The Artful Mind - February 2010

THE ARTFUL MIND Berkshire Artzine

F E B R U A RY 2 0 1 0

JOHN LIPKOWITZ, PHOTOGRAPHER

103 Great Barrington Rd Rte 41 (2 m.south of downtown)

West Stockbridge, MA 01266

413-232-4646 EHoffmanPottery.com

From the series “Poem Without Words”

Photography for Memorable Occasions by

Julie McCarthy Photographer 2

Please call for an appointment 413. 298. 3370 jwmcarth@bcn.net •www.juliewmccarthy.com

STEPHEN FILMUS 413-528-1253

www.stephenfilmus.com

“Birches” 18 x 18” Oil

Lewis Scheffey

Lewis Scheffey, Blue Trees (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

ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM

FEBRUARY 2010 ~ THE ARTFUL MIND • 1

studio21south

SNOW SHOW

MYRON SCHIFFER, FULL SPECTRUM

MYRON SCHIFFER NEW DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

KAREN WALTER

February 12 - March 14

Opening Party Saturday, February 13 6-9pm Hours: Saturday and Sunday, 12 - 4pm, Friday, “Cocktail hour” 6-9pm Other times by appointment or chance

189 Beaver Street , Route 8, North Adams 413.652.2141 * www.studio21south.blogspot.com

CASTLE STREET CAFE

10 Castle Street, next to the Mahaiwe Theatre, Gt Barrington, MA

THE RED LION INN GIFT SHOP Affordable Miniatures at~

30 Main Street, Stockbridge, MA (M-TH 10-5, SAT, 9-8, SUN, 9-5)

413-637-2659 myron@myronschiffer.com

For more information please contact the studio at:

www.myronschiffer.com

FRONT ST. GALLERY Housatonic Mass.

Leo Garel, 30x24

Martin

KATE KNAPP

Sam and Guitar, 30x30

Jaz in Kimono, 24x20

Opening Saturday February 13 noon-6pm “ Portraits …All the people I loved to paint” 40 or more paintings, oils and watercolors, of men, women and children, friends, family and members of the community.

Come see who’s here! Through April…

Winter hours: By appointment or chance Monday, Wednesday and Thursday studio open for classes 9:30 am -1pm New students welcome

413-274-6607 • 413-429-7141 • 413-528-9546 Statue Woman Red Lips, 24x18

2 • THE ARTFUL MIND

FEBRUARY 2010

Brandon, Straw Hat, 24x20

WWW.KATEKNAPPARTIST.COM

MID WINTER

F EBRUARY .2010.C ALENDAR

MUSEUMS & GALLERIES

(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 England and Tuscany.

Original watercolors and Fine Art Reproductions. Visit website for exhibit schedule

ALBANY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT Albany International Gallery, 3rd fl, 7am-11pm daily Material Witness, thru June 20.

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

PASKO FRAME & GIFT CENTER 243 North St., Pittsfield, MA Variety of artists on display; also framing service

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.

Gallery specializing in handmade artist’s books, contemporary art and global gifts. Special events, house concerts, film screenings, workshops, readings. Collage & Assemblage by Valerie Finarjian, thru Feb 28; Exhibition of mail art by Karen Arp Sandel and Suzi Banks Baum, Mar April.

POSIE KVIAT GALLERY 437 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534 (518) 653-5407 http://posiekviat.com info@posiekviat.com “Making a Scene”,Michael Cohen, Mary Anne Erickson, and Katarina Gerkman-Holbrook. Jan 9-February 15.

Hours: m, fri 10 - 4, th, sat 12 - 6, sun 12 - 5 or by appointment SALPICA Institute for Training and Development Nacul Center, 582 Main St., Amherst, MA • 413-256-1926 Traveling art exhibit featuring works of over 20 indigenous Latino and Afr-Latino artists from the US and Latin America, Feb 1-26

BERKSHIRE GOLD AND SILVERSMITH THE GALLERY 152 Main St, Gt Barrington, MA • 528-5227 John Kipkowitz, photography in Africa, through April

STUDIO21 SOUTH Beaver Mills, North Adams, MA • 413-652-2151 Exhibit featuring Jaye Fox and Thor Wickstrom. Snow Show, Feb 12 - Mar 14. Opening Party Sat Feb 13, 6-9pm

CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY 622 Warren St, Hudson, NY • 518-828-1915 Nature Abstracted, Elise Freda and Madelon Jones, Thru Feb 15 CARRIE HADDAD PHOTOGRAPHS 318 Warren St, Hudson, NY • 518-828-7655

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

Birgit Blyth: Recent Work, which will be on view from January 14, 2010 through February 21, 2010. Also on exhibit will be work by Michael Sibilia. There will be an opening reception for the artists on Saturday, January 14, from 6 pm to 8 pm.

MUSIC, THEATRE AND DANCE

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

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.

HOFFMAN POTTERY 103 Route 41, W. Stockbridge, MA • 232-4646 www.EHoffmanPottery.com Pottery by by Elaine Hoffman, also Tom Lynn’s cast aluminum blue jays and ravens, Ted Keller’s mosaic mirrors, and more.

A.P.E. GALLERY 126 Main St, Northampton, MA • 413-586-5553 The Royal Frog Ballet presents: The Leaving Nest: a sculptural installation, performance series, Feb 12-27; recpetion Fri, Feb 12, 7:30-9:30pm

Art work The Leaving Nest, part of a continuously transforming installation that includes a giant, moving sculpture and wall-sized morphing murals, real budding plants and a strange revolving cast.

Presented by The Royal Frog Ballet A.P.E. Gallery, 126 Main Street, Northampton, MA, February 12 - 27, reception, Friday, February 12, 7:30-9:30.

Performance 1: Fri and Sat Feb 19, 20, 7:30pm Performance 2: Fri and Sat, Feb 26 & 27, 7:30pm Reservations: 413-586-5553

HUDSON VALLEY ARTS CENTER 337 Warren St, Hudson, NY • 800-456-0507 Regional and nationally-known artisans

IRIS GALLERY GALLERY OF FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY 47 Railrd St, Gt Barrington, MA • 413-644-0045 / 70 Charles St, Boston, MA • 617-895-8951 • www.IrisGallery.net Lewis Scheffey and other artists

LAUREN CLARK FINE ART GALLERY 402 Park St, Housatonic, MA • 274-1432 www.LaurenClarkFineArt.com Fine art and contemporary crafts and framing service.

BERKSHIRE BACH SOCIETY 800-838-3006 VALENTINE'S DAYBRASS & ORGAN CONCERT St. Stephen's Episcopal Church 67 East Street, Pittsfield, MA Music of J. S. Bach, Mendelssohn, Brahms and others...Peter Sykes, organ. Brass quintet with Allan Dean and Neil Mueller, trumpets. Sunday, Feb 14, 4pm $20 / $15 for BBS Members / Students free with ID

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center • 413-528-0100 / 800843-0778 / www.cewm.org A Night of Quartets, Sat, Feb 20, 6pm; The Romantic Bach, Sat, Mar 20, 6pm; Chopin and His Circle, Sat, Apr 24, 6pm; Prague Spring - Czech Idyll, Sat, June 5, 6 @ 6pm

GOULD FARM A BEneift Evening for Gould Farm • 413-528-0100 / WWW.MAHAIWE.ORG “Living with It”, by Frank La Frazia Sat, Mar 13, 7:30pm at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle St, Gt Barrington, MA Continued on next page...

ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 2010 • 3

The Artful Mind TAM into February 2010

MASSMOCA North Adams, MA The Waypoint, the first full length production to emerge from the creators of The Berkshire Fringe. The Waypoint,

by Iris Dauterman, Sat, Feb 6, 8pm

SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY Lenox MA • 413-637-3353 Theater: Les Liaisons Dangereuses, thru March 21. Curtain times 7pm on Fri and Sat, plus 2pm matinees every Sat starting Feb 13, 2pm on Sun. 40% Berkshire Resident Discount

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.

WORKSHOPS & LECTURES

UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUM , UALBANY 1400 Washington Avenue Albany, New York 518-442-4038

Photographer John Lipkowitz

Painted Cities Carrie Haddad Gallery Exhibit Mollie Flannery 7 Planet Waves Astrology Eric Francis 12

Compassionate Communication Karen Andrews 15 Greater Backfish Roundup Bob Balogh 18

Architecture & Arcadia Stephen Dietemann 19

Art & Culture Talks (ACT) Program: Monday, February 22, 7 pm, Lecture by Carroll Dunham .Free and open to the public.

INKBERRY AND PAPYRI BOOKS 45 Eagle St, North Adams, MA • 413-664-0775 Wordplay, a monthly reading series

IS183 ART SCHOOL 13 Willard Hill rd, Stockbridge, MA • 298-5252 x105 Pre-school Art Playgroup, Thru Mar 12, 9:30-11am; Mon after school programs grades 1 - 9 thru Mar 22, 4-5:0pm KATE KNAPP FRONT STREET GALLERY Housatonic, MA (next to the Corner Market) • 274-6607 www.kateknappartist.com

SOULMATE ATTRACTION: CALLING YOUR LIFE PARTNER WORKSHOP Kripalu Center, Lenox, MA • 413-229-9980 / coachingvision.info Margo Davis-Hollander, Dynamic Change Life Coaching, please call for details.

UNIVERSITY GALLERY FINE ARTS CENTER Amherst, MA • 413-545-3670 “I’am a dream”, A collective Dialogue with a Collection: Ali Osborn, Ralphy Griswold, Teddy O’Connor; Wed Feb 10 - Sun May 9;Opening Feb 26, 5 - 7pm

FILM

BERKSHIRE CITY: PITTSFIELD ON FILM The Lichtenstein Center for the Arts • culturealpittsifeld.com 28 Renne Ave, downtonw Pittsfield, Ma Thru March 6.

E

Hlings!

Advertising for new arrivals!

413-528-5628 Artfulmind@yahoo.com Down to EARTH rates!

THE ARTFUL MIND

If you read this, then maybe you would like to write to us and send us the answer to: : What inspires you the most about this Berkshire Winter” PUBLISHER Harryet Candee COPY EDITOR Marguerite Bride PROOFREADER: Rae A. Eastman

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS AND MONTHLY COLUMNISTS Stephen Gerard Dietemann, Rae Eastman, Eric Francis, Will McDougal, Nanci Race

SABINE VOLLMER VON FALKEN PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP The Norman Rockwell Museum Rte. 183, Stockbridge, MA April 17 at 10 am: Workshop to help amateurs navigate their digital camera to achieve better results. A talk called "Get More Out of Your Digital Camera". A clinic will follow until 1 pm.

C

John Lipkowitz Photographer Into Botswana Nanci Race 20

ADVERTISING AND LAYOUT DESIGN Harryet Candee

Opening Saturday February 13 noon-6pm “ Portraits …All the people I loved to paint” 40 or more paintings ,oils and watercolors, of men women and children friends, family and members of the community, come see who’s here! through April; also ongoing painting classes Mon, Wed & Thurs 9:30am (gallery hrs: Sat & Sun 12-5, and by appt.

“...one of the finest and most charming private galleries in New England.”

PHOTOGRAPHERS Julie McCarthy Sabine Vollmer von Falken

THE LENOX GALLERY O F

F I N E

A R T

DISTRIBUTION R. Dadook

120 PIXLEY ROAD, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA 01230

ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM

413-528-5628

Deadline for the March issue is Feb 15, 2009

Our Art....Our way

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

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THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 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 • mixed 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

BOB CRIMI

STEPHEN FILMUS STEPHEN FILMUS,“BIRCHES” 18 X 18” OIL

A wide brush, loaded with soft breeze green, pounds onto a taut white canvas, as I age against my will

THE LENOX GALLERY OF FINE ART

A fresh mark this one— a revolution at the flick of a wrist

The time of my death floats like milkweed; privy to chance and thermal convections

The pigments whisper (me all ears and heart) how they submit how they bend how they serve

These colors, these flourishes, solidifying no place for me in immortality; they just show me a good time—Bob Crimi

Artistic expression and appreciation is necessary to a complete, balanced life, and must be an integral part of any enduring national or racial culture. When America adds a developed culture to its economic richness it will be one of the happiest countries in the world. Providing leadership by teachers and support of developing artists is a national duty, an insurance of spiritual solidarity. What we do for art, we do for ourselves and for our children and the future. –Hans Hofmann Bob Crimi’s paintings can be viewed at his Studio/Gallery by appointment.

Call 518-851-7904.

This painting by Stephen Filmus depicts a stand of white birch in early spring. Nearby, the Housatonic river, still swollen from the winters’ melt, cuts its way through a Berkshire farm.

Filmus’ artwork reflects the essence of the Berkshire landscape. His ability to perceive and interpret the character of the scene results in a believable sense of place.

Stephen Filmus lives and works in Great Barrington, Massachusetts and has lived in the Berkshires for many years where he has established his reputation and following. His work is in numerous collections and he has exhibited widely including David Findlay Jr. Fine Art in New York and locally at the Berkshire Museum and the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Stephen’s work can be seen at the Lenox Gallery of Fine Art, 69 Church Street, Lenox, MA. 413-637-2276 and at www.stephenfilmus.com

BERKSHIRE DIGITAL

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

“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 emmense spiderweb of its dusty rays.”

-Umberto Boccioni

All Things Musical

Music Store The

on Railroad Street

“The artist who uses the least of what is called imagination will be the greatest.”

-Pierre-Auguste Renoir

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

NOW ON ~

87 RAILROAD STREET, Gt Barrington 413-528-2460

ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM

THE ARTFUL MIND

FEBRUARY 2010 • 5

MYRON SCHIFFER PHOTOGRAPHER

Prior to moving to the Berkshires in the late sixties, Schiffer was getting established in New York City as a piano teacher, accompanist for auditions, and hanging around the fringes of jazz. Also fascinated with photography since childhood, he finally took classes at the Fashion Institute of Technology to learn more about composition, lighting and fashion window display while continuing to pursue music as his vocation.

Now that he’s entered his ninth decade he has chosen to fulfill his earlier hopes of doing something with photography. This year he’s been busy exhibiting his work at galleries, frame shops, a retirement community and in the North Adams Open Studios show.

Starting Dec 19th he’s showing his new canvas prints on the dining room walls of one of the smartest restaurants in the Berkshires, Castle Street Cafe, next to the Mahaiwe Theater in Great Barrington.

Schiffer continues to work on his new photography website, www.myronschiffer.com which is growing fast and seems to be attracting more attention each month. He never dreamed that turning 80 would be so exciting.

Myron Schiffer, 413-637-2659, myronschiffer.com, myron@myronschiffer.com

Hidden Pond Bed & Breakfast 43 Deer Drive Claverack, New York 518-828-2939

MICRO THEATRE

Micro Theatre serves the community as a performance venue for experimental theatre productions, acoustic music shows, standup comedy and poetry readings. The space is also available for rehearsals and auditions. The 30-seat, black box theatre is conveniently located in downtown Pittsfield at 311 North Street and is affiliated with the ArtOnNo collaborative.

Artistic Director Bob Balogh managed Sidney Armus’ Theatre 22 in NYC from 1996-2002. Bob is a member of the board of directors at CTSB-TV in Lee; his radio program is broadcast on WBCR-LP in Great Barrington and on WPKN in Bridgeport, CT. Among the original, experimental presentations scheduled for 2010 at Micro Theatre are “Lost and Found” and “Nixon in Love.”

Auditions for the repertory cast are ongoing. All ages and all levels of experience are welcome to make an appointment.

For further information on Micro Theatre: 413-442-2223, 413-212-7180 or microtheatre@hotmail.com.

BERKSHIRE ART KITCHEN FE-MAIL

Fe-Mail : an exhibition of mail art by Karen Arp Sandel and Suzi Banks Baum will take place during March and April at Berkshire Art Kitchen in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.

Berkshire Art Kitchen hosts artists Karen Arp Sandel and Suzi Banks Baum whose 75 art postcards spanning 3 years (2007-2010) comprise this unique, inspirational “Postal Discourse” of mixed media collages. The opening reception of FeMail, at BAK, is Friday March 5, 4 to 7 pm. Meet the artists and read their mail!

Join the Fe-Mail artists, on Wednesday March 31 at 7 pm for an intimate gallery talk about the quiet radical act of collage “snail mail” communication in the face of a fast paced electronic-tech world. Karen and Suzi narrate a personal tour of the “front and back stories” encoded in 1,000 days of visual collaboration.

Saturday, April 10, with the exhibition as a backdrop at Berkshire Art Kitchen, the artists teach The Daily-ness of Art, a daylong experiential workshop to inspire participants with easy tips about making collage art on a daily basis using everyday ideas and materials. No muss no fuss! The Workshop runs from 9:30 - 4:30. The workshop is open to 16 participants. The cost is $80, which includes $5 materials fee and the evening program.

The workshop culminates with an inspirational evening movie and discussion from 7- 9 pm of “Who Does She Think She Is?”, a moving documentary about women artists who navigate the balancing act between motherhood and artistic expression.

The screening, which is open to the community, for a donation of $10 to support BAK, premieres “Who Does She Think She Is?” by Pamela Tanner Boll and Nancy Kennedy. The movie chronicles the lives of 5 working artists who are mothers. It explores the barriers to the creative process and how art ultimately transforms women’s lives and those around them.

You can learn more about the movie at www.whodoesshethinksheis.net. The discussion facilitators are artists Karen ArpSandel, Suzi Banks Baum with BAK founder, Gabrielle Senza.

Berkshire Art Kitchen is an alternative art space located in downtown Great Barrington featuring contemporary art, fine crafts, handmade jewelry and Artist’s Books. Recognized for offering intimate cultural gatherings, professional artists’ services and an exceptional collection contemporary art, BAK is the go-to spot for creativity, connection and change.

Berkshire Art Kitchen, 400 Main Street, Suite A, Great Barrington, MA. Gallery Hours: 12 - 5 Friday - Sunday and most days by chance or appointment. 413-7170031, www.BerkshireArtKitchen.com

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

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Hudson, New York 12534 THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 2010

ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM

“I think that there is nothing more apposed to poetry, ay, more apposed to life itself, than this, incessant business.”

-Henry David Thoreau

William Bond Walker, The City 1960

Weidenbaum, Gum, Moscow

PAINTED CITIES

Richard Merkin, Puck in Portland

CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY

“Painted Cities,” an exhibit at Carrie Haddad Gallery in Hudson, features works from twenty artists in a wide range of media. The exhibit will be on view from March 4 through April 11. Each artist in the show strives to give visual form to some aspect of city life, with vastly different results.

The body of work, in its diversity, resembles the city itself. Like the quintessential metropolis, a wellspring of sights and experiences, “Painted Cities” issues forth a deluge of visual stimuli, captivating its viewer.

William Bond Walker, in his mixed media drawing entitled “The City,” depicts an unknown place, a swarm of passing moments and moving bodies. This is his vision of the essence of city life, in which transience is accompanied by a feeling of betrayal: the individual perceives the city as a force hostile to herself. In Walker’s work facades of buildings meld into one undulating mass that floats in undifferentiated space. Spontaneous paint marks splatter the surface, attesting to a vigorous and dynamic artistic process (created in 1960, this work shows formal similarities to the art of the Abstract expressionist movement) and evoking the barrage of sensations that assaults the city dweller. “The City” declares that the only aspect of city life that is constant, that we can pin down, is impermanence.

Walker is one of the few artists in the show who strive to capture not the appearance, but the experience of the city—the way in which the human mind, bombarded by the ubiquity of activity, translates appearance into emotion. Walker’s translation describes a reaction of sorts, fraught with anxiety and hysteria. In light of this work’s emotional charge, it visualizes an imperceptible energy that animates any metropolis. Most of the artists in the show are engaged in a different project: to document a tiny fragment of city life, a unique event. Whether to suggest the accelerated movement of time—the constantly renewing novelty of the city—or to undermine it, these artists hone in on the particular, defying the city’s native anonymity.

Those artists who downplay the ubiquity and persistence of change tend to lend ephemera a sense of permanence; their project, in part, is to immortalize the fleeting moment. Three paintings

by Judith Wyer fit this mold. In her representations of pedestrians in transit—crossing the street amidst dense traffic, waiting for the train’s arrival—the atmosphere is thick and the figures solid.

The heaviness of bodies and movement resists the immediacy of Wyer’s subject matter, presenting a dichotomy between subject and representation. In “Traffic,” the artist’s sculptural and simplified rendering imparts a formality, a sense of purpose to the woman’s leaden stride. These figures possess gravity and importance; they read like statues. These paintings evoke the experience of an overwhelming spell of mindfulness, in which sensitive and focused perception takes over: the unremarkable event before one’s eyes acquires an unexpected vividness, and its appearance is burned into memory.

Wyer portrays moving bodies as stone, giving the moment a certain weight and stability; Margaret Crenson, on the other hand, preserves its immediacy. In a juicy oil painting entitled “Catskill Creek,” Crenson captures the dynamism of a body of water, suggesting its rapid flow and its shimmering reflection of the light of the sky. Paul Chojnowski achieves a similar effect in three “burned drawings,” in which the artist employs a flame to delimit space. In “Untitled Nocturne,” gross ab-

David Konigsberg, Visiting Lucy

stractions yield a strikingly realistic image. Soft disks of light deftly establish composition and articulate the work’s composition: these luminous forms emerge amidst deep blacks and glowing sepias, describing illuminated skyscraper windows, car headlights, streetlamps. The light pulsates; its movement and dynamism are palpable, as is the sense of impending and constant change.

Many of the artists whose work is featured in Painted Cities employ their artistic mediums in an architectural manner. As much of the conceptual content of the exhibition is made up of architecture, this manner of handling form forges an intimate connection between artistic process and subject matter. Richard Bauman, in “Gloucester Boat Yard,” builds up and sculpts paint, lending this work a palpable tactility. The strength and boldness of the boat in the foreground forces the surrounding landscape into the distance. The boat acquires a structural soundness—real volume and mass that indicate Bauman’s sensitivity to the design and anatomy of a structure. Marlene Wiedenbaum shows a similar concern with form and mass in “Gum, Moscow,” a pastel piece in which a troubled woman—her eyes spilling deep distress—waits in line at the well-known Soviet Russian department store, GUM. This woman bears the only defined face and disposition in an indeterminate sea of shoppers that floods the inside of this massive building. The rational contours of the gaping interior space anchor the composition. Wiedenbaum transcribes the structure’s ornate interior with an almost obsessive attention to detail, imparting a realistic sense of weight and magnitude.

In the paintings of Arthur Hammer, the artist’s emulation of the architectural process is laid bare.

Hammer’s affinity for architecture is evident in his repetition of linear marks. Vertical lines redolent of pillars compose the composition of “Waiting for the Train to Come In,” and function as markers of perspective and distance. They evoke the bones of a building, the near-indestructible posts that the façade eventually veils. Here, in Hammer’s painting, these pervasive pillar-like forms serve to uphold the paintings composition, and the two-dimensional surface becomes a metaphor for an architectural space.

Tona Wilson constructs convincing space in “Cells 2,” a monochrome mixed-media piece that offers a grim vision of a future environment in which whole populations dwell in a series of tiny cells, the walls of which are composed of commodities. Wilson adopts an aerial view, which reveals the honey-comb-like structure of this environment, and its harrowing vastness. The other work of Wilson’s in Painted Cities is a graphite rubbing of a manhole cover, plain and unadulterated. These two drawings occupy opposite ends of the exhibition’s spectrum of subject matter and method.

“Manhole Cover” literally transfers reality to paper: its marks are imprints from a tiny fragment of city life. “Cells 2,” on the other hand, is pure invention, and the scope of its fantastical subject matter is endless. Most of the work in Painted Cities occupies some space between these poles, supplementing reality with dreams, endowing the city environment with an emotional quality, a certain humanity. ~ Mollie Flannery

FEBRUARY 2010 ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM

THE ARTFUL MIND • 7

ANIMAL PORTRAIT ARTIST BEE BOOTH “All animal’s eyes have the power to speak a great language.”

-MARTIN BUBER, 1878

Bee Booth has enjoyed a lifelong love for art. Bee’s passion for animals and her superb artistic talents have resulted in a remarkable series of oil paintings that have moved her to the forefront among animal artists in America. Still, Bee constantly strives to create paintings that “captures the expression of the animal; the expression of the animal; the expression is everything.”

One of the few artists who paint animals in their entirety, her work has a loose and refreshingly natural quality that is more suggestive and interpretive than it is “picture perfect.”

Her style is old world in feeling, which is more often seen in landscapes than in wildlife renderings. Perhaps most distinctive is the expressiveness she is able to create in the eyes of the animals, their interactions and relationships with mankind, the environment and each other. Bee’s paintings captivate the viewer, and you find yourself being drawn back repeatedly to her works as the painting’s story is not always conclusive. She leaves the viewer wondering how the scene will play out.

Born and raised in New Jersey and New Hampshire, Bee majored in art at Skidmore College. The breadth and authenticity of her settings have benefited from years of living in the Pacific Northeast, the Midwest, East Coast, and on a farm in the African wilderness. She currently resides in Lenox, Massachusetts.

She welcomes commissions and would love to meet with your pet(s). Please call her at: 413-298-8160.

SABINE PHOTO ART

Whether it’s a radiant bride, a witty child, a loving family, 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 black-and-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 Chic will be published by Storey Publishing in 2010, author Marlene H. Marshall. Other volumes include Full of Grace: A Journey through the History of Childhood, Making Bits & Pieces Mosaics and Shell Chic.

She will appear at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA on April 17 at 10 am - 11am “Get More Out of Your Digital Camera”. A clinic will follow until 1 pm. Photo enthusiasts are welcome.

A member of the American Society of Media Photographers and the Wedding Photojournalist Association, Sabine offers workshops at her studio for professionals and amateur photographers.

Sabine Vollmer von Falken, 20 Glendale Road, Glendale, MA, 413-298-4933; www.sabinephotoart.com; info@sabinephotoart.com.

The Gallery at

The Berkshire Gold and Silversmith invites you to...

EYE on Botswana: Intimate Encounter with Southern African Wildlife

Photographs by

John Lipkowitz

Artist’s Opening Reception: Saturday, February 6 • 6 - 8pm Please join us!

THE GALLERY AT THE GOLD AND SILVERSMITH 152 Main St, Great Barrington (next to Eagle Shoe and Boot) 8

THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 2010

CARRIE HADDAD PHOTOGRAPHS MICHAEL SIBILIA, ALASKA

413 • 528 • 0013

(Tues - Sat 10:30-6 pm)

We are pleased to announce our first exhibition of the new year, Birgit Blyth: Recent Work, which will be on view from January 14, 2010 through February 21, 2010. Also on exhibit will be work by Michael Sibilia. There will be an opening reception for the artists on Saturday, January 14, from 6 pm to 8 pm.

Blyth had always aligned herself with and been moved by abstract expressionist painting. The series of veil paintings by post-abstract expressionist, Morris Lewis, was especially inspiring to her and caused her to ask herself how she could do similar interpretations photographically. In “chromoskedasic” painting, she found the answers and would begin on a new path in her artwork.

The term “chromoskedasic” is derived from Greek roots meaning color by light scattering. Developed by a photographer named Dominic Man-Kit Lam, this process exploits the capability of silver particles in black and white photographic paper to “scatter” light at different wavelengths when exposed to light and chemicals. In her mastery of this photochemical drawing process, Blyth has painted lush washes of color into her own “Veil Series;” she has envisioned landscapes, both rural and urban, with melting swirls and marbled colors into rich palettes of toffee and lead. She has used this essentially experimental process to help her “see” the world around her. Blyth says she continues to be fascinated by the process because it requires “a combination of discipline, experimentation, and imagination, making possible a wonderful balance between control and surprise.”

Because the chromoskedasic work is all analog, Blyth spends much of her studio time in the darkroom, which has become a rarity in the current world of digital photography. She does however, continue her preference for experimentation in numerous directions, even employing aspects of the digital age – this exhibit will also feature a new series of pieces created with the now defunct but much loved SX-70 polaroid camera, scanned and archivally printed on 24” x 24” fine cotton rag paper.

Michael Sibilia: 10 Days in Alaska.

I arrived in Anchorage New Years Day depressed; I stayed that way for the next ten days. The unseasonable temperature’s hit a high of -5 with lows of -31.The good and bad news was the sun rose at 10:00 and set at 3. With such a short day the light was usually magnificent, but there was a haunting quality about it. People were scarce and the world felt dead. I think I was on the bridge to nowhere.

So writes environmental photographer Michael Sibilia on his 2009 journey to Anchorage, Alaska. For ten days Sibilia photographed the frozen landscape around him; a landscape breathtaking in its majesty, in spite of ever expanding industrialization. A Hudson Valley resident, Sibilia has been practicing the art of photography for over 30 years. As a freelance photojournalist, he has been afforded the opportunity to experience the diverse scenery of the United States, and most recently, Suchitoto, El Salvador.

From these self-assignments, Sibilia brings back a unique view of the world, which he translates into large scale prints.

The photographs, he says, provide just a hint - an impression - of his sublime subjects: “I have spent my entire life wandering and wondering, it is just the way I am, and for me, the camera has always been the way to best express what I could never put into words.”

Carrie Haddad Photographs, 318 Warren St, Hudson, NY, 518-828-7655

FEBRUARY 2010 THE ARTFUL MIND • 9

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC A NIGHT OF QUARTETS

ELAINE HOFFMAN POTTERY TEAPOT BY ELAINE HOFFMAN

Renowned potter Elaine Hoffman's creative roost is right here in the Berkshires at 103 Great Barrington Rd/Rt. 41 ( 2 miles south of downtown) West Stockbridge, Ma 413-232-4646.

Come and choose from a variety of vibrant ceramics superb for Berkshire living.

With designs inspired by Elaine's world travels and appetite for color, shoppers will find a new look that's delightfully irresistible.

Be sure to check out her web site at www.EHoffmanPottery.com. Easy shipping available. “ I never believed in trying to do anything.

Whatever I set out to do I found I had already accomplished.”

-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Close Encounters With Music continues its 18th season with The Avalon String Quartet on Saturday, February 20, 6 p.m. offering A Night of Quartets, a striking program of works by Beethoven, Arensky, and Prokofiev, all mining overlapping Russian folkloric themes. The Opus 59 No. 2 Razumovsky Quartet represents the pinnacle of Beethoven’s quartet writing, revolutionary in character and symphonic in reach. Arensky’s arresting work is for two cellos, and Prokofiev’s Quartet No. 2 bears his infatuation with folk instruments. Yehuda Hanani joins the Quartet in the Arensky at South County’s premier venue, the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington.

Close Encounters continues its tradition of commentary before each performance and of inviting the entire audience to a reception to meet the artists immediately following the concerts.

This year’s programs also include: The Romantic Bach, Saturday, March 20; Chopin and His Circle, Saturday, April 24; Prague Spring—Czech Idyll, Saturday, June 5. All performances take place at 6 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts Tickets for the Conversations with… event is $25 which includes light refreshments.

Tickets, $35 or $25 for adults and $10 for students, are available at The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center box office, 413528-0100, through Close Encounters With Music at 800-843-0778 or by emailing cewmusic@aol.com. Please visit our website at www.cewm.org.

FRONT ST. GALLERY

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.

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.

Front St. Gallery, Housatonic, MA. 413-274 6607, www.kateknappartist.com and 413-528-9546 / 413-429-7141

BERKSHIRE ART GALLERY

La Famille, O/C, 29.5 x 25. Vu Cao Dam, 1908 - 2000, Vietnamese/French.

80 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, MA 413-528-2690

Open Saturday and Sunday Noon to 5pm, or by appointment or chance

10 •

THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 2010

ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM

WWW.BERKSHIREARTGALLERY.COM

“All those mirrors keep pulling you back.

You keep on seeing yourselfthousands of you.”

-Deanne Bergsma

THE MUSIC STORE

While the Winter symphony plays, we at The Music Store are enjoying our second Winter 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, 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.

Professional musicians seeking the finest or unusual strings or accessories are welcome to call in advance. We will make every effort to satisfy the need!

For capos to kazoos, guiros to djembes, rainsticks to violins, bows to bodhrans, mandolins to ukuleles, strings to reeds and rods, sticks and earphones to microphones and stands, local artist’s CDs and harmonicas to picture frames and scarves, music motif ornaments and more, The Music Store is the place to be. For a magical, musical experience, visit The Music Store.

The Music Store, 87 Railroad Street, 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 We at The Music Store wish you peace and harmony throughout 2010 and beyond.

EYE ON BOTSWANA PHOTOGRAPHS

BY JOHN LIPKOWITZ

Artist’s Eye on Botswana: Intimate Encounters With Southern African Wildlife, a photo exhibit by John Lipkowitz, will be on display at the Gallery at The Berkshire Gold and Silversmith, in Great Barrington, MA during February and March. An artists opening reception will be held on Saturday, February 6 from 68 p.m.

“In October 2009 my wife and I were privileged to participate in a safari to Botswana. After flying to Maun (gateway to the north) from Johannesburg in South Africa, it was bush planes and helicopters as we spent 15 days in and around the Okavango Delta, with a couple of days further south in the Kalahari Desert proper. Although almost all of Botswana is technically within the Kalahari, the Okavango Delta, fed from the rainforests of Angola during the otherwise dry season and the rains during the wet season, rivers, streams and wetlands course through the Delta area thereby creating many different habitats for the wildlife. We divided our time among five camps, from very simple at Camp Kalahari, to luxurious elegance at Mombo Camp.

Our stays varied from two to four nights, with two game drives each day.”

Botswana, is an actual working democracy in Africa, with a population of only 1.6 million and relative wealth from diamonds and tourism. Not long after independence (as a British Protectorate, not Colony), in 1966, the government made the decision to promote limited upscale eco-tourism, based on national reserves and private, limited lease, concessions. The result is vast landscapes with limited, small camps, no crowds, and real opportunities to get close to the wildlife. “The photographs in this exhibit are some of my favorites. “ The Gallery at The Berkshire Gold and Silversmith, 152 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA. Gallery hours: The gallery is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10:30-6.

LAUREN CLARK GALLERY HAND MADE AND THROWN CERAMIC PIECES

“I like to spend my time surrounded by beautiful things of my choosing. Everything that is in the gallery is carefully chosen, not just randomly chosen because I think it will sell.”

Lauren Clark, a partner in Tokonoma Gallery from 1992 to 2006 and owner of her own eponymous gallery since 2006, has a strong connection to her business, her artists, and her community. The gallery space is never too strictly planned. It is allowed to develop organically, forming integral elements of the whole, according to her own taste. It’s a creative process.

“One might think it is more static than it really is, but everything is always changing. Everything from bringing in fresh flowers, periodically changing the wall colors, reconfiguring the floor plan of furniture and sculpture to hanging new shows, taking on new artists, and replacing art that is sold with something new.”

The gallery features fine art and contemporary craft by regional and internationally recognized artists in all media. Many of those featured are local artists, which allows personal relationships to develop, forming a whole group of people, a community-a community that also includes the village of Housatonic where there are five other galleries. Though there is a connection and coordinated activity among these galleries, each one is completely autonomous and unique in themselves.

“The gallery is my work of art; but always a work in progress” In addition, the gallery offers fine custom framing, an essential part of displaying artwork that can dramatically enhance and transform the artwork and its surroundings. Lauren Clark Fine Art Gallery’s on-site studio offers museum quality framing and an extraordinary selection of exquisite molding in a warm and friendly atmosphere. Please contact us about our art consultation and art hanging services.

Lauren Clark Fine Art Gallery is located at 402 Park Street (Route 183) in Housatonic, MA. Business hours are Thursday through Monday from 11:00 until 5:30 and on Sunday from Noon until 4:00 pm. For more information call 413.274.1432, or visit the website at www.LaurenClarkFineArt.com

FEBRUARY 2010~ THE ARTFUL MIND • 11

Dear Friend and Reader: If you are reading this, you survived some of the must tumultuous, shocking astrology in nearly a decade. Yet the truth is, what we lived through in December and January was like the weekend-long training ride that American Youth Hostels required for everyone taking the summer-long, coast-to-coast bicycle trip. I suggest that you put the events of the past two months to a thorough review and make an inventory of everything you learned, or wish you learned.

February brings in a whole new dimension of astrology: I dare say easier, but in truth, with a new agenda and a new sense of adventure. There are, of course, always two sides to the story. For example, the Chiron-Neptune conjunction finally peaks early in the month. That is about seeing clearly and embracing the truth of the world. But to do that, you might have to survey quite a bit of damage and pain and make room in your spiritual philosophy for what that means, without just turning the other way.

Phase two of the Saturn-Pluto square that is shaking up so much, so deeply, is also in full force right now. Change is possible, but to have that change happen, we need to be willing to risk losing the benefits of whatever stability we have. We need to meet the forces that exist to perpetuate fear and hold back progress, most of which come from within our own minds. It’s easy to be brave in a yoga studio; it’s more challenging when you find yourself getting involved in the kind of movements for social justice that your mother told you a hundred times were too dangerous to bother with. This is another way of saying, you can have a whole bunch of fun and contribute to progress as long as you’re not scared of your own shadow [material]. Jupiter is now in Pisces, which is great — as long as you know how to use sensuality, wine and erotic play as vehicles for transformation, and as long as comfort does not make you complacent. Jupiter in Pisces is about depositing moralism into the nearest toxic waste dump, which is another way of saying, it’s about figuring out that guilt is quite literally a thing of the past.

As you sit here reading these words, the world is heading for one of the most stunning awakenings of both individual and group consciousness that we have seen in four decades, or longer. Yet to embrace this means taking full responsibility for the decisions we make as individuals. We must slough off the toxic conformity that has characterized the past 30 years of American history, and embrace the adventure of existence as the bold and honest people we’ve been saying we were for so long. Cousins: the time has come.

— Eric Francis

Aries (March 20-April 19)

Your charts suggest strongly that you are making some decision involving marriage. You might be thinking of creating a marriage or of ending one; or you are formulating your thoughts on the subject.

Here is what I see: You have a concept that marriage simplifies things. This is consistent with the old expression ‘tying the knot’.

There’s nothing so simple going on, however. In truth, your charts present a complex situation regarding not just a relationship, but also your whole idea of what a relationship is. What I suggest is that you shift the entire thought process from ‘relationship’ to yourself.

The most important relationship is the one you have with you. When we confuse our inner relationship with the one we have with others, that is called projection. It may not be literally true that whatever you are saying about, or appreciate about, or dislike, in others is true of you; but you would be wise to look for the connection points.

In this project, you will learn something from photos. Photos are interesting because they are historical documents and projection screens. Photographs of you, of loved ones, family photos and in particular wedding photos will tell you a lot right now, in the sense of providing useful information. At the moment, certain pictures will paint a thousand words.

12

THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 2010

Taurus (April 19-May 20)

February 2010

Nearly every Taurus I know is struggling with their career. This seems to be a life-theme of your sign. Let’s pretend that has something to do with all the activity in Aquarius, your career house.

Going back quite a long way — five years, 10 years, even 15 years, depending on how you count — there’s been constant change, movement and an odd sense of insecurity about what you want to do, or what you ‘should be doing’. You’ve had plenty of ideas along the way, some of them excellent, but less in the way of traction or stability. Perhaps you know what you want, not how to make it work for you. Remember that most of our experiences train us to compromise passion and curiosity, or to expect certainty and incontrovertible correctness of the plan. Sure, that happens. More often, we find ourselves involved with events, uncertain where they will lead.

Through many such experiments, we can arrive in an interesting place. What you have going on is subtler than either of those usual paths. At the moment, you have a rare perspective (think of it as visual, from a high place) that you didn’t have before. Use it to observe the ways you have been conditioned to not know what you want; to want what others want for you; and to doubt your own ideals, for the sake of others. What would your life be like, if you moved all that out of the way?

Gemini (May 20-June 21)

Last month’s Mercury retrograde was pretty impressive, and its affects are still working out. For you, it was all about agreements.

You tend to live your life trying to figure out what others expect from you, rather than determining what you want. In the tangle of opinions, obligations and pushing and pulling and sorting out the details, I trust you’ve learned to make this distinction. It’s not only okay to want; whatever the Buddhists may say, desire is your organizing principle. It’s the value by which you decide what to decide: including what to do and who to associate with. Jupiter in Pisces, which just crossed the potent midheaven angle of your solar chart, is offering you a wildcard of desire. This may be arriving as an idea or a vision; or it may be an opportunity you’re not sure is solid. I promise you one thing: this qualifies as something different.

It may take you a few weeks to catch on, but now that you have a clue, I suggest you look carefully and make a decision while you’re still excited. One of the distinctions between this and the kind of opportunity you’re accustomed to involves going beyond your usual sense of scale, to something much wider: so wide, indeed, that you may not recognize it for what it is, or selling yourself short because this seems too good to be true.

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

Life would be easier, were the playing field level. Usually it’s not; and it’s slippery, and some people cheat. The deeper issue, though, is what game you are playing, and the rules that you apply.

Deeper still is making sure you take full authority over your own life. Two games show up on the radar as being particularly dangerous to your peace of mind. One is retribution; the other is teasing.

It’s possible to tease yourself, and it’s possible to get revenge on yourself: if humans are good at two things, it is luring themselves with what is unavailable, and self-loathing (in its many subtle forms). Remember that guilt is not an indicator that you are wrong.

Rather, it suggests you have an issue to work out, potentially that you don’t believe your life is your life. It’s altogether better if we get those around us on board with the process of mutually freeing ourselves from guilt. But you don’t need anyone’s permission; that’s part of the game. When we feel guilty the tendency is to blame ourselves or seek forgiveness; a better approach is to offer forgiveness for what you think has been done to you. It may indeed be unclear who is responsible for what, or who is perpetuating any dysfunction; account for the ways you are perpetuating anything distasteful to you, and change your act on the spot.

Leo (July 22-Aug. 23)

There has hardly been a more magnificent time to get clear on the intentions of your relationships. Indeed, it is happening without your deliberate intervention; you seem to be coming into alignment both with yourself and with the people around you. In an odd way, this quality is morphing from your sense of individuality to your sense of mutual purpose in one-to-one experiences; and this is shifting your group encounters. By alignment, I mean sense of purpose and mutual understanding of one another’s most important values. One of your gifts to the world is to love people despite their seeming flaws, and to hold yourself out with dignity as a whole person, understanding perfectly well that you’re not perfect. You now have an opportunity to see how those seeming imperfections provide sources of strength and awareness. This really is the key to enlightenment, in these days when one of the most pressing psychological issues is self-loathing, and when the lack of self-understanding seems to verge on total. It’s deep in your nature to use mistakes, misunderstandings and paradoxes as footholds for learning and awareness; it’s good times when the

by Eric Francis

people around you get into that same mode, and that is approximately what you have going on now. In simple terms, everything is an opportunity to raise awareness. Every seeming fact implies a question. How you see yourself directly influences how you see others.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)

You may not have counted the rewards of so much restless instability in your relationships, going back so many years. The planetary setup has not lent itself to your romantic ideals; you probably canceled your subscription to Modern Bride in 2004. Yet one benefit of what you’ve been through has been to take nothing, and nobody, for granted. There has been no prefabricated scenario that was supposed to come true; you developed a knack for liking and loving people despite their wild oddities, despite what your parents would think; despite what you thought you would think. People have pushed you and challenged your beliefs and made sure you couldn’t hide in your mental box for long. In moments when spontaneous changes happened, you learned to move on. You leaned to envision the future rather than obsess over the past. But something has been missing: a degree of comfort, a space of authentic respite, an actual sense of benefit. Over the past year, you have gained an unusual new depth of clarity and focus, and I imagine you determined that was an omen of positive developments to come. Let that clarity give you the discernment to know healthy, loving influences when they manifest for you. You have been through enough, over enough time, for this to be truly possible. Lay down that restlessness for a while and open the door to love.

Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)

You are not really caught in a situation you cannot get out of — but someone else may really be certain they are. You cannot convince them of the reality of their situation; but you can figure out for yourself that you have options. Having options is another way of saying that you are at a turning point. I suggest you make peace with the possibility that someone you care about may not quite see themselves at that place where a decision is necessary; to the contrary, they may be at a point of maximum chaos and confusion. Even on a good day, you have little choice but to negotiate with the world on your own terms. You are, at least, aware of your situation, and that provides the closest thing to a guarantee that you are going to work it out sooner rather than later. The risk you run is getting drawn into someone else’s drama, their romantic ideals, or their sense of fragmentation. Keep an eye on that third one. It’s the one most likely to drive you nuts, because when people are feeling fragmented those around them tend to respond in fragments. Note, the issue that is troubling them is likely to be a past idea of what a relationship should be, and the way that gets tangled up in the simple reality of life. Give the situation till mid-March to work out; I think it will.

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)

You may be questioning your treatment of someone important to you. You have become deeply sensitive to how someone feels in the environment of your emotions. In any form of emotional healing, step one is getting beyond the guilt that is so deeply entrenched in our relationships. The usual way to do that is by ‘not caring’, and obviously that’s not the answer: you would not be here unless you cared. One way to process guilt is to forgive yourself so that you can forgive everyone else. Most guilt, indeed, nearly all of what we think others think, is projection. Projection is something that is happening internally that we are then perceiving or ascribing to some experience or event ‘outside ourselves’. Just like you cannot write on a movie screen and change the plot, you cannot write on the world or on your relationships and change the underlying feelings.

That is why you have to start with you. One thing that is clear is the extent to which you are subject to group dynamics. Much of what you’re dramatizing in your relationships right now involves what happened to you as a child; and that, in turn, created a situation where you don’t feel safe being yourself. So, let’s short-circuit this whole psychological process and summarize it as one question: what would you do if you felt absolutely safe being exactly who you are?

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)

I’ve noticed something about some Sagittarians I know, which is that they don’t seem to mind living in half-renovated places. I guess when you feel like you came from a different galaxy, living on Earth like it’s a camping trip isn’t so bad; so you don’t mind if your house is wrapped in Tyvek or your bedroom floor is made of plywood as long as it keeps out the rain. Or do you? Jupiter has arrived in Pisces, which is the place we look for information about the home environment of Sagittarius. I suggest you take a series of swift steps to transform your home into someplace you’re actually comfortable. Finish work in progress; make a list of anything that’s broken or out of place and repair or remove it. Get someone who knows Feng Shui to come and help you arrange things to maximize

the efficiency of energy flow. Clean, clean, clean — with Dr. Bronner’s soap and water, not chemicals.

If you don’t like where you are, now is the time to make an easy move to someplace better. All of this will have useful material effects, and the sense of closure that you get from fixing that which was long broken will help you feel more settled, like you’re here on the planet to stay for a while; and your home is a place where others who love you feel welcome.

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)

Do you know those email things designed to prevent you from writing to people if you’re drunk?

The one with a series of arithmetic questions to make sure you’re clear enough to handle yourself? I suggest installing one of those on your entire life this month. Be careful what you do under the influence of any substance; ‘do’ includes say and do; it includes what you don’t do; and most of all, this includes how you respond to what you feel and what you think. You’re under a mix of influences that could lead you to act uncharacteristically: impulsively, or ‘not really coming from you’. Your emotional confusion is calling on you to take conscious, careful steps with the people you love, particularly with yourself. This month’s planetary setup won’t prevent you from feeling clearly who you are, unless of course you let it do so. Yet you must be especially careful with substances, which will emphasize some emotions over others, sometimes contradictory. In itself this is not a bad thing: every emotion is valuable for what it teaches you. It’s just that you don’t want to act on certain darker sentiments; better to acknowledge and make peace with them. To give another example, if you want to have sex with someone on a few glasses of wine, first make sure they’re still interesting when all you’ve had is a coffee — preferably not the next day.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)

Why are you the way you are? You seem to have lost contact with your motives — which you’re finally figuring out, now that you’re back in the groove of listening to them again. In the journey of awakening, you’re in that delicate space of playing snooze tag with yourself, only it’s not a single day you’re preparing to embark on; it’s the rest of your life. Denial is a peculiar state, unique to human consciousness: the ability, in essence, to pretend we’re not aware of something that we are actually aware of. Denial presumes that there is something to deny; and that we have a motive to keep it from awareness. If you notice that you’re struggling to admit something to yourself, break it down into what that something is, and why you might not want to acknowledge it. While you’re pondering that, here is another question: is this whole thing a dance around how you were treated as a child? Are you covering up for someone else’s psychological stance toward you? Once that pattern is established, it can establish a pattern that the mind copies, which then propagates and takes root in many other relationships.

See if you can get to the original motive; the original transaction that led you to learn any mode of response that involved pretending or denying that something obviously true was not. Get clear about that and much else will come into focus.

ARTFUL HEALTH

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

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

For a long time, longer than you may care to admit, you’ve grown accustomed to a certain kind of progress in your life: behind the scenes, or in theory, or in principle. Fortunately, you have a rich inner life, and this enables you to stay interested in existence even in times when movement is slow or invisible, or when fulfillment seems unlikely. Yet this has caused you to live in two worlds: one being a world where so much is happening, and where you can envision what is possible; and another where the people around you seem oblivious to their own potential and where potential, in general, seems frozen. Get ready for something different. Jupiter arriving in your sign is going to do a lot in a short time, all of it in visible, tangible ways. If you write plays, you may find them suddenly being produced on the live stage. If you write books, you are likely to discover people interested in publishing you. If you drum alone, you will surely find other drummers. What was solitary can now become social; what you were sure was worthless to the world now suddenly may have a high value. Yet to manifest this potential, you must do what is perhaps the most challenging thing for a Pisces: think in a forward direction; exist outside your previous states of confinement; leave behind your prior role of victim of existence for your new role as benefactor.

Read Eric Francis daily at PlanetWaves.net.

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

ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM FEBRUARY 2010 THE ARTFUL MIND •13

WHOLE PERSON MOVEMENT

ERIN BURCH, PT BODY WHISPERER

The human nervous system is constantly receiving and filtering information through our senses. The filtering allows us to focus on specific tasks. The downside of this is that the majority of the input is being driven into unconsciousness. Most people have stopped questioning almost anything to do with how they move or stand or perform their tasks. They generally accept any limitation, restriction or pain as a natural consequence of “getting older.” They have gotten so used to feeling sub-par that, because they do not have a contrasting experience, it is just “business as usual.”

I find this to be very limiting. What seems to happen following an injury is that the problem doesn’t really go away so much as it goes “underground.” There are a series of insidious compensations that, in the long term, create more problems than they originally solve. This means that there is a subtle yet powerful twisting pull throughout the body, leading to a decrease in overall slack, flexibility and, eventually, the ability to function.

These things are generally associated with the aging process. I find that reintroducing that slack or space back into the body restores the aliveness and feeling of comfort, youth and vitality. My 30-year experience with the body has brought me to a place of intuitively accessing the “stuck” places and the aliveness is reconstituted, making the body a happier place.

Erin can be reached at 413-528-1623, cell: 201-7877293

In study after study, it’s been shown that nearly every health condition—including aging—can be improved by a program of regular exercise. The body works on a “use it or lose it” basis.

No, you may not ever look like the celebrities we idolize, but you can be an active participant in your own life, doing things you love to do without pain and being an able-bodied support to the people you love.

One thing celebrities often have is a personal trainer who keeps them on track. Signing up for personal training is in fact a great way to “get the job done” when self-motivation isn’t reliable. It’s an investment that many people make in their health as a way to keep doctor visits to a minimum. Another way is to sign up for a series of exercise classes, especially with a buddy who will really miss you if you aren’t there. For moms and others at home, exercise DVDs can get you moving, sometimes along with your children.

Sharon True, owner of WholePerson Movement, is a registered somatic movement therapist and certified Pilates trainer who is ready, willing, and able to get you started on an exercise program that will help you turn a corner toward better health.

She offers private sessions, classes, and consultations on workout DVDs. Exercise need not be a bitter “pill” to take!

True creates personalized Pilates workouts for clients in her fully-equipped studio in Great Barrington. The one-on-one sessions work the body deeply, and take place in a quiet, woodland setting. She also offers private sessions and duets (two people exercising together) on the Pilates machine called the Reformer at Kinesphere Studio, 66 Main Street, in Lee. In both locations, True’s watchful eye ensures that exercises are done safely and correctly for maximum benefit.

Consider giving yourself or a loved one the gift of Pilatesbased exercise with Sharon True. You can expect: (1) A refreshing work-out that leaves you feeling taller, stronger, more flexible and energized.

(2) Exercises that develop strong, long, lean muscles and looser joints—no bulking-up and feeling tight.

(3) Exercises that strengthen your core, that is, your deep abdominals and the muscles closest to your spine, resulting in improved posture, reduced back pain, and less susceptibility to injury.

(4) Careful attention to what your body needs to exercise safely and effectively. Many exercises can be done reclining or sitting, which is especially appreciated by active people who are recovering from injuries or surgeries.

(5) A little respite from the stresses of your life. Time out for you and your body.

For more information about WholePerson Movement private sessions, classes, and gift certificates, contact Sharon True at 413-528-2465, Mon-Sat 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.

“I get asked to shows—women’s shows, black shows— but I won’t be bought until I’m asked to be in shows without race and gender adjectives in the title.”

-Maren Hassinger

14 • THE ARTFUL MIND

FEBRUARY 2010

MARGO DAVIS-HOLLANDER LIFE AND WELLNESS COACH

Margo Davis-Hollander is passionate in her belief that each of us has an extraordinary gift to offer the world, she relishes in facilitating a process whereby individuals can redefine themselves and begin to live in a larger field of possibilities and rewarding sense of purpose. This transformative coaching work is helpful for career, health and wellness, relationships as well as soulmate attraction.

Margo has developed a series of tools and personal development products that are designed to make the work of, becoming one’s fully expressed potential, a bit easier and more fun.

Radical Self Care™ is a program designed to help you design your days around centered presence and health oriented practices such as; daily exercise, mindful eating, time for stress reduction or spiritual practice, and raising your “good will bank account” through generosity, forgiveness and mitzvah or grace.

On the horizon this January 2010 is her collaborative project from Wellness Integral, the new non profit founded by Lawrence and Margo Davis-Hollander in July 2009, with the Kilpatrick Athletic Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington. The What is Wellness? program, is the practical application of the Radical Self Care™ principles.

Here is what she says about it.

What is Wellness? is physician led and participant driven.

It will give you the support, camaraderie, new skills and information you need to begin to prioritize wellness and Radical Self Care™ in your busy life. We have designed this program to be user friendly and action oriented. The ultimate goal is happy healthy fulfilled lives. You will create your own new definition of wellness. We will provide building blocks and lots of support for you to self design your personalized Radical Self Care™ wellness plan and we will help you in a variety of ways to stick to your agreement to honor yourself. Make 2010 the best year of your life-we’ll be excited to witness that!

The Program A ten month program, offered as two complementary five month segments utilizing a team of health care and fitness professionals: physicians, nutritionist, wellness coach and fitness trainer. You also have access to a host of inspiring and supportive adjunct faculty for monthly forums.

Participants meet approximately once every two weeks with a member of the wellness team for a group experiential/talk and discussion. Initially participants will be individually assessed by each of the team members. Doctor visits will in most cases be covered through insurance. Mid program and summary assessments will occur in each segment.

Participants design and agree to their own wellness plan, which includes dietary shifts, regular exercise, mindfulness practice and enhanced relationships. They will utilize fitness facilities several times a week, have opportunities to meet with trainers who understand their challenges and attend additional fitness classes. Participants will have a report card where fitness progress is recorded. Regular follow-up meetings with the wellness coach will help them adhere to their plan and problem solve difficult areas. Each participant would have a buddy from the group and a practitioner for regular check-in to support their progress. The group may elect to convene additional telephone or in-person meetings without faculty present for mutual support. The aim of the program is to be an affordable means to help you to instill new healthy habits that are sustainable and measurable.

Who will it serve?

Anyone who desires a significant shift in their state of health and well being. This includes individuals dealing with high stress, weight control, blood sugar issues, elevated cholesterol, elevated blood pressure and many chronic conditions.

INTEGRATIVE HEALTH PROGRAM STARTS IN JANUARY 2010 What is Wellness? A program of Wellness Integral, Inc. In Collaboration with the Kilpatrick Athletic Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock. For more information or to attend an open house event call 413-446-1777.

Compassionate Communication

COMPASSION BEGINS AT HOME: TAMING THE INNER CRITIC

Anyone pursuing a creative career can find themselves vulnerable to that nasty little voice some call the Inner Critic, that part of us that tends to put us down, judge us, criticize or compare us to others. As artists, we were designed to experience the world through highly attuned senses, and perhaps this makes us more open to things. Sometimes however, that openness can lead to self-criticism, procrastination, depression or self-doubt.

I have been practicing Compassionate, or Nonviolent Communication (NVC) over the last four years, and have discovered some effective new ways to tame and transform my Inner Critic.

NVC offers an amazing synthesis of techniques for speaking and thinking that free me of judgment, criticism, blame and evaluation. I have been using it in my interpersonal relationships with much success, and I now want to share how it might also be useful for other artists.

Learning to transform my internal critical voices into beloved allies has helped me rediscover the joy of creating and has significantly increased my overall productivity. NVC calls these critical voices our “Inner Jackals”, referring to the term Marshall Rosenberg, NVC’s founder, calls the language of domination, judgment, blame and criticism that so many of us grew up speaking. That’s the violence the name refers to. Jackal voices are the parts of us that can crop up while we are making art or thinking about exhibiting our art and say things like: “You’re not a real artist, you should have stayed a plumber” or “What are you doing all day, you should be raising a family or doing something useful”. You probably know the kind I mean.

Jackal language paints the world in terms of the polarities of right/wrong, good/bad, and reward/punishment, a pattern that is reinforced by our families, schools, and institutions. These ideas have gotten pretty embedded in our systems and our psyches, and one of the results is that it can be pretty hard to create anything without this part of me having to put in its two cents. By reconditioning my thinking a little, NVC helps me to frame the world differently and create a more compassionate inner environment. NVC is about creating a life that is more fulfilling, more creatively alive and more connected.

“That stinks” we might think to ourselves while sculpting with some new materials, making something we don’t quite recognize. A few minutes later, we suddenly find ourselves feeling bored and then a little depressed, and so we go eat to try to feel a little better, and soon we are watching TV and our art session is over. We wonder why we don’t feel like going to the studio for the next few weeks, and then we start calling ourselves names “You’re so lazy, you’re worthless as an artist.” Then we start comparing ourselves: “Look at Larry, he’s always working.”

Here’s a little sampling of how NVC works. There are four steps, Observation, Feeling, Need and Request/Strategy. The first step is to make an Observation that is free of any evaluation. Just describe what actually happened, no spin.

Observations: “I was making this object out of wire and wood, and it looked totally unfamiliar to me, like nothing I had ever seen before. Then a fantasy flashed in my head in which I imagined my friend saying he thinks I’m really weird for making such a thing. Next I hear myself telling myself “that stinks.’”

Next, I figure out what exactly I might have been feeling.

Feelings: “I feel self-conscious, nervous, anxious, embarrassed, and I guess a little vulnerable. Yes, vulnerable is the right word.”

In NVC, feelings mean that certain needs are being activated: good feelings when our needs are being met, and bad feelings when needs are not getting met.

Needs are simply human aspirations we all share, such as Beauty, Creativity, Harmony, Support, Love.

So I then figure which one has been stimulated.

Needs: ”I need support, I need appreciation, I need freedom and safety. I would love to be able to just experiment to my heart’s content and have the results not be judged. Freedom to make something brand new, to just play. I might need a lot of love and support in order to do that.”

I spend a little time really savoring these Needs: for Freedom, Love and Support, imagining how much creative energy would be unleashed if I had more Freedom, Love and Support. I start to feel a lot better! Now I turn to myself, and the pain I’ve been feeling in my creative life, and realize that there has been a noticeable shortage of these elements.

The final step is to figure out some actual, tangible ways to give that to myself.

Strategies: I’ll start by being really gentle with myself, especially when I am doing something brand new. Really give myself lots of time, space and permission.

Maybe I can pretend I have a room full of admiring fans who just love everything I do. I could read some artist’s autobiographies, and see how they have deal with this phase of the creative process, just to know I’m not in this alone. And maybe I’ll just let myself go totally wild once a week to get more used to just playing and trusting the process.

Unraveling artist’s blocks can be relatively easy with NVC. Although the Inner Critic or Jackal may speak harshly, I have come to learn that it often has my most precious needs at heart.

Over time and with practice, NVC has helped me to transform my inner landscape and break through some of the automatic thought-forms that can paralyze an artist for years.

Here’s another artist’s Jackal you may be acquainted with: “You’re not a real artist,” it hisses from time to time. Marshall Rosenberg sometimes illustrates his new way of hearingthrough the criticism by putting on a set of special ears that symbolize the language of the heart. Hearing this criticism at face-value would be devastating, and just asking it to “STOP” might not help me find out what it is really trying to say to me.

Assuming that this Jackal is actually a very precious Need speaking with a terrible speech impediment, I turn to it, and without getting too close (as they do bite), I inquire into what it might really be feeling and needing. Maybe the feeling is sadness or disappointment, and the need is for Competence. I ask it “Are you feeling sad because you are needing to be more competent at some specific painting skills? “ I realize that the Jackal is really saying how disappointed he feels as well as his desire to be a better artist.

So now, instead of going into a downward spiral of self-berating, I can figure out some actual steps to becoming a better artist, such as studying with that wonderful teacher I’ve always wanted to work with. I may have to use NVC to plumb another layer of stuck feelings and unacknowledged needs, but in a fairly short time, I will have unraveled some fairly substantial knots.

Like many art forms and languages, NVC does require some training and commitment. Even a little NVC can go a long way. Once we know what our needs are, then we can begin to find ways to meet them. It works magic with other people, and it can work wonders in our relationship with our self.

Designed originally for interpersonal conflicts, NVC is used all over the world to help settle conflicts between warring tribes, unions and managers, inmates and victims, parents and teenagers, between couples, and much more. It’s now being taught and practiced in over 50 countries. One of the principles is that all human beings share the same basic needs; it is just the

strategies that divide us.

Many artists have what seem like conflicting needs to make a living vs. make art. NVC has helped me to see all of my needs as precious and to hold them all at once. As I do this, I am able to come up with some more creative, collaborative strategies for living a more integrated, authentic life. One of the goals of NVC is to co-create a world in which everyone’s needs matter.

Learning that I had valid needs, clearly naming them, and then going after them was a radically new way to be. The more people who learn to think and speak from the heart, the sooner we will have the kind of world many of us envision. More heart, more art.

Karen Andrews offers her unique blend of Process Coaching for creative individuals using NVC, Focusing and other selfliberating modalities. She offers one-on-one sessions and organizes group trainings. Karen exhibits photography and watercolors at her home-based gallery, Inner Vision Studio in West Stockbridge, and online at www.InnerVision-Studio.com. can be reached at: 413-232-4027 or She karenjandrews@gmail.com

Romancing theImage

Graphic Design for all your advertising needs

Creative design for advertising, logos, brochures, package design, posters and cards from start to press.

M & A and SVA Graduate, BFA Portfolio avaiable upon request

Designing for Berkshire people for over 20 years

413 . 528 . 5628

FEBRUARY 2010 THE ARTFUL MIND • 15

MARGUERITE BRIDE WATERCOLORS

COURT HOUSE AND OLD ATHENAEUM, O/C, MARGUERITE BRIDE

Winters are always an exhilarating time in the Berkshires, especially if you are an artist who loves to paint snow scenes, which is Marguerite Bride’s favorite season, at least to paint.

She will be expanding her “Local Color” series to include even more snowy vistas. As paintings are completed, they are introduced on the “What’s New” page of her website, so be sure to take a peek every so often.

During late December seven of Bride’s paintings are included in a group show at Gallery 25, in Pittsfield. This gallery is next door to Mary’s Carrot Cake Shop at 25 Union St. Visit Pasko Frame and Gift Center to see the full selection of reproductions, many framed.

And there’s something else new being offered….watercolor technique lessons. Check the website for details.

Marguerite Bride, Studio #10 at 311 North Street, Pittsfield.

Open by appointment. 413-442-7718, or cell: 413-841-1659, margebride@aol.com, www.margebride.com

“Now matter how old you get, if you can keep the desire to be creative, you’re keeping the man-child alive.”

-John Cassavetes

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.

RIVER LANDSCAPE IN WINTER, CARL R. KRAFFT O/C, 24 X 20”, 1884-1938, AMERICAN

BERKSHIRE FINE ART GALLERY

The approach of winter always evokes conflicting emotions, even in the closest of relationships. For artists, winter is one of the four seasonal challenges they face when painting, although many would agree it is the most difficult. The Berkshire Art Gallery, located at 80 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, MA, has a number of examples that proclaim the splendor of the season. Two examples are River Landscape in Winter by Carl R. Krafft (1884-1938) and Crisp Morning by Alfred Jansson (1863-1931). Both were painted by Mid-western artists and successfully combine high-key harmonies, delicate nuances of color, and permeating light with decorative brushwork. They make the point that winter can be an opportunity for artistic greatness.

Krafft studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and founded a major art colony in the Ozarks. He exhibited throughout the country. Jansson was born in Sweden and studied in Europe before coming to Chicago in 1889 to do a mural commission at the World Columbian Exposition. His exhibitions included annual Chicago Art Institute shows, and museum shows in Philadelphia, New York, St. Louis, Denver and elsewhere. Krafft and Jansson received many awards and their works are in numerous public collections.

Both artists’ styles emphasized sensitive impressionism, often focused on richly painted woodland snow scenes that combined refined realism with a highly decorative quality. Their subjects were simple, often a few trees in waning winter light with the atmosphere shading into muted colors. Snow reflected atmospheric tones while trees projected tranquility and moodiness.

The gallery also has winter paintings by Stephen Maniatty, William Partridge, George Schwacha, Stanley A. Schaeffer, Dominique Lagru. and others.

Gallery hours are noon to 5 PM, Saturday and Sunday, or by appointment or chance. Peking for patrons is available in front of the gallery. For information, call (413) 5282690, or visit berkshireartgallery.com

Regional Italian Dinner Series $30 Prix Fixe Monday, Tuesday and Thursday Nights

16 FEBRUARY 2010 ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM

HADDAD GALLERY NATURE ABSTRACTED ATMOSPHERES, MADELON JONES

Haddad Gallery will present the exhibition, Nature Abstracted, featuring paintings by Elise Freda and works on paper

by Madelon Jones. Continuing into the back room are paintings

by Joseph Maresca and Nancy Rutter. The exhibit will be on view from January 7 - February 15.

By manipulating raw material to form an organized whole, painters affirm their power to create something that stands in the face of nature; a painting exists as a testament to the authority of the artist. Nature is manifold and all-inclusive, while art thrives on the artist’s selectivity, on the deliberateness and specificity of the work’s character. To take nature as the subject-matter of a painting is necessarily to abstract from it – to fragment it or to distill it.

Madelon Jones gives form to the unseen yet omnipresent aspects of nature: the principles of flux and creation. In each of her paintings on view, a loose grid of organic, pulsating lines serves as the organizing compositional element. The near perpendicularity of these marks creates tension, intimates a clash of opposing forces. Spatial, linear and color relations are most complex at the center of each composition, a formal trend that enables each work to function as a stage for this dramatic collision of forces to play out.

Like Jones’ paintings, the work of Elise Freda thrives on conflict, the juxtaposition of formal elements. Sharp rectangles of pristine color float in space beside gestural, spontaneous marks – drips, dabs, splats. The order instated by the geometry acts as a foil to the organic quality of these marks, enhancing their beauty.

In Joseph Maresca’s paintings, light animates objects. A phantom and a force, light in Maresca’s work creates color, space, experience. His paintings of parlor interiors evoke Bonnard in color and Balthus in space. White light pours bountifully through large Victorian windows. It throws itself with blunt precision on the floor and on the backs of figures, casting their bodies in flat darkness; elsewhere it kisses women’s robes, imparting unexpected color – the kind that only natural light can reveal.

Nancy Rutter’s paintings emanate warmth. Some depict navigable landscapes softened by the loose sweep of her stroke.

Her vast simplification of color and form forces these works to occupy a captivatingly slippery space between abstraction and representation. Rutter’s most successful works straddle the divide between representational, referential painting, and non-referential painting. These elusive paintings offer the most dynamic spectatorial experience, challenging the viewer’s perceptual certainty.

Carrie Haddad Gallery, 622 Warren Street, Hudson, NY. Gallery hours: 11-5pm; closed Tuesday and Wednesday. Call 518-828-1915 for directions or more information, or go online at www.carriehaddadgallery.com

IS183 ART SCHOOL IN FEBRUARY FOR ADULTS

IS183 Art School announces its winter class and workshop schedule for adult students. Offering a range of programs for novice and working artists, classes are taught by professional artists in a creative, nurturing and inspirational environment at the Berkshires only year-round community art school. A complete list of course offerings and registration information is available online.

“Digital Workflow,” a three-session Wed. night photography lab with instructor Jason Huston, will be held on Feb. 3, 10, and 17, from 6 to 9 p.m. Students will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the technical process of image editing and organizing digital images.

Located half-way between Great Barrington and Pittsfield in Interlaken (a village of Stockbridge) IS183 Art School encourages people of all ages, means, and skill levels to enrich their lives through hands-on experience in the visual arts, with year-round programs in ceramics, painting, drawing, photography, fiber arts, sculpture, mixed media. IS183 also offers weekend workshops for adults; Young Artist programs during school vacations and in the summer; birthday parties; custom classes; and private lessons. Classes are held during the daytime, evenings and weekends, for all levels from absolute beginners to professional artists. Needs-based scholarships and work-exchange opportunities are available.

For more information, a complete program schedule, enrollment fees, scholarship opportunities, faculty bios, or to register for classes, please call 413-298-5252, e-mail info@is183.org or visit us online at www.is183.org “Dance is of all things the most concentrated expression of happiness and everyone needs to find happiness, to search for an ideal escape.”

- Violette Verdy

STUDIO21 SOUTH

THOR WICKSTROM, "SLEDDING HILL", OIL ON CANVAS

studio21south in North Adams presents the Snow Show, February 12-March 14, 2010, featuring paintings and drawings which either embrace or directly defy the spirit of winter.

Landscape is a common thread, but the exhibition is enriched by the inclusion of artists who work locally as well as from other vantage points, ranging from brilliant Maine summers to the deep winter of working farms in Northern Wisconsin. The integration of abstract artists adds texture and dimension to the theme.

Participating artists include Frank Bruckmann (New Haven, CT), Eric March (New York, NY), Bobbie Puttrich (Chicago, IL), Karen Walter (Boston, MA) as well as regional artists Frank Curran, Sylvie Kantorovitz, John Leavey, Thor Wickstrom and Rodney Wilkinson.

The show marks Karen Walter's return to the Beaver Mill, formerly home to the Contemporary Artists Center, where Ms. Walter was an artist in residence for several years. Her mixed media works on paper blur the distinction between drawing and painting. These dramatic abstractions clearly draw from natural forms, and will remind those familiar with her work of her series of drawings based on the Natural Bridge in North Adams.

John Leavey's work will be of particular interest to astute followers and collectors of American landscape painting. A recipient of the Prix de Rome, Leavey studied with and assisted Edwin Dickinson (1891-1978), and his permanent collections include the Hirshhorn collection in Washington, D.C. and the Museo della Citta da Roma, Italy. This exhibit provides a unique opportunity to view his lyrical interpretations closer to the bucolic setting which is their source.

Located in an historic mill loft, studio21south is at 189 Beaver St. (Route 8) in North Adams, approximately 1 mile from Mass MoCA. "Snow Show" will be on view from February 12 through March 14. Opening reception, Saturday, February 13, 6-9pm.

Hours, Friday evening "cocktail hour", 6-9pm, Sat.-Sun. (plus Presidents Day, Mon. 2/15) noon-4pm, other times by appointment or by chance. 413.652.2141, studio21south@gmail.com, www.studio21south.blogspot.com

622 Warren St, Hudson, New York 518-828-1915 www.carriehaddadgallery

Open 11 - 5pm, closed Tuesday and Wednesday

ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM

THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 2010 • 17

But my obligation is to announce this obituary to a global audience, which means spreading the news farther and further in all directions than the habitat of Greater Backfish, Massachusetts, population 3,552. Not to mention, this obituary transcends its ordinary function of giving notice about the deceased by raising collective consciences to a public health problem known as Heinemeyer Schlag, a malady decidedly local and occurring with pronounced rarity in a single town tucked away in nowheresville. But these days nothing and nobody is too safe too often.

GREATER BACKFISH ROUNDUP

by Bob Balogh

OBITUARY

Glen Gargoyle Gillooly, 54, collapsed and died during his live public access TV show. Cause of death: Heinemeyer Schlag.

If you live in Western Massachusetts in one of the five towns that constitute the Greater Backfish area, namely Backfish, Barbell, Cracklefoot, Slapdash and Tailspin, you are well aware of the deadly Heinemeyer Schlag. And you become uncomfortable and even enraged when the subject comes up because you know that those who fall victim to Heinemeyer Schlag deserve what they get and get what they deserve, and they deserve no sympathy because they should have known better. Should have had a clue. Should have worn rubber gloves when patronizing the OffTrack Betting Parlor. That dull, sticky little clubhouse for bottomed-out gamblers, where the air is thick with perspiration and bad breath, where every surface is dotted with hazardous shmootz.

The Backfish Off Track Betting Parlor, the OTB, exclusive breeding grounds of what we call Heinemeyer Schlag: an amalgam of pathogens, microscopic fungi, unicellular microorganisms, intracellular parasites, infectious flagella, hyperactive zoospores, flyspecked nucleic acid, free-range drool and sweaty palms, all brought to a deadly fruition by a convenient conduit, namely the ne’er-do-well stiffs forking over paper currency to the clerk at the OTB betting window.

And that money, laced with these nefarious ingredients, ferments right there in the cash drawer and then mutates into a deathtrap. So, the next one getting paid his winnings and recklessly accepting the booty without prophylactics, becomes the beneficiary of Heinemeyer Schlag.

Glen Gargoyle Gillooly was a Backfish native, resigned to bachelorhood and in possession of the most unprepossessing face in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Glen Gargoyle Gillooly was hard-featured. He had an ill-favored countenance.

The consensus was that he was an ugly dude. And Glen Gargoyle Gillooly admittedly was part of that consensus. Furthermore, he understood the value of self-deprecating humor and he was able to use it to his advantage.

He made his mark on television, public access TV, where he hosted a daily weather program. His forecasts occasionally suggested bad weather, but no troubling aspect in the realm of meteorology could ever match the disturbing visage of Glen Gargoyle Gillooly broadcasting the details. Did I mention that he was a really ugly dude?

So, the image of tempests or droughts or whiteouts or black ice or tundra cold or infernal heat or the odd earthquake or the wayward monsoon or some new fashioned climatic smack down were easily digestible by the TV viewing public. The most foreboding weather predictions seemed sunny and pleasant when delivered by a talking head with a face not fit to be seen.

“Don’t complain about the inclement conditions,” he would tell his TV audience. “It could be worse. You could be stuck staring at my gargoyle mug all day.”

People would pray for bad weather just to tune in hear that buzz phrase from Glen Gargoyle Gillooly. And it was always followed by a touch of slapstick. A stagehand, right on cue, would push a plate of whipped cream in his face. One of those vaudevillian sight gags that if you hear about it or you read about it, it loses its juice. Trust me, done right, a whipped cream pie in the face gets to your funny bone.

Well, one morning, a member of Glen Gargoyle Gillooly’s burgeoning fan club phoned Gargoyle telling him the name of a horse racing at Saratoga. A long shot horse named Gargoyle Storm. Gargoyle, himself, thought it worth a trip to the OTB. He put his paycheck down on Gargoyle Storm to win at 80-1 odds. Gargoyle Storm led the pack to the finish line and Glen Gargoyle Gillooly broke the bank.

But remember. The payout came in dollar bills from the OTB money drawer. Money fingered by glutinous specimens of a smudged community of pony players and allowed to assimilate and propagate, right there in the OTB cash register, so that the unsuspecting gambler, the once-in-a-while drop-in bettor, that clean, conspicuous guy who comes in on a whim and puts down a wager and wins, well, he gets paid in lethal legal tender defiled by pathogens, microscopic fungi, unicellular microorganisms, intracellular parasites, infectious flagella, hyperactive zoospores, flyspecked nucleic acid, free-range drool, and sweaty palms passed along through the medium of the flea-bitten, bedraggled OTB regulars, each one on his own immune from the fatality of Heinemeyer Schlag, each a mere piece of the puzzle, separate fixings for the stew, hardened against the invisible threat of Heinemeyer Schlag, spawned in a Woodstock of germs doing the frug amongst the grimy greenbacks slapped down at the betting window by the unhygienic OTB constituency and stowed right there in the OTB clerk’s kitty, a de facto melting pot for the toxiferous.

In other words, the paper currency was grimy and slimy from being handled by dangerously soiled hands that had been in and out of unspeakable places, sanitation not being the strong suit throughout the OTB family.

Now, Glen Gargoyle Gillooly, having played his hunch, stuffed his pockets with monetary reward, while unduly and unwittingly contracting this homicidal, mutant, organic structure thriving right there in invisibility, the structure in question being Heinemeyer Schlag.

Then at the next go-round on his public access TV weather program, Glen Gargoyle Gillooly started to experience uncharacteristic difficulty up and down his physiology. But he told himself the show must go on. And the show went bust midway into his update on barometric pressure. Gargoyle, himself, spun wildly into a funnel shaped whirlwind, the final spin of all the corrupt elements in his guts, aligned and intermingled and devolving his innards into a wretched, whipped cream type of goo, the grotesque culmination of full-blown Heinemeyer Schlag.

Yes, yes, yes. It’s hard to stay current with the abundance unhealthy, space-age bugs out there now, out there living the good life in an infinitesimal world beyond our unaided vision, wiggling disease-carrying microbes, covert savages campaigning in their minuscule coordinates, breeding and crossbreeding until they get it right.

And who can know their nomenclature? Or the extent of their parasitical squatters rights in hosts like you and me? They can’t be seen, but we can sense their swarm. And I have a funny feeling the next obituary I read will be my own.

In lieu of flowers or cash donations, the family of Glen Gargoyle Gilloly asks that you honor his memory by practicing common sense hygiene and by staying the hell out of places like the OTB. Glen Gargoyle Gillooly, dead at 54. He was a Red Sox fan.

LITTLE SHAVER

Little Joe Midkiff shaved his face and shaved his face and shaved his face. His cheeks and chin and upper lip and neck are nice and smooth now, and he’s keeping things that way. For his new girlfriend.

But Little Joe Midkiff wore grizzly whiskers like a trademark for years. Maybe that’s why his ex-wife lost interest in kissing him. Or maybe she developed an incurable case of whisker envy. Toward the end of their marriage, Little Joe’s wife admitted that she regarded him less as her husband and more as her beard.

Today Little Joe Midkiff has a new love interest and his priority is the kiss. He wants to perfect the kiss and kiss off old humiliations. Kiss his way to a right-of-way to his current inamorata. And he shaves and shaves and shaves, and peels away layers and layers of his soul for the latest flame in his life.

But, don’t worry about it. If he could, Little Joe Midkiff would go right back to the facial hair. And without the cute, biweekly trimmings. His inner ZZ Top is dying to burst out to grow long and prosper. #

18

THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY ISSUE

Architecture & Arcadia

Builder Colonials

The underlying premise of this column is that each building we construct is a mirror reflecting who we really are collectively as well as individually. The architectural historian, John Gloag has written, “Buildings cannot lie”. That is the premise of this column and it is as applicable in the Berkshires today as it is anywhere else at any other time.

The house is the most precise mirror, offering the most exact reflection of each individual’s core beliefs, its hopes and fears.

People are far more involved in the design of their own houses than in any other aspect of the built environment within which they live. Ideally, schools, court houses, office buildings — all public buildings, in fact — reflect our collective image, but our houses reflect, more perfectly, each of our own images. While a few choose to work with an architect to help them create their ideal house, most new homes are constructed with little or no direct input from an architect. In the Berkshires, as in most other parts of the country today, most homes are built from purchased plans. These plans are readily available in magazines or from lumber and building supply outlets. Houses built by contractors ‘on speculation’ are almost without exception taken from these designs. The designs are usually not based on any specific building site – flat works best for most of them – so actual owner design is usually a matter of selection and, possibly landscaping. What I find interesting is that this kind of design reflects what most people think a house should be.

Looking through a selection of these designs I can say without any risk of contradiction that the ‘modernist design’ I was taught at architecture school lost the design battle for the hearts and minds of the economic middle class. The precise and cere-

bral spatial musings of celebrated architects like Le Corbusier and Mies are nowhere to be seen, and even traces of Frank Lloyd Wright’s ideas – generally regarded as much more sympathetic to the stand-alone house than Le Corbusier and Mies were — are only marginally evident. Looking through one plan magazine I see houses with names like ‘Forgotten Blessing’ or ‘Cabin Charm’ and these are clearly designed to appeal to the heart and the gut, not the head. Each house is pictured alone – no neighbors, no nearby ‘Seven Eleven’, no cars even. Mining the past for architectural details is ubiquitous in these designs; snap-in window grills, fixed plastic shudders, cupolas are placed everywhere. Landscaping is neat and under control.

The plans are all similar. ‘Great Rooms’ have for the most part replaced the older ‘Living Rooms’. Garages, however, are dominant. These are the facts, but what do they tell us?

First, despite – or perhaps because of – the increasing population density of the region (and elsewhere), we appear to want to be alone. Neighbors don’t appear in the snapshot of our ideal home. To some degree the wealthy have always tried to purchased isolation so a ‘trickle down’ effect to the less wealthy is not surprising. Still, it bodes ill when reality and actuality grow so far apart. If depression can be defined as the distance between the way things are and the way we wish they were then Second, we do not appear to be we’re a depressed society. comfortable in our own age and seek to bring as much of the past – particularly the colonial period – to the present, even if only as architectural fragments. Of course the past is selectively pilfered; there is little ground swell evident in these designs for the return of the exterior privy or candle lighting. It is the appearance of a romanticized past that provides a sense of authenticity and solidity apparently lacking in our own time.

Thirdly, given the amount of exterior wall area, we would like to live in a castle or fortress. Seen against the backdrop of these designs, Architect Philip Johnson’s glass house in New Canaan, Connecticut seems an academic exercise, ultimately unsuited for actual human habitation. I am well aware of current energy code requirements but they do not fully explain designs like ‘Morning Sunlight’ with its tiny windows. Of course I break no ground in suggesting we are frightened a good deal of the time; hitchhikers, kidnappers, viruses, big bombs appear to surround us. The ‘Great Room’ is now the safe zone, the private refuge near the hearth were we can hunker down. The car is always available if escape is necessary. Given the dangers, both real and perceived, it is not surprising we seek refuge in our homes and we demand that our homes be nothing if not secure.

MICRO THEATRE

It is standard cocktail party conversation among architects to decry houses like those depicted in the ‘plan magazines’; among professionals it is considered the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. Seldom, however, do academically trained designers question their own assumptions and indoctrination and almost never do they examine just why houses with names like ‘Winter Retreat’ are so popular. It is a question worth asking.

- Stephen Dietemann

Notice!

The Artful Mind

will soon have it’s own web-site dedicated to the reader who wants to keep up with issues on a regular basis. It is now under construction, and we look forward to this exciting step-up. (Finally!) Posting of it’s opening will be noted in the March issue of 2010.

If you have any questions or comments for The Artful Mind, please email us: Artfulmind@yahoo (which, by the way, will be changing soon to: artfulmind.net) You can always call 413-528-5628 for getting information on our reasonably priced advertising, the additional freebees with that go with your ad, and any other information you want.

We wish you an outstanding 2010; full of love, adventure and discover.

Thank you, everyone, for being so wonderful in supporting The Artful’s mission of communicating the Arts in all four directions. We truly believe in you and know the time and years of support to the artzine has proven the Artful to be respected, and important, to all communities here and about.

Enjoy the winter.

Sincerely, Harryet Candee,Publisher

Auditions for 2010 repertory cast all ages, all levels of experience

To schedule an appointment: 413-442-2223 or microtheatre@hotmail.com Micro Theatre (dedicated to experimental theatre) 311 North St. Pittsfield, MA

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THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 2010 • 19

Photographer John Lipkowitz

Into

Botswana

Article by Nanci Race Photographs by John Lipkowitz

I met Photographer John Lipkowitz when I visited him in his home in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, just past Butternut Ski area. John’s modular home is a stark contrast to the jungles where he photographs wild animals. The animals and fish that inhabit his backyard are a startling contrast to the thundering herds of elephants and roaring lions in Botswana, Africa that John photographed on his latest exotic trip. Several of John's photographs are displayed around the house depicting his expertise in capturing with his camera what could be considered dangerous beasts. We talk about the contrasts between taking photographs of animals in untamed wilderness areas to safety of being a Trust lawyer in New York City. Some of his trips have taken him to India, Alaska, and sometimes remote underdeveloped villages then back to the bucolic yet highly cultural Berkshires where instead of the danger of the untamed wilderness he watches independent films and attends concerts at Tanglewood.

After the interview John takes me to the basement to see his studio. John shows me his printer that is capable of printing pictures up to 17x22. It’s takes up a good deal of space in the room and I see various colored ink cartridges attached to the immense machine. I can only imagine the pleasure John feels as a photo he’s taken in a remote location of the world rolls out of the printer for the first time. I speculate that he relives the exhilaration of capturing the picture of a wild creature that most people only see caged in a zoo.

There are many photographs hanging in the space while sev20 • THE ARTFUL MIND

FEBRUARY 2010

eral more are around the room waiting to be hung or placed in a show. My gaze immediately traveled to several pictures of young Indian women in colorful garb hanging on the wall in his studio. The vivid colors of the women’s clothing are striking and unexpected after looking at the more muted shades of much of the wildlife in some of the other photos.

John tells me that in India it’s all about color. He later tells me that he is an opportunist who takes advantage of situations that lend themselves to a photo opportunity. His portraits of the women are as striking as the photos of the wild game are exciting. The women are beautiful and colorful in the photos but I can’t help but wonder what their lives are really like; what kind of opportunities they have and if they are complacent about the flamboyant clothing they wear.

Their facial expressions are neutral so I don’t know how they feel about their world.

As I glance around the room I see the sliding glass doors that open out to the backyard affording John a good view of the Berkshire wildlife. Nothing as grand as some of the creatures he photographs but interesting nevertheless. John then tells me about his fish that are in the next room swimming around, wintering in the kiddie pool. "Normally," he says," they're outside getting eaten by one predator or another."

It’s ironic that John goes out into the world and photographs wild predators then comes home to the peaceful calm of the Berkshires to protect his fish from domestic predators.

I ask John if he’s concerned about his safety because of the potential danger from the wild predators he photographs

when he invades their natural habitat. However he quickly assures me that he is kept relatively safe on his trips and although he is close enough to get great photos he’s not close enough to be in danger from any of the animals.

Nanci Race: When you take your exotic trips is there any element of danger for you?

John Lipkowitz: Not for me, but certainly for many wildlife photographers. We are in a Jeep, and we don't get out of the Jeep because there are too many predators around. You don't stand up unless your guide lets you stand up, because if you break the outline of the car you're throwing shapes at these animals; lions leopards, and elephants, that they don't see a normal basis. They see cars, they see people in cars, but they don't see the outlines being broken. We had a couple of mock charges from elephants, but other than that there really hasn’t been anything. I've never experienced danger, but a lot of that is because I'm not out there by myself. When we traveled to the Arctic I was not on the ice, I was on a boat, a ship, Zodiak, which is a rubber raft, that all of us were in making landings to the various places. There are a lot of things that I would like to do, such as go see the Mountain Gorillas, but I can't do it physically. So I try not to put myself in danger, but these trips generally don't get into trouble.

NR: Why wildlife and not something else?

JL: I don't really know that. I was always interested in animals from the time I was a kid. Zoos were the places that I hung around. I photographed them even when I was young. Nature shows on TV, in the early days of Disney, those old shows narrated by Rex Allen, True Life Adventures, always intrigued me and I was a small kid. So, I think it's been a continuing interest

throughout most of my life. When we travel, we still like to go to zoos. Sometimes I can convince my wife to take a wildlife trip, when we travel these days, so I am fortunate. I came home from that African trip with 9000+ images that I had to spend weeks and weeks editing and processing.

NR: Do you consider it a drastic change from practicing law in New York City to becoming a photographer living in the Berkshires?

JL: I don't know that it was so drastic. It might seem drastic to some but I was familiar with the Berkshires. I went to camp in Cheshire, Massachusetts when I was kid and I was a counselor at that camp for a couple of years. My wife and I used to camp on weekends during the summer on October Mountain and Mount Greylock when we were first married, so we knew the area. I’ve never lived in a house before, although my wife has, and for me that’s different. There are many things that are vastly different. I spent 62 years of my life on the upper West side of Manhattan living in two apartment buildings. I lived in two apartments in each of those buildings. My office was over in the United Nations area. I practiced law for 36 years and I decided it was time to make a change.

NR: How did you actually end up in the Berkshires when there are so many different places that you could have moved to?

JL: The Berkshires was the only other place we really knew.

The first concert I went to, when I was 12, was at Tanglewood when my parents came up for visiting day when I was in camp.

It was an incredible experience, and I came to love classical music. When I was a counselor we used to go to Tanglewood all the time. Being up in Cheshire, we went to Williamstown a lot to the Williamstown Theater. It was all about the culture. The Berkshires is a unique place. I've traveled to lots of places including places in this country and there are lots of other places I'd like to live if they offered the same things as the Berkshires.

There a lot of New Yorkers who live up here as well and many more who are moving up here. So, for many reasons it’s very, very comfortable.

NR: When did your interest in photography develop? As a child or later in life?

JL: I did actually develop my interest as a child. I got my first 35 mm camera when I was 10 or 11. It was an Argus C3. A few years later I received a Leica as a gift, which was bought though connections that we had, at the PX in Germany. I did travel photography and family photography. It wasn't serious; I was a kid.

When I went to college I didn't really bother with it very much

ELEPHANT WITH CALF, JOHN LIPKOWITZ

anymore. I became interested again when my wife and I began what is called expedition travel that most people think is pretty exotic. That began in 1998 when we went on a Russian Nuclear Powered Icebreaker to the North Pole from Murmansk Russia and back to Murmansk. I was still shooting film in those days.

My passion was initiated at that point. We have made many similar trips. Never to the North Pole but to the Arctic and Antarctica and just recently to Africa. We came back a couple of months ago from Botswana. Those images will be in the exhibition that I'm having at the Berkshire Gold and Silversmith in Great Barrington, Massachusetts in February and March.

NR: Do you do digital photography now or film?

JL: Yes, digital. I got my first digital camera, a Digital Rebel in 2003. For me digital is a whole different game. I can do everything myself. I've learned Photoshop; I have a really nice printer that will print sheets up to 17x22 and rolls as well. I do all of my own work now and I could never do that in film. In high school I worked in a wet darkroom but I have no other experience besides that.

NR: Many people don't like to take care of the practical aspects of photography, they prefer the creative side. Do you find it mundane to do the printing and cropping and all the necessary tasks that go with producing your own work?

JL: Actually I love to do it. I don't get a chance to print very often. I belong to a group of 11 photographers; the Berkshire Photography Group and we've had a couple of group exhibitions over the years. We try to meet monthly when people have some work to show. Mainly what our group is about is that we critique our work so I have to print from time to time. I've been fortunate. I've gotten a couple of exhibitions on my own recently. I have to thank Tom Parker at Berkshire, Gold and Silversmith, for giving me the opportunity to do one a few months ago on a trip that we made in 2008 to India. He’s responsible for giving me this opportunity that is coming up as well.

NR: Do you consider yourself a professional photographer?

JL: I'm a very serious amateur photographer. I don't consider myself a professional although I travel with a lot of professionals. Wildlife photography is what I'm most interested in and most passionate about. The African trip was a wonderful opportunity. We did a lot of wildlife trips in India as well but that's very different. Indian parks are few and far between and the wildlife is scarce so you really have to search it out. In Africa there is wildlife all around.

NR: Do you find many photos that you have to toss because they're just not good?

JL: I think I remember in the film days, photographers used to talk about three or five percent keepers. I remember getting slides back from the labs and sitting next to a garbage can crumpling the slides I didn't like and flicking them at the garbage can. In the digital age, you can do a lot of in-field editing and you can do a lot of editing when you have some downtime. But by no means are they all keepers. Out of 9000 images I might get 500 or 600 that I really like and a couple of hundred that I'll go on to work on in Photoshop. I think I've probably printed about 50 of those images for the show, but there'll probably be only about 30 of those images in the show.

NR: Isn't that the great thing about digital photography; there is no waste?

JL: There a lot of great things and there are a lot of detriments.

The great thing is that technology is continuing to evolve rapidly just as computers have done until recently, but it's also very expensive. There's always something else that I would like to get.

Lenses have improved some, but the cameras have really improved and usually have a whole new generation within a year’s time in terms of capabilities of the cameras. So that’s the expensive part. But in terms of editing and getting an immediate return on your images when you look at them so you know what's bad right away and you know how to rework it while you're still in the field, that's great, that's fantastic. Obviously people take billions of photographs now and it's not the same thing as the old days. We have all of these networks like Flickr and all of these other things that are available. Most of which I don't even know about because it's kid's stuff and I can't keep up with them because they're far more sophisticated than I am in this area. I take pictures, process the ones I love, and that gives me an excuse to travel. Traveling gives me an excuse to take photographs and it really is a symbiotic relationship between the photography and the travel. And as long as I can do it, I'll do it. I love it; I absolutely love it.

NR: What is your idea of a nearly perfect photo?

JL: I don't know because my opinions change and my approach changes depending on what I'm faced with. When I'm traveling, I like to think I'm an opportunist. If I see an architectural formation, if I see people and I have the opportunity to get some portraits, I'll take advantage of that opportunity. I did a lot of that in India, a lot of shooting out of cars as we were moving by, and

Continued on next page....

ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM

THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 2010 • 21

JOHN LIPKOWITZ

AFRICAN WILD DOG PUPS, JOHN LIPKOWITZ

“Boy, it’s been a long day.”

a lot of very quick street photography. In Africa to we had a lot more time to work with the animals, and the Jeep could stay in one area.

When I'm photographing animals I look for behaviors. Sometimes I can anticipate something, but most of the time it's pretty spontaneous and I'd better just to be there and if I'm not there and ready then I've lost the shot. But that's the way it goes.

NR: Do you think that might be why you choose the type of photography that you do; because of the spontaneity? With people, you can pose them and put them where you'd like them to be, but with wildlife, animals are going to do whatever they want to do.

JL: Well, that's definitely a part of it. I really got serious about the wildlife photography, aside from the exotic travels, when I was still living in New York City. One day walking through Central Park at what we called the Rowboat Pond but was formally called the Lake, there was a pair of swans, mute swans, not-native to North America; British imports that lived there and raised cygnets year after year. The day I was there these seven little cygnets formed a line between the mother and the father, and I thought, “I’ve got to bring my camera back and photograph them”; so I did. Then I started looking around the lake. I started going out at six o'clock in the morning looking for other wading birds around the lake. The first article I had published in Nature Photographer magazine was about wading birds of Central Park, entitled, “Urbanized Wildlife.” The swans were there, and ducks where there.

NR: Did you have a mentor or when you were growing up; someone who fostered your interest in photography?

JL: Not growing up; I sort of picked it up on my own. I did a little photography when I was in high school for the school paper.

I was editor as well one year. When we started traveling, the companies that we traveled with very often had professional photographers with them. These were wildlife trips, and I learned a lot from several of them. They've become friends and acquaintances that we see from time to time on other travels. I just watch and listen. I haven't taken any courses, and I don't think I would give a course in the technical aspects of photog22 • THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 2010

“RROOARRRRRR!“

JOHN LIPKOWITZ

raphy, but I am doing an Ollie (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute program) that started on January 19th on "Traveling With a Photographic Eye," which is six sessions of photographs from my travels, which I have collected over the years and put together into PowerPoint. I've never done anything like that before. Hopefully people see good photography and interesting places and hopefully I'll be able to answer any questions that people have.

NR: Can you tell me about the Ollie program?

JL: It used to be Bill, the Berkshire Institute of Lifelong Learning. It's more than adult education, it offers programs in all sorts of disciplines, mostly academic and it's sponsored by several colleges in the area. Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, was one of the original colleges I believe, and I have the opportunity to present this particular program.

NR: When you were mapping out your life years ago as some of us do when we're growing up, although most of us to diverge from what we have mapped out for the future did you ever think that you would get serious about photography and finish your career in law and go on to a second career of photography?

JL: The simple answer is no. I had no idea. I knew about practicing law. Originally I intended to live in New York for my entire life and didn't give a thought to anything else. We started

traveling in 1985 when we went to China. In 1997, when we went to Africa my wife was a volunteer at the American Museum of Natural History on the West side of Manhattan and we had an opportunity to go with the museum group to Kenya and Tanzania.

Then the next year, she suggested the trip to the North Pole. It seemed absolutely insane and I said no, and she asked again, and I said it's far too expensive, and she asked again, and I said call them and get the details. So, I would say that I started thinking about other possibilities in the late 90s. But I never thought that photography would turn into a passion or that I would give anything up by moving. I give up a life in Manhattan and got a life up here, which is vastly different and for more enjoyable. As soon as I moved to the Berkshires my blood pressure went down 15 points.

NR: So did you thank your wife for that first trip?

JL: I thank her constantly for that trip. ( laughs)She was persevering. Nina, a member of the Housatonic Art League, is a painter and former pottery teacher so she understands the nature of the artist. Now, I've done some trips on my own because she didn't want to go and she's done some things on her own because I'm not interested in them, but the deal is to try to figure out trips that we both want to do. In the Berkshires I can go to a concert or independent film although it’s more limiting because of the selection of independent films, but in the city our lives were much more geared toward routines. So it's much more freeing then it was in the city NR: Have you had many photography shows?

JL: I haven't really had any gallery experience, I have not sold a lot, but I would certainly like to get that break if for no other reason than to soothe my ego little bit. But I take photographs for myself and to the extent that other people can benefit from it that’s great.

NR: Is there anything else that you do that you’d like people to know about you?

JL: Over the last several years when I’ve come back from a trip, I've made maybe a dozen online books with My Publisher.Com. My book on Africa is sitting on my coffee table.

JOHN LIPKOWITZ

“Sunset has always my favorite time of day.” “Mine too, lil’ buddy”, JOHN LIPKOWITZ

Botswana sunset

“Summer time, and the livin’ is easy...”

“Hi .”

JOHN LIPKOWITZ

JOHN LIPKOWITZ

JOHN LIPKOWITZ

My Publisher.Com really does an excellent job. I love doing the books. I enjoy writing. When I had that first article published, it took me quite a while to get out of the legalese jargon and back to the English that I knew when I was in high school and college. So my son, Daniel, a multi-published author who writes for Lego; he wrote the New York Times bestseller, The Lego Book, offered his expertise as a writer. . He and his wife live in Connecticut so he was nearby. He had to carefully edit that first article that I wrote. I've gotten much better. Partially thanks to my son and partially because I write English now, I don't write legalese any longer, for which I am thankful.

The Gallery at Berkshire Gold and Silversmith is located at 152 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA and is open TuesdaySaturday from 10:30-6. John Lipkowitz’s show runs through March. For more information on OLLI visit their website at www.BerkshireOLLI.org For more information visit John’s website at www.johnlipkowitzphotography.com

“Is this suppose to be play time, or are we really fighting?”

JOHN LIPKOWITZ

ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM

THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 2010 • 23

Eye on Botswana: Intimate Encounters with Southern African Wildlife

Photographs by John Lipkowitz February and March, 2010

Artist Reception for Opening Saturday, February 6 • 6 - 8pm

Gallery at The Berkshire Gold and Silversmith 152 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA

Tuesday-Saturday 10:30 - 6:00 pm 413-528-0013

24 • THE ARTFUL MIND FEBRUARY 2010

MICHAEL FILMUS

MICHAEL FILMUS

BERKSHIRE LANDSCAPES 413-528-1253 WWW.STEPHENFILMUS.COM