fri, May 14, 7:30pm, Ramsdaell Library, 1087 Main St, Housatonic, MA
THE MUSEUM AT BETHEL WOODS Bethel, Rte 17, Exit 104, NY • bethelwoodscenter.org The Story of the ‘60s and Woodstock. Museum located at the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. CONTINUED...
WWW.ARFULMIND.NET THE ARTFUL MIND MAY 2010 • 3
The Artful Mind • MAY 2010
THE SPENCERTOWN ACADEMY NY Route 203 halfway between the Taconic Parkway and Route 22 (5 miles east of the village of Chatham). • 518-392-5743. A BENEFIT FOR THE ACTORS’ ENSEMBLE: A performance of Mrs. Ripley's Trip and screening of Beautiful Hills of Brooklyn. When: Sunday, May 16 at 2 p.m.A reception with the actors will follow the performance and screening. Tickets: $20 / $15 students Donations to support the production of Eugene’s Ghosts will be accepted at the event.
WORKSHOPS & LECTURES
INKBERRY AND PAPYRI BOOKS 45 Eagle St, North Adams, MA • 413-664-0775 Wordplay, a monthly reading series
is183 ART SCHOOL OF THE BERKSHIRES Stockbridge MA • 413-298-5252 / www.is183.org A weekend workshop “Venetian Lampwork Beads,” with instructor Stephanie Maddalena, will be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 1 and 2, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. One of many fine workshops this upcoming season. Terry Wise, Visual Artist photograph by Sabine Vollmer von Falken
IS183 Cermamist, MaryBarringer Kimberly Rawson 9 Terry Wise, Visual Artist Nanci Race 14 Planet Waves Astrology Eric Francis 18
Melissa Stafford, Gallerist Harryet Candee 22
Greater Backfish Roundup Bob Balogh 24
Architecture & Arcadia Stephen Dietemann 25
KATE KNAPP FRONT STREET GALLERY Housatonic, MA (next to the Corner Market) • 274-6607 www.kateknappartist.com also ongoing painting classes Mon, Wed & Thurs 9:30am (gallery hrs: Sat & Sun 12-5, and by appt.) ROBERT CAPUTO LANDSCAPE OIL-PAINTING WORKSHOP www.hvart.org or contact Leslie Watkins at 860-542-3920 lesliewatkins@lesliewatkins.com Saturday & Sunday, June 5-6 Sheffield, Massachusetts All levels welcome. Robert will focus on drawing, color, and value with an emphasis on capturing a sense of light and atmosphere. Offered by the Housatonic Valley Art League, 9-12 am, 1-4pm each day. Members $200, non-members $225. Limit 15 students.
PHOTOGRAPHERS Julie McCarthy Sabine Vollmer von Falken
FILM
IMAGES CINEMA Williamstown, MA • 413-458-1039 www.imagescinema.org Always a good flick, please call for film listings and times.
THE BERKSHIRE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL will showcase the best in independent feature, documentary, short, and family films, with panel discussions, and special events with filmmakers, producers, and actors 6/3-6/6 in Great Barrington at the Triplex and Mahaiwe and 6/4-6/6 in Pittsfield at the Beacon and Little Cinema at the Berkshire Museum. The opening night film Thursday, June 3rd Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work will show at the Mahaiwe at 7:30pm followed by a Disco Inferno Dance Party in the Old Fire House on Castle Street in Great Barrington at 9pm with DJ BFG. Pittsfield will open on Friday, June 4th at 7:30 pm with Atletu (The Althlete) at the Beacon Cinema on North Street with an introduction from actor/co-director Rasselas Lakew. BIFF will honor actress Patricia Clarkson this year. The tribute evening begins at 7:30pm on Friday June 4th and will include the New England premiere of her new film Cairo Time. Deadline for calendar listings: May 15 for June WWW.artfulmind.net artfulmind@yahoo.com
BOB BALOGH MICHAEL HITCHCOCK BECKY STERPKA SUNDAY, MAY 9, 3:00PM
DEWEY HALL, 91 MAIN ST., SHEFFIELD, MA
Waking up begins with fresh ideas and smelling the coffee.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND MONTHLY COLUMNISTS Bob Balogh, Harryet Candee, Stephen Gerard Dietemann, Rae Eastman, Eric Francis, Nanci Race, Kimberly Rawson
LENOX ART WALK HISTORIC VILLAGE OF LENOX, MA Saturday and Sunday, May 29 and 30, 11 - 5pm. 15 Art Galleries and many artist demonstrations and gallery receptions
FEATURING:
www.artfulmind.net
ADVERTISING AND LAYOUT DESIGN Harryet Candee
SPECIAL EVENTS
MIC RO THEATRE PRESENTS "LOST AND FOUND" A THEATRICAL EVENT OF SATIRE, FARCE & ABSU RDI T Y
THE ARTFUL MIND PUBLISHER Harryet Candee COPY EDITOR Marguerite Bride PROOFREADER: Rae A. Eastman & Deborah Davis
SABINE VOLLMER VON FALKEN PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOPS 413-298-4933 Sabine offers outdoor workshops for the advanced amateur photographers in June. Dates are: June 6,13,20 and 27, 2010.
THURSDAY, MAY 13, 7:00PM
MASON LIBRARY. 231 MAIN ST., GREAT BARRINGTON, MA FRIDAY, MAY 14, 7:30PM
RAMSDELL LIBRARY. 1087 MAIN ST., HOUSATONIC, MA
413-442-2223 / 413-212-7180 MICROTHEATRE@HOTMAIL.COM “...one of the finest and most charming private galleries in New England.”
THE LENOX GALLERY O F
F I N E
A R T
DISTRIBUTION R. Dadook, John Cardillo
120 PIXLEY ROAD, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA 01230
HARRYET@ARTFULMIND.NET
WWW.ARTFULMIND.NET 413-528-5628
Deadline for the JUNE issue is MAY 15, 2010
FYI: ©Copyright laws in effect throughout The Artful Mind for logo & all graphics including text material. Copyright laws for photographers and writers throughout The Artful Mind. Permission to reprint is required in all instances
4
Our Art....Our way
THE ARTFUL MIND MAY 2010
p a i n t i n g s • d r a w i n g s • w a t e r c o l o r • s c u l p t u r e • m i x ed media works • pastels • portrait commissions
69 Church Street, Lenox, MA 01201 • (413) 637-2276
over twenty-five artists • on two levels
open year round - call for hours
BERKSHIRE ART GALLERY BERKSHIRE DIGITAL
BOB CRIMI
When Bob Crimi entered the vibratory world of oil paints as a teenager, he was soon playing for keeps…painting became a lifetime of personal truth. After a period of ‘wood-shedding’* with his colors, at his studio/home in the Taghkanic Hills, a hand-picked selection of his paintings will be presented for public viewing in July. Crimi’s paintings have a biorhythm of their own; sometimes similar, familiar, and often as variegated as the chaos that comes from our inner lives. The eye wanders over surfaces that change constantly as they remain the same. It’s so human to retrace the colors to see if they’ll again do for us what they did the first time. Is that a cadmium red slithering into a pale pthalo blue? It’s ok…let them do their thing. The ancient art of oil painting still touts its powers. *There’s a legend that the ‘Bird’, Charlie Parker, the American musical genius, in search of privacy, practice, and meditation, would often retreat to a woodshed to conjure up the muses…the verb “to woodshed” then came into usage. An exhibition of Bob Crimi’s paintings will take place through July at the Gallery at B&G Wines and Gourmet, Route 23, Main Street, Hillsdale, NY. A reception will be held on July 9th from 5-7pm.
As Berkshire Digital begins its fourth year of operation, it is celebrating the gallery openings of three local artists, two painters and one photographer, for whom it made all of the Giclée prints hanging in the shows. Capable of producing archival, museum quality prints on a variety of surfaces up to 42x96 inches, BD also offers complete photography services to capture artwork of any medium. To further help artists, BD offers graphic design capabilities, to create show announcements, posters and collateral materials. In addition to its printing services, Berkshire Digital also provides Photoshop™ tutoring and consulting for people who want to get a better understanding of the digital workflow from camera to computer to printer in their workspace as well as manage and manipulate their own images. The owner, Fred Collins, has been a photographer for 30 years with studios in Boston and the metro New York area. Fifteen years ago, he began working with Photoshop™ and gradually added extensive retouching capabilities to help with his clients needs. His commercial work for corporations has taken him around the world. His wife Alison owns The Iris Gallery, above Pearls, in Great Barrington. Berkshire Digital: 413-6449663, www.BerkshireDigital.com
Spring Landscape, O/C, 20 x 24. Alice Judson, 1876-1948, American.
80 Railroad Street Great Barrington, MA 413-528-2690
Open Saturday and Sunday Noon to 5 pm and/or by appointment
WWW.BERKSHIREARTGALLERY.COM
Spring 2010
“No art was ever less spontaneous
MAY 29 - 30 11am-5pm 15 Art Galleries in Historic Lenox Village Many Artist Demonstrations and Gallery Receptions
than mine. What I do is the result of reflection and study.” -Edgar Degas
WWW.ARTFULMIND.NET
THE ARTFUL MIND
MAY 2010 • 5
CONCERTS AT TANNERY POND
Twenty years ago, Tannery Pond Concerts had its inaugural season in the beautiful wooden post and beam Shaker building, once a tannery, where we have been ever since. That season was emblematic of the aim of our artistic director, Christian Steiner, to present young talent working to establish a performing career as well as to bring established world-class performers to our community. The very first Tannery concert featured the 21-year-old violinist Chee-Yun and pianist and famed chamber music promoter Charles Wadsworth. Chee-Yun had just won a competition sponsored by the Young Concert Artists; over the years since, she has become a sought-after violinist who has performed with the world’s major orchestras. Many of the young performers who have appeared at the Tannery have gone on to similar success, helped early in their career by the chance to perform at respected venues like Tannery that recognize and encourage burgeoning great talent. And though that concert did not sell out, others that season did, including the performances of the already famous Jessye Norman and the Emerson String Quartet. The performers who have filled the Tannery these last 20 years are exceptional and read like a who’s who in the classical music hall of fame: Midori, Gil Shaham, Jaime Laredo, Jeremy Denk, Maria Joao Pires, Stephen Hough, Richard Goode, Roberto Diaz, Carter Brey, Christopher O’Riley, David Finckel, Christine Brewer, Ben Heppner, Susan Graham, Maureen O’Flynn, Todd Palmer, Paula Robison, the Borromeao, Emerson, Lark and St. Lawrence String Quartets to name but a very few. This summer, we also a program of wonderful musicians; Brentano String Quartet, Paula Robison, Romero Lubambo & Cyro Baptista Trio, Jeremy Denk, Kirill Gerstein, Vivica Genaux & Craig Rutenberg, Jennifer Frautschi, Eric Rusk, & Pedja Muzijevic, and to end our season on September 25th, Alon Goldstein with actors, Robert Mackenzie, Markus Hirnigel & Stephanie Schmiederer. Located on the grounds of Darrow School, New Lebanon, NY. For detail information, please go to www.tannerypondconcerts.org and/or 888-820-1696. “The
creative person finds himself in a state
of turmoil, restlessness, emptiness, and unbearable frustration unless he expresses his inner life in some creative way.” -Silvano Arieti
All Things Musical
Music Store The
on Railroad Street
MYRON SCHIFFER
Established as a pianist and teacher in the Berkshires since the late 60s, Myron “Mike” Schiffer has an established history of exploring the avant garde. Prior to living in the area, Schiffer lived and worked in New York City, studying with John Mehegan and Hall Overton as well as playing, teaching and hanging around the fringes of jazz. Fascinated with music and the visual arts since childhood, Schiffer enrolled in photography at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Working in black and white at the time, he was most notably inspired by Richard Avedon’s fashion photography. Once introduced to color, he was deeply moved by the mystical color fields of Georgia O’Keefe and Mark Rothko and considers this work his strongest influence. Now that he’s entered his ninth decade, he’s fulfilling his dream of indulging his interest in photography, an interest he started to explore in the 1970s. For the last year he’s been busy exhibiting his work at galleries, frame shops, Kimball Farms retirement community, Castle Street Café and in the North Adams Open Studio show. His current work is a minimalist expression of color, light and space, also revealing a strong influence of contemporary jazz and classical music, e.g. “Intuition” by Lennie Tristano, the first recorded example of spontaneous collective improvisation. Schiffer’s graffiti and urban “Street Art” follow along the same lines, capturing aleatory and found images. After a five month run, his Castle Street Café exhibit is taking a break until it reopens with new work in the fall. This show will feature more canvases from his “Motion Capture” series. His website at www.myronschiffer.com showcases an ever-expanding gallery of this series and others such as Urban Scenes, Found Textures, Street Art, Graffiti, and Jazz Musicians. A small selection of Myron’s miniatures can also be seen at the Red Lion Inn Gift Shop in Stockbridge, MA. See over 250 photographs at his online galleries at www.myronschiffer.com and come back to see more. The collection is always expanding. All photographs are available for sale as canvases or archival quality photo prints. Prints are also available from Fine Art America, www.myron-Schiffer.artistwebsites.com and Zazzle, www.zazzle.com/MyronSchiffer. Myron Schiffer, 413-637-2659, www.myronschiffer.com
CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY JIM O'SHEA, LOW WATER, 2010, 30 X 31 INCHES,
OIL ON PANEL
Carrie Haddad Gallery is featuring the works of James O’Shea, Russell Smith and Sarah Berney, April 15 through May 23 James O’Shea works with wax alongside oils and acrylics, imparting depth and complexity to his paintings. Deft, opaque marks sit atop translucent backgrounds; these surface veils, assertive in their thickness, obscure the atmospheric world behind. O’Shea’s works both indulge and challenge the eye, revealing bits of deep space only to mask them, thwart them with audacious surface. Russell Smith, like O’Shea, endows surface with unexpected voluptuousness. This exhibit, bringing together two very different artists, acquires coherence through the uncanny life-like quality that both Smith and O’Shea invest in inanimate or typically lifeless forms. Smith’s palette comprises desolate grays and browns that, when working in relation with one another, acquire an unparalleled luminosity. Smith’s “Receptacle,” like many of O’Shea’s works, is a record of a process: its most prominent property is the sheet of warm gray paint wiped across the paper’s surface. Smith lets us see the relative regularity with which he applies this hue by preserving the bristly trace of his wide brush’s mark. Barely perceivable gradations in the paint’s consistency break the opacity of this plane of color which, although functioning within the work as a wall, is described as something organic, like skin or thick atmosphere. The meeting of the wall and the door’s contour—rendered as sharp, with juicy, rich black paint—reads like a puncture. Smith amps up his works with a lushness alien to the banal objects and events he depicts. Sarah Berney has been exhibiting with Carrie Haddad since she first opened her galleries in Hudson, NY. Her work for this exhibit is lyrically mystical. The works on large canvases are created with a process of layered paint that is then peeled off in gestural patterns revealing a spattered canvas beneath. Blue and gold are the predominant colors remaining and swirl through the painted plane like a joyous roadmap. The feeling of the work is uplifting and optimistic. Carrie Haddad Gallery, 622 Warren Street, Hudson, NY. Hours: open daily 11 a.m. - 5p.m. Thursday through Monday. For more information call the gallery at 518-828-7655; see show online at www.carriehaddadgallery.com
Unusual Instruments Fine Instruments Accessories
Crystal Flutes
Orchestral & Band Instruments
More than 100 guitars in stock Classical, Folk, Electric, Handmade
Something for Everyone - All levels, All budgets! Open Daily Except Mondays
6
NOW ON ~
87 RAILROAD STREET, Gt Barrington 413-528-2460
THE ARTFUL MIND MAY 2010
WWW.ARTFULMIND.NET
“When you see somebody dead for the first time, you can’t resist making notes on the way you yourself feel, to use when poignancy is called for.” -John Gielgud
2010 BERKSHIRE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL PATRICIA CLARKSON IN CAIRO TIME
“Barbara and Joseph – Fiddlers Two – performers for many years at theWaldorf-Astoria Hotel in NYC. Seen above at a Waldorf NY’s Eve celebration.”
BARBARA AND JOSEPH FIDDLERS TWO
After enjoying a long, successful multi-field musical career in New York City, Barbara and Joseph-Fiddlers Two recently moved to Williamstown, MA in the beautiful Berkshires, where they now continue to perform as a strolling violin duo. Fiddlers Two will perform for a personal party of two people enjoying a candle-lit dinner at home or in a hotel suite; stroll through a hospitality suite or cocktail party for hundreds of guests; “bring the music” to guests’ tables during dinner – and also play guests’ requests. The unique violin duo of Barbara and Joseph provides an elegant presentation of show tunes, the great American standards and romantic continental songs that creates the perfect mood for gracious dining and intimate conversation. Their repertoire of more than a thousand songs “from Broadway to Vienna” includes some of the world’s most requested music. Visitors from around the world say: “I haven’t heard anything like Fiddlers Two, anywhere.” “Such imaginative musical arrangements.” “Sheer magic!” “At times, sounds rich as a string quartet.” “Velvet to the ears.” “Amazing how you know what to play, when to play it and how to play it!” Barbara and Joseph have entertained at some of the finest hotels, restaurants and country clubs. They have appeared on radio, film, recordings, TV commercials, and were featured nationally on The Regis Philbin Show. They were staff members of The Radio City Music Hall Symphony Orchestra and The American Symphony Orchestra, and have played under the batons of Leonard Bernstein and Leopold Stokowski at Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center. Barbara and Joseph have also shared stages with Tony Bennett, Victor Borge, John Denver and have recorded with Frank Sinatra. Barbara and Joseph are also founders of The Black Tie String Quartet, with typical engagements at: The Four Seasons, The Rainbow Room, Tavern-on-the-Green, The Palace Hotel, Park Lane Hotel, St. Moritz Hotel, St. Regis Hotel, Stanhope Hotel, The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, The Museum of Modern Art, The Lyndhurst Estate and on board the Cunard Princess. They have also recorded the world’s first Christmas album in string quartet form. Fiddlers Two has been heard in a wide variety of settings: from the top of Windows On The World, to a yacht “down below” passing by the Statue of Liberty - to The Museum of Natural History “under the whale”! Some typical engagements: The Boardroom of The American Stock Exchange, Le Perigord Park, Maxim’s, The Metropolitan Museum, 21 Club, The Quilted Giraffe, Union League Club, Westchester Country Club. They were also featured entertainment at the Garden City Hotel (for six months) and at the Sheraton Centre Hotel (held over for one year). Barbara and Joseph have performed at many prominent special events, including: the wedding reception for Mr. & Mrs. Rodman Rockefeller, Brenda Vaccaro’s wedding, parties for Madeline Kahn and Lili Tomlin, receptions for Princess Diana and Princess Grace of Monaco, and Frank Sinatra’s 75th birthday dinner. Also at events for Presidents Johnson, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. Fiddlers Two “sets the tone” for many types of special events, from a corporate Awards Dinner, elegant dinner party or after-theatre supper, to a family birthday or anniversary celebration. For booking information, please call: (413) 458-1984.
SCHANTZ GALLERIES DAN DAILY
CONTEMPORARY GLASS
May in the Berkshires brings all types of beauty and the artwork at Schantz Galleries is no exception. Beginning this month, “Inspirations and Illuminations: Survey or Works by Dan Dailey”. This exhibit runs May 20 – June 30. Dan Dailey’s career in glass has spanned more than 40 years. Emerging from the Studio Glass movement initiated by Harvey Littleton, Dailey’s work has branched out from the mainstream by the incorporation of metal into many of the sculptures. He has taught at many glass programs and is a professor at the Massachusetts College of Art where he founded the glass program. Since 1971, Dailey’s work has been featured in more than 90 solo exhibitions and included in over 300 juried or invitational group shows. His work is included in over 50 public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC. Schantz Galleries in Stockbridge is committed to the continuation of over 30 years of providing representation internationally recognized glass artists to exhibit their work and share their art with the world. Representing over 40 of the world’s foremost living artists exhibited on two floors, visitors are privy to experience the very pinnacle of contemporary art glass right here in New England. Schantz Galleries, 3 Elm Street, Stockbridge, MA 01262; winter hours are 11am – 5pm. 413-298-3044, www.schantzgalleries.com
E
The Berkshire International Film Festival’s director Kelley Vickery announced that Patricia Clarkson will receive the annual BIFF Achievement in Film Award at the Festival’s 5th Anniversary held June 3 – 6, 2010 in Great Barrington and Pittsfield, MA. Ms. Clarkson will be honored on Friday evening, June 4 at the historic Mahaiwe Theatre. BIFF will screen her latest film CAIRO TIME, a romantic drama about a brief, unexpected love affair that catches two people completely off-guard against the romantic backdrop of Egypt. CAIRO TIME will be released by IFC in August. Ms. Clarkson’s film career spans some 25 years beginning with her breakout role in “The Untouchables.” Her incredible and diverse career has garnered twenty-two awards and sixteen nominations including a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for her role in “Pieces of April.” Her roles include such films as “The Green Mile,” “Station Agent,” “High Art,” “Good Night and Good Luck,” “Lars and the Real Girl, “Whatever Works,” “All the Real Girls,” and the recently released Scorcese film “Shutter Island.” “We are thrilled to be honoring such a talented actress such as Patricia Clarkson at this special 5th year anniversary of the BIFF,” said executive director Kelley Vickery. “She not only has an incredible career as an actor in film, but also on stage and television. The Berkshire community is pleased to honor Ms. Clarkson as one of the most talented, accomplished, beautiful and in-demand actors in the business today.” The evening will begin with a cocktail party at Allium Restaurant followed by the tribute. A selection of Ms. Clarkson’s films will be screened all day Friday at the Mahaiwe. For passes, tickets, sponsor and volunteer opportunities and further information on the Berkshire International Film Festival, visit our website at www.biffma.com or call 413-528-8030.
Hlings!
Don’t be shy!
Advertising for new arrivals! artfulmind.net 413-528-5628 Down to EARTH rates!
MAY 2010 WWW.ARTFULMIND.NET
THE ARTFUL MIND • 7
PARADISE CITY ARTS FESTIVAL MAY 29-31, NORTHAMPTON DYER, PENDANT
The Paradise City Arts Festival in Northampton won the Number 3 spot this year among hundreds of arts festivals across America. Start with 258 juried artists traveling from 30 states to show off their best and newest work, add in Paradise City’s signature live music and gourmet food, enchanting theater offerings for all ages, a flowering sculpture garden filled with artful delights, a benefit silent art auction for WGBY… all excellent reasons to come on down to Paradise City. And you don’t want to miss the third installment of our series of themed exhibitions celebrating the art of love! Love is in the air… and Paradise City artists delve into the great icons of romance for a special exhibit, “The Art of Love”. Often playful, sometimes sentimental, celebrating the power of two, the work on display shows us how central love is to our visual vocabulary. Actually, love is expressed in many ways at the show this spring - infusing the food, the music and the theater, too. Comedy! Drama! Let us entertain you with New Century Theater’s “The Artifice of Love”, lampooning matters of the heart. PaintBox Theatre keeps the kids enthralled with their interactive “Cinderella”, a most romantic play with a unique spin. Grammy-winner Charles Neville joins Paradise City under the Festival Dining Tent - first on Saturday, as part of local hero Roger Salloom’s back-up band. Sunday the sax legend returns with his own band, and Monday jazz diva Barbara Ween brightens Memorial Day with her high-energy vocals. Relax to sets of love songs, while dining on romantic offerings like oysters on the half shell and Bavarian cream hearts, presented by Northampton’s favorite chefs! At the 3 County Fairgrounds, Route 9 at I-91 Exit 19. From the Mass Pike, take exit 4 to I-91 North. For complete show and travel information, and discount admission coupons, visit www.paradisecityarts.com or call 800-511-9725.
RUTH KOLBERT
RUTH KOLBERT, ROB ROBBINS, 78” X 44”
“Friends, Artists & Special Places” will be on exhibit at Front Street Gallery May 19 through June 12. Ruth Kolbert has been painting since early in her life. She studied Fine Arts in college, concentrating her study with John Ferren, and went on to study at The Art Student’s League in New York. Ruth also studied with Oscar Kokoschka in Salzburg, Austria and Charles Cajori and Nicholas Carone in New York. Ruth has lived and painted in the Berkshires for 21 years, with a studio in Sheffield. She has exhibited in New York and the Berkshires, and last showed a series of barn paintings at Castle Street Café. Her work is in private collections. The main focus of Ruth’s work is people in the creative arts and in her life. These paintings are often life-size or larger, and seem to be barely contained within the canvas, revealing the vitality of her subjects in relation to their environment. The portraits are infused with luminous color, emphasizing her subject’s inner life. Front Street Gallery, Front Street, Housatonic, MA. Gallery open Fridays 1 – 5 pm, Saturday and Sunday 12 – 5pm, and / or by appointment. To reach Ruth in her studio, please call 413-229-0380
BERKSHIRE ART FESTIVAL SKI BUTTERNUT JULY 2-4 2010
More than one hundred sixty-five exceptionally talented, jury selected artists and artisans from all over the country will present their artwork at the 9th annual Berkshires Arts Festival, held July 2-4 at Ski Butternut in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Over the last 8 years, the Berkshires Arts Festival has become one of the most anticipated summer events in the Berkshires. Each year, the show brings together a selection of some of the finest artists in the America, offering outstanding works in the following categories ceramics, painting, jewelry, glass, wood, mixed media, sculpture, fashion and photography for display and sale. “The work for sale at this show ranges from the most affordable hand-crafted items to once in a lifetime opportunities for collectors,” said Director Richard Rothbard, himself a veteran artisan and the creator of Boxology. This year, BAF has increased its commitment to offering engaging and educational experiences for festival goers with even more demonstrations, talks, and performance artists added to the schedule. New educational content includes instruction in sustainable historic New England timber homebuilding techniques by the Heartwood School, based in Washington, Mass. This year will also see the return of the Art of Clay tent, sponsored by Sheffield Pottery, which will bring festival-goers behind the scenes of ceramic art creation, with features and demonstrations from a wide variety of pottery styles. The show will be held Friday, July 2nd through Sunday, July 4th rain or shine at Ski Butternut under tents, outdoors and in the air-conditioned lodge, with musical performances, workshops, and activities for kids, magicians, fire-dancers and much more happening throughout the entire weekend. Berkshire Art Festival, Ski Butternut, Route 23, Great Barrington, MA; July 2, Friday 10am - 6pm, July 3, Saturday 10am - 6pm, July 4, Sunday 10am - 5pm. Admission: Adults- $11, Seniors - $9, Students - $5. Weekend pass - $13, Children under 10 admitted free. Plenty of Free parking available. For more information visit www. berkshiresartsfestival.com
“I think that there is nothing more apposed to poetry, ay, more apposed to life itself, than this, incessant business.” 8
THE ARTFUL MIND MAY 2010
-Henry David Thoreau
IS183 ART SCHOOL OF THE BERKSHIRES
CERAMI ST
Mary Barringer is a ceramist with a mission. In June, she’ll be teaching an intensive weeklong workshop for adults at IS183 Art School of the Berkshires called “Skin and Bones” that will focus on the often complicated relationship ceramic artists have between the forms and surfaces of their pots.
“Students in the workshop will explore what part of their idea of the pot involves the surface. It’s a charged subject for a lot of people who say they love making things but they hate glazing them. I’m interested in carrying some of that excitement of engagement in the piece farther out, into the way we think about surface. That’s the core of the class,” said Barringer. The workshop is not a temperature or technique specific course; both handbuilders and those who work on the wheel are welcome and Barringer hopes to challenge ceramists of both disciplines to expand their thinking about their artistic process in the studio. “It’s a chance for me to explore with a group of people the interplay between how we think about making things and the surface of the work,” she said. “My experience is that many people focus on the clay, the feel, the technique—that’s where all the juice is—but that as it goes through one firing and is then subjected to glazes and other firings our involvement with the piece often gets more indirect as the process goes on.
“For many of us there is a linear process to making a piece. In this class students will have the opportunity to test a variety of finishes and have a chance to fire a piece early in the week, creating a feedback loop, so that thinking can go in both directions. As you’re making something you’ll also be thinking about finishes. In the “Skin and Bones” workshop students will try things they haven’t ever done and will learn, through experimentation and technical intermediary methods, the ways they can bring together the two parts of the process. It’s a good
SPOUTED DISH, BARRINGER
Mary Barringer by Kimberly Rawson
chance for people to get more engaged with the surface.”
Barringer, who lives in Shelburne Falls, Mass., has been a studio artist since 1973, making both sculpture and functional pottery. Her work has been exhibited internationally, most recently at AKAR (Iowa City), the Signature Shop (Atlanta), and at the World Ceramics Expo in Korea. She has taught at numerous art centers and universities including Ohio University, the Boston Museum School, and Penland School of Crafts. She received a BA in art from Bennington College, studied sculpture at the Pratt Institute and apprenticed with Michael Frimkess.
In addition to her studio work she has written and lectured on ceramic history, and was named editor of Studio Potter (www.studiopotter.org) in 2003. Since its inception in 1972, Studio Potter has been “a magazine for the community of potters everywhere. It is written by potters and directed toward fellow-potters who earn their living by making pots.” The advertising-free, non-profit independent ceramics journal focuses on aesthetic philosophy and is published twice-yearly in January and July.
As of this writing, Barringer was busily at work on the summer issue. “It’s kind of a labor of love and it’s immensely enjoyable to do,” she said. “I like to think of it as The New Yorker of ceramic publications. There’s a different theme for each issue and for each I look for a wide range of opinions. A few issues ago the theme was ‘change.’ It encompassed articles about the changes in your work in the studio over time: there was an article about parenthood by someone who had adopted a baby and change came quickly—and how it affected his studio work; we addressed social change in a historical article; and wrote about a woman who does installations of raw clay and then videotapes the process of what happens to the clay as it alters over time.”
IS183 Art School ceramics intensive Skin and Bones with instructor Mary Barringer will be held Monday through Friday, June 21 through 25, 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuition is $600, plus $50 materials fee. IS183 is located at 13 Willard Hill Road in Interlaken. For more information and to register, please call 413.298.5252, e-mail info@is183.org or visit www.is183.org
This intensive will focus on the chicken-and-egg question of how the forms and surfaces of pots relate to each other. Forming processes, surface texture, drawing under or on glaze, glaze choices, and firing methods can all be deployed to underscore or counter the form. We will come at the possibilities from multiple directions, with the aim of discovering new strategies for integrating these two elements in our work. During the week we will focus on mid-range oxidation firing, but the workshop is suitable for all temperatures, and for either handbuilding or wheel work.
What is studio pottery?
According to Wikipedia, studio pottery is made by modern artists working alone or in small groups, producing unique items or pottery in small quantities, typically with all stages of manufacturing carried out by one individual. Much studio pottery is tableware or cookware but an increasing number of studio potters produce non-functional or sculptural items. Kimberly Rawson is a writer, editor and communications strategist who lives in Pittsfield.
“One of the often-mentioned pleasures of functional art such as pottery is its ability to bring heightened awareness to ordinary acts – to intensify and “make special” the fundamental human activities of eating, drinking, and
cooking. But it is equally wonderful that functional art has the power to disappear. Thus a handmade cup can tamp down the art experience, push it below the threshold of attention, where it enters the user through the portal of the senses, rather than through the focused eye and conscious mind. It sneaks into your day and becomes part of the texture of your bodily life.”
—Mary Barringer
MAY 2010 THE ARTFUL MIND • 9
ART ON NO THE UPSTAIRS GALLERY
FRONT STREET GALLERY KATE KNAPP STILL LIFE
Remember during difficult times the best investment is something that uplifts the spirit. There is no greater gift than a wonderful painting. Please come pick one out and make every day of your life richer. Ongoing large selection of still life and Berkshire landscapes. All work sold at “recession concession” prices. Time payments accepted by appointment or chance. The Front St. Gallery was established fifteen years ago by seven local artists; Kate Knapp was one of the original founders. Designed as a cooperative showing many Berkshire artists’ work, today it is not only a gallery but primarily Kate Knapp’s studio. The space is obviously a working studio with many racks filled with canvases new and old, offering a great choice to anyone interested in looking. Kate has been studying art for 40 years. Her paintings are found in collections all over the country. Front St. Gallery is a beautiful and intriguing space located next to the Corner Market looking out at the mountains and passing trains. The paintings hanging on the walls are filled with color and light reflecting Kate’s training in the impressionist school. There are portraits, still life’s and landscapes done in oil and watercolor. Wonderful paintings of the rivers, farms and flowers found in the Berkshires are inspiring. There are also vibrant seascapes painted on Block Island, RI., where Kate has a home and loves to paint. The key word here is “loves”. These paintings are filled with an intense joy and passion for life. The wild rapids of the river, old farm trucks parked in a field with cows and waves breaking on rocks and shore are painted with great feeling. Prices are negotiable. Spring and Summer Classes at Front Street studio now open for registration...Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Painting Classes are held Monday and Wednesday from 9:30 to 1 pm at the gallery/studio. Thursday class is planned, from 9:30 - 1 pm at different locations, and to be announced weekly. The cost is $30 per class and it is for beginners to advanced, all mediums are welcome. Front St. Gallery, Housatonic, MA. 413-274 6607, www.kateknappartist.com and 413-528-9546, 413-429-7141.
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THE ARTFUL MIND MAY 2010 WWW.ARTFULMIND.NET
CARRIE HADDAD PHOTOGRAPHS
WILLIAM WEGMAN, LITTLE RED, 1999, COLOR POLAROID, 24 X 20”
Carrie Haddad Photographs is pleased to announce Polaroids: Works by William Wegman, Mark Beard, John Dugdale, Melinda McDaniel and Tanya Marcuse through May 30, 2010. No other artist has conveyed the color, beauty and elegance of the 20 x 24 large format Polaroid process quite like William Wegman. The fact that Wegman has also managed to use this form of photography to bring humor, wit, intelligence and a humane view of the world, most often via the eyes or visage of one his beloved Weimaraners, is a great bonus for people everywhere, both in the art world and beyond. Also on exhibit are Mark Beard’s Polaroid transfers of personal and compelling landscapes and portraits of downtown New York performers, celebrities and friends. Tanya Marcuse also uses this method. In her jewel-like series Torso, the transferred emulsion onto a sandwiched mylar material creates a luminous, transparent effect. John Dugdale’s use of 8 x10 Polaroid film to capture his 19th century aesthetic results in images that are remarkable in their other worldly beauty. Melinda McDaniel uses the difficult to find SX 70 film to create abstract images of rich color, shape and dimension in a continuation of her distinctive body of contemporary work. For more information, please visit our website www.carriehaddadphotographs.com or visit us at the gallery 318 Warren Street, Hudson, NY, 12534.
The excitement has been building for months as the artists of Art on No have been refurbishing the upstairs hall, soon to be re-opened as the “Upstairs Gallery” of Art on No. The public is invited to attend the grand opening reception on Saturday, May 15 from 5 – 8 pm. Visit the new gallery, meet the artists and tour the studios. Artists will be hanging works outside of their own studios for all to see. Refreshments and musical entertainment will be provided. In October 2004, artist Annie Laurie spearheaded a project to get empty offices on the 2nd floor of 311 North Street ready for local artists to rent….soon the studios were at 100% capacity and completely transformed. Since then, the building owner Irving Cohen has supported Annie’s vision of having affordable working spaces for artists in downtown Pittsfield, and has made many improvements to the building. Our studios are filled with 17 artists in a diverse range of media consisting of painters of all mediums, printmakers, silk screen artists, musicians, videographers, sound recorders, jewelry designers, photographers and more. We are one of the largest concentrations of artists under one roof working in downtown Pittsfield. Our goal is to increase support for the arts in downtown Pittsfield and to keep the town lively and creative. In addition, Art on No will be open to the public during each of Pittsfield’s Third Thursday Festivities, 5:30 – 8pm from May through October. Art on No, 311 North Street, Pittsfield, MA. Grand Re-Opening of Upstairs Gallery, May 15, 5-8 pm. Open during Pittsfield’s Third Thursday Festivities and by appointment.
“All those mirrors keep pulling you back.
You keep on seeing yourselfthousands of you.” -Deanne Bergsma
TRANSILLUMINATIONS
JONAS CAUFIELD
SHEALITAHIRES., CAUFIELD
RICHI M., CAUFIELD
“Transilluminations”, an exhibit at M Gallery in Catskill, N.Y. is a show of images printed on various media including backlit transparencies, metal, and traditional paper. The show runs through May 15.Woodstock photographer, Jonas Caufield, will display his photographs of transvestites, drag queens, and androgynous alternative fashionistas in an intimate setting along Main Street, Catskill. The show focuses on the concept of gender identity and sexuality in dress. M Gallery owners, Patrick and Alyson Milbourn, welcomed the exhibition as “an opportunity to view a lifestyle that so many of us know nothing about. The photos bring forth a richness of emotions, an expression of vanity and overt humor which seemed prevalent to the collection. For Jonas’ subjects, it is life as usual – a romp in the park, a day at the mall, or a night at the clubs – being true to themselves and their sense of pride. Caufield’s style developed early on – a childhood spent in his mother’s magical dark room. Studies included landscapes and still life, and his portrait work brought him commercial assignments, model shoots and live events. “My introduction to “drag” was Kingston’s night life scene and I was fascinated with the many applications of cross dressing. Some are comedians, some impersonators, some use transfashion to define themselves or their alter egos. The ephemeral nature of each evening’s artistic self-expression drew me in – I was driven to document and preserve it”. Photographing under his pseudonym, Jack Flack captured images from underground clubs, nightlife events, and nightlife personalities from New York, London, and the Hudson Valley. His subjects and the illuminated images themselves will shine light on the observer and our concept of non traditional self expression in relation to gender roles.
M Gallery is located at 350 Main Street in Catskill, New York.
More information at 518-943-0380. Gallery hours are Friday, Satur day and Sunday from noon to 4pm, by appointment or by chance.
Visit www.mgallery-online.com or contact curator@mgallery-online.com
KAORIHIRES., CAUFIELD
OMEL,
CAUFIELD
MAY 2010 ARTFULMIND.NET THE ARTFUL MIND • 11
MICHAEL FILMUS
“VIEW FROM MT. GREYLOCK, BRILLIANT SKY” 20” X 30”
OIL
In Michael Filmus’ painting “View from Mt. Greylock, Brilliant Sky” a stand of majestic pines is silhouetted against a golden cloud. In the distance we see green fields stretching to the horizon. From the summit the artist records a panorama, sometimes real, sometimes imagined. Michael Filmus has painted the Berkshire landscape for many years. He has exhibited his work in one-man shows at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield and at the Welles Gallery in Lenox. In New York he has been represented by Hirschl & Adler Galleries and David Findlay Jr., Fine Art. Filmus’ works are in numerous private and public collections including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Butler Institute of American Art. Michael Filmus may be contacted in the Berkshires at 413528-5471 or through his website www.michaelfilmus.com
BERKSHIRE ART KITCHEN COLLAGE, SANDRA ARP-SANDEL
The BAK Directory of Creativity - BAK is building a Blogroll Featuring links to Berkshire-based artists, graphic designers, musicians, writers, as well as galleries, museums and other venues for creativity. If you want to get the word out about the creative work you are doing here in the Berkshires - send us the link and we’ll add it to the Berkshire Art Kitchen Blogroll as we update. Social Media for Artists, Musicians & Entrepreneurs BAK is helping artists, musicians, writers and small business owners get started with social media. Join us in May for our new series of low-cost hands-on seminars: MySpace Mondays, Twitter Tuesdays, Wordpress Wednesdays and Facebook Fridays — Short and sweet, you’ll quickly learn how to expand your presence online, while increasing your fan base. “Raising marble is evidence that a number Stay tuned for more info.If you’re anxious to get started, call of men have reached the point or write to schedule a one-on-one tutorial. where the one they would now honor Volunteers & Interns - there’s a lot going on at BAK and we would love your help! We’re looking for dynamic, selfformerly stood alone.” motivated, efficient and well-organized folks who are excited -Wassily Kandinsky about being involved in the arts. Is music your thing? How about curating exhibitions? Grant writing? Programming? Fundraising? Marketing? Social Media? Office management? Bookkeeping? The list goes on and on. We’re building teams now. Please feel free to contact us to find out more. Let us know your interests and time availability. The Berkshire Art Kitchen is an artistrun social experiment. Part gallery, part Formerly at New York’s artists’ salon, part studio - BAK is committed to providing unique opportunities *Rainbow Room for creativity, connection & change. *Waldorf-Astoria Hotel BAK needs your support in order to continue fostering creativity, connection *Windows On The World and change! We love supporting artists, musicians, writers and enthusiasts Please help us keep them inspired!!!The The El e ga n t St ro lli n g V i o l i n -D u o Berkshire Art Kitchen is a fund of the BARBARA & JOSEPH Storefront Artist Project, a 501(c)3 Public “Barbara and Joseph – Fiddlers Two – Charity. FIDDLERS TWO performers for many years at the Berkshire Art Kitchen, 400 Main Street, Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in NYC. Seen Suite A, Great Barrington, MA 01230. above at a Waldorf NY’s Eve celebration.” BAK is open most days 11-3, by appointment or good fortune, and regularly on ...now residing in the beautiful Berkshires, Fridays and Saturdays 12-5pm . 413-7170031, berkshireartkitchen@gmail.com will bring the melodies you love“from Broadway to Vienna”
Party Music Extraordinaire!
SPRING BROOK, OIL/BOARD, 10” X 12”, ARTHUR J.E. POWELL (1864-1956), AMERICAN
BERKSHIRE ART GALLERY
The Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY, recently concluded the exhibit An Enduring Legacy: American Impressionist Landscape Paintings from the Thomas Clark Collection, a significant grouping of pre-1940 paintings from the last great generation of impressionists who emerged during and in the aftermath of the American Impressionist movement (18801928). These artists, the students and sketching partners of seminal figures such as Twachtman, Hassam, Chase and Henri, were successful in their own right, though obviously not as prominent as their predecessors. This second generation flourished in places like Old Lyme, CT, Cape Ann, MA, New Hope, PA and Woodstock, NY, as well as areas of Vermont and California. Paintings by artists who were in An Enduring Legacy, including Alice Judson (1876-1948), Arthur James E. Powell (1864-1956) and Cecil Chichester (18911963), also are on exhibit at the Berkshire Art Gallery. Alice Judson, a student of John Twachtman, was one of the foremost artists of her era, with numerous successful museum and prominent gallery (Milch, Babcock, Anderson, etc.) exhibits. She lived in Beacon, NY, and wove tender violets, pure greens and subtle browns in Spring Landscape into a charming fabric of tone, light and shadow. The Gallery also has four paintings by Arthur Powell, a National Academy member who painted near his Dover Plains home, such as Spring Brook (Ten Mile River). Cecil Chichester, a landscape artist, illustrator, and instructor at the Art Students League of New York and the Woodstock School of Painting, experimented with both impressionist and realistic painting styles. His Autumn Gaiety offers beautifully painted trees with vivid foliage reflected in a nearby stream. Chichester’s work is in the White House. The Berkshire Art Gallery has a number of works by many other artists from this significant era in American art. Berkshire Art Gallery, 80 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, MA. Gallery hours are noon to 5PM, Saturday and Sunday, or by appointment or chance. Parking for patrons is available in front of the Gallery. For information, contact Jack Wood @ 413-528-2690 or berkshireartgallery.com
“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” -Aldous Huxley
to your special event.
Enjoy “magical” renditions of show tunes, Gershwin, Porter, Italian, French, Viennese favorites... and your guests’ requests! Perfect for your ... *Home Entertaining *Formal Dinner *Gala Event *Civic/Business Function *Wedding!
For information & brochure, please call
(413)458-1984
12
Fiddlers Two is a unit of The Black Tie Orchestra THE ARTFUL MIND MAY 2010
The Gallery at
The Berkshire Gold and Silversmith Gallery Space available for Artists to exhibit their art work. Great Lighting with intimate, natural wood environment. Past art exhibits have been considered well attended and enjoyed. If this interests you, please stop by or call the Gallery. We are always interested in seeing what you create.
THE GALLERY AT THE GOLD AND SILVERSMITH
152 Main St, Great Barrington (next to Eagle Shoe and Boot) 413 • 528 • 0013 (Tues - Sat 10:30-6 pm)
THE MUSIC STORE
As we revel in Berkshires’ Spring Symphony, we at the Music Store begin to anticipate our second in our new location, at the end of the Railroad Street extension in Great Barrington. Acclaimed as one of the area’s best music stores, The Music Store specializes in fine, folk and unusual musical instruments, accessories, supplies and music motif gifts. The Music Store offers music lovers and musicians of all ages and abilities a myriad of musical merchandise that will help them illuminate the longest winter night and enliven the shortest day. Music lovers and professional and amateur musicians alike will find an exciting array of both new and used name-brand and hand-made instruments, extraordinary folk instruments and one of the Northeast’s finest selections of strings and reeds. Music Store customers enjoy fine luthier handmade classical guitars, the peerless Irish Avalon steel string guitars, the brand new Baden Pantheon USA guitars as well as the handmade Badens including the USA Handmade Bourgeois/Pantheon Baden and guitars from other fine lines including Avalon, Rainsong and Takamine, as well as Alvarez, and Luna and from designers including Greg Bennett. Acoustic and electric guitars from entry to professional level instruments are available. Famous names including consignment Rickenbacker, Gibson, Gretsch and Fender guitars and basses join less-well known brands which appeal to those seeking high quality but are on tight budgets, providing any guitarist a tempting cornucopia of playing possibilities. A wide variety of Ukuleles (including the Connecticut made Flues and Fleas) join banjos, mandolins and dulcimers as well. Unusual instruments are also available, including the Connecticut-made Fluke and Flea Ukeleles and the peerless and lovely Stockbridge-made Serenity bamboo and walking stick flutes. New and used student orchestral and band instruments are available, including violins from $159 to $3000. An extensive array of international strings and reeds provides choices for the newest student to the symphony performer. Children’s instruments, as well as a fine line of international percussion including middle eastern and hand made African instruments along with many choices of industry standard drums, stands, heads and sticks, as well as tuners, forks and metronomes can be found as well. All new instruments are backed by The Music Store’s lifetime warranty which provides free set-up and adjustments on any new instrument sold. For repair and restoration and maintenance of fine stringed instruments - guitars, banjos, mandolins and the like - The Music Store’s repair shop offers expert luthiery at reasonable prices on instruments of all levels, as well as authorized repairs on Warwick Basses, and Lowden and Takamine guitars. Those in search of the perfect present for music lovers will find a treasure trove of gift favorites such as bumper stickers (“Driver Singing,” “Go Home and Practice,” Tune it or Die” and more), tee shirts, caps, scarves, miniature musical instruments and instrument magnets, nightshirts, music motif mugs, socks, totes and ties. Small bronze and metal musician statues and cuddly ‘Music Lover’ stuffed animals, whistle pops and earrings add additional possibilities to gift giving customers. A proud server of the community for over nine years, The Music Store’s warm and friendly staff are available for help in tuning, stringing or instrument repair. Help in choosing tuners, capos, mutes shoulder rests and strings is as happily given as help in selecting instruments themselves. Since our mission is to support and encourage our musical community, consultation and advice are always free. For a magical, musical experience, visit The Music Store at 87 Railroad Street in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 to 6, and on Sundays from 12 to 5. Call 413-528-2460 or email us at musicstr@bcn.net. And look for us on Facebook at The Music Store Plus for special tips and events! We at The Music Store wish you peace and harmony throughout 2010.
JAMES AUGUST WEBER PROFESSIONAL
WWW.BERKSHIRECONTRACTOR.COM
James August Weber, a professional woodworker since 1976, has had an eclectic variety of experience. Boat building, silo construction, gazebos, decks, porches, barns sheds, as well as dozens of custom homes and structure renovation, you name it and Weber has probably done it. Teaching Furniture Design and Building in Poughkeepsie, New York led Weber to open a successful shop and retail gallery on Martha’s Vineyard which he operated from 1979 until moving to the Berkshires in 1986. Working on the Vineyard also provided an opportunity to work on the interior of many fine sailing vessels. In the Berkshires, Jim learned the craft of the Timber framer, building post and beam homes and log timber homes, as well as common methods of “stick framing”, while applying the skill of the fine woodworker artisan. “Our current undertaking is a custom home on Blunt Road in Egremont, MA. It was designed in our office, and is scheduled for completion this summer. Please contact me to have a look around. I love to talk shop!” You may have seen Weber as “the guy with the whistle” that leads the Berkshire Bateria Samba drummers, but he also leads his crew of experienced artisan builders. Through the J.W. Construction, Webber has been offering his General Contracting and carpentry services in the Berkshires for over 20 years. J.W. Construction: James Weber: 413-528-6575, website: www.berkshirecontractor.com
DON MULLER GALLERY
For the third year in a row, the Don Muller Gallery has been named one of the Top Ten Retailers of American Craft in North America by Niche Magazine, one of the highest marks of distinction in the American craft industry. More than 18,000 craft artists from the United States and Canada are polled each year and nominate over 700 galleries, retail stores, and museum shops. Criteria for selection include: treating artists with courtesy and respect; paying on time; promoting and marketing American crafts; giving back time and energy to the craft community; mentoring emerging artists; and maintaining an inventory that is at least 85% American craft. Don Muller Gallery was honored to be named among the top galleries in the United States, and is particularly proud to achieve such an award for owning and operating a business in downtown, Northampton, Massachusetts, for over 25 years. Being one of the top 10 galleries in the nation is a real tribute to past and present employees and all of the artists that have been represented through the years. The gallery has also announced the launch of their new website. The site features the work of many artists in jewelry, glass, wood, fiber, and more; it includes a tour of the gallery, a description of their services, and an introduction to the gallery staff. The site was produced by Positronic, a web development company based in Northampton. Don Muller Gallery, 40 Main St, Northampton, MA, 413-586-1119, www.donmullergallery.com Open Mon–Wed, 10-5:30, Thurs–Sat, 10–9, Sunday 12-5pm.
“Let us proclaim that the sidewalk can climb up your table, that your head can cross the street, and that at the same time your household lamp can suspend between one house and another the immense spiderweb of its dusty rays.” -Umberto Boccioni
MAY 2010 ARTFULMIND.NET THE ARTFUL MIND • 13
TERRY WISE Visual Artist
TERRY WISE, MINYAN, 10” X 10”, ACRYLIC + PLASTER ON WOOD PANEL, 2010 POETRY BY TOVA GARDNER (PHOTO SUPPLIED BY TERRY W.)
PHOTO: SABINE VOLLMER VON FALKEN
Written by Nanci Race
Photography by Sabine Vollmer von Falken
I met artist Terry Wise at the Lauren Clark Fine Art Gallery in Housatonic, Massachusetts. I wanted to view her finished work the same way other gallery patrons view it rather than in a studio with unfinished pictures and paint supplies in evidence. I think this gave me a different perspective on Terry as an artist and a professional. Although we talked about her multi-talented and supportive family we concentrated more on delving into her process of constructing a painting, why she feels the need to paint, and the influences on her work. I discovered that although at first glance Terry seems to be a rather quiet, introspective artist, deep down she’s somewhat conflicted about painting what she views as safe, and crossing the line into the unknown. She admitted that when she has crossed the line the response from the public has been lukewarm, but although her forte is still lifes she’s not averse to trying her hand at the challenge of figure drawing.
Nanci Race: Have you been painting for many years? Terry Wise: About 15 years. I studied fine art at Indiana University in the 70s, and I got at BFA degree in textile design. I took a painting course and did a lot of basic curriculum so I have some background, but during the time my children were little I experimented in a lot of different things. I did some printmaking, some textile work, liturgical design for a church and lots of different things. I even did a four year stint as a children’s clothing designer. Then ultimately I began to work with Joan Griswold, taking classes from her in her studio. That provided a real steady pace of being in the studio setting every week and getting a feeling for that situation. She taught me more basics of painting than were being taught in the 70s in art school. At that point in art school the training you got was sort of “do whatever you want,” and Joan was very good at teaching the basics. Classes with her also taught me a different way of seeing when painting. The class took a number of paint14 • THE ARTFUL MIND
MAY 2010
ing trips to Europe and places in the United States, like Maine and California. I didn’t go on all the trips, but I did take two trips to Italy and one to Ireland with her and the other students. I found that landscape painting was not my forte, my first love. I enjoy working in a studio setting better.
I’ve been working in my own studio for about 12 years. Still life has been my main focus, but more recently I’ve been learning to do figures because it’s a challenge and something I always felt was beyond my ability. I’ve taken some figure drawing classes and have been just playing around with it. I don’t know how much that will enter into my work. I’m fascinated with it right now. I find that commercial galleries often veer away from the human figure and I don’t want that to totally define what I do. The contemporary world is always forging ahead into areas that make people uncomfortable and I’m not really up there with the “young folks” doing crazy political stuff or whatever, but I do like to keep up on what is happening. I like to see contemporary work. I seek it out whenever I travel. I find it fascinating. But, then you have the dilemma of doing what sells and what people are comfortable with versus pushing the edges a little bit. Whenever I push and try something a little more experimental the reaction is generally pretty lukewarm. NR: At least you have the courage to try you’re not just sitting back and deciding that you’re going continue doing exactly the same old thing over and over again without ever stepping out of your comfort zone correct? TW: One of the real dilemmas of getting a following for your work is the people start expecting you to turn out the same thing over and over for years. Some people can successfully do that and keep it alive and fresh. I can’t. The reason I didn’t pursue textiles professionally or as an artist is that you have to do a lot of repetitive work; the same techniques over and over again to create a
PHOTO: SABINE VOLLMER VON FALKEN, INKING LETTERS TERRY WISE, DAYDREAM, 20” X 16”, OIL + ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 2010 (PHOTO SUPPLIED BY TERRY W.)
body of work or product. The reason I like painting is that I can always have a new subject to view, a new technique, or whatever and it’s always starting fresh.
NR: What is your preferred medium? TW: I usually paint in oils but I also combine different materials. One technique that I’ve developed is where I under paint in acrylic. The acrylic allows me to layer colors very quickly. Then I experiment with block printing on the under painting with different patterns. There is a rubbery material that you can buy in an art store. It’s called “speedy cut” or something like that and it’s used for block printing. It’s a lot easier to cut and is a lot more flexible than a linoleum block would be. It has sort of the same effect. Unfortunately they do break down rapidly. Anyway, I fool around with stripes that can become checkerboard patterns. I also have lots of floral patterns. I layer all of these with circles. I play with printing pattern onto the background. Sometimes it’s where a specific still life will be like a table or PHOTO:SABINE VOLLMER VON FALKEN, MINYAN, BY TERRY, POETRY BY TOVA GARDNER sometimes I’ll just print it, lean it against a wall and live with it for a week or maybe three months before what needs to be on tailed, I feel like I’ve pushed too hard, and it gets too controlled for me. Sometimes I do paintings there will come to me. At some point when I go back to it something totally different might happen where I’m really working to capture exactly what it is. It’s the same thing with trying to do figures; than what I originally thought. Then I paint on top of that. I might do something fairly abstract or I think I have to prove to myself that I’m capable. But I may not choose to use them on a detail. I might paint a still life. It evolves. When I first started working with the printed surface in the So I do want it to be a choice. Personally I like to be able to fill in for my own self what might be painting I was working on a specific still life and I would add in the printing of maybe the imagery implied, but might not actually be there as opposed to a photo realist painting where every detail of a tablecloth and a table or a wallpaper background. I had a specific goal in mind for that particis there. I try to avoid that. ular piece. Slowly it’s metamorphosed into the process where something will come out of it but I’m not quite sure what when I begin. It’s kind of fun to explore that way. NR: How much does the outside world influence your work? I don’t mean necessarily other painters or their work, but life in general. NR: How difficult is it for you to let go of a painting. By that I mean do you go back and continTW: I know that my mood will affect what I’m doing. The painting, “The Last Day,” that sold uously edit your painting or do you just finish it, do a quick review, and say that’s it’s done? through the Lauren Clark Fine Art Gallery had a stripe of red down the back, and I think that came TW: I would just say it’s done. When I go back into a painting and try to control details then I out of being angry about something. I can’t remember now, because the issue has gone away, and know I’m killing it. I like some artists whose work is very detailed, but when I start getting too dethat generally happens. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE .... MAY 2010 THE ARTFUL MIND • 15
TERRY WISE Visual Artist
TERRY WISE, INVITE, 60” X 60”, OIL ON CANVAS, 2009 (PHOTO SUPPLIED BY TERRY W.)
It’s pretty rare, but there have been times that I have gone in with so much angry energy that I don’t want to spread all over the people in my life that sometimes it will come out of my paintings. I think the love of visual beauty and harmony, and harmony can be anything like close values, it could be high contrasts, experimenting with colors and things like that, comes out of my interest in life. I have a great life. I like having a great life where I have wonderful friends and family. I live in a beautiful house, that I enjoy and I have nice neighbors, and have a great husband. So things are good and I look for that general sense of wellness to come out in my paintings; to be expressed in gorgeous color combinations or an interesting pattern or something like that. I am also influenced by other artists, although I try not to be a copycat.
NR: Have you passed on your creativity to your children? TW: I see myself reflected in my children. They are all very creative. Two in particular manage to keep six or eight balls in the air at the same time. And I realize that that’s what I’ve always done; doing volunteer work or doing some creative project, and whatever else the family required. That’s the way I always did it and I would be going in 1,000 different directions at once. At times it could get kind of nerve-racking, but on the other hand, when things settle down and start getting very simple I start getting antsy. I think in a way this does affect my studio practice because even though I try to be very steady about getting into my studio every day and having expansions of time to settle in and do the work, I do get strung out in lots of different directions. I have to struggle to get other things done when the studio should always be first. However, life calls.
NR: How does that make you feel to see your creativity reflected so heavily in your children? TW: It’s amazing. I think it really hit home when both of my daughters at different times came out with this statement, “I just like making things.” One went to Pratt and studied fashion design. My other daughter studied other things, but was always making things; always knitting or crocheting, making felt, making paper, always trying something new. My son Pete is co-director of Berkshire Fringe, a 21 day summer festival, which brings in theater, dance and music by artists from across the United States, as well as local artists. It’s presented by Bazaar Productions Inc., a nonprofit arts organization. Although Pete studied music he’s gotten very involved in theater through Berkshire Fringe. My husband on the other hand is a dentist, but he has a good eye for art. He has joined in my love of art. I’ve gotten him into galleries and museums over the years. We’ve actually filled our house with art and many of the artists are local.
NR: How much of the art on display in your house is your own work? TW: I would say probably 30 or 40% because I do like to fill big spaces. I rotate my work in and out of the house as I need it elsewhere. However, over the years I’ve filled my house with other people’s work, which to me is really enjoyable and by purchasing other people’s art and displaying it in my home, I find it enhances my own artistic ability.
NR: Where do you see yourself in five or 10 years? TW: I’m not really sure. My hope would be to have some steady representation in maybe more than one regional art center. I’m not sure where that would be. New York is a little scary and very fickle. But I’m not really thinking I want to be a big New York City artist. I would hope to have several galleries showing my work, which would push me to keep creating more work on a regular basis. I spent last September in residence at the Vermont Studio Center, in Johnson, VT, where visual 16 MAY 2010
WWW.ARTFULMIND.NET
PHOTO: SABINE VOLLMER VON FALKEN, TERRY’S STILL LIFE SET-UP
artists and writers come from all over the United States and the world to experience uninterrupted time and ample studio space to work. Meals are provided and there are many opportunities for social interaction and learning from each other’s work and from established visiting artists.
One result of this residency is a group show by the September residents, which is being organized by a fellow artist in London. It will open in London on September 9, 2010 with the title COPYO9O9. I plan to be there and to reconnect with this vibrant group of fellow artists and writers. I think the best thing about the residency, and in turn the group show, is the huge range of ages, cultural viewpoints and artwork found in the group. Everyone was respectful of other artist’s work though there were vast differences in subject and style. Other than that I’m not really sure of what else will happen. Every now and then I toy with other ways of getting my work out there.
NR: Terry, why do you paint? TW: What a great question. To quote my two daughters, “I just like making things.” It’s a very physical, material process. Don’t know what started me on this path other than as a child getting a response to my drawings. People told me I was a good artist, and I only had a vision of myself as an artist. I made it clear from a very early age that this was what I wanted to do with my life. But of course once you get out into the big wide world you find out that it’s not always as simple as you think. In fact now that I’ve invested so much time in looking at art, I really get excited about visual things. I really love living in a beautiful place; it really means a lot to me. When I’m in my studio, plugging along, doing rote things in preparation for whatever I plan to do then all of a sudden, something will start unfolding in terms of new work and that’s very exciting. I know that at some point that will become my old work and it won’t be exciting anymore. So I move on to something else, but the process is pretty amazing. When something seismic happens and I look at what I’ve just done I think wow, “how did that just happen?” But it comes from years of skill and a certain focus on experimenting in different directions or techniques. Painting sustains me and my studio feels like a sanctuary even though it’s very small and very crowded. But it’s the place where I go to allow myself to settle in and take time to relax. I don’t bring general reading material in but I keep of tons of art related reading material nearby. My studio is where I read about the art world, I look at the pictures, read about other artists and I fill myself with that as I’m doing my own work. It’s where I give myself permission to let things unfold as I relax. That doesn’t happen as much at home or other places because I feel I have to fulfill certain obligations and do things in a timely way. NR: You mentioned certain obligations you have to fulfill at home. Are any of those art related? TW: We’re actually re-doing a room in our house right now and I came up with this notion of using large-scale paintings as the doors. This is a project that is underway, where I will actually develop the imagery that will work in that space, but it’s a challenge for me. I have to create something that works using techniques that I’ve used before but it gives me the chance to do something big, which I wouldn’t ordinarily do. Luckily I don’t have to please anyone but myself and my husband, and that’s a good thing. So we’ll see how that goes. NR: If you don’t generally do large size works, what is the size that you normally work with? TW: I’ve done a number of series of small paintings usually squares. I’ve done eight inch squares, 12 inch squares, the ones in the gallery here are 11 inches plus frame. Most of my work ranges from
TERRY WISE Visual Artist
TERRY WISE, WOMAN OF LETTERS 2, IMAGE 16” X 12”, COLORED PENCIL + ACRYLIC ON PAPER, 2010 (PHOTO SUPPLIED BY TERRY W.)
TERRY WISE, DINNER FOR TWO, 60” X 126” IN 4 PANELS, OIL + ACRYLIC ON LINEN, 2008 (PHOTO SUPPLIED BY TERRY W.)
TERRY WISE, LATE AUTUMN, 20” X 16”, OIL ON CANVAS, 2006 (PHOTO SUPPLIED BY TERRY W.)
the smaller sizes to 24 or 36 inches. I did a large painting that was in four panels. It was done specifically for an exhibit in Austria. It was intended to stay there but I ended up talking the gallery and returning it to me and I supplied him with another work. That is actually the piece that will be in Sanford Smith Art Gallery in Great Barrington, Massachusetts during May and June.
NR: Back in the day, so to speak, not a lot of people, especially women went to school and studied art and became professional artists. What about your parents, what were their thoughts on you becoming an artist? TW: I’ve learned to appreciate the fact that my parents supported me in what I wanted to do. They didn’t always agree with what I wanted to do. For example in high school, I decided I wanted to be a foreign exchange student and they’d never traveled out of the country. I think that was a kind of scary process for them but they supported me, and they gave me those wings and made it possible. I also knew I wanted to study art and they never said “Oh no you can’t do that.” I did have another relative who said, “You must take art education classes so you can teach.” But I never did. I feel that I grew up in a particular time in history when women were still expected to get married and have a family. That was really strong in my extended family, but also I was in high school and college at a time when women could opt out of all that, have a career and do something great in the world and make a difference. I feel like what I have to give is based on the rich life that I have through my many relationships and associations. And as an artist I feel that as long as my eyes still work and I can coordinate my eyes and my hands then I can keep doing this. If I can be healthy for that length of time I see myself painting until I am well into my 80s.
TERRY WISE, INTO THE DAYLIGHT, 11” X 11”, OIL + ACRYLIC ON BROCADE, 2008 (PHOTO SUPPLIED BY TERRY W.)
NR: Would you say that somewhere deep down inside of you there might be a spark of rebellion? TW: I was raised to be a very obedient girl. Sometimes I look at my life and think; it’s really not that I even wanted to be an artist because to be an artist you need to put yourself out there. You have to be the public view and people respond to your work, sometimes they like it sometimes they don’t. But I was raised to be a good girl and to care a lot about what people think about me and I’ve really been battling with that all my life, and it’s not getting any better in terms of that little devil on my shoulder that tells me to go for it. Because if I’m not able to let that little devil speak, I’m never going to make any progress or make any changes or put a red streak in a painting.
For more information about the Gihon River Collective visit their website at http://www.gihonrivercollective.com. Terry Wise exhibits at the Lauren Clark Fine Art Gallery 402 Park Street (Route 183) in Housatonic, Massachusetts. For more information call 413-274-1432 or email Lauren@LaurenClarkFineArt.com. Terry will also have a major work on exhibit at the Sanford Smith Fine Art on Railroad St. in Great Barrington, Massachusetts during May and June.
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THE ARTFUL MIND APRIL 2010 • 17
May 2010 Mercury is retrograde for the first part of the month, though this doesn't deserve as much energy as it usually gets. The truly meaningful news is that Chiron is now in Pisces for the first time since the late 1960s. We get 90 days of this energy before Chiron retreats back into Aquarius, then returns to Pisces in 2011. Discovered in 1977, Chiron is still considered a new influence on astrology, but its spiritual themes have, in the past 33 years, gradually infused the work even of astrologers who have never heard of it. In Pisces, Chiron is calling us to acknowledge the reality of the soul; the inherently creative nature of what it means to be human; and the practical way we can manifest our deepest, most intimate fantasies.
Aries (March 20-April 19)
Your life may be cast with a vague sense of the unfamiliar: as if you're seeing places you've visited before for the first time. Beneath this is your process of assigning new meaning to your existence. We tend to think that life is definitive; we tend to forget that most of what we experience is our interpretation rather than something objective or factual. You'll fare better if you fly by intuition rather than by seeking proof-positive or concrete validation. You'll have a greater sense of freedom and potential, especially from the confines of one particular situation that you were certain was holding you back. Now that you have some breathing room, you get to test that theory.
Taurus (April 19-May 20)
Are you having an odd illusion of living two lives at once? Perhaps in two places, or with two people in separate worlds, or one version of yourself from the past and one from the future? Your charts tell such a story, and if you're having this sensation I suggest you either experiment with it boldly, or collect yourself in one place. It's not the kind of thing I suggest you just let slide unconsciously. The opportunity is too beautiful, and the creative potential sufficiently strange and unusual to allow you some authentic originality. One way to describe the setup is to say that you are gaining a new sense: as in a sixth sense, or an expanded sense of yourself.
Gemini (May 20-June 21)
Significant, rare planetary events show a picture of you stretching your capabilities in every direction. Yet I suggest that despite so much happening, you remind yourself of your first priority: your primary goal. You know, the one you normally can't quite get a grasp on. For the next few weeks you will be able to keep that goal in sight and in mind long enough to evaluate it carefully. You're likely to feel some sense of discomfort initially, or of mild crisis, as if you're remembering something vitally important but long forgotten. You might be concerned about how many years it's been since you remembered, but maybe you'll feel better if I said we may be talking about lifetimes.
Cancer (June 21-July 22)
Remember that you cannot control, only influence, how people perceive you, and this must be done in subtle ways. Over the next few weeks you may have the feeling that you're projecting an image opposite of what you are intending. For example, you may express yourself as a relatively simple person and be
seen as complex. Ideas that are clear to you may be incomprehensible to others. You may tell the truth, and others might doubt you to your face. I suggest that you not get emotionally involved in these responses. Let people be responsible for what they see, while you are responsible for what you feel. You need this boundary, and you'll benefit from having it available as a tool.
Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)
Leadership is the ability to be creative under unpredictable or confusing circumstances. In our time, leadership is about ideas. You're poised to be a source of approaches or concepts that will qualify as one of a kind, and potentially once in a lifetime. Your mind is working with a kind of logic all its own, and I suggest you put no energy at all into doubting yourself. Even if you think something that seems like it's not even vaguely applicable, or have ideas that don't seem to apply to the situation, assume you're working on a good hunch. Trust yourself; trust your perception; and moreover trust that you can treat any problem as a puzzle that, if solved, can improve life for everyone.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)
Nobody tests your faith except for you. If the planets mean anything, you seem poised on the verge of significant progress in both your personal life and your professional life. Yet I suspect you're experiencing this more as a crisis. Step one is making some contact with the faith you have in yourself. It doesn't matter how you get there: remembering your past achievements, reminding yourself who thinks you're amazing, or following an inner sense of what is possible. However you manage it, remember that faith in yourself is an essential ingredient right now. Second remember that you have options: not eventual options, but ones that are immediately available; the kind you can exercise right now.
Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)
In the long discussion of 'reuniting sexuality and spirituality' we might ask how they got separated in the first place. The answer would involve the perception of sex as a source of power rather than pleasure, considering people as property rather than partners, and other related concepts such as jealousy. Even though we know that intellectually these things are not necessary, we continually come up against two things: our own emotional programming, and a lack of options for what else is possible. An unusual alignment in your solar chart this month gives you some beautiful opportunities to get past these obstacles, and to embrace your relationships in a new way as sources of healing, comfort and pleasure.
Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)
Are you really that tangled up in the life of another person? Or are you just in one of those emotional situations where you've lost track of who is who and what is what? Yes, someone close to you is working out something that looks complicated and difficult to discern; fortunately, it's their stuff and not yours. You, on the other hand, are moving into new emotional territory for the first time in many months, which is another way of saying you're finding your confidence. As for who is wrapped up in whom, it's a partner or close associate who doesn't know what
Micro Theatre
Auditions for 2010 repertory cast All ages, All Levels of experience
18
To schedule an appointment: 413-442-2223 or microtheatre@hotmail.com Micro Theatre (dedicated to experimental theatre) 311 North Street, Pittsfield, MA THE ARTFUL MIND MAY 2010
by Eric Francis
to make of you, or their emotional involvement with you. Nor is it easy for them to face the fact that you know you're fundamentally free.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)
A past work partnership may prove to be vital this month. Look for who, from the back pages of history, turns up or has recently turned up in your life, and make sure you don't bring your old prejudices about the relationship. What you have with this person is an unusual depth of contact on the elusive theme of values. Yet the planets suggest a change of roles; someone who was once your boss could become your employee; someone who was once your student could take over a crucial project; someone who was strictly a professional contact could become a significant personal acquaintance. The overall theme is to maintain your flexibility and stay firmly in the present, no matter how old the story may be.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)
Take advantage of being relieved of some responsibility (or your overdeveloped sense of responsibility) and indulge in some self-expression, romance or art: basically, trade in some work for some play. If I must lure you with the prospect of productivity, I promise you that you will feed the tree of accomplishment. Through most of the year, your pendulum has been swinging far in the direction of taking the world onto your shoulders, and it's about time you put it down for a while. True, many people succeed at great accomplishments without much balance in their lives, and some of them are even happy. You, personally, need to work both sides of your brain, in honor of the fabulous challenges that are ahead.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)
You're starting to get a taste of what it's like to not be under constant pressure to improve yourself. For certain phases of life, it's necessary to define existence in terms of a healing agenda, and that can seem like the 'whole purpose' of existence. Mysteriously, that changes and some new purpose takes up life in your heart and mind. You're now in a brief spell of experimenting with that new agenda, a new vision for yourself. This will come with the revelation of priorities you have not considered, and which have often slipped out of your grasp. You may not be able to put all of them into action; I suggest being grateful for the opportunity to experiment in real life with one new priority.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)
For a long time I've been describing your life as the attempt to see around a corner, or to peer into a veiled dimension. Along with this is a sense of being hidden from yourself. This month, Chiron enters your birth sign, potentially for the first time in your life, or for the first time since you were a child. This will bring new experiences and a new sense of self-awareness; Chiron is famous for its focusing power, particularly where Pisces is concerned. Think of it this way: you're like a bottle of ink that finally has a pen; a projector that finally has a lens; a question that at long last is graced with a question mark. ~ Read Eric Francis daily at PlanetWaves.net
HELPFUL GO-TO’S
KARI J. AMDAHL, MA
Pychotherapist
• Traditional Talk Therapy
• Cognitive & Dialectical Behavioral Therapies • Mindfulness Approach • Art and Dream Work
• Body-centered Approaches
413-528-6121
Great Barrington, MA Sliding Scale Fee • See press release in this issue
Please join us for the Third Annual Taking Strides Against Mental Illness Walk at Saddle River County Park in Ridgewood, New Jersey on May 16, 2010. Open to all ages and abilities. Enjoy refreshments, DJ entertainment and a Taking Strides T-Shirt. The scenic park walk is 1, 3 or 5 miles on flat, paved trails in beautiful Saddle River County Park.
To register or make a donation, and for more information: Visit: www.againstmentalillness.org Email: info@againstmentallillness.org
FUNDS RAISED DONATED TO NARSAD THE WORLD LEADING CHARITY DEDICATED TO BRAIN AND BEHAVIOR RESEARCH.
Ancient Quantum Healing “THE LUMINOUS ENERGY FIELD CONTAINS A TEMPLATE OF HOW WE LIVE, AGE, HEAL AND MIGHT DIE.” -Dr. Alberto Viloldo
Masterʼs of Education, Certified by Healing the Light Body School of the Four Winds Society to practice Luminous Healing & Energy Medicine. Macrobiotic counseling is also available when appropriate.
For information or to schedule a session please call: 413-446-5712
Nixsa M. Mills 231 Hartsville NM Rd., New Marlborough, MA
SHARON TRUE, M.A., C.M.A., R.M.T. Somatic Movement Therapist and Certified Pilates Instructor
WholePerson Movement Mat Classes Mondays 6:30 - 7:30 PM Kinesphere Studio • 66 Main St, Lee, MA Tuesdays 5:00 - 6:00 PM Kilpatrick Athletic Center, Simonʼs Rock College 84 Alford Rd, Gt. Barrington, MA
WholePerson Movement Private Sessions
Personal training in a quiet country setting featuring the Reformer and other Pilates-designed apparatus
All WholePerson Movement Classes:
• Increase strength and flexibility • Improve posture, balance, breathing, body awareness • Improve comfort, ease, grace in moving • Reduce lower back and other chronic pain • Reduce risk of re-injury from sports or occupation
Call for more information
413.528.2465
...Visit: www.artfulmind.net ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM
THE ARTFUL MIND APRIL 2010 • 19
THE ART OF PILATES SHARON TRUE ON PILATES APPARATUS
The art of Pilates? But isn’t Pilates a form of exercise? Yes, but in Sharon True’s approach to teaching Pilates, this form of mind-body exercise becomes an artful enterprise, where excess tension is smoothed away and new neuromuscular patterns are created that lead to a more balanced use of muscles. When muscles are balanced around the joints, the result is less pain, more grace, functional strength, and a feeling of wholeness and body confidence. Sharon True, owner of WholePerson Movement, has been inspiring clients in her studio in Great Barrington since 1998. A certified Laban movement analyst and somatic movement therapist as well as a certified Pilates instructor, True brings her years of intensive movement study to every workout she teaches, looking at the various challenges her clients present as opportunities for creative problem-solving. Working with each client’s individual concerns and interests, she develops workouts that are challenging and effective without provoking pain. She sees each person’s body as a kind of clay that can be worked both from the inside (her client’s contribution) and the outside (her discerning eye and movement expertise) witht he goal of finding ease and harmony in movement. In addition to providing one-on-one workouts at her fullyequipped Pilates studio in Great Barrington, True offers private and duet Reformer workouts at Kinesphere Studio, located at 66 Main Street in Lee, Mass. Group mat classes are also available in Lee and in Great Barrington. For a free phone consultation, contact Sharon True at 413.528.2465 Mon-Sun 9 AM – 9 PM. Or email her at sharontrue@roadrunner.com. Gift certificates always available.
ERIN BURCH, PT BODY WHISPERER
OLD INJURIES NEVER DIE Old Injuries never die. I have had this experience in my own body, as well as observing it in countless others. I used to work in an outpatient clinic and people would come to me with neck pain. As part of the history and intake process, I would inquire if there had been any neck trauma (car accident, fall, etc). It was evident by the visible distortion in their neck that something; some force had disrupted it. After much questioning, it finally dawned on them that in fact, they were in a car accident…. “but that was 20 years ago!” The assumption is that once the acute phase of pain of a trauma has passed, the problem has been resolved, and perhaps in a small percentage of cases, that may be true. However, in my experience and observation this has not been the case. When the small bones of the neck, for example are shifted out of their original position, by the forces from an accident or fall, this creates an unnatural “fit” between the joints therein. The body works amazingly hard to protect us from pain and so goes immediately into compensation. This compensation works subtly throughout the body, taking a little from here and a little from there, until it can no longer accommodate the distortion. In the meantime, inflammation continues at the original site. This process can take a couple of decades for the body to run out of the available “slack”, and pain may resurface at the original area or at some other location. This all may seem like bad news indeed. However, the good news is, that armed with this information, awareness, and connection to one’s body, as well as intelligent intervention, a great deal of pain can be understood, relieved and potentially avoided. Erin can be reached at 413-528-1623, cell: 201-7877293
Hidden Pond Bed & Breakfast 43 Deer Drive Claverack, New York 518-828-2939
www.hiddenpondbandb.com Located in mid-Columbia County, on a rise in a clearing surrounded by trees, Hidden Pond provides a serene environment in a beautiful rural setting just five short miles from Hudson, New York Mailing Address: PO Box 332
Hudson, New York 12534 20 • THE ARTFUL MIND
MAY 2010
Regional Italian Dinner Series $30 Prix Fixe Monday, Tuesday and Thursday Nights
KARI AMDAHL
Emotionally overwhelmed? Stressed? Feel down on yourself? Stuck? These are just a few symptoms of how one may respond to life’s challenges. But one doesn’t have to get trapped in these uncomfortable places. Kari Amdahl utilizes a number of modalities in her psychotherapeutic work with clients to address such feelings, so as to allow for smoother transitions and resolutions to the issues presented. “Mindfulness” and CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) are two approaches that can be applied at any given time with very favorable results. Though “mindfulness” originated as a form of Zen Buddhist meditation over two and a half thousand years ago, its essence need not be experienced in meditation solely. Rather, “mindfulness” can be practiced within the therapeutic process, and eventually as a way of experiencing life in general, whether one is driving on the freeway, working, taking a shower, or talking to a friend. In brief, exercising “mindfulness” allows for a more grounded, in-the-moment experience of what is at hand. So, rather than fighting a problem, forcing solutions, or continuing to be gripped by uncomfortable feelings, becoming “mindful” nurtures a more neutral state of being, so acceptance of “what is” becomes possible. Calmly accepting a circumstance then fosters new insights, wisdom and compassion for one’s self and the situation. As a result, unexpected resolutions arise, as well as a more positive and open outlook. CBT is also very helpful in discovering and changing one’s negative perspectives. Often we are not aware of our pessimistic conscious/unconscious thoughts that create our view of the world and ourselves. With help one can bring these out into the open, discovering if they are true or not. Often by catching these self-defeating thoughts, one can not only prove them untrue but, one can also alter one’s whole outlook: more choices become available and positive life changes occur. The thought manifests as the word; The word manifests as the deed; The deed develops into habit; And habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care, And let it spring from love, Born out of compassion for all human beings. As the shadow follows the body, As we think, so we become —Das, L.S. 1997. For more information and to make an appointment, contact Kari Amdahl at 413-528-6121. Great Barrington area. Sliding scale available.
SABINE PHOTO ART
Whether it’s an amicable groom, an observant guest, a family gathering, or a tree house, Sabine Vollmer von Falken is in rapport with her subject. In the European photographic tradition, her true talent and interest lays in photographing real people and locations. The results are natural and direct, capturing the emotion of the moment or the mood of the environment. Sabine specializes in young children at play and creating a photographic record of their growth. A master of the subtleties of lighting and the nuance of background, her eye for detail provides photos to be treasured for a lifetime. It is to no surprise that she is a sought-after wedding photographer, as well. Sabine’s photo studio and gallery is located in Glendale, Massachusetts. She captures portraits there or on location. Each photo is tailored to meet her client’s needs—a blackand-white remembrance for a special occasion or a logo image to create an authentic online presence. Her photographs have been published in a variety of magazines and books. Her latest book Woodland Style will be published by Storey Publishing in August, author Marlene H. Marshall. Other volumes include Full of Grace: A Journey through the History of Childhood, Making Bits & Pieces Mosaics and Shell Chic. A member of the American Society of Media Photographers, the International Center of Photography ICP and the Wedding Photojournalist Association WPJA, Sabine offers outdoor workshops for the advanced amateur photographers in June. The dates are: June 6, 13, 20 and 27. Sabine Vollmer von Falken, 20 Glendale Road, Glendale, MA, 413-298-4933; www.sabinephotoart.com, info@sabinephotoart.com
OUTDOOR OIL-PAINTING WORKSHOP WITH ROBERT CAPUTO
Landscape painter Robert Caputo will be teaching a two-day outdoor landscape oil-painting workshop in Sheffield, Massachusetts on Saturday June 5 and Sunday June 6. Consisting of six hours of hands-on painting instruction each day (9-12 AM and 1-4 PM), the workshop is open to all levels of artistic expertise. Caputo will focus on drawing, color, and value with an emphasis on capturing a sense of light and atmosphere, two qualities for which his work is known. He’ll also offer practical approaches to painting such things as water, clouds, and trees. The workshop is being offered through The Housatonic Valley Art League and in conjunction with the Lenox Gallery of Fine Art, where Caputo’s show “Distant Light: New Landscape Paintings” will be on display from May 28 through July 5. Gallery owner Jerome Connoy, who has shown Caputo’s work for the past decade, says, “Rob has really developed into one of the finest landscape painters in New England. Our clients throughout the country collect his paintings and eagerly await new work.” The fee for the two-day workshop is $225 ($200 for HVAL members). It is limited to 15 students. For more information visit www.hvart.org or contact Leslie Watkins at 860 542-3920 or lesliewatkins@lesliewatkins.com
IS183 ART SCHOOL SUMMER
IS183 Art School announces its 19th year of exceptional summer theme-based art camps for children and adults. Classes are taught by professional artists in a creative, nurturing and inspirational environment at the Berkshires only year-round community art school. Programs in painting, drawing, ceramics, printmaking, metal working, sculpture, photography, fiber and mixed media are taught in a fun-filled, child-focused atmosphere at IS183’s historic landmark home in the Interlaken village of Stockbridge. One and two-week sessions are available for children ages three through 14, from June 28 through August 20, and include “Wear Your Art,” “Time Traveler’s Suitcase,” “Make Your Own Museum: From Mona Lisa to Pop Art,” “15 Pharaohs Walk into a Pyramid” and “Kites, Flights and Wings.” Each young artist’s camp session concludes with an art show at IS183 Art School, which family and friends are invited to attend. Adults can renew their creative spirit in a week-long art intensive, June 21 through 25, from 9:30 to 4:00. Programs include “Photography Boot Camp” with Jason Houston, “Skin and Bones” a ceramics intensive with Mary Barringer, and “Explore Color” with painter Joan Griswold. For a complete listing of IS183’s Summer Art Camps please visit www.is183.org. For more information or to register call 413-298-5252 x100. Pre-registration is required. For more information, enrollment fees, scholarship opportunities, faculty bios, or to register for classes, call 413-298-5252, e-mail info@is183.org or visit IS183 Art School online at www.is183.org
“The artist who uses the least of what is called imagination will be the greatest.” -Pierre-Auguste Renoir
WWW.ARTFULMIND.NET
THE ARTFUL MIND MAY 2010 • 21
Melissa Stafford Gallerist
photograph by David Halliday Interviewed by Harryet Candee
Harryet Candee: Tell me what goes in to creating a photo exhibit? What qualifies a person’s art to be qualified to show their work? For me, the process of creating a new show usually begins with some sort of inspiration, be it a particular piece or body of work, or a theme or subject that intrigues me. If it is a group exhibit, I seek out (through recommendations from colleagues, or my own searches) relevant artists who bring their own unique voice or viewpoint along with strong, professional presentation. Whether it is a solo or a group exhibit, I really enjoy working closely with each artist so that by the time the show opens, we are both proud of the collaboration. I take a lot of pride in the shows I produce. In my opinion, a curator is not just a presenter or an information filter; a good curator is a facilitator, a designer, and an educator, helping viewers understand something outside their own experience. This is why we go to museums, galleries, the movies: to experience something outside our own lives for a brief moment. Hopefully we leave energized and connected through experiencing a story that is not simply told, but shared.
Were you expecting to be in the art world? I always wanted to do something creative, so to that end, yes. Would I have imagined working in a gallery? Probably not. I used to imagine myself more on the producing, and not the presenting side of things, but I’ve had a blast so far. I try to not plan too much for things most of the time. I have ideas and larger things I hope to accomplish, but I never know how one thing may lead to the next, so I am always open. Even how I came to be here at the gallery is a bit by chance - about seven years ago I decided to take a drive to Hudson (I had been here only once before on a day trip with a friend). It was late summer, and it was one of those perfectly quiet, lazy days. I remember it started raining - no, pouring, and it just wouldn’t stop - so I ducked into the nearest store to stay dry. It happened to be Carrie’s gallery. It felt like I stayed there for hours, taking my time looking at each and every piece, and I fell in love with the place. I asked Carrie if she needed help and she did - so I started volunteering, coming down on the weekends (I lived in Albany at the time) and learning about her artists. The rest, as they say, is history.
Melissa Stafford: What do you like best about being a gallerist? The relationships I have with the artists we represent are by far some of the best parts of this job; many of them have become great friends. I feel completely grateful for the opportunity to visit an artist’s studio, to learn more about them, and their work, more intimately. It is a huge bonus. Some of these people are like rock stars to me. I also love sending them checks for sold work, and knowing that this means they can now afford, or be encouraged to create more.
How did the Carrie Haddad Photographs gallery start? Ever since I first started working for Carrie, she had always wished to open a second location solely for Photography. We glossed over it many years ago, but nothing too serious. Then, in the summer of 2008, I had decided that I might leave and go back to school. I picked a University in London and was mid-way through the process when Carrie asked me to look at some buildings in town with her. We took a look at the space at 318 Warren Street and she presented her idea to me, which involved my staying here, and running her Photography gallery. It was definitely exciting, and just the challenge I was craving at the time. Things happened pretty fast from that day forward - within four months we were officially opened. It was kinda crazy to tell you the truth! Everyone thought we were completely out of our minds. And, we probably were. The economy was at its lowest, everyone was depressed - it was terrifying. But it was also immensely thrilling and satisfying because of the appreciation we felt from the community and our customers. Their support has been immeasurable.
What career plan did you have in mind when you first got out of school? I wanted to be some combination of Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg, and Peter Gabriel. I was pretty obsessed with information and media from as far back as I can remember - movies, books, music, computers - I couldn’t get enough. My mom used to joke that books were permanently attached to my hands. All I ever really wanted was to just tell a story. A really great story. I still want to do this, but I now realize that I can tell a story many different ways, and I don’t need a big screen or a published book to do it. It is a wonderful challenge to determine how to engage an audience and ultimately affect them. I enjoy the research, the writing, the conceptual elements - all of the parts that, when combined, make an exhibition. And then the moment when that exhibition opens - it’s magical, in much the same way film always was, and always will be to me. I remember when I was 14 years old. My father brought me to a local store’s parking lot because there was this crazy ride, set up for just the day. It was called the Mindblender and it was produced by Peter Gabriel. I think it was the very first motion video ride ever made or very close to it. Anyway, this ride - it blew my 14-year-old mind. I walked out of there and my eyes were huge and all I wanted to know was, HOW COULD I LEARN TO MAKE THINGS LIKE THAT? (And, where was Peter Gabriel so I could marry him?) 22 • THE ARTFUL MIND MAY 2010 WWW.ARTFULMIND.NET
What have you learned from running a gallery? In running the gallery over the course of the last year I felt like I have been studying for both my MBA and my MFA in Photography (with some crash courses in Psychology thrown in along the way). I have learned that if you are going to run a business where you want to create awe-inspiring experiences, that it’s a lot of work, and it requires passion. And it better be worth losing sleep over, because the idea of the normal 8-hour work day will no longer apply to you. I’ve also learned not tot be scared of failure, and that it is OK to make mistakes (because you will. trust me.)
Melissa, can you read people? I just listen to people. You would be amazed what a stranger will talk about, reveal about themselves, when they know they have an open ear and someone willing to give them five minutes of their day. These conversations are probably my second most favorite thing about my job - they open my eyes, educate me, surprise and entertain me. I don’t go to work to sit for eight hours starring at artwork or a computer screen. I want to interact with people! I want to hear opinions - the stronger the better! You love this piece? Great! Why do you love it? You didn’t like the show? OK. How come? Being available to answer questions and talk with visitors is wonderful - it’s a great place to learn, one interaction at a time. What are the resources you tap into that keeps the gallery on a cutting edge? I subscribe to 147 photography or art/design related blogs. I try to read these blogs every week. It is very important to me that I keep up with what work is being produced, and what work other galleries/museums are showing, so I can feel like I can participate in a dialogue, or contribute on some level. Unfortunately, because of my job, and the necessity for me to be in the gallery most days, I don’t get the opportunity to get out as much. Books, magazines, blogs and the internet in general provide me with the ability to “see” as much as I can.
the gallery. Pretend you are on a date. Are you impressed? If you are, make sure they do not already work with an artist who does something similar to what you do (This happens a lot unfortunately. Your work could be absolutely wonderful, but I can only show so many photographers who shoot flowers/animals/landscapes, etc. Understand that the gallery you are approaching needs to be respectful to the artists they already work with). Once you have gone through all this criteria, and you are confident that you and this potential gallery should be the best of friends - contact them and ask what their submission policy is. Follow their instructions. If they request a CD with images, an email, or slides - send them exactly that. Make sure to label everything so that even your grandmother could figure it out if she had to. Most important: Follow Up. Don’t be annoying about it, but definitely follow up, whether with a phone call or an email. Be gracious no matter what. AND, since you have done your homework finding a great gallery match, you’ll be less likely to collect a pile of rejection letters. Melissa Stafford is at the Carrie Haddad Photographs gallery, located at 318 Warren Street in Hudson, New York. 518-828-1915.
Have you come lately come across any artists that are original? Curtis Mann, an artist who manipulates and erodes photographic images with bleach, has some fascinating work (which you can catch through May 30 at the Whitney Biennial). I also recently came across the work of Matt Lipps, an artist who lives out in Los Angeles. I love his series titled ‘Home’, and I’m dying to see them in person. One of my FAVORITE photographers - and, coincidentally, one we happen to represent - is David Lebe. He was a professor at the Philadelphia College of Art for 18 years, and I am wildly jealous of his regular students because I never had the opportunity to formally study under him. However, I can safely say that, whether he knows it or not, David has really taught me how to look at photography. I value every conversation we have ever had. David’s own work, be it light drawings from the 1970’s, his singular photograms, or the recent images from his garden continue to inspire me. Supposing I am a photography student—fresh out of college. I want to show my work! I need advice! If you are an artist ready to begin looking for representation, the best advice I could give would be this: really do your homework. Spend time researching galleries to find the one that will be the best fit with you and your work. If you can, actually VISIT the gallery first. Speak with the owner and ask questions (not about your work, or how you can submit, at least not in this first interaction) - ask him or her about the work they love, about the artists they work with, ask why they started
JULIE MCCARTHY PHOTOGRAPHER from “THE HOMER PROJECT” 413. 298. 3370
JWMCARTH@BCN.NET •WWW.JULIEWMCCARTHY.COM
WWW.ARTFULMIND.NET
THE ARTFUL MIND MAY 2010 • 23
Greater Backfish Roundup
by Bob Balogh
I have a letter here from Francine Gilgamesh. She lives in a houseboat on Lake Mansfield.
Dear Bob: I guess I’m like most women. I don’t tell anybody how old I am. My age is something I just don’t talk about. It ain’t nobody’s business and that’s all there is to it. But you, Bob. You’ve been saying on the radio that you’re turning 60 this year. I heard you mention that more than once. Sixty!!! Damn, Bob. That kind of makes me feel sick to my stomach, no offense. I mean, I didn’t realize you were that old. What’s it like, Bob? Aren’t you scared? Sorry if I’m hurting your feelings. But think how I feel. I’ve been listening to you on my radio for years and I just kind of figured you were a decent age. But now you’re gonna be 60!!! Oh my god. It’s like you violated me somehow. Why did you pull such a sneaky trick like that and turn old?
Francine: Go take a shower. Soak your head and try to wash my image out of your hair. And fix your radio so that my voice never leaks into your that precious space between your ears. Change the spot on your radio dial. Or maybe put on one of your Stevie Nicks albums. Wait. Forget about Stevie Nicks. She’s older than I am. Look, Francine. People get old and right away they buy into a brand of panic relative to their mortality. They get freaked out about dropping dead. Me, I only get scared that I won’t die. Or won’t die soon enough. I sure as hell have had enough. Much to my misfortune, I’ve been part of this farcockteh generation nicknamed “baby boomers,” who are a spiritually and morally bankrupt mob of greedy, whining, namby-pambies. So, right about now, my generation is pretty much wrapped up in some phase of the fear of dying, or else they are still enjoying the comfortable insulation of living in denial. I, on the other hand, only fear not dying. It doesn’t matter if I croak now or later—as long as I croak. And, oh yes. There is something else I dread about joining the ranks of the most seasoned of citizens. And that would be the smell. Eventually, my personal stink will increase, so I must always have easy access to indoor plumbing and such, that is, lavatory services. Soap and water and deodorant and talcum powder and mouthwash. And those nose hairs. Must check those nostrils up close to
24 • THE ARTFUL MIND
MAY 2010 WWW.ARTFULMIND.NET
the bathroom mirror and clip those nasty nose hairs. And shave the face meticulously. That means get those whiskers I keep missing way down on my turkey neck. Good hygiene and good grooming goes a long way if you’re getting to be an old gasbag like me. After age 60, the stink sets in and wild hairs sprout up. And you can ignore it, but no one else will be able to. And they’ll wish you would just go somewhere and die. Which you might as well do because at that point your life won’t be worth living. Or you can stay strong and upbeat and as relevant as possible until your final exhale, and understand that getting old ain’t for sissies.
ALL PURPOSE HOROSCOPE One Sky Fits All
Throughout the universal frame of the astral system, in the grand design of the visible world, right smack in the gross national scheme of things, here you are all hunkered down on your bed of roses acting very blasé. You are where you want to be, playing out the latest reinvention of yourself. You’ve become the new darling of the tiny town artsy-craftsy circuit, up all night at what’s-her-name’s sipping and sniffing and swapping stories about your latest artistic leap. And here comes a perfectly mysterious Bohemian-type, unquestionably deserving to be on the neighborhood A-list, a late-night sophisticate without a morning deadline. Like everyone else in the room. And you consider making small talk with this alluring character and offering an invite back to your place for a diet cola, until you picture how that scene would unfold. This new acquaintance, this fashionably jaded dilettante, would not understand why your cubbyhole apartment is so organized and clean. And once your bookcase is examined — with names like Stella Adler, Jimmy Breslin, Kinky Friedman, Lillian Hellman, Elmore James, Jack London, Richard Price, Annie Proulx, “12 Steps and 12 Traditions” and a King James Bible – well, forget about it. You’ll get dropped from the neighborhood A-list with wicked expediency and exiled to Pittsfield, Massachusetts. So, you remind yourself that your strategy these days is to remain blasé. Socialize just enough for self-promotion, but keep your true identity close to the vest. Hum along to the company line, while masking the pedigreed schizophrenia that never lets you stay in one sanctuary for too long. Act bored and they’ll like you. But give an unpopular opinion on anything from the weather to whether or not God is a Republican, and you will be dumped. Your latest reincarnation fits in well within this small circle of devotees to nonchalance. But between you and me and your astrological chart, the game won’t last long. By next week, this trendy indifference will spur your hibernating attention deficits, and you’ll be showing up for appointments unprepared. You’ll come across as an uninspired goon, while power pointing your strokes of genius. In desperation, you will try to save face by oversimplifying your hipster brilliance with humility, which will dumb you down even dumber than the knuckleheads you are trying to win over. Is this what you really want? A one-way ticket to isolation, restlessness and no free lunches? I think you’ve crawled along that level of hell before. It’s the breeding ground for your shoot-from-the-lip hostility. And when the artsy-craftsy , neo-beatniks of tiny town get a taste of your short fuse, they will start deportation proceedings against you. Trust me. Nevertheless, the lunar crater Aristarchus is in alignment with that pockmark on your check, which indicates that you must stay put and work a little harder at being aloof and dull. It’s okay to keep hanging out with your new artist wannabee friends, but keep your eyes peeled for the time when they start
copying you. That’s when you won’t have to give a damn about anybody or anything anymore, because you’ll know that you’ve achieved pure, organic blasé. And in the world of fine arts, what could be better?
OBITUARY
Yolanda Yalta Yeltsin, 54, died after many years of telling lies. Only last week, both her primary care physician and her Freudian psychotherapist warned her that she was approaching her personal lifetime limit of 93,500 lies. But she continued telling cock-and-bull stories with no regard for her health. Yolanda Yalta Yeltsin figured she could fudge her way through another decade or two since she came from good Russian stock, like her uncle Boris Yeltsin. But, in fact, she was not even remotely related to the former Russian president. Her real ancestors actually came from Panama and went by the name of Balboa. Yolanda Yalta Yeltsin adopted the surname Yeltsin to honor the memory of a burly truck driver, Bubba Yeltsin, who gave her a ride when she was hitchhiking on the New Jersey Turnpike. Until that ride, she never knew there was so much legroom in the cab of a tractor-trailer. Of all the tens of thousands of lies told by Yolanda Yalta Yeltsin over the span of her dubious life, her biggest whopper was that she played one of the Oompa Loompas in the 1971 film “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” She earned a sizeable amount of undeclared income pretending to be a minor movie star posing for pictures with children and signing autographs. She marketed herself as an Oompa Loompa at carnivals, shopping malls, street fairs, children’s birthday parties, gambling casinos and truck stops. And people were all too happy to give her money for a quick brush with celebrity. However, Yolanda Yalta Yeltsin was caught in her scam by none other than Gene Wilder, himself, the star of “Willie Wonka,” who has remained in close contact with his fellow actors. Upon discovering the gross misrepresentation, Wilder declared: “I know the Oompa Loompas and Yolanda Yalta Yeltsin is no Oompa Loompa.” The last lie uttered by Yolanda Yalta Yeltsin, the one that pushed her beyond her 93,500-lifetime lie limit and transformed her from liar to fatality, was her false claim to her landlord that the check was in the mail. Yolanda Yalta Yeltsin, dead at 54. She was a Red Sox fan.
“A good technician may lack passion. A passionate person may lack technique. Both may lack originality, judgement, or proportion. There are infinite ways to fail.” -Karen Laub-Novak
Architecture & Arcadia
Literary Construction : Jorges Luis Borges’ ‘Library of Babel’
The universe (which others call the Library) is composed of an indefinite, perhaps infinite number of hexagonal galleries. In the center of each gallery is a ventilation shaft, bounded by a low railing. From any hexagon one can see the floors above and below – one after another, endlessly. The arrangement of the galleries is always the same: Twenty bookshelves, five to each side, line four of the hexagon’s six sides; the height of the bookshelves, floor to ceiling, is hardly greater than the height of a normal librarian. One of the hexagon’s free sides opens onto a narrow sort of vestibule, which in turn opens onto another gallery, identical to the first – identical in fact to all. To the left and right of the vestibule are two tiny compartments, One is for sleeping, upright; the other, for satisfying one’s physical necessities. Through this space, too, there passes a spiral staircase, which winds upwards and downwards into the remotest distance. In the vestibule there is a mirror, which faithfully duplicates appearances. Men often infer from this mirror that the Library is not infinite – if it were, what need would there be for that illusionary replication? I prefer to dream that burnished
surfaces are a figuration and promise of the infinite‌. Light is provided by certain spherical fruits that bear the name “bulbsâ€?. There are two of these bulbs in each hexagon, set crosswise. The light they give is insufficient, and unceasing.
Jorges Luis Borges, excerpted from the short story, “The Library of Babel� (Jorge Luis Borges / Collected Fictions / translated by Andrew Hurley / Viking )
Architecture is nothing more than the manifestation of ideas and beliefs, conscious and unconscious. Initially, of course, all architecture exists solely in the realm of imagination. Sometimes it assumes physical form, draping its conceptual underpinning in concrete, wood, steel, glass, metal and plastic; other times it remains a shadow, a thought, a daydream. Such is Borges’ ‘Library of Babel’. Each piece of art is a unique world unto itself. Sometimes that world is quite familiar, sometimes decidedly alien. Still, any work of art — a painting, a dance, a piece of architecture, a novel, short story or poem, for instance – creates, and must live by an internal logic, a set of self-contained ‘rules’ the viewer ‘buys’, much as we daily accept the internal logic of our lives and notice (often with alarm) when these rules – both spoken or unspoken — are violated. Further, to qualify as art, we
must also care about the world created, it must somehow reverberate within us, move us, draw us in (even if reluctantly) and challenge our previous suppositions about our own world and its underlying assumptions. And, in the end, change these suppositions utterly. It is a difficult task, but Borges is more than up to the challenge. His library is perhaps the most elegant reflection of the totality of human existence ever written, encompassing both the beginning of human consciousness and its eventual ending, incorporating within its precise walls all that is known or can ever be known (truthful and fabrication), the (possible) presence of the divine, human savagery, compassion and ordinariness. We have no options; we are a part of the library, it is the constant and enduring backdrop of our lives. Paradoxically, we are its sole inhabitants but not essential to its existence. Long after mankind is gone, Borges notes, “the Library – enlightened, solitary, infinite, perfectly unmoving, armed with precious volumes, incorruptible, and secret – will endure.� -Stephen Gerard Dietemann
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ABBY DUBOW "FRANKS JOAN CIOLFI"TULLE NOIR" FOLLY #13" (DETAIL), (DETAIL), OIL ON CANVAS, MONOTYPE, 30 X 22 18 X 24
BOB BRIMI STUDIO VISIT AN OIL PAINTING TODAY
Drawings, prints, water colors lose far less of the original meaning and quality in reproduction than do oil paintings. The camera, first stage in producing a reproduction, can photograph only what it sees on the surface. The power of a splendid oil painting is dependent to a large degree on what is known as under-painting, the pigments applied as initial steps in building a final image. This dimension is overlooked entirely by the lens. ––from How To Start And Build An Art Collection by Irwin Solomon.
If a pigment, which appears transparent or translucent in a thinly applied layer, is piled up or applied to a surface in a thick layer, it appears more opaque because the light then travels through a greater number of separate particles. Each pigment particle impedes the light ray’s progress by refracting it. Also, it appears opaque because there is more refraction of light from the points where the pigment particles and their surrounding medium meet. The increased absorption of light, due to the then increased number of particles, contributes to the illusion of opacity. Pigments vary in transparency in indirect ratio to theirrefractive indices, but all of them are transparent to some extent. ––from The Artist’s Handbook by Ralph Meyer. Bob Crimi’s paintings can be viewed at his Studio/Gallery by appointment. – 518-8517904.
JEFFREY L. NEUMANN OIL AND WATERCOLOR PAINTINGS
“My aim is to create deeply personal work that speaks about the soul of America.” - Jeffrey L. Neumann “Boy, it doesn’t take long for a Neumann work to get a hold of you. Kind of like a big oak taking root for the long haul.” -Allen Kovler. “For me, a major part of the charm and interest in your work is the ideas or feelings that you get from looking at a bar or restaurant or motel from the outside. They are constructed and decorated in such a way as to welcome or lure you in, but a lot of the appeal of a place is the mystery of what it will be like to be in that place, or the memories of what has happened there. Somehow you capture the instant of those feelings or thoughts.” -Mark Caldwell “What memories! We use to swim at their pool as they sold “passes” during the summer. I love that you got the Windhorses’ old gas station in the background too, they didn’t have the package store then but he and his wife use to drive school bus for Taconic Hills.” -Wendy Hutchins Mullins “I really like the sky in your oil panting. When I first looked at it, I was reminded of the days when I used to drive down to places like Catamount and Brodie for evening pro ski races. The road would always have that wetness from the salt and I’d tell Shelly that if we won some big money, we’d stay over at a motel instead of driving back up to Berkshire East. Some nights we stayed and some...we drove back.” -William L. Farrell “Neumann’s presentation is straightforward and precise without being overly fussy, and – at his best – he achieves some of the eerie stillness of the great American painter Edward Hopper, though Neumann’s vision tends towards more rendered details. His nocturnes succeed because the flat, black night encourages greater abstraction and acts as ground for the bright boldness of neon and backlit signage. Lota-Burger pushes these virtues the furthest and resonates with the weird abandoned energy of 3 a.m. road trippin’. The sensation of silence is thick. Forward motion has stopped. The engine is finally quiet. The blare of the radio ceases abruptly. The place is all lit up, but nobody’s home. We’ve all been there, and Jeffery Neumann’s Lota-Burger grasps the mood perfectly. I want a green-chile cheeseburger with fries and a vanilla shake if they’re still open. In this new century (and hasn’t it been fabulous so far) of big box retail and corporate conformity from coast to coast, Neumann performs the valuable service of recording the funky, elegant architectural remnants of a world that is careening madly towards oblivion, fast going, going, gone.” Jon Carver, for “THE Magazine” Neumann Fine Art, Studio & Gallery, located on the corner of Anthony & Coldwater Streets in Hillsdale, NY is open Tuesday – Saturday 10 – 4 and by appointment. Tel: 413246-5776 www.jeffreyneumann.com.
SUSAN DIBBLE "BALANCING CUPS" (DETAIL), WATERCOLOR, GOUACHE & PASTEL ON PAPER, 18 X 24
LORRAINE KLAGSBRUN, (DETAIL), COLLAGE, BROOKLYN RETREAT, 6 X 7 1/2
LAUREN CLARK FINE ART GALLERY
The bright fresh green of spring is upon us. That not-quitelime, not-quite-kiwi green of the new season, this most anticipated and colorful time of year. From equinox to solstice, as the curtain is drawn to summer, redolent of warmth, we are once again welcomed out of doors to stimulate all our senses and celebrate the death of winter. It is in this spirit that Lauren Clark has hatched a new show. As the lambing season begins, four new artists have joined the more than forty represented at the gallery, with “Unwilted, Unprocessed, Unconventional” highlighting their work, beginning on May 29th. Four different perspectives, mediums, attitudes and angles. Susan Dibble, a choreographer by trade, has “had the privilege and freedom to fill spaces with people who can be colorful, dynamic, passionate, funny”. Working with mixed media on paper, her work, reminiscent of Marc Chagall, abounds with playfulness and movement. “The paintings are representative of the most treasured elements of nature and human placement in rooms, houses, and landscapes that live in my head, and in my body.” An artist who works in many different mediums, Abby DuBow has contributed monotype prints to the show, colorful abstractions that “do not replicate what I see, but rather reflect what I see and feel.” With an influence by artists as varied as Henri Matisse, Bill Traylor, and Franz Kline, her work is an exploration of the unexpected, and not easily described by the written word. “For me art is not an end but a constant beginning, a path that continues to lead to new places with doors that have to be opened.” In addition to the work of Ms. Dibble and Ms. DuBow, there will be the vibrant and expressive oil paintings of Joan Palano Ciolfi, the offbeat paper collages of Lorraine Klagsbrun, and a freshly-painted, not-quite-lime, not quite-kiwi green wall. “Unwilted, Unprocessed, Unconventional” Four Newly Picked Garden-Fresh Artists, May 29-July 4. Reception for the Artists, Saturday, May 29, 5-8pm. Lauren Clark Fine Art Gallery is located at 402 Park Street (Route 183) in Housatonic, Massachusetts. Business hours are Thursday through Monday from 11:00 until 5:30 and on Sunday from Noon until 4:00. For more information call 413.274.1432, or visit the website at www.LaurenClarkFineArt.com
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FRONT ST. GALLERY Housatonic Mass.
Kate Knapp
Spring and Summer Classes at Front Street studio now open for registration...Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. Painting Classes are held Monday and Wednesday from 9:30 to 1 pm at the gallery/studio. Thursday class is planned, from 9:30 - 1 pm at different locations, and to be announced weekly. The cost is $30 per class and it is for beginners to advanced, all mediums are welcome.
413-274-6607 • 413-429-7141 • 413-528-9546
WWW.KATEKNAPPARTIST.COM
Lewis Scheffey
Sarah Berney, Luvee, 2010, 54” x 72”, oil on canvas
James O’Shea Russell Smith Sarah Berney April 15 through May 23
Carrie Haddad Gallery
622 Warren Street, Hudson, NY. Hours: open daily 11 a.m. - 5p.m Thursday through Monday 518-828-7655 www.carriehaddadgallery.com
Lewis Scheffey, Looking North - Early Winter, 1983 (cropped version)
Please visit Lew at his studio / house in Monterey, MA.
See his many oils, watercolors and drawings done over 40 years For appointment
413-528-6785
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