MARK MELLINGER

Mark Mellinger : 914-260-7413

The Clock Tower Business Center, 3rd floor, 75 South Church St, Pittsfield, MA markmellinger680@gmail.com

Each image is part of a limited edition. There are several sizes available. Each piece is priced according to size. Images are unframed and printed on Hahnemuhle archival papers.

Bruce Panock: 917-287-8589 www.panockphotography.com bruce@panockphotography.com

FRONT ST. GALLERY

Pastels, oils, acrylics and watercolors…abstract and representational…..landscapes, still lifes and portraits….a unique variety of painting technique and styles….you will be transported to another world and see things in a way you never have before…. join us and experience something different.

Painting classes continue on Monday and Wednesday mornings 10-1:30pm at the studio and Thursday mornings out in the field. These classes are open to all...come to one or come again if it works for you. All levels and materials welcome. Private critiques available.

Classes at Front Street are for those wishing to learn, those who just want to be involved in the pure enjoyment of art, and/or those who have some experience under their belt.

Front Street, Housatonic, MA. Gallery open by appointment or chance anytime. 413-5289546 at home or 413-429-7141 (cell) www.kateknappartist.com

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Marguerite Bride Commissioned Watercolors

If you have a special occasion in your future, consider commemorating it with a painting. A new home? An old home that you are leaving? A special vacation scene? It is nice to create longlasting memories with a painting. A custom watercolor painting of a wedding venue, a home or other special location is always a treasured gift for any occasion. Commission work is always welcome.

We painters who live in the Berkshires are very lucky. There is always something inspiring to paint just by looking around outside. The inspiration never stops, no matter the season. I have painted nearly 200 paintings of the Berkshires and nearby region …. the iconic spots we all know and love, bucolic hillsides and landscapes, funky downtowns with their unique buildings, marketplaces, rivers, lakes….if it doesn’t move I have probably painted it. If you are interested in seeing these paintings, please visit the “Berkshires” gallery on my website. Many originals are still available and fine art reproductions can always be ordered as well.

Marguerite Bride – Home Studio at 46 Glory Drive, Pittsfield, Massachusetts by appointment only. Call 413-841-1659 or 413-442-7718; margebride-paintings.com; margebride@aol.com; Facebook: Marguerite Bride Watercolors.

Mary Ann Yarmosky

From the moment we are born we long for a way to be heard. For some words suffice, for others there needs to be a deeper form of expression.

That is how artists are born. Where one might send their message through an instrument in the form of music, another might write poetry or prose. Still others speak in something more tangible through painting, photography, pottery, or sculpting. Words only bring us so far…art is the language of longing…a longing that is never fulfilled.

I have always found expression through art. At the age of five I began speaking through the piano that sat waiting expectantly in our den, an instrument that brought me peace throughout the years. Later I took to creating through fashion design, dreaming up and constructing costumes for the Boston Opera Company and outfits for the fashionable elite of Newport, Rhode Island. From there my path took many twists and turns as I lived a life as a wife, mother, caretaker and pursuant of a professional career.

TWO HAIKUS

A lone Blackbird sits dressed always in mourning for the fallen snow

A brown leaf shivers atop the barren maple the wind ushers home

—Rose Oliver

It was when my youngest son passed away unexpectedly several years ago that my longing to be heard returned with a vengeance. Words did not suffice. There are no words to express that kind of grief and longing for what is lost. On that journey of anguish, I met other women who had or were experiencing their own kind of pain. I marveled at their resilience and ability to go on despite different kinds of loss or simply dealing with the uphill complexities of life’s challenges. Through paint and a bit of canvas I began to recover my voice, but it’s not just my voice. The women I create in paint are a composite of the many amazing women I have met and continue to meet. I paint their humor, their joy and their hidden heartbreak and longing. These women do not exist except on canvas and their stories are yours to imagine. Hear them.

Mary Ann Yarmoskymaryannyarmoskyart.com

Astrology for Creators (March 2023)

Saturn in Pisces Transit: Restriction with Art, Drugs and Spirituality?

March is one of the most significant turning points for 2023 as, both Saturn and Pluto will move signs. I’ve already written about Pluto moving into Aquarius, which you can read about in my January and February 2023 columns. This month, I will focus on Saturn moving into Pisces starting on March 7, 2023, for three years and contemplate how this might impact the world of creators. I will outline a general overview of themes associated with Saturn in Pisces, give some examples of how it impacted art in the past and how it could manifest in the next three years.

A General Overview of Saturn in Pisces Transits: Saturn is a karmic teacher that often brings in restriction to create growth or it calls us to get serious in our commitments. In a more toxic manifestation, it can create authoritarian leaders who restrict based on their own subjective perceptions of an ideal. Saturn has been in Aquarius for the past three years which started on March 2020. With Aquarius representing “the people” and humanitarian efforts, we saw a lot of restriction coming from the government towards “the people” in the form of lockdowns or authoritarian resistance against protests. As of March 7th, 2023, Saturn shifts into Pisces bringing restriction, lessons, and a call to commitment in areas ruled by this sign such as art, spirituality, the transcendental, healing, the subconscious, dreams, healing, escapism, illusion, deception, drugs, and alcohol. As an example, there may be more attention paid to the harmfulness of spiritual cults and legal restrictions will come into effect to limit any harm caused by them. Simultaneously, there will be renewed interest in society towards spirituality that is more serious, committed, routine, and grounded.

What is interesting about this transit is that Neptune has been in Pisces since April 2011 and will remain there until 2026 with Saturn. I anticipate this might create some tension as Neptune, would be increasing the qualities of Pisces while Saturn will be trying to restrict it. What this feels like to me is something becoming more serious around drugs and/or mind-altering substances. As an example, the Neptune in Pisces has likely been contributing to more energy around drug addiction since 2011 but, during this three-year Saturn transit we may see authorities stepping into consider restrictions. Overall, when I think of these transits it feels like an episode of the recent show “Nine Perfect Strangers” (spoiler alert) where a group of people meet up at “Tranquillum,” an expensive wellness retreat, to find out that their spiritual guru, Masha, has been dosing them with psychedelics, mushrooms and MDMA without their consent for the purpose of healing and a spiritual hallucinogenic experience. Eventually things get out of hand. If you added in some artificial intelligence (A.I.), robots, virtual reality, and art therapy into the mix of that show, I think you will have the flavour of 2023-2026. I think things will get a bit messy in these areas in the next few years, very much like the final episode of that series, to bring us to the point where we see where the restrictions will be needed. There is often a mess when creating something new and through trial and error we find a balance that is less chaotic. Sometimes it is the restrictions that create the healthy balance for the transcendental to be experienced.

Restriction and Art in the Past with Saturn in Pisces Transits:

One of the recent times that Saturn was in Pisces was between 1935 – 1938. What is most striking about this time when thinking about a toxic expression of Saturnian restriction is the Nazi Regime in Germany. Between 1933-1945 the Nazi Regime censored “degenerate art” based on Adolf Hitler’s personal artistic preferences for Classical, Greek, or Roman art and distain for 20th century modern art. One of the artists whose works were banned and, in some cases, destroyed during this time was that of the German avant-garde painter, Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler. Specifically in December 1935, she stopped painting after a traumatic event where she was forced into surgical sterilization on the grounds of Nazi eugenicist policies. On July 19th, 1937, an exhibition was mounted by the Nazis in Munich called, Entartete Kunst (“Degenerate Art”).

Of all the artworks of this period, what strikes me as having the most Saturnian seriousness and restriction is Picasso’s Guernica (1937) which depicts in a Cubist style the bombing of Guernica, a city in Spain's Basque region. Not only is this painting embodying Saturnian seriousness that examines war but, if you think about it, Cubism, by its virtue, includes a simplification (a Saturnian restriction) of forms. I find it interesting that in the next Saturn in Pisces transit of 1964-1967 the art world saw the Maruki Gallery established in 1967 that became a permeant home for the Hiroshima Panels by Maruki Iri and Maruki Toshi which expressed the consequences of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Both of these significant works are also monochromatic; restricting colours.

It is also notable that restriction of forms and colours went to the extreme in the 1960s and early 1970s with Minimalism, which stripped away the elements of art or music until there was almost nothing. It was about getting down to what was essential and thus using restriction to find meaning. While this movement happened before, during and after the Saturn in Pisces transit of 1964-1967, it is important to consider that planetary energy is like waves which starts showing influence before, peaks during and then fades away after the transit happens.

What is Next for Art with this Saturn in Pisces Transit?

I feel that once Saturn moves into Pisces, we may start to see lawsuits and restrictions placed on A.I. art such as it being limited as to how much it can source through Stable Diffusion from living artists. I think further restrictions will be placed on A.I. art once the dangers of the illusionary (Pisces/Neptunian) qualities of it are revealed, such as how it can completely create false online identities or a reality of a person without their permission. We already have this happening to a certain degree with fake Facebook/Instagram/Twitter accounts but, with this transit, it may go to an uncontrollable level. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a digital illustrator, Ben Moran, was rejected on December 27, 2022, from a Reddit forum because his work looked too much like, and was mistaken for, A.I. generated art. Going forward, how will we be able to tell what is real in terms of images, photos, artwork, and videos? If it is at this point now, imagine what it will be like if A.I. humanoid robot artists come into play. Could it become hard to tell what is human?

It is important to acknowledge that there have been artists harmed by A.I. generated art and Stable Diffusion when it overtly steals from living artists to the degree of replicating elements of their signatures however, I also want to offer how this technology could create a positive manifestation. I have been wondering if the Stable Diffusion technology and A.I. generated art may be a first and important step towards virtual reality which will be- come a new form of art medium in the future. I see this art form as being very aligned with Pisces as it would promote illusionary worlds of escapism. There may be certain types of virtual creations that would simply be impossible for a single human to input into code however, through Stable Diffusion the artist could become a director or creator of an entire virtual world. Just as the invention of the camera didn’t replace painting, I don’t see this new art form needing to replace human artists however, certain boundaries (Saturn) would need to be put into place as to not harm living human painters, sculptors, digital artists, etc. Even human artists have legal limits when it comes to what they can source in visual materials such as respecting copyright restrictions. This new art form may be the beginning technology of the holodeck we first saw on Star Trek: The Next Generation. While the Neptune in Pisces transit tendency towards addiction gives me some concerns about Lieutenant Barclay style “holodiction” (see Star Trek TNG 3x21 "Hollow Pursuits") my mind also goes to the healing benefits (which is also very Pisces). In the right conditions with the right counselling guide, a grieving person could create an artificial reality where they get to process some of their grief with an A.I. version of their lost loved one. It may not be real but, it could assist a client in certain phases of healing. This has already happened on a smaller level in the case of Marina Smith, an 87-year-old woman who passed away in June 2022. At her funeral in the U.K. a version of Marina Smith was able to address guests and answer questions through an A.I. system that generated a holographic and conversational video experience created by StoryFil. Personally, if my mother passed, I wouldn’t want to talk to an A.I. version of her at the funeral. For me, those conversations are a sacred experience that happen in dreams, visions, and synchronistic happenings. For others, this technology might assist in their grieving process. It could also become an addiction that cuts one off from the real world, as was the case for Lieutenant Barclay. The other caution I have with A.I. generated art or Stable Diffusion is the loss of developing one’s creativity by sourcing it out to technology to do it for us. I see this as a shadow aspect which could disconnect us from what it means to be human which, in my opinion, has to do with our ability to be the creator, connect with our own spirituality and be in relationship. In the highest expression, technology should be opening us up to have more time to develop these aspects. Right now, technology is starting to take over the creative parts and most humans are still doing the grit work that keeps them from exploring their creativity. I become concerned that if society largely disconnects from human actions of creativity and connection that it could forget what being a human is and relinquish it without a second thought.

I feel very cautious about where technology is going and how it impacts art however, in a healthy balance and in certain situations such as discussed in the former, it could be used to create a new art form, promote healing, and empower. While it is important to acknowledge that Stable Diffusion has caused harm to certain artists and some boundaries need to be put in place, this technology may have needed to happen for later advancements, such as something like a future holodeck-like technology, to be created. Saturn’s energy coming into play may assist to push for compensation to the artists who were harmed but, also put in place reasonable restrictions on Stable Diffusion technology that still allow it to grow into its own artform. I think what this period is about with Saturn coming into Pisces is asking ourselves, “What restrictions will be needed so that this new artistic technology can take on the more positive manifestation without causing harm?”

Deanna Musgrave is an artist, energy worker, channel, astrologer and hypnotherapist. You can contact her through her websites at: www.deannamusgrave.com www.artisthehealer.com

Something For Over The Couch PART 20 Cat Turd In The Cathedral

My father had been involved with the woman named Nena, at the time of his death. I never could have imagined it. Nena had made a deep and permanent impression on me, but it was the old, presumably insane Harmonica man that disturbed me the most.Why would I be bothered by this old man calling me Van gogo? Let me explain. I said in the first chapter of this story. “My older brother would introduce me to his friends saying, “This is my brother Dicky, he paints pictures.” This was said in jest, but it revealed the notion that painting pictures was something that simpletons do. Then there was my mother who seemed to be convinced that painting pictures was an indication that I was not normal. This was some oddity of my own family I thought, but the visit to Nena’s restaurant exposed me to the prejudice of the poor to the fine arts. Nena and her father were poor in a way I had never witnessed, because it is one thing to read Dickens and imagine you know what poverty is. For Dickens poverty involves suffering and desperation, but it is picturesque suffering, a suffering we almost want to partake of. But when you actually enter the environment of poverty it is not at all picturesque. On my way home from my visit to Nena’s I stopped half way and went into our city's new museum of modern art, and for the thousandth time I stood in front of their Jackson Pollock painting, the most important painting in the museum's permanent collection, even though its paint was hardly even dry. I stood there looking at it and I thought, ‘What would the Harmonica Man think of this painting, and this gigantic empty room in which it is being displayed?’

To put it bluntly, it was an object that would have made any poverty stricken man puke, because if spilled and splattered paint was a thing to be respected to the point of idolization what possible alteration in the conduct of their own life could lead to a more favorable outcome? I was reminded of what Voltaire, the art critic, had said about Pollack. “Paintings done on the garage floor are indeed something to be looked down upon.”

The art museum I was standing in that afternoon was a grand and imposing structure. Not only was it grand and imposing it was without ornament and composed of gray granite slabs, and in the center a wide staircase leading up to the entry. If it had a motto engraved above the entryway, it might have said, “Oh visitor, prepare to feel humbled, as you stand before the greatest art created by man (and women). But what might one think if being hectored by the building, you went in and all you found in the center of the gigantic room was a pedestal with a cat turd on it. But, you say, there might be some bad art in museums, but surely no cat turds, no one would put a cat turd on a pedestal and expect you to respect it, perhaps pray to it, even on your knees. But there are cat turds that are worshiped in some places, for example:

My Uncle Frank and my Uncle Joe made a trip to the old country because we have relatives in some village in Calabria. At Christmas during the annual family feast we all asked them what it was like, but they were ‘men of few words,’ as the saying goes, and at first they said nothing. Then Uncle Frank’s face clouded over and he said, “We went in, we looked around, we emptied our pockets on the table, we came home with our suitcases empty. It was, it was,” but words failed him to describe the poverty of our relatives in Calabria. Uncle Joe said nothing at all. Later, when Uncle Frank had a few glasses of wine he began to talk more fluently about our relatives and their village. He said, “It's all poverty everywhere but in the center of the town there is a magnificent church, like you could never find in America. It was built to house a relic, the finger of Saint Jerome, they said. The finger was in a reliquary, coated with gold and diamonds. Inside we saw the finger and it looked like a little cat turd. People come in, light a candle, and then kneel down and say prayers and beseech the cat turd.” Then Uncle Frank began to laugh a loud drunken laugh until Uncle Joe banged his fist on the table and cried out, “Stop it.”

I thought about the church with the cat turd as I looked at the Rothko located in a less important position in our museum. I asked myself, ‘are these paintings great works of art, or are they really just cat turds in a reliquary.’ But I wanted to be a modern artist more than anything, and everything was conflicted. The next day was Saturday , and I headed for my job where I was paid three fifty an hour to visit with the Doctor’s wife, who was also my art teacher.

I wanted to tell her about my trip to Nena’s restaurant, and to describe my strange encounter with that woman and her father, but when I began to tell my story I suddenly realized I couldn’t bring myself to talk about Nena. I had an uneasy feeling that she would be annoyed by the subject, so I did not mention her but instead I started to attack the art museum, as if I was personally offended by the art in the collection. She listened to me patiently till I finished , and I ended my dissertation by saying, “How can art be great if it insults the understanding of the common man?”

After a moment she said my name, actually what she said was, “Oh Richard Richard Richard, whose side are you on. Remember when your father died, you said if there was a switch you could pull to stop the world, and throw everything into chaos, you would pull it. Do you remember how angry you were because a fly on a windowsill in your attic had life, and your father did not. Do you recall how you destroyed the bathroom of that gas station, piece by piece day after day, till it was a ruin. Well Mr. Jackson Pollock is just like you, or you are like him, because he is pulling that switch over and over again, impotently you could say, because he stopped nothing except his own life, in the car wreck that ended his pathetic drunken life. And in his rage against our society in which he had no part, there were two groups cheering him on. people you find in our prisons and insane asylums, who feel rage and hate for our society in which they also have no part. And on the other side, all those millions of people who go to work each day, and work like on a treadmill, next to their open graves. They too would tear everything up, throw their typewriter across the room and curse the nearest stranger, if they only could. They long for their life to be like one of Jackson’s paintings, wild, free, unconstrained by the rules of either art or society.

But what happened to him? Look magazine looked at him and his paintings and decided that he needed to be on the cover. They did not want their viewers to admire or appreciate his paintings, they wanted to simply ridicule such obvious trash. The title read, Pollaok, the greatest artist in America? To them it was obvious that his paintings could never be anything other than the stupidity of the modern art movement. On a national scale it was the exact same thing as ‘This is my brother Dicky, he paints pictures,’ because popular culture has always assumed that modern art is just a butt for jokes. Then, because of that article Jackson discovered that he was suddenly world famous. All it took was some ridicule in a national magazine, to launch his career. But he was a person entirely without the emotional or intellectual equipment to deal with the situation. He was already an alcoholic when all this happened to him. A friend of mine saw him drunk late at night, sitting on the curb in the street. He was saying, ‘I am the greatest artist in America, aren't I?’ He was so combative and difficult that at the height of his career he had no representation.”

“What is representation?” I asked her.

“Representation is when a gallery agrees to sell you work, and give you shows.”

What followed this question and the answer was an explanation I could hardly believe. Hanna explained to me that artists never sold their own work. That one had to be represented by a gallery, and the gallery would take half the money. Also, not having representation meant you could not have a real career as an artist. I listened to her with a strange growing irritation, and finally I said to her. “I sold a painting to your husband and I did not have representation.”

“Richard,” she replied, "he only bought the painting in order to get you to mow the lawn on Saturdays, he doesn’t have any interest in paintings.”

To this shocking revelation I just sat there mute, and Hanna's face became crimson with embarrassed regret over what she had said.

“Well then, Hanna Hanna Hanna,” I said, “who represented Rembrandt, DaVinci and Michelangelo, and who gave them shows. Isn’t it all phony baloney? I see, it is all the stupid stuff your former husband was involved with isn't it?”

“Well,” she said , “It can’t be helped, it's the world we live in, if you don’t like it, write to the Pope, and ask if he will commission a painting for over a Vatican fireplace.”

—Richard Britell

PARTS 1 THROUGH 19, AT SPAZIFINEART COM (SHORT STORIES)