The Artful Mind April 2024

ERNEST SHAW Concage #1 Photograph by Aaron Rezny

KEITH DAVIDSON

www.davidsondesigncompany.net

Studio appointments, please call 413-528-6945

Keith and Mary original artwork for sale

Studio/gallery, South Egremont, MA

FLY ON THE CANVAS ARTIST

Reception

THE ARTFUL MIND

APRIL 2024

“The transience of life and the importance of cherishing every moment”

ARTIST ERNEST SHAW

Interview by H. Candee

Photography by Aaron Rezny & Courtesy of the Artist 14

M. BRADY

Psychotherapist / Musican / Visual Artist

Interview by H. Candee

Photography of the Artist by Claudia D’Alessandro...22

PAINTING JAZZ: FULL-STEAM AHEAD

BY EDWARD BRIDE ...32

ASTROLOGY FOR CREATIVES

D.M. Musgrave - April 2024 43

RICHARD BRITELL | FICTION

THE PRODIGAL DOG

PT. 7: THE CONCLUSION OF VALERIA’S DREAM...47

Publisher Harryet Candee

Copy Editor Marguerite Bride

Third Eye Jeff Bynack

Distribution

Ruby Aver

Carolyn Kinsolving

Contributing Writers

Edward Bride

Richard Britell

D.M Musgrave

Contributing Photographers

Edward Acker

Tasja Keetman

Bobby Miller

ADVERTISING RATES

413 - 645 - 4114 artfulmind@yahoo.com issuu.com | Instagram

FB: ARTFUL MIND GALLERY for Artful Minds 23

The Artful Mind PO Box 985 Great Barrington, MA 01230

The baby snapping turtle shall appear on this photograph on April 13th, 2024 in Hudson, New York at Time & Space Ltd.

Plastic Jesus. Photograph on dibond, baby snapping turtle (not shown) Gustavo A. Madero, Mexico City. 40 x 27-1/4 in

TW MCCLELLAND & DAUGHTERS CREATIVE FINE JEWELRY

Tim McClelland is a fine jeweler in Great Barrington, MA known for his 20+ years as the creative hands and mind behind McTeigue & McClelland Jewelers. He has been practicing the art of jewelry making for more than 50 years.

Engagement rings from his Wildflower Collection are worn by editors of Vogue, Vanity Fair, W, Town & Country, Martha Stewart Weddings, and acclaimed by many more. TWM original pieces have graced the red carpets of the Oscars and Cannes.

Tim uses ancient and traditional jewelry making techniques to bring to life timeless, inspired jewelry. His work is known the world over by jewelry connoisseurs and those who seek out originality, beauty and quality. In his designs Tim is inspired by nature, humor, light, balance, and the materials themselves. He uses his his work to create a joyful expression in a tiny space. Most importantly Tim hopes to be of service to his community and customers.

Beginning this Autumn the TWM atelier doors will open to the public, Thurs., Fri, Sat, 11 - 5pm! Please join our mailing list via twmcclelland.com for an invite to the opening.

Contact us directly about all things jewelry at info@twmcclelland.com or 413-654-3399. Follow along on Instagram and Pinterest at @twmcclelland

RICHARD NELSON

I try to keep a balance between my realist pieces and my abstract work. I will frequently do two or three “ serious” drawings, usually portraits of people who interest me, or dogs or automobiles, and then follow them up with a couple of abstract pieces. Like having a beer after work. The focus and concentration of drawing a realistic piece followed by undisciplined, anything goes abstract piece is very satisfying to me. And it seems that the freedom of that abstract work carries over, a bit , into the realistic stuff, giving it a looser , more casual feel. Likewise, the realistic stuff helps to create a somewhat less random and a bit more focused abstract. I will at times do a little purging and draw something in great detail which touches upon something more personal and at times kind of scary, which is very cathartic, but then obscure it by exaggerating lines and shapes until the original drawing is completely obfuscated and a different , abstract image replaces it. Better than therapy, I gotta tell you.

Now it is time for me to show my work. I hope you enjoy it.

Richard Nelson - (Rick Nelson on FB) nojrevned@hotmail.com

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC SOMETHING BORROWED, SOMETHING BLUE – CROSS-CULTURAL SYNERGY

Close Encounters With Music presents an afternoon of jazz, tango, liturgy, waltz, Habanera and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue at The Mahaiwe, 4 PM on Sunday, April 14. Composers include Haydn (Gypsy tunes), Max Bruch (German composer uses synagogue “Kol Nidrei” prayer), Ravel (Spanish heritage), Cesar Cui (Russian composer writes “Orientale”), and Astor Piazzolla (tango goes to Paris!).

Pianist Michael Chertock has been soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, the Toronto, Baltimore, Detroit, Utah, and Oregon Symphony orchestras and made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Cincinnati Pops.

Since his emergence winning top prize at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, violinist Itamar Zorman has wowed audiences all over the world with breathtaking style, causing one critic to declare him a “young badass who’s not afraid of anything.” Also winner of the 2013 Avery Fisher Career Grant, he has performed as soloist with such orchestras as the Israel Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, German Radio Philharmonic, and RTE National Symphony Orchestra (Dublin), working with Zubin Mehta, Michael Tilson-Thomas, David Robertson, Valery Gergiev, Karina Canellakis and Yuri Bashmet. Chertock and Zorman will be joining cellist and Artistic Director Yehuda Hanani in “Something Borrowed, Something Blue—CrossCultural Synergy.”

As of this season, CEWM has resumed its hors d’oeuvres and wine receptions. Audience members are invited to meet the artists and enjoy beverages and bites by Authentic Eats by Oleg on stage at the Afterglow receptions. Join us.

“CEWM patrons have learned that sooner or later they’ll be blindsided by a performance so sublime it will defy explanation.” - The Berkshire Edge

Close Encounters With MusicTickets, $52 for Orchestra and Mezzanine and $28 for Balcony seats, can be purchased at www.cewm.org or by calling 413-528-0100. A virtual option is also offered —$28 for individual programs, delivered to your email address.

CLASSIC FLORA, WILDFLOWER ENGAGEMENT RING

MICHAEL CHERTOCK ITAMAR ZORMAN

COUNTING THE DAYS UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, DIGITAL ART PRINT

PORTAL, DIGITAL ART PRINT

Jordan Nobuko Baker

3rd Floor 75 South Church St Pittsfield MA

914. 260. 7413

instagram@mellinger3301

markmellinger680@gmail.com

Ghetta Hirsch

Enjoy this preview of a future Spring in New England! This was a commission and I do not have this painting anymore, but I enjoyed recreating a meaningful moment for a hiking couple. Come and view more of my landscape paintings. Thursdays or Sundays are good days to visit my studio in Williamstown.

Contact me: 413. 597. 1716.

ghetta-hirsch.squarespace.com

Ghettagh@gmail.com

Gangsters. Acrylic on canvas. 10x10. 2022

New Hampshire Lake 2024 Oil on Arches paper

Pamela Berkeley

Current/Upcoming Shows

Baker University, 615 Dearborn St, Baldwin City, KS 66006 2024 National Juried Show – 2/13/24 to 4/5/24, Opening Reception on 2/20/24, 5-7pm

Rockland Arts Festival, 77 Bardonia Road, Bardonia, NY 10954 USA

The Color of Skin –2/26/24 to 4/26/24, www.RocklandArtsFestival.org

Virtual Reception on 3/4/24 at 7:00pm

Washington Art Association, 4 Bryan Memorial Plaza, Washington Depot, CT 06794 2024 Members Show – 3/9/24 to 4/7/24, Opening Reception on 3/9/24, 4-6pm

The Artful Mind at Time & Space, Ltd, 434 Columbia St, Hudson, NY 12534

Fly On The Canvas – 4/14/24 to 5/11/24, Opening Reception on 4/13/24, 5-7:30pm

MVA Gallery, 35 E. Elizabeth Avenue, Suite 313, Bethlehem, PA 18018

Portals and Passages – 5/1/2024 to 5/26/2024

Pamela Berkeley

Email: therealpamelaberkeley@gmail.com

Website: https://www.pberkeley.com/ (Artist videos of exhibitions are attached)

Gallery: https://www.bluemountaingallery.org/

Artsy: https://www.artsy.net/artist/pamela-berkeley

Cell: (413) 717-8264

Hellebore in a Peter Hewitt Vase (Work in Progress), Oil, Pastel and Charcoal on Linen, 36in x30in, 2024

JANE GENNARO

THE ARCHITECTURE OF HUMAN RESPONSE

2021

Corona, the paper calls it A deadly virus going global; Italians are singing from balconies, Shanghai apartment buildings echo with screams of protest, Americans hoard toilet paper.

Up the block, on a brownstone stoop, a pile of junk with a cardboard sign says “Help Yourself”. I unearth two white ceramic blocks— What the? These are high-fired ceramic recessed toilet paper holders! Uncanny.

I play with my new playthings in my studio upstate. I stack, balance, and unbalance them. Turn one on its side. Push out the old wooden spool. Pop a marble that looks like planet Earth in the circular indentation that held the spool.

2022

February. Russia invades Ukraine in an escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War that started in 2014. I go on Etsy and order vintage medical syringes made in Ukraine. They arrive safely with a note from the seller.

“Thank you for supporting Ukraine!”

I insert the glass syringe into the ceramic block.

2023

In a thrift store, I spot a soapstone bookend. It’s shaped like books; its partner has gone missing. I buy it and sand off its pond-scum color which softens into an aqua akin to blue farm eggs.

2024

Stephen’s in the kitchen unloading groceries. I grab a blue farm egg and replace the marble. I move the marble onto a steel wedge I’ve epoxied to the edge of the white ceramic block. I see a small blue planet on top of things that humans like me struggle to grasp.

Jane Gennaro -janegennaro.com

JOHN LIPKOWITZ

For a quarter of a century, I have considered myself a serious photographer, primarily interested in nature and wildlife. Still, with a broader eye, which results from the travels my wife and I have shared during this period, most of my photography has been travel related and many of our destinations, (some by myself) have concentrated on nature. We have especially sought out the wildlife of Africa and the ice, light and wildlife of the Polar regions.

Traveling to Polar regions, especially the Arctic in summer with 20 to 24 hours of daylight, presents opportunities to maximize one’s day. If a polar bear is sighted at 2 AM it is up, pile the layers on, and go out on deck no matter how cold, to await the long approach of our ship, as the captain seeks to minimize the alarm for the bear.

As sentient beings, each bear has a personality and some exhibit fear as these giant “creatures” (the ship) approach which causes us to break off contact. In contrast, others are curious, and either pay us little attention, or if the bear is one of the rare ones it actually approaches us.

Much further south, southern and eastern Africa offer wildlife and scenery on a much different platter. Although the numbers of many species have plummeted since we were first there in 1997, due to human encroachment causing habitat loss, hunting and poaching, many countries in Africa have well-developed protected lands consisting of national parks, tribal areas, and private concessions, recognizing the educational and economic benefits for their people of preserving as much as possible of what wildlife is left.

John Lipkowitz’s photography work, “Bears, Cats, Dunes, Ice and Two Elephants, will be on display at 510 Warren Street Gallery, May 3May 26, 2024. Artist’s Opening Reception is planned for Saturday, May 4, 2 - 6pm.

510 Warren Street Gallery is locat4d at 510 Warren Street in Hudson, NY. Open Fridays and Saturdays 12 - 6pm, and Sundays, 12 - 5pm. JohnLipkowitzPhotography.com JLIPKOWITZ1@aol.com

HIGH-FIRED CERAMIC RECESSED TOILET PAPER HOLDERS, METAL, A SYRINGE

MADE IN UKRAINE, AN EGG, A MARBLE, A SOAPSTONE BOOKEND

DETAIL OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF HUMAN RESPONSE 2021-2024

elizabeth cassidy

Artist, Writer, Illustrator, Peace Lover

I am one of the artists whose work will be featured in the big group show FLY ON THE CANVAS

“The transience of life and the importance of cherishing every moment”

April 13th – May 11, 2024

• Reception: Saturday, April 13th, 5-7:30 PM

TIME & SPACE LTD. / TSL

434 Columbia Street, Hudson, NY Open Daily

Learn more at: www.elizabethcassidystudioworks.com elizabethcassidyart@gmail.com

“Over Easy” Mixed Media 8” x 8’ (in a 14” x 17” frame) 2024

ELEANOR LORD

Please visit—

www.eleanorlord.com

To see more of the Artist’s Landscapes, Still-life, Portraiture and more.

Carolyn M. Abrams

Floral Poetry Oils/cold wax

Atmospheric and Inspirational Art

www.carolynabrams.com

MEMBER GUILD OF BERKSHIRE ARTISTS

Intro to Cold Wax Medium class starting in April at Berkshire South Community Center

More info: www.berkshireartists.org

DON LONGO

“The Berkshire Birch trees always stood out to me more in the winter months than the summer ones. The contrast of their white, grey and dark bark against the freshly fallen white snow around them created a natural beauty that is second to none.""

- Don Longo

www.donlongoart.com

Facebook: Don Longo

Instagram: don_longo

Email: dljoseph55@yahoo.com

BERKSHIRE BIRCH Acyrlics and canvas, 24 x 36”

Landscape, Pastel

ARTIST ERNEST SHAW

Interview by Harryet Candee Photography by Aaron Rezny & Courtesy of the Artist

“Art speaks in tongues, says everything, and nothing at all, to everyone, or no one.”

Harryet Candee: Collecting random objects is a common theme among artists, as they can use them in their art projects or draw inspiration from them. I must admit that I, too, have been guilty of collecting odd things that I eventually get rid of or use in my artwork. I am curious why you are fascinated with collecting milk cartons and cardboard boxes. How have you incorporated them into your artmaking?

Ernest Shaw: I don't really "collect" them. I hold on to them. I have always enjoyed manipulating and re-forming used milk containers, finding deep gratification in the process. Most just got tossed out, and some stayed. I similarly found breaking down and crushing old cartons a way to instant transformation, always struck by the accidental beauty, condensed power, and design resulting from the process. Over decades, I thought these objects were as interesting and beautiful as anything I created, despite the brevity of the process and trust in the outcomes of not knowing exactly what I'd discover with a few well-aimed stomps. The cartons have grown into the CONCAGE series I have spent the past year working on, with cardboard, concrete, and bronze casting.

I am interested in the concept of "anthropomorphism" that you incorporate into your artwork. Anthropomorphism is the act of attributing human qualities to non-human entities. Some people even believe that God is anthropomorphic. I would like to know more about this concept and how we can better understand it when viewing your art. How would we better understand this concept when looking at the body of work we'll see at "Artsy"?

ES: I once wrote a line, "seeing myself in all I saw, seeing in all myself." It alluded to the quantum (and spiritual/religious) sense of all the universe being on a continuum. The boundaries, divisions, and separateness between things are arbitrary ways of seeing and thinking. Anthropomorphism refers to the fact that, as humans, when creating art, we are doing so from a place of interconnection. We consciously or unconsciously relate to things through our human minds, hands, and ways of seeing. Our brains are wired to recognize patterns and often see our humanity reflected in the world around us because we are inherently connected. I remember once when Michael Brenson was writing a review in the NY Times of abstract totemic

—Ernest Shaw

steel pieces of mine in the early 1980's. He said, at its core, all of Shaw's work relates to the human figure. It surprised me. And yet, much of my work over the past 60 years was indeed figurative. Maybe the fruit never falls far from the tree.

Do you feel excited to pursue Concage as your next project, or do you have other ideas?

ES: The Concage series is just another station along the way. Things go around and come around. The universe moves in cycles, like seasons and tides, youth and age, life and death. Things are always in flux, and, as Heraclitus said, "You can't put your foot into the same river twice." My areas of exploration have always changed over time, coming and going, opening and closing doors. Some artists stick to a particular theme, style, or imagery. It's not the way I view my life or art. Sure, it's all interconnected at some level; themes like balance and imbalance, the nature of self and shadow, and order and chaos permeate my work. Our world is an ongoing process of chance. What I know today, I shall not know tomorrow. Who I am today I was not (except in some remembered sense of a 'fixed and solid self) last year. It all depends not on what

No-Self Series, Photo drawing inkjet print, 40”x25” 2019

we see but how we see. New things appear, strike the imagination, and as things unfold, so do the concerns and perspectives change with it. Things evolve and devolve. Every day reveals and conceals a world. The thing is, art is without beginning and end. I don't want to be stuck in the same station all my life. Freedom implies choices, so as an artist, I make my choices; you make yours. We all play our unique hand, sitting at the one table, life. How we think and how we see often determines what we do. What we do matters. There is no formula for art or life.

I am curious how showing your art at "Artsy" came about.

ES: My wife went there for the beautiful and unique eyeglass frames they carry. Their 'shop" was filled with a show of Warhol-related posters and drawings of other artists. While listening to Julio talk about art, I flashed him an image of one of my CONCAGE forms in bronze. Well, chemistry and his enthusiasm did the rest. I always tell patients, 'Start where you are". The present moment is the only place you can get traction. I've always trusted in the process and never got stuck on the straight, narrow path. The art world has spiraled deeper and deeper into a formulaic world grounded in money. I like Julio, I like his space, and I admired what he was doing, so we started this col-

laboration. Where else should I have started? You never know; in life, that's all I know. So why not open up the game a bit? It depends on how you see and how you think.

In your statement, you say, "When art ceases, everything is gone." I cannot imagine that ever happening. The question is, why do we need to make art at all? Why do you need to be an artist?

ES: Why did the straw man, the cowardly lion, the Tin Man, and Dorothy seek the Wizard of Oz? Because they felt (incorrectly) something was missing in them, unreconciled. So we are called to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of art. We are searching for ourselves and our place in the universe, a way of knowing. We put our hands, minds, and hearts into the discovery process, literally into creation. Our mortality leaves us with a not-sovague anxiety, a longing for something else, something more, some immersed, baptized into the cosmos.was to be a part of. Art is the Wizard we long to find communion with, the process, the joys and sorrows, successes and failures. I think what comes to us is a way of seeing and being seen, knowing and being known. We want to understand the mystery of Lazarus rising, the Monarchs returning to milkweed, and what it means to be human. Art raises questions far more than answers.

It is challenging yet joyous work. Art gives us the wings to fly, but we must navigate the sky. We often end up right back where we are, yet 'know the place for the first time." We are made wiser by what we discover.

Is being a psychotherapist also a solid connection to being an interdisciplinary artist? How do they overlap and stay apart, as you have seen over the years?

ES: The two careers might seem to have little to do with each other on the surface. Still, they are very deeply interconnected in that they both deal with transformation, paying focused attention, looking for powerful ways to express narratives, and change. Whether you are helping somebody discover new ways to be in their lives or new ways of being, it is also what I do when I encounter a piece of wood, steel, paper, and pigment: imagine new possibilities, transform material and ideas into the cauldron of transformation. They are like the two wings of a bird, working together, allowing flight.

I am interested in the waterfall you created in your backyard. As a water person, I find this fascinating and want to know how this was done and why.

ES: When we moved to our present home 18 years Continued on next page...

Concage #2 and Concage #3 Cardboard, Concrete and Bronze

Informant Series, Oil and pigment on canvas, 96” x 72”, 2001

Ashokan Series, Granite and steel, 46” x L.72”, 1975

ago, an old lap pool was in serious disrepair. As a child, my father bought a remote piece of land in the Catskills called Katrina Falls, with a 90-foot waterfall on it. His remote dream was to own a small property with a waterfall. So, his dream became a lived dream for me as well. We had stumbled into our corner of Eden. The waterfall marked some of my life's most wondrous and happiest moments. Sixty-five years later, having done a fair amount of large public commissions, we built a waterfall on a new property we bought, using the repatched lap pool as a catch basin to pump water back to the top. We brought in nine 40-foot flatbeds of boulders and a mini mountain of fill and constructed our 35-foot high falls. It anchors me to my past, to the sheer joy of tumbling waters and memories. We can turn it on and off on demand, which is one of the few things in life where that is so. It's kind of nifty, transporting.

Let's get a grip on a timeline for your impressive life as an artist. You have delved into so many mediums. And is it true, self-taught? I want to get a picture of life when you were just a kid and how you discovered that building things would be a way of life for you down the line.

ES: I always made 'things as a child, felt grounded in piling stones, diverting rivulets of streams, weaving sheaves of grass, and stacking them in the crooks of trees. It blanketed my childhood anxieties and traumas with infinite possibilities, all right underfoot. A world waiting to be witnessed,

touched, transformed. It became my essential way of living, flowing with time and making my mark. Like a prisoner scratching off their days on prison walls (those beautiful marks of sorrow and solitude), like lovers scratching hearts and initials on the vulnerable bark of beech trees, making things absorbed me; I was of this world, here, with voice and heart. Magic abounded.

It seems you are fearless and accepting of all phases of life. The infinity of life here and everywhere pops up in your art, especially when your drawing lines are chaotic, and you express yourself in a series, Momento Mori. Spending time in your safe haven art studio must be why you have had time to search out meanings of life through art.

ES: I can't say the studio is a safe haven, but it was always "HOME"—a place of one's own, infinite possibilities, finite human limitations. At times, like a stream in winter, I was frozen there, stuck. At other times, that stream overflowed with the rushing waters, and I had to find balance in the tsunami of ideas and imagination. Every moment is different. I never knew exactly where I was going, but being in that flow pulls you along; you heed the call and go. Those days, it is hard to leave at day's end, to step away from the intensity of that immersive 'doing.' Yet I was always determined to do the work, to search as honestly and listen as intently as possible, find what was asking to be found and enter. It was a calling. Art calls. Some-

times, I was just stuck, seemingly forever. I tried to paint the stuckness and sculpt the weight of it all. And draw, and draw and draw and draw. I often felt making art was an 'antidote' to death, anxieties, and sorrows. Of course, I had to get up each day and show up. At 82, it is still how I proceed. It's amazing how it goes on, like Katrina Falls, and how we ultimately leave everything behind. I feel lucky to have been 'bitten' by the arts serpent.

Please describe how you have connected the art you have made about yourself to the writer James Joyce.

ES: Oh, The Dead. I remember seeing it in London with my last wife some forty years ago. The John Huston film, the only time he worked with his daughter, Angelica. The world's sadness and pain fell like the weight of history, love, and loss in that theater. I was blanketed by the most profound, sweetest pain and longing I ever had imagined. I couldn't leave the theater or walk out into the light of day. I thought the sorrows and love of the human dilemma were bottomless and would never cease. Somehow, that is my wellspring of art and everything worth knowing. To fix a broken world, bring love to the not beautiful, an offering. Yes, that too, for I have felt it in my bones. Art is an offering, no more, no less. Everything about Joyce and youth and dreams, time and place, felt toxic in its most beautiful way. Joyce never really washed out of my system and can never be recaptured.

Continued on next page...

Corona Suite, 2020 No-Self Series, Photo drawing inkjet print, 40” x 25”, 2019

Tell us about your most outstanding achievement in life so far.

ES: My love for my son, who died several years ago. It left a gaping hole in my universe. So, going on despite the pains, going back forever and forward forever is, I guess, a major achievement. I love it as much as I can. Helping thousands of people, I called patients for over 60 years and still worked to be better without overworking. I think of psychotherapy as rolling out the red carpet for reality. For all of us, bearing our realities is a supernally great achievement. Sadly, we usually fail to recognize that. So we feel we are failing, missing something bereft of heroism. It is heroic to show up, endure, and let life be. We get extra points for loving.

You have had some injury experiences over time; I hope those experiences left you running for more! You have tons of energy. Part of the course of working with certain materials will lend itself to caution; what have you found to be the most dangerous part of working on largescale sculpture and other mediums?

ES: Youth. How youth denies a mortal heel, like Icarus. The work with large-scale steel using selfbuilt cranes and hoists was, well, foolish, to be kind. Naturally, I had some accidents. But you know, getting out of bed and driving distracted by phones and things is probably more dangerous. Little by little, I learned, I hope. Around 1980 or so, I was confined to bed for two months with a signif-

icant back injury, and I used those two months to explore drawing. When I was finally up and around, I began to exhibit them and had several museum shows mainly built around drawings and not sculptures. It was worth it.

I enjoy hearing about adventures that artists experience, as they often lead to valuable life lessons and unforgettable moments in time. Can you share one occasion and what you learned from that experience?

ES: I only took one studio art course. After finishing all my pre-med requirements last semester at Alfred University, I took a drawing course with Daniele Rhodes, the head of their vaunted College of Ceramics. On the first day out, I chose to draw a stream that was coursing through shale embankments. I had yet to learn what I was doing, mainly rendering water. I made a mess, improvised, and scooped water onto my drawing 'feeling.' I hope it works. Back in class, I was embarrassed when I saw how the art students could draw. Long story short, Rhodes took my 'painting' to the easel in front, where I was sure he would publicly dismiss me from the class. Instead, he extolled the virtues of my piece. It was a shock to me and a lesson I learned and never lost sight of: don't worry, follow my instincts and intuition. I never did another worthwhile thing that semester because now I was trying too hard to do a 'good' drawing' anyway; he still gave me an A for the course and offered that if I dropped the medical school plans, he would be

my mentor for a MA degree in art. Of course, I didn't, but that ignited my passion for art, and I never quit from that moment on.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, you created a series of drawings that depicted this period in our lifetime. Out of all the pieces you made, which one best captures your emotions? Also, which artwork tells the most about these unprecedented times?

ES: The Corona Suite was a series of works on paper and mixed media, which I began with the onset of the epidemic and carried through until about eight months ago. They were a 'journal' of the plague years, and I worked on them daily during my time with telemedicine. I was trying to capture the tempo, feelings, fragmentation, disruption, isolation, and anxiety of those times, of a world in disarray. They felt like a prayer, a visual prayer, like a witness, an unwavering witness. I kept the work on one size of paper, a single constant in our disordered world. I feel as strongly about these as anything I have done in my 60 years as an artist. My 'line' and painting and way of working and experimenting never felt so true, so essential. That's saying a lot; I'm always immersed in my 'current' work. I grew emotional and spiritual roots in my studio, and although I've exhibited some of them, I hope one day to see them hung together as a body of work and a journal of days. I don't believe I can ever draw and paint that way again.

Informant Series, Oil and pigment on canvas, 72” x 60”, 2001

No-Self Series, Photo drawing inkjet print, 40” x 25”, 2019, 72” x 60”, 2001

In what ways have you seen yourself follow in your father's footsteps? (Or someone else?)

ES: My father taught me so much about living, nature, history, art, and literature. Then, he had a depressive breakdown when I was 10, having had to settle into a business life he hated. It was the 1940's. He had a family to raise. He had been a high school teacher when he was young. He arose from the breakdown with the jolt of ECT like a Phoenix rising from the ashes. He changed his life, followed his authentic dream, went back to school, and completed his master's and then his Ph.D. in literature, all while working, teaching part-time in NYC, being a father, less present, of course. He spent the rest of his life doing what he loved best: a college professor of English and world literature. We share that both of us changed, engaged in new careers, and worked hard to overcome difficulties, be creative, and help others. He was a good man and died too young.

Which process and medium in art would you say has been the most fun for you?

ES: I moved to the Hudson Valley after my medical/psychiatry training at Albert Einstein in 1970. By then, I was perpetually making art, small pieces in my NYC apartment. When I moved up here, I began to work in wood. In 1974, I awoke 'afire" from a lucid, vivid dream of men in the iron and bronze age, forging, pouring metals, and casting. I was so struck by the intensity and ecstatic feelings that stayed with me that I drove up to Kingston that

day and bought some welders and equipment, a book on how to weld, and a few scraps of steel from the steel yard. By the end of the first day, I had completed my first sculpture. Over the next decade and a half, I had done over 325 pieces in steel, shown in museums and major galleries, and had work all over the country: public, museum, municipal, and university collections and hundreds of private collections. I only have one large steel piece left, which came back to me when a collector was leaving the country. I traded him several works on paper, which is more portable. Since then, every medium I've worked with has engaged me with its own magic. Currently, the small CONCAGE cement forms are my new squeeze. But steel was so new, so challenging, so ripe to explore.

When you think of the artists who have left a lasting impression on you, who comes to mind first and why?

ES: David Smith because he sat at the forge of the Titans and moved down so many paths. His imagery cut a wide swath, from playful to austere, and he explored such a rich diversity in his personal dance with steel as material.

What changes would you make if allowed to alter any aspect of your life, whether from your past or present? Consider the various events, decisions, and circumstances that have brought you to where you are today, and reflect on how you might have done things differently.

ES: Probably none because every road leads you into life. We get a good enough life and should rejoice in that. As the Sergio Leone Western knew, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly come with everything. If you change something, your life will be different if you are caught up in fantasy. If we intend to make our lives vital and worth living, we needn't be attached to changing things. Balance the tires on my car, remember our anniversary, and pay attention. Yeats said: 'The only thing god asks of us is attention.' So far, so good. And to think if only something were otherwise, we're already fooling ourselves into believing, if only this or only that, THEN I'd be different.

What’s cooking on the horizon?

ES: My book, titled No Time Wasted will be out in the late spring of 2024, right around the corner. It’s being published by Small Batch Books in Amherst. It’s a book of my art for the past five years, and writings, poetry and prose, from the last 60 years. If you get the chance, go see my art exhibit, “Renewal & Entropy” at Artsee, 529 Warren St., Hudson, NY. Meet Ernest at his opening reception April 6, 5 - 8pm. The show runs from April 6 to June 7, 2024.

Mnemonic Series, Graphite on wood, 26 H”, 1988

Mnemonic Series, Graphite on wood, 30 H”, 1988

MARK MELLINGER

My two careers, art and psychoanalysis, concern what can be said and what remains mute. In painting, collage and constructions of wood and iron I’m interested in the eloquence of the materials.

Avoiding a recognizable style in favor of experimentation, I explore the possibilities of the media. Our world and culture are dissolving. Art can create precious islands of meaning and joy.

Mark will be showing his work at Hotel on North, February 2 - March 31, 2024, 297 North St., Pittsfield, MA 01201

Mark V. Mellinger, Ph.D.914-260-7413, 75 S Church St, Pittsfield MA, instagram@mellinger3301

FRONT ST. GALLERY

Pastels, oils, acrylics, and watercolors…abstract and representational…..landscapes, still lifes and portraits….a unique variety of painting techniques 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 10-1:30 pm 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 are welcome. Personal critiques are available.

Kate will be showing “My Garden” series of paintings at 510 Hudson Gallery, 510 Warren St, Hudson, NY. Feb 1- through the 25th. Reception is Saturday, February 10, 2 - 6pm.

Front Street Gallery, Housatonic, MA. Gallery open by appointment or chance, anytime. 413528-9546 at home or 413-429-7141 (cell) www.kateknappartist.com

The perfect gift to show friendship and love. Find charms that delight and fascinate. Hand-made beaded jewelry, plus there’s so much more to see on Laura’s online site!

— Commissioned pieces welcome —

www.LoopeyLaLa.Etsy.com

ELIZABETH CASSIDY

Artist, illustrator, writer, peace lover.

I am an award-winning mixed media artist who believes that the world is imperfect.

I am imperfect. My art is imperfect. But my messages are clear and precise.

I am a lover of colors and movement, but I so appreciate the crispness of black & white and stillness. Whether I paint using acrylics or draw with ink and colored pencils, or cut up papers, my personal success comes from drawing people into my art and my world.

I am one of the artists whose work will be featured in the big group show:” The Fly on the Canvas: The transience of life and the importance of cherishing every moment” exhibit. April 13th –May 11,2024. Reception: Saturday, April 13, 5-7 PM at TIME & SPACE LIMITED/ TSL, 434 Columbia Street, Hudson, NY. Open Daily. Elizabeth Cassidywww.elizabethcassidystudioworks.com, elizabethcassidyart@gmail.com

PAINTING BY KATE KNAPP

HOW MANY MORE, MIXED-MEDIA, 14 X 14”, 2024

CANDACE EATON

The artist welcomes visits to her Sheffield studio by appointment.

Paintings are available as originals, custom-sizes and signed reproductions.

Candace Eaton (631) 413-5057

www.candaceeaton.com

candaceeatonstudio@gmail.com

candace@candaceeaton.com

Alchemical Venus 37” x 48”H” Oil | Jazz / Horse series

American Pink 34” x 50”H” Oil | Icon / Archetype series

Alchemical Venus is one of my Jazz/Horse series paintings while American Pink belongs to my Icon/Archetype series. Both series will be shown at the TSL show in Hudson, New York from April 13 through May 11, 2024 Come experience the artist’s double vision!

M. BRADY

Psychotherapist n Musician n Visual Artist

Interview by Harryet Candee Photograph of Artist by Claudia D’Alessandro and Courtesy of the Artist

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.” - Brene Brown

Harryet Candee: You are a psychotherapist, musician and visual artist. You have just released a "concept album" about therapy written from the perspective of the client. Can you tell us about this project?

M. Brady: I have written songs for years but have yet to share them with anyone. I wrestled with doubt, compared myself to others, and, to put it simply, was terrified of releasing intimate songs. Yet, every day in my job as a therapist, I encouraged clients to be vulnerable and take risks. I began to feel a disconcerting cognitive dissonance that I was encouraging my clients to be vulnerable but avoiding the skeletons in my musical closet. I was also getting older and knew that I would have deep regret if I never honored my passion for music. Something had to give. Making my first album suddenly seemed like the only option. About this time, I had concluded that the work I witness in my office every week is far more com-

pelling and inspiring than anything else I might write songs about. I decided that the record would become a concept album about the inner worlds of anonymous clients (all my songs are fictional and, of course, do not represent any real clients), taking on difficult problems and creating their next step. The process of making the record became the vehicle to challenge my old fear system, whose first commandment was "Thou shall not be vulnerable."

Each song of yours I have listened to is like a prayer. How long does it take to create your music, and what sort of process do you go through that takes you from start to finish?

MB: First, I'm delighted that the songs felt like prayers to you. No one has ever said that, but it feels like the biggest compliment I could receive, so thank you.

The only way I know how to create songs is to

start playing a riff on my guitar and then wait until a melody appears that feels emotional in some way or another. My singing begins with humming to find a melody, then turns into free association nonsense words, with a focus on the rhythm and tempo of the language. This often results in the melody expanding. Melodies usually come quite quickly, but I have to avoid getting attached to what comes first, so there's room for alternate versions to appear. Then, I play the same chords, but much slower or faster, as different speeds evoke a different emotional response. Then I walk away and "wait for the paint to dry." When I come back to listen later, it's usually clear immediately what version is right. The lyrics then follow to match whatever mood has been created. I then built the song with percussion and other instrumentation. I wish that writing comes through the same unconscious channel, but it is not so. I often wrestle with songs for months. However, since I began writing

songs exclusively from the first-person voice of fictional "clients," it's gotten much easier. I will talk more about this later.

Are you self-taught in voice and music, or did you have formal training?

MB: I'm completely self-taught. I admire and envy the incredible expertise of well-trained musicians and artists. But I've also accepted that music is an emotional experience where good things happen when I'm not in my head and when I surrender to a mood or feeling. That being said, I hope to become a more sophisticated guitarist in my next musical incarnation.

Please clarify the main characteristics that define the style of your music.

MB: I'm drawn to a lot of different types of music, but I'm most attracted to emotional, intelligent, honest songwriting, which is what I strive for. I am drawn to minor chords, which often influence the direction of the music. The album is quite eclectic and runs the gamut from moody indie songs to ballads to straight-ahead rock songs with electronic flourishes. Given the lyrical content and emotional quality of my voice, I felt it was important to have a steady variety of grooves to keep the energy up.

Tell us about your voice. Singing in public can easily make one feel vulnerable, but it can also

strengthen one's self-confidence over time. How do you find that to be?

MB: For years I struggled with thinking that my voice was too dark, too moody, too vulnerable, etc. The truth was that I wasn't prepared to be vulnerable at that time, which is a requirement for any artist. That has all changed because of this project and my decision to commit to a path of vulnerability, including this interview! I've learned to take in the positive feedback I've received and now hear my voice through a more objective lens. I now experience my voice as very expressive, and that is what defines my musical style. It's also true that if I were singing the song "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, I would very likely turn that song into a dark and moody dirge!

From the body of music on your debut album, can you talk about the process of writing the lyrics? Please give us a few lines and help us interpret their meaning.

MB: When I write lyrics from inside the emotional worlds of fictional clients, I feel like an actor entering into character, and I write from that voice. I honor the complexity of the therapy process and especially the inevitable cognitive dissonance that many clients experience as they wrestle with issues. Many of the songs contrast some struggles and some possibilities or openings that can lead to resolution. I wanted the songs to feel organic, not like saccharine kumbaya experi-

ences. Towards that end, I purposely included one song, "Glitter," where there is no ideal outcome, and the protagonist stays with a partner who mostly mistreats him but can't leave. The songs on the record cover a lot of territory, but most represent universal themes in therapy. Some songs, like "Rise," for example, document a "conversation" between two parts of a person's personality that have different versions of what safety looks like.

These lyrics come from the song "Everything": "I'm going home to claim what might have been. I cut the cord with my wayward twin. I'm in the middle of a silent coup. Between two worlds, tearing down statues".

This song is about personal evolution and the process of challenging and changing old patterns or outdated beliefs. In dreams, visions of home often refer to the self. In this case, the protagonist is going "home" into their personal history to challenge and reorganize their decisions and claim a part of their personality that was lost or muted along the way. Because our protective systems tend to guard the emotional status quo, sometimes a metaphorical "silent coup" is called for. I went to college in Richmond, Virginia, where there is an entire street, Monument Avenue, that was, until three years ago, lined with statues of Confederate generals and politicians.

Continued on next page...

"Second Skin". The album cover for M. Brady's debut album of the same name. Painted with acrylic and sand.

They were all removed, and the image of "tearing down statues" seemed like a perfect visual representing the process of letting go of old ways of being or "compensatory strategies" that no longer serve us. In this case, the protagonist is taking a more defiant stand, which is sometimes what's required. Regarding performing, my few attempts to sing live have been unmitigated disasters! And I'm not exaggerating. Anxiety took hold and squeezed my vocal chords shut. My baritone became a thin, squeaky thing. But, all that happened before I went through this evolution over the past few years. I have developed what feels like an alter ego that is more confident, and I hope to take him out of my living room and on the road to an open mic sometime in the near future!

Earlier in your life, you had several interests that have become significant parts of your journey. For instance, you were a professional tennis player, then you transitioned into becoming a psychotherapist, and along the way, you were a visual artist. Please share with us these different segments of your life and how you became so passionate about the arts. MB: My experiences as a competitive tennis player significantly shaped my life in a myriad of ways. It also led me circuitously to a passion for making art and music. But, it wasn't my successes that made me who I am; instead, it was the fall from grace I experienced as a young adult and then the process of attempting to reclaim what was lost. I went from being a highly-ranked junior tennis player to unranked and essentially "washed up" a year later. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I say this because when I decided to come back, I wanted to learn everything I could about the mental game and study what happens to athletes in a transcendent "flow state." Early in my career, I played from this very creative, sensedriven, flow state much of the time. I didn't realize

that this state was normally only temporary until my bubble burst and I lost access to it. I spent the next ten years chasing that feeling on the court, and my studies led me to explore Buddhism, sports psychology, meditation, and Zen Archery. This helped me as a tennis player, but much more importantly, cemented a lifelong passion and curiosity about human potential and ultimately led me to my life's work as a therapist.

When I retired from tennis, I started looking for something to replicate the feeling I had on a tennis court when I was locked in. I learned that any form of creativity can activate the same flow state. One Christmas season in my late twenties, I decided to have a Christmas card-making party. I had never created art in any form other than projects in elementary school. I bought five-dollar watercolor kits, made Margaritas, and started painting abstracts. I was hooked and then painted nonstop for the next ten years.

Please explain to us how rock and roll music, in general, has influenced you from your youth to adulthood.

MB: The first time I ever remember being moved by music was when I listened to "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin. It wasn't the lyrics or Robert Plant's voice, but rather the epic build from a contemplative beginning featuring acoustic guitar and flute (flute in a rock song? - that I liked?) to an epic electric guitar solo and huge crescendo. I went on an eight-minute journey that took me into a state of consciousness that I had never experienced before. From that moment, I have been captivated by the power of music. While I love fun songs that make you want to get up and dance ("What I Like about You" by The Romantics!), I'm a sucker for any music that makes you stop in your tracks because there's something deeply emotional happening. To become immersed in making music, rather than just being a listener, has

been one of the great joys of my lifetime. I have many songs waiting for me, and I can't wait to start the next project.

Your essay describes a challenging event you experienced at your first music audition. Can you tell us what happened at your audition and how you responded?

MB: When I was twenty-five, I was recovering from an injury I suffered on the tennis tour. I lived in the town where my brother had an indie rock band. I learned that the bass player was leaving in four months and decided I would take a crash course to learn the bass and try out for the band. By the time the audition came around, I could play all the songs and felt confident as I was driving to the event. That didn't last long. When I strapped on my bass, I began to feel a wave of anxiety that turned into a full-on panic attack that was so intense that I was shaking uncontrollably and wondered if I was having a seizure. I left that audition without ever playing a note. More troubling was my reaction: walking away from music for a long time. During those years, I became a therapist and explored why I had such an extreme reaction and didn't get back on the horse. I eventually returned to music but did not overcome my fear of exposure and vulnerability until very recently. A backstory that explains the process is documented in my essay published in March in The Journal of Expressive Writing and on my website.

How did some of the difficult things you went through affect your work as a therapist?

MB: First, I should say that the things I went through were minor compared to the difficult traumas that so many people have experienced. And yet, what I have learned is that less intense disappointments or "small t traumas" are simply not processed by many people because the events are

M. Brady, “Galapagos". Painted with acrylic, sand and using paint chips, glass and found objects.

deemed insignificant. In fact, the brain processes small t and big T traumas in the same way. Difficult "smaller" events often become bigger simply because they aren't acknowledged and worked through. That was clearly what happened to me and something I'm always looking to identify with my clients, especially when there are no obvious historical events that would explain current problems.

My current experience with music has resulted in me learning more about the healing powers of creativity. Recent research at the National Institute of Health and other institutions studies what happens when a person engages in a creative experience or is immersed in an innovative event. The results are fascinating. The body produces endorphins and dopamine, boosts the immune system, increases oxytocin levels, and reduces stress hormone production. Studies have also reported a significant reduction in chronic pain, anxiety, and depression and concluded that immersive creativity contributes to deep feelings of well-being. No hard science suggests that a spoonful of creativity regularly may be as important as exercise, yoga, etc., for mental health.

Tell us about a memorable experience that illustrates working from a strong epiphany that popped into your mind.

MB: I remember an early morning late in making the album when, for the first time, I played the album from beginning to end. I experienced the music from thirty thousand feet, not from the analytic part of my mind, which typically listened for problems that needed to be corrected. It was a revelation. I kept hearing myself say, "Wow, this song might be pretty good, that passage is really interesting, I really like the vibrato in my voice in that section," etc. That was the moment I knew something had permanently shifted in my identity and fear system. My imposter and critic voices had receded, and I was no longer afraid of sharing these songs. It was also the moment when I truly felt like a musician for the first time.

Who inspired and supported you on your journey to success with your latest music recordings?

MB: You will learn about Steven May, my dear friend who inspired me to begin playing music again in the next question. Without my brother Kevin, I'm not sure there would be a record, and If so, it certainly would be an inferior product. He is a talented musician who played all over the album and helped provide a lot of the color and depth. As importantly, he patiently tolerated my constant requests for feedback when I had not yet discovered that perfectionism wasn't included in the How to Become Vulnerable handbook.

Steven May was a friend and one of the people you worked closely with in music. Can you describe your connection with him and anything you want to say about this talented individual who has now passed?

MB: The reader may wonder why my friend, Steven May, is referenced in this interview. We

collaborated on three songs on the album, but what is most relevant is that he was the most creative, alive, and dedicated artist I've ever met. The Artful Mind seems like the perfect forum to expose readers to his work. It was not uncommon for him to create three fully orchestrated songs in a week while working on one of his four novels, board games, musical short stories, and creating magical adventures for his children. Some oldtime Berkshire residents may remember his zany game show Acronymble, which he hosted on Berkshire public access television in the 90s. When he was given a terminal cancer diagnosis in 2022, he met the illness by creating his final work of music, a song cycle about facing mortality written with heartbreaking honesty. These songs are deeply meaningful and musically diverse in response to the many different feelings he experienced going through the loss cycle and treatment. One song, "Beautiful Poison," is a ballad about the cognitive dissonance he experienced, both hating and being grateful for the chemo that extended his life but ravaged his body. He created his last piece only a few weeks before his death despite being very ill. He was a man who lived more in one shortened lifetime than most of us would live with four lives. Even if exposure to such a difficult topic is not exactly your

preferred way to spend free time, I encourage you to stop by his Instagram page and at least listen to my favorite song, "Becoming," which metaphorically chronicles the acceptance of his fate. His instagram handle is @brevi.t His site is difficult to make sense of, but there are buried treasures behind untitled play buttons. Find Chapter 7 and above the number 858 and push play. You will discover eight other short songs hidden behind" play" buttons that eventually reveal titles and lyrics.

While looking at the album cover you painted, I couldn't help but wonder why you stopped creating art. Can you tell us about each of the three pieces of art you created, what they represent, and how you have used them? What mediums do you use to create these pieces of art?

MB: I stopped painting simply because music took over. I tend to get immersed, and frankly somewhat obsessed, in one creative project at a time. The album cover has two panels that I have divided for the album. When it hangs, the panels are not separated. I think of the black space between the panels as where the work happens, which ultimately results in the two panels merging Continued on next page...

M. Brady at mic

together into a unified whole. Because I couldn't paint the side of a barn, I am drawn to abstractions that convey some kind of emotion or maybe a message. I often create in relation to psychological themes. In the painting with the red lines, I was thinking about emotional boundary lines or fences that often get constructed on top of the problematic events we accumulate as we get older (the song "Six Degrees" is also based on this theme).

The third painting with primitive figures evolved from a can of dried paint chips that I had collected over many years and dried in chunks with unique shapes. I immediately saw animal and human body parts and started putting them together, along with pieces of glass. It seemed like some sort of evolution-themed work wanted to emerge. I made some primordial eggs and hatched the different creatures and a few archetypical human figures. These were glued onto a thick layer of red paint mixed with sand that dried and thankfully cracked (lucky accident). I don't normally name paintings, but if I did, it would be called Galapagos. I only paint in acrylic and use random objects like cassette tape, film clips, and whatever else I find lying around to provide texture.

Will you return to visual art, and if so, how will you begin?

MB: There will be a day when I will return to painting, but for now, I am driven to make more music. However, I consider the "art" videos I have created to visually support some of my songs to be a form of visual art and will continue to make them. There are only so many compelling stock images available online, so I'm anticipating going out into the world and taking photographs and videos to create content. Anyone out there who wants to send along photos, videos, or instrumental tracks I might sing over, I love the idea of collaborating. My contact info is on my website.

Please translate your opening statement / quote for us. “Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change” - Brene Brown

MB: When I decided to make my debut album, I could not have predicted that the process would be as personally transformational as it was. I knew that creativity was a powerful force. Still, I didn't realize that, when combined with a commitment to vulnerability, it had the power to reorganize my emotional safety system the way it has. I started with a Brene Brown quote; I might as well end

with one. "The willingness to show up changes us. It makes us a little braver each time." Such was the case in this interview. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to take another step.

Where is your music available for us to listen to and follow you?

MB: My album "Second Skin" is available on Spotify, Apple, and other streaming platforms under my artist name, M. Brady.

You can also find links to the music, videos, and essay on my website... mbradymusic.com

M. Brady, “Unnecessary Fences". Painted with acrylic and using cassette tape.

Painting classes on Monday and Wednesday mornings 10-1pm at the studio in Housatonic and Thursday mornings 10am - 1pm out in the field.

Also available for private critiques. Open to all. Please come paint with us!

Gallery hours: Open by chance and by appointment anytime 413. 274. 6607 (gallery) 413. 429. 7141 (cell) 413. 528. 9546 (home) www.kateknappartist.com

Front Street, Housatonic, MA

Ruby Aver

Year of the Dragon Acrylic on canvas, 24x30”

rdaver2@gmail.com

Instagram: rdaver2.

Housatonic Studio open by appointment: 413-854-7007

Sally Tiska Rice

BERKSHIRE ROLLING HILLS ART CLOCK TOWER ARTISTS

Studio 302, 3rd floor

75 South Church St, Pittsfield, MA

(413)-446-8469

www.sallytiskarice.com

sallytiskarice@gmail.com

FLY ON THE CANVAS Artist

KATE KNAPP, VIOLIN AND PEAR

Birch Vihta, Mixed Media Botanical Collage 2’6”x 3’4” (2023)

MARY ANN YARMOSKY

“Each person I meet intrigues me with their different stories and life experiences. My paintings are a dance of spontaneity and intention based on observation. With each stroke of my brush, I try to create a feeling, a story, a challenge to the imagination of the viewer.”

— Mary Ann Yarmosky

FLY ON THE CANVAS Artist

Reception: April 13 , 5 - 7:30pm

Time & Space LTD. TSL

434 Columbia St, HUDSON NY

Through May 11. Open Daily 12 - 5

maryannyarmoskyart.com | maryannyarmoskyart.shop

Time Flies Mixed media on Canvas 12” X 12”

PAINTING JAZZ FULL-STEAM AHEAD

By Edward Bride

Berkshires residents and visitors are surrounded by creativity, an enviable characteristic of our area. Whether the subject is performing or visual arts, still or animated, hanging or 3D, the Berkshires are aptly known as “America’s cultural resort.” But besides being a tourist haven, the area is also a cultural hometown.

Artists tend to specialize, and few dabble in more than one medium (dance and singing, for example; or painting and acting). Occasionally, opportunities arise to showcase how two specialties overlap. Such is the case with a student art contest where the objective is to “paint jazz.”

This might seem like a tall calling. But each year, Berkshires Jazz, Inc. conducts a student art contest with that stated objective: paint jazz. The contest is designed to engage more of the community –especially students—and raise the awareness of jazz, “America’s classical music”, our cultural gift to the world.

The contest calls for high school art students across Pittsfield to create a work that depicts their thoughts and conceptions of jazz. The winning entries have run the spectrum from realistic to sur-

real, general to specific. The 2009 entry played with numbers and time signatures, with hints of “5/4”, the time signature for Dave Brubeck’s most famous recording (Brubeck was the headliner for that year’s festival, his final appearance in the Berkshires).

Over its 15-year run, the contest has seen winning entries from Taconic, St. Joseph’s, Miss Hall’s, and Pittsfield High School. They are given little creative guidance or parameters other than that: create your image of jazz. Sometimes the teachers play jazz music during class, to get the creative juices flowing. The winning entry becomes the graphics focus of the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival, appearing on the posters and program cover (see examples). Additionally, small cash prizes are awarded for the top three paintings. With the winners announced by the Mayor of Pittsfield, the works hang in the corridors of Pittsfield City Hall during the month of April, which is designated nationally as Jazz Appreciation Month. “JAM” is the brainchild of John Edward Hasse, the (now retired) Curator of American Music at the Smithsonian Institution. A concur-

rent resolution expressing the sense of Congress respecting the designation of jazz as a rare and valuable national American treasure was passed by the 100th Congress (1987-1988). With that fortunate acronym of JAM, the Smithsonian launched the initiative in 2001, and Congress specifically sanctioned Jazz Appreication Month in 2009.

The Student Art Contest was conceptualized by Berkshires Jazz Board member Art Niedeck, a retired jazz artist and music educator, who serves as the chair of the group’s Education and Program Committees. The proceedings are overseen by Colleen Quinn, art teacher at Pittsfield High School, with support from Lisa Ostellino, Alisa Mierzejewski and Michael Greenberg. The 2024 judges are Berkshires-based professional artists Barbara Patton, Mary Beth Eldredge, and Ivor Parry.

In recent years, some students have used artificial intelligence tools to create their work, some of which is compelling. Berkshires Jazz and the educators are recognizing this work and while Continued on next page...

these AI-created works are displayed, they are not eligible for prizes. Despite the acknowledged spot that AI has already established on the commercial front, the Student Art Contest is designed to reward human creativity.

The Art Contest is one of the many ways that Berkshires Jazz encourages people of all ages and interests to get exposed to music (OK, Jazz). One reason is the fact that the study of music has been proven to help students’ learning abilities in all subjects, especially the STEM (now STEAM) subjects that are so vital to America’s future: science, technology, engineer, arts, and math. The research is made more colorful and personal by anecdotes like the experience at Georgia Institute of Technology. As chronicled in Thomas Friedman’s landmark book “The World is Flat,” when Georgia Tech added a big band program to its arts offerings, its graduation rate improved. The president of Georgia Tech explained that the phenomenon may be due to the kind of students that the school attracted once the jazz program was expanded, as well the impact of the music on the minds of student engineers. Other research is more conclusive, but not nearly as much fun to cite. And oh, by the way, the president of Georgia Tech went on to head the Smithsonian.

Closer to home but in the classical realm comes Kids 4 Harmony, the after-school music program operated by 18 Degrees, Family Services of Western Massachusetts, which has just celebrated its tenth anniversary. Several studies determined that the music lessons improved students’ learning abilities (as documented by their grades) as well as classroom demeanor. Parents reported that this

behavioral improvement extended to home environments as well. The incentive of playing every year with Emanuel Ax as guest artist may have something to do with their attention to detail. “Manny” has embraced the K4H program, seemingly enjoying the rehearsals as much as the performances. To return to the subject of jazz: K4H has also performed several jazz concerts with legendary pianist Ted Rosenthal, including the Ira Gershwin crossover masterpiece Rhapsody in Blue in 2023. And they will be performing with the iconic alto saxophonist Grace Kelly later this year.

When the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival gets underway around mid-month, its program and advertising will stand out because of the colorful art created by a student at Pittsfield High School. Although the winning entry was not known at press time, you can see it, along with all the other entries, at Pittsfield City Hall all month. Helping the artists achieve Andy Warhol’s promised fifteen minutes of fame, the student will be signing posters created from their work in the lobby of the Colonial Theatre on Saturday, Apr. 27, the festival’s capstone concert with pianist Marcus Roberts. The artist will be recognized from the stage during the evening’s festivities. Meanwhile, Berkshires Jazz has nourished the efforts of young musicians by supporting the Berkshires Jazz All Star Youth Ensemble, which will open the concert.

The art contest and the jazz ensembles prepare the students for the next (and sometimes everlasting) phases of their lives. Many of the artists go on to advanced studies, anticipating careers in arts and graphics design. While only a few of the stu-

dent musicians will become professionals in that field, many go on to college, where they may take part in a jazz program or extracurricular band activity. Indeed, some have returned to the Berkshires as teachers and/or musicians. In any case, harkening back to the notion of STEAM, and the anecdote from Georgia Tech, the idea is to teach the whole student, educate the whole brain. Art training, and specifically music, does just that. You could look it up. And if that doesn’t convince you of the career potential for this type of training, Georgia Tech is currently advertising a 6-figure full-time opening for a new Director, Office of the Arts.

It’s hard to prove any point dealing with music with just the written word. But seeing, even with the few examples on these pages, the imagination of student musicians when faced with the challenge to “paint jazz” should be sufficient to persuade the reader that there’s something to the notion. Full STEAM ahead.

About the author

Edward Bride is a freelance writer and PR consultant for arts organizations. He is also the founder and president of Berkshires Jazz, Inc., a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve jazz, America’s cultural gift to the world, by presenting leading jazz artists, encouraging jazz education, and promoting the local jazz scene. For more details visit Berkshiresjazz.org.

©2024 Edward

Bride

TIME & SPACE LIMITED

GALLERY ROUND UP 2024

434 Columbia Street

Hudson NY timeandspace.org

April 13th through May 12th

FLY ON THE CANVAS:

presented by THE

ARTFUL MIND

With 57 talented artists from the Northeast participating in the exhibition, FLY ON THE CANVAS offers diverse perspectives – in a wide array of art mediums and styles – that evoke contemplation on “the transience of life and the importance of cherishing every moment”.

May 25th through July 7th

David Becker’s: YESTERDAY’S TOMORROW

Hudson painter David Becker’s suggestive drawings are scaled to life in his larger paintings. In “Chimera”, his most recent series, he grafts incongruous elements into imaginary 昀gures, each hybrid suggesting a unique life. The result of this new body of work is otherworldly.

July 12th through July 21st

GROUP GRADUATE SHOW presented by BARD MFA

The Bard Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts MFA program presents a collection of third-year graduate student work, on view at both the TSL Gallery and Basilica Hudson.

July 27th through september 1st

PAINTINGS by DAVID DEUSTCH

Over a career spanning 50 years, Deustch established himself as a landscape painter, before expanding into other mediums such as photography and sculpture. Deustch presents paintings of scenes of life in vivid color, highlighting the joy of the everyday.

September 7th through October 6th

KAREN SCHUPAK, ARLENE SANTANA THORNTON and OLAN QUATTRO

TSL brings together three artists from the Hudson Valley presenting an eclectic and diverse collection of themes, ideas, and mediums.

Image

LONNY JARRETT BERKSHIRE SCENIC PHOTOGRAPHY

My initial memory of awakening to the creative impulse was hearing the first chord of the Beatles, Hard Day’s Night, when I was six years old. I knew something big was happening at that moment, and I had to get on board! I began studying at the Guitar Workshop, the first guitar school in America. I’ve performed music most of my life and play jazz fusion with my band Redshift.

My interest in photography blossomed as an electron-microscopist publishing neuro- and molecular-biological research out of UMASS/Amherst and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx in my early 20s.

As a lifelong meditator, martial artist, musician, and photographer, everything I engage with comes from the same unified intention toward engendering the true, the good, and the beautiful. I endeavor to capture the light that seeps through everything in landscape and nature photography.

Lonny Jarrett -

Community: Nourishingdestiny.com

Books: Spiritpathpress.com

Art: Berkshirescenicphotography.com

Teaching: Lonnyjarrett.com

PAMELA BERKELEY

I really enjoyed painting Mudge Pond on my French easel in the sun. It’s similar to one done in Winter from a sketch. The hill top is in Sharon, CT. Always beautiful, no matter what the weather.

I attended classes at the Art Students League and the School of Visual Arts in New York City as a teenager. I received a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting. I had my first solo show at the G.W. Einstein Gallery in 1977, and was represented by them for the next twenty years. When that gallery closed in the 1990’s I joined the United Scenic Arts Union, painting sets for film, TV and Broadway. In 2015 I joined Blue Mountain Gallery, where there were friends I had known for 40 years.

“I make paintings from nature, combining still life, landscape, and portraits of people and animals. I don’t have backgrounds in my work. Foreground and what is behind are of equal importance, painted at the same time, side by side, locked into each other. In fact, in a work of lace curtains, sometimes only the holes are made of paint, not the threads.

I’ve been a professional artist for over 55 years, exhibiting nationally, including at 12 museums. I lived and worked in New York City and in Montville, Maine from 1975 to 2002, then moved to Sheffield, MA. My works range in size from 8 In. x 8 In. to 6 Ft. by 8 Ft. Besides paintings of Maine, Massachusetts and New York City, I made a series of portraits of actor and artist friends arranged in odd environments.”

Awards include the National Endowment for the Arts, NYS Council for the Arts, the Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation grant. I exhibit at the Blue Mountain Gallery in NYC, and throughout the US. Pamela Berkeleywww.pberkeley.com therealpamelaberkeley@gmail.com

Artsy: https://www.artsy.net/artist/pamela-berkeley

Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels.

—Francisco de Goya

MARY ANN YARMOSKY

We long for a way to be heard from the moment we are born. 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 never fulfilled.

I have always found expression through art. At age 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 as a wife, mother, caretaker, and professional career.

When my youngest son passed away unexpectedly several years ago, my longing to be heard returned with a vengeance. Words did not suffice. There are no words to express grief and hope for what is lost. On that journey of anguish, I met other women who had or were experiencing their style of pain. I marveled at their resilience and ability to go on despite different types of loss or simply dealing with the uphill complexities of life’s challenges. I began to recover my voice through paint and a bit of canvas, but it was 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, joy, 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 maryannyarmosky.shop

THE DEMISE OF THE FLY ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 16” X 20”

MUDGE POND, LATE SUMMER 2022, OIL ON CANVAS, 12” X24”, 2022

DONALD LONGO

“A Walk in the Woods” was done in bright story book colors. It reminds me of my childhood and teenage days walking in the woods at the end of our street in Lee, MA. I would explore the area and become one with nature. Once I found my spot, I'd lay back, look up at the sky through the pine tree branches and listen to the birds singing and the squirrels playing tag and dream of my future.

In this painting, the sun is moving east to west around 10 am on a summer day. I knew I had about 2 hours to spare before mom had lunch ready for me on my return. She never worried about me as she knew how much I enjoyed these solitary explorations. I miss those day as they seemed so simple to me.

Donald LongoFacebook – Don Longo, Instagram – don longo Email - dljoseph55@yahoo.com www.donlongoart.com

DEBORAH H. CARTER MULTI-MEDIA ARTIST

Deborah H. Carter is a multi-media artist from Lenox, MA, who creates upcycled sustainable wearable art. Her couture pieces are constructed from post-consumer waste such as food packaging, wine corks, cardboard, books, wire, plastic, and other discarded items and thrifted wares. She manipulates the color, shape, and texture of her materials to compel us to question our assumptions of beauty and worth and ultimately reconsider our habits and attitudes about waste and consumerism.

A sewing enthusiast since the age of 8, Deborah first learned her craft by creating clothing with her mother and grandmothers. Her passion took hold as she began to design and sew apparel and accessories. After graduating with a degree in fashion design from Parsons School of Design in New York City, she worked as a women’s sportswear designer on Seventh Avenue.

Deborah’s art has been exhibited in galleries and art spaces around the US. She was one of 30 designers selected to showcase her work at the FS2020 Fashion Show annually at the University of Saint Andrews, Scotland. She has featured in the Spring 2023 What Women Create magazine.

CANDACE EATON

“Each gesture is its own psychological statement”. I haven’t changed my initial statement that I wrote years ago on the walls of my former studio - an entire top floor loft dominated by a wall of windows facing Main Street in Northport Village, Long Island. While I do not miss Long Island, I miss my studio, and felt like a turtle without its shell until I started painting in my ‘down under’ Berkshire basement studio. Very recently, I stopped ‘mourning’ my former studio, and started to tentatively make friends with this new space. I discovered it is not the space but the work created there that makes a studio ones’, sacred, creative place.

I am continuing to let my muti-visioned Muse develop my divergent visions. The figurative Archetype and Icon series were initially inspired by Carl Jung’s writings and Studs Terkel’s book ‘Working’. Here I consciously use a general realistic style which keeps the viewer from associating any identifying time period of realism and gives me the freedom to augment or accent any gesture or feature needed to express a psychological statement.

...413. 645. 4114

Deborah H Carter has been featured in the Berkshire Magazine, What Women Create magazine and was a finalist in the World of WearableArt competition in Wellington, New Zealand 2023.

Deborah H Carter-

413-441-3220, Clock Tower Artists, 75 S. Church St., Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Studio 315, 3rd floor. Instagram: @deborah_h_carter Debhcarter@yahoo.com

Several years later when my model switched my WQXR classical radio station to a Jazz station, the Jazz /Horse series sprang onto the canvas. These Jazz paintings are totally expressionistic, inspired by the random connectedness Jazz music often expresses. Throughout my artist life, I also reacted and visually responded to our worldly events in a series I call NewsPaintings. Alchemical Venus is one of my Jazz/Horse series paintings. Both series, including the Archetype/ Icon’ American Toreador (The Actor)’ will be shown at the TSL show in Hudson, New York from April 13 through May 11, 2024 Come experience my double vision!

Personally, I do not follow the business model of ‘branding’ despite its great marketing success. I make art, not products fitting a brand. Having different visions and modes of expression gives me total creative freedom but makes it difficult in getting my work represented and I am grateful to The Artful Mind for showing my multifaceted vision and respecting artistic diversity.

The artist welcomes visits to her Sheffield studio by appointment. Paintings are available as originals, custom sizes and signed reproductions. Candace Eaton631-413-5057, www.candaceeaton.com

candaceeatonstudio@gmail.com

candace@candaceeaton.com

GREEN LIPPED UPCYCLED WEARABLE ART @DEBORAH H CARTER MODEL: @SHONDAEVETTE

A WALK IN THE WOODS, 24” X 36”

SALLY TISKA RICE BERKSHIRE ROLLING HILLS

Born and raised in the captivating Berkshires, Sally Tiska Rice possesses artistic prowess that breathes life into her canvases. As a versatile multi-media artist, Sally seamlessly employs a tapestry of techniques, working in acrylics, watercolors, oil paints, pastels, collages containing botanicals and mixed media elements. Her creative spirit draws inspiration from the idyllic surroundings of her rural hometown, where she resides with her husband Mark and cherished pets.

Sally's artistic process is a dance of spontaneity and intention. With each stroke of her brush, she composes artwork that reflects her unique perspective. Beyond her personal creations, Sally also welcomes commissioned projects, turning heartfelt visions into tangible realities. Whether it's capturing the essence of individuals, beloved pets, cherished homes, or sacred churches, she pours her soul into each personalized masterpiece.

Sally's talent has garnered recognition both nationally and internationally. Her career includes a remarkable 25-year tenure at Crane Co., where she lent her hand-painted finesse to crafting exquisite stationery. Sally is a member of the Clock Tower Artists of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the Guild of Berkshire Artists, the Berkshire Art Association, and the Becket Arts Center. Follow on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Sally’s work is on the gallery walls of the Clock Tower, Open Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00 pm for self-guided tours.

Sally Tiska Rice - Berkshire Rolling Hills Art, 75 South Church St, , 3rd Floor, Studio 302, Pittsfield, MA. 1-413-446-8469.

SallyTiskaRice@gmail.com; www.sallytiskarice.com

https://www.facebook.com/artistsallytiskarice

Fine Art Prints (Pixels) - Sally Tiska Rice Twitter - Sally Tiska Rice

LinkedIn- Sally Tiska Rice, Instagram

Sally Tiska Rice, YouTubeSally Tiska Rice TikTok - Sally Tiska Rice.

KEITH DAVIDSON

A native of the Berkshires, Keith has been painting for the last 20 years, motivated by the natural beauty of his surrounding environment. Keith shares a studio with his wife Mary, at their home in South Egremont.

Keith’s dazzling collection of colorful, creative, “fish” paintings are inspired by his love of fishing and boating. He also has a tree collection, flowers and vibrant experimental paintings by combining objects in nature with geometric forms.

Keith has had many paintings juried into the Housatonic Valley Art League summer shows, receiving six “Best in Show,’ eleven “Awards of Excellence,” and seven “Honorable Mentions.” Keith is an artist who has had regional influence, and many of his paintings hang in private collections throughout the tristate area.

Keith considers himself to be a self-taught artist, although he has participated in classes at BCC and IS 183. His medium of choice is acrylic paints, used in a very watery base like watercolor. Paintings are framed under acrylic glass and double matted.

Keith Davidson413-717-2152

kjdavidsongio@aol.com

www.davidsondesigncompany.net

BRUCE LAIRD

I am an abstract artist whose two- and threedimensional works in mixed media reveal a fascination with geometry, color and juxtapositions. For me it is all about the work which provides surprising results, both playful and thought provoking.

From BCC to UMASS and later to Vermont College to earn my MFA Degree. I have taken many workshops through Art New England, at Bennington College, Hamilton College and an experimental workshop on cyanotypes recently at MCLA. Two international workshops in France and Italy also.

I am pleased to have a studio space with an exciting group of artists at the Clocktower Building in Pittsfield.

Bruce Laird-

Clock Tower Business Center, Studio #307 75 South Church Street, Pittsfield, MA

“The beautiful, which is perhaps inseparable from art, is not after all tied to the subject, but to the pictorial representation. In this way and in no other does art overcome the ugly without avoiding it.”

– Paul Klee

BLUE DRAGON, ACRYLIC ON STRETCHED CANVAS

FOUND FATHER, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 30" X 40" H

SILENCE

ON WEST ROAD ENTERING THE VILLAGE, ALFORD, MA INK DRAWING

STEPHAN MARC KLEIN

I have been sketching and making art on and off since my undergraduate education as an architect in the late 1950s. What interests me at present about creating art, besides the shear visceral pleasure of making things, of putting pencil or pen or brush or all of them to paper, of manipulating images on the computer, and of making models, is the aesthetic tension generated in the borderlands between the abstract and the representational, between uniqueness and reproduction, and between analog and digital processes. I am also interested in art that engages the social, the political and the visual. Since my wife, artist Anna Oliver, and I made our home in the Berkshires six years ago, I have been entranced by its beauty. My work is, in part, a visual rhapsody to the area. Stephan Marc Kleinstephanmarcklein.com, smk8378@gmail.com

ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 24” X 30”

RUBY AVER STREET ZEN

Growing up on the Southside of Chicago in the 60s was a history rich and troubled time. As a youth, playing in the streets demanded grit.

Teaching Tai chi for the last 30 years requires a Zen state of mind. My paintings come from this quiet place that exhibit the rich grit of my youth . Movement, shape and color dominate, spontaneously combining raw as well as delicate impulses.

Ruby AverHousatonic Studio open by appointment: 413-854-7007, rdaver2@gmail.com, Instagram: rdaver2

SERIOUS

HAND

RED HEAD IN RED, INK, WATERCOLOR, GRAPHITE, 5.5” X 8.5”

MATT BERNSON

FIGURATIVE ARTIST AND PROVOCATEUR

Born and raised just north of Boston, Matt Bernson is a dynamic and provocative figurative artist known for his bold and playful take on the human form. A graduate of Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), Bernson boasts a BFA in Animation & Painting, a duality that is evident in the fluidity and vibrancy of his work.

After a decade of honing his craft, Bernson made a significant move to the Berkshires in 2020. This transition marked a new chapter in his artistic journey, offering fresh inspirations and opportunities. Matt’s passion for community and collaborative creativity led him to join the Future Labs Gallery Co-op in 2023, a platform that has hosted his art since 2022.

Bernson’s artistry reached new heights in September 2023, when he shared the spotlight in a two-person show at Future Labs Gallery. Known for his wit and irreverence, his artist bio for the show was a cheeky one-liner: “Wanna see some butts?” This encapsulates Bernson’s ethos perfectly, a fearless artist who invites his audience to share in his delight and fascination with the human form.

Bernson’s work is far from conventional, and it’s this daring and distinctive approach that sets him apart. With every piece he creates, Bernson continues to push boundaries, challenge perceptions, and infuse a sense of fun and freedom into the world of figurative art. Additionally, in October 2023, he started a figure drawing group at Future Labs Gallery, fostering a supportive community for artists.

Matt has worked as both a caricature artist and as a tattoo artist. And completed an artist residency in May 2023 where he completed two 20”x24” paintings within a week and showed them at Dacia Gallery in New York City. Matthew Bernsonmatthew.bernson@gmail.com Instagram @MattBernson.Art

UNVEILING,

Astrology for Creators

April 2024

Watch Your Words

(Western Tropical Astrology. Time Zone EST/EDT)

D. M. Musgrave

Overview of April 2024:

We start off the month on April 1-2nd with Mercury stationing to go retrograde in Aries. This is significant because we will have an Eclipse in this same sign a few days later. This is going to make for a 24 week period of highly charged communication with a likelihood of misunderstanding and technology blunders. I’m concerned that communication may be bold and focus on serving the self rather than harmony. For creators, the best practice of this would be making bright and strong brushstrokes on a painting in the privacy of your studio while the world media is likely igniting passion or conflict.

While there is a potential for intensity in April, a date to pay attention to as artists is April 3rd as Venus is conjunct Neptune. This combo is great for fantastical artmaking or romance. If you are hanging out with a potential love interest, just be aware that the Mercury Retrograde in Aries combined with Venus conjunct Neptune in Pisces might make for us getting away from ourselves and blurting out fantastical desires.

April is all about that eclipse on the 8th happening in Aries that passes over the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Visually, this eclipse is cutting the United States in half while it is in the zodiac of Aries representing sovereignty, entrepreneurship, identity, the body, conflict, and war. The metaphor of that gives me concern for the US as this energy will be taking place over the next presidential election. On the world stage, this is one of the dates I have been most concerned about as it pertains to world politics.

I have concerns that a few days after the eclipse on April 10th Mars will conjunct Saturn in Pisces. A literal interpretation of this configuration is War (Mars) in the Sea (Pisces) over Boundaries (Saturn). We also may see some passion igniting around boundaries and augmented reality as it pertains to art.

One of the most significant astrological aspects of the year will be Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus on the 20th. This has the potential to bring forth a positive huge discovery or a profound protest. In considering my last column, I talked about how movements of Uranus in Taurus seem to be connected to the series of attacks on art such as Tom Thomson’s “Northern River” having pink paint thrown at it when Uranus went into Retrograde, and Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” being attacked with soup when Uranus turned direct. I’ve also spoken several times about how Uranus in Taurus also relates to food, security, the environment, and money. We could see protests or discoveries around one of these themes.

After all this conflict and intense communication in the media, we will have a Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd. This might bring up a secret that needs to be collectively heard after all this intensity. For

creators, this would be a good time to dig deep into the self and reflect on your practice.

We end the month with Mercury turning direct on the 25th, as well as, Venus entering Taurus and Mars entering Aries on the 29th. While I have some concerns about Mars moving into Aries, I feel these days have the potential to bring some needed beauty after an intense month.

Rising Sign Analysis:

Aries Rising

Be conscious of anything happening with your body or sense of self around the Aries Eclipse on the 8th.

Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising about money, your values, what you possess or your self-worth. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd will bring closure or a new beginning to how you share with others.

Taurus Rising

Pay attention to your mental health or any spiritual experiences around the Aries Eclipse on the 8th. Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising about yourself or something to do with your body. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd could bring closure or a new beginning around a relationship.

Gemini Rising

Your friends, networks or larger community may be highlighted during this Aries Eclipse on the 8th. Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct, Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising about your mental health or spirituality. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd could bring closure or a new beginning around work, daily routine, health, or a pet if you have one.

Cancer Rising

How the public perceives you or your career might shift during this Aries Eclipse on the 8th. Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising around your community or friends. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd could bring closure or a new beginning around your creativity, what you enjoy, romance or children if you have any.

Leo Rising

Your beliefs, higher learning or long-distance travel may be impacted by this Aries Eclipse on the 8th. Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising around your career or public image. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd could bring closure or a new beginning impacting your family, mother, or deep emotions.

Virgo Rising

The Aries Eclipse on the 8th is happening in the area of life having to do with intimacy, sharing, occult experiences or something traumatic. Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising that impacts your beliefs, higher learning or long-distance travel. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd could bring closure or a new beginning around the way you communicate or think. It could also impact a sibling, relative or neighbour.

Libra Rising

Pay attention to shifts in your relationships this Aries Eclipse on the 8th. Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising around intimacy, the way you share or something traumatic. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd could bring closure or a new beginning around money, self-worth or what you value.

Scorpio Rising

There may be something on the Aries Eclipse on the 8th that shifts your work, routine, health, or a pet. Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising around a relationship. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd could bring closure or a new beginning to how you understand yourself or something having to do with your body.

Sagittarius Rising

Pay attention to your children, romance and/or creativity around the Aries Eclipse on the 8th. Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising about work, health, or your daily routine. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd could bring closure or a new beginning to your mental health or spirituality.

Capricorn Rising

There may be something on the Aries Eclipse on the 8th that impacts your family, mother, or deep emotions. Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising around your children, creativity, or romance. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd could bring closure or a new beginning to your larger community.

Aquarius Rising

You might notice something shifting with siblings or neighbours around the Aries Eclipse on the 8th. It could also impact your communication or ways of thinking. Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising around your family or deep emotions. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd could bring closure or a new beginning to your career, public image or legacy.

Pisces Rising

Pay attention to what you value on this Aries Eclipse on the 8th. Around the 19th – 20th Jupiter conjunct Uranus in Taurus might bring forth something shocking or surprising around siblings, your neighbourhood or the way you communicate. The Full Moon in Scorpio on the 23rd could bring closure or a new beginning around your beliefs, higher education, or long-distance travel.

If you would like to offer feedback, please email me at: astro_dee@yahoo.com

Please join the discussion at: www.facebook.com/groups/astrologyforcreators/ D.M. Musgrave is an artist, energy worker and hypnotherapist.

www.artisthehealer.com

MARGUERITE BRIDE JAZZ VISIONS II

April is celebrated nationally as Jazz Appreciation Month, an initiative of the Smithsonian Institution and recognized by Congress. Often called “America’s classical music,” Jazz is also celebrated locally with events and art openings, including the updated and expanded exhibit of Jazz-oriented paintings by Marguerite Bride. “Jazz Visions II” will be on display in the Lobby Gallery at Hotel on North in Pittsfield during the months of April and May. The opening reception will be held on Friday, April 5 from 5-8 PM. What better time than the first Friday of JAM to open this exhibit?

Bride has been a co-partner with her husband Ed in living a jazz infused life since they met and married in the late 60’s. In fact, their first dates were the Newport Jazz Festivals, so the signs were written on the walls way back then. It seemed only natural that her painting career would eventually become jazz infused as well.

Some of the paintings were first introduced in 2016 during the first Jazz Visions exhibit, a duo painting/photography exhibit which included the fine art jazz photography of Lee Everett. There are approximately 25 paintings in this exhibit, watercolors on paper and canvas, plus a few fine art reproductions. The collection of paintings has since expanded to include portraits of known and loved jazz greats (Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Phil Woods, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and more), local and famous haunts (Mission, The Apollo, Bohemian Cavers, Cotton Club) and even paintings of many of our local talented jazz musicians.

Additionally, first time offered, the original painting called “The Master’s Hands” personally signed by Dave Brubeck during his last visit to the Berkshires is included in this show. The profits from the sale of this painting will benefit Berkshires Jazz, Inc.

Visit the artist’s website for additional information regarding this exhibit and other art-related activities.

Marguerite Bride –Home Studio in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Call 413-841-1659; margebride-paintings.com; margebride@aol.com; Facebook: Marguerite Bride Watercolors

RICHARD CRIDDLE SCULPTOR-HUNTER-GATHERER

As a child, my favorite part of Daniel DeFoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe was when Crusoe builds a raft to ferry himself between shipwreck and island, gathering supplies and scouring for resources. I did this myself in 1996 when I came to the US with my wife and two young children. I arrived at the yet-to-become MASS MoCA in North Adams Massachusetts with very few tools and no materials. I immediately took inventory, mining derelict factory buildings for useful stuff, and set myself up in a make-do studio. Like Crusoe, I was a hunter-gatherer and immigrant, far from home, making the best of it. Physical distance provided me with a safe place to look back over time.

Robinson Crusoe gathered provisions to sustain his physical body. I gather the provisions I need to feed my creativity. Gathering allows me to observe and investigate without getting stuck in early decision-making. On any given day, I might be mocking up several different sculptures, clamping things together, or photographing and sketching them, allowing myself time to assess, to see whether a visual fusion will happen. These early stages - hunting, gathering and stocktaking, allow me time for deep and intuitive experimentation. The solid graft of building sculpture.

—RICHARD CRIDDLE, OCTOBER 2023

-RICHARD CRIDDLE, OCTOBER 2023

Richard Criddle413-652-5952

richardcriddle55@gmail.com

richardcriddlesculpture.com

Instagram criddle_richard

GHETTA HIRSCH

This is a new painting just created this month as I stood dreaming of spring at the Clark Museum pond in Williamstown. The pond is surrounded by a fence and is being cleaned. You cannot approach it yet, but I know that beneath the water surface the waterlily plants are getting ready to surprise us with their elegant beauty. The border of the pond is a bramble of dry brush, but the darkened center is promising new life!

We had a gentle winter and everywhere we see signs of spring. What a rich season we will have! So, I dreamed and in sharing my new painting I am inviting you to dream as well of what the pond will look like in a few weeks. Better yet, visit our museum grounds and see it for yourself.

When you come, I invite you to call and spend some time in my studio. I finished all the oil paintings started last summer and fall.

I was busy around the holidays creating still life paintings of vegetables. I wish to thank all of you who purchased them. I am grateful as the funds went to The World Central Kitchen and were used to feed others in the war zones.

Now, I have a piece exhibited at the Lichtenstein Gallery in Pittsfield and many more paintings in Hudson, N.Y. Time And Space LTD/TSL April 13 to May 11, 434 Columbia Street. Open daily 12-5pm. This a group exhibition and it brings together many Berkshires artists. I hope we will see you there for the reception April 13, 5-7:30, or any other time.

Ghetta Hirsch413-597-1716. Website: ghetta-hirsch.squarespace.com, Instagram @ ghettahirschpaintings,

“CLARK POND” 2024, OIL ON WOOD PANEL. 8”X10”

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD STEEL, ALUMINUM, BRONZE MADE IN 2019 AT SALEM ART WORKS, SALEM NY SUPPORTED BY AN OXYGEN FELLOWSHIP 58” X 40” X 28”

MARGUERITE BRIDE, PRESERVING JAZZ APRIL 24

RICHARD CRIDDLE

richardcriddle55@gmail.com | mobile (413) 652-5952 richardcriddlesculpture.com | Instagram criddle_richard

DR. PREPPER

Steel, bronze, aluminum, plastic, acrylic paint 2023

78” x 28” x 28”

RICHARD CRIDDLE

The Prodigal Dog

PART 7

The Conclusion of Valeria’s Dream

The last we heard of Valeria, she was in the midst of a profound dream. She had escaped from the near death experience of being trapped in the elephant's house as it was flooding, and then found she was riding her bicycle around in the air. All of it was part of a long and realistic dream she was having while she lay calmly sleeping in her bed in the early morning.

“It is wonderful to be flying on my bicycle up here in the air, and if I crash or fall off I most likely will not be hurt, but what if the bike and I go high up, what if I go …up into the sky among the clouds?” she was thinking to herself. As soon as she considered it, she flew right up into the sky, so that the landscape took on the appearance of a multicolored quilt thrown out over the land down below, with houses the size of match boxes, and streets and rivers like silver threads. She was surrounded by brilliant sunlight.

It seemed so natural to be flying in the sky that she almost lost her fear and succumbed to a feeling of bliss. She said to herself, “This is the most sublime moment of my life, nothing could be more wonderful. But as if to simply contradict her, the dream caused her to ascend still higher so that the scattered clouds were far below, and the air and the sky were no longer blue but a suffused combination of silver and gold.

In the throes of such a sublime experience,Valeria said not a thing to herself in her mind, because where she was, and what she was experiencing was beyond words and somehow even beyond feeling. Finally she came to herself, placed her hands firmly on the hand grips, and turned her attention to the question, ‘how will I ever get down from here?’ Valeria’s difficulty was quite simple, she did not weigh very much, and even if you consider the weight of the bicycle, it was not enough to counter the effect of the almost total absence of gravity in her dream. In dreams, people often float around in the air, so it is obvious that the pull of gravity is very much reduced in cerebral realities. I have not asked any scientists about gravity in cerebral realities, but it is unnecessary, as it’s obvious.

Fortunately for Valeria, her friend the elephant was having the very same dream she was having, and she encountered him in the clouds, high above the earth. He was riding a bicycle, it was also one of those bicycles the carnival workers had collected over the years.

Because of his great weight, he was very gradually descending, even as she was continuing to ascend. As they passed each other she jumped from her bicycle onto his back. Fortunately, she was able to grab hold of his tether, and slowly the two of them

descended to earth, landing in a gigantic pile of sand in a quarry. The quarry and its piles of sand and gravel was a sight she had observed a few days before, and so the image was standing by, ready in the back of her mind, and was pressed into action at the very last instant.

Why the sand pile was in her mind that night is an interesting story in and of itself. Here is how it came about. A few days previously all the carnival employees were in an old school bus that, from time immemorial, had been used to transport everybody to their next location. This old bus was driven by a character named Thomas. The bus was his only responsibility, because after each trip the antique contraption had to undergo various repairs. Thomas was one of those odd and exaggerated personalities that carnivals like to produce in abundance, and like many others he was extremely fond of 12 year old Valeria.

Here is the odd way he expressed his affection for the child. When she would enter his bus he would turn to her and shout at her as loud as he was able, “GOOD MORNING VALERIA, HOW ARE YOU TODAY.” Valeria loved this odd greeting which she would be expecting, and she would reply by screaming out “I AM FINE THOMAS, AND HOW ARE YOU!”

There is something profoundly exhilarating about screaming at the top of your lungs at someone, for no reason at all. Just try it sometime. Scream, “HOW ARE YOU TODAY,” to some unexpecting stranger. It is an activity that will affect your mood for the rest of the day.

This screamed greeting that Thomas and Valeria engaged in, belonged entirely to the two of them, and if anyone else tried to enter into their screamed conversations, they were ignored, and in this way, Thomas expressed his love for Valeria, and to anyone else he presented only his morose and preoccupied self.

Valeria would always take the seat right behind the bus driver, and sitting there hunched forward, she would engage Thomas in long rambling conversations. She would ask endless questions and he would answer everything, sometimes seriously and at other times making up outlandish scientific sounding explanations, invented only to get Valeria to laugh out loud. When she would laugh, he would turn and look at her with the utmost pleasure, as if such childhood laughter was the best and only purpose of human existence.

Everyone on the bus knew everyone else on the bus, so trips were filled with conversations and arguments, songs were sung, both in unison and in partharmony. Philosophical and political arguments were entered into. They argued about various things. They argued about if the earth was really round, or if it was an optical illusion.

Sometimes the arguments were of a theological nature. Theological disputes would immediately divide the passengers into three groups; the deeply religious, the agnostics, and the atheists. The passengers were not educated folk, so those terms were not used, but those three attitudes, expressed as yes, no and possibly, have existed from the beginning of time. There were those who believed in God because of their lifelong suffering, and there was an equal and opposite group that did not believe because of their lifelong suffering. There were those in the middle, who could not make up their minds about God, or anything else. This middle group, who prided themselves on their intellectual superiority, were perhaps the least interesting.

One day, in the middle of one of these religious arguments Thomas, the bus driver made this comment, “Everyone of you believe in God whether you want to or not, regardless of what you might say. Why, if I took any one of you atheists up in an airplane, opened the door and threw you out, you would be praying to the Lord God Jehovah all the way down to the ground.”

Then, unexpectedly, the little old lady named Margaret, who was eighty four years old, (she always said) and who never said anything at all, one way or another, and who spent her time darning socks said, more to herself that to anyone, “Well, if you pray hard enough, God will be sure to put a nice pile of sand under you for you to land in, would he not?”

As usually happens when someone makes a remark like that, the passengers who heard it immediately began arguing about it. Some said things like, “Sand won't save you, and neither will water if you fall from a great height,” and other disparaging and argumentative remarks, especially from the atheists. The true believers remained sullen and silent, and the agnostics wondered if the question could be put to the test with a pig or a goat.

But just as Margaret finished speaking, the bus rounded a corner and out of the windows a stone and sand quarry came into view and the passengers observed a gigantic pile of sand. The accidental convergence of Margaret’s remark, and the pile of sand might have passed unnoticed, but Thomas, seeing it, slammed down the clutch and the brake at once, (as his father had taught him as a young boy saying, (“In any emergency when you are driving, slam both the brake and the clutch at once!”)

The old bus lurched to a stop. The passengers , most of whom did not even hear what the old woman had said, just assumed it was another breakdown, but the significance of the moment was not lost on Valeria. Valeria felt it was a solemn and important moment, and she said to herself, “This sand pile is some sort of omen and of great significance, and I shall remember it for the rest of my life.”

Some historians of the life of Valeria dispute this, saying that the word ‘omen,’ would not be in a 12 year olds vocabulary, but others disagree with that observation, saying that it can be found in one of her journals written years later. But if it was a journal written years later, the word ‘omen,’ might have slipped into her conversation.

Be that as it may, that was how the sand pile appeared in the dream, and a good thing too, because even though there was very little gravity in the dream, there was enough so that the elephant was going about 14 miles an hour when they landed. If they had landed on pavement, or even in a field, it would have been very injurious. There was one last important detail in this dream of hers. In the pile of sand there was a gigantic black Steinway piano, at an odd angle, and with the lid propped up. Its white keys were gleaming in the sun, and looked like the teeth of a gigantic black cat smiling at her.

In the future it will be necessary to explain and interpret this strange dream, most of it has been deciphered at the present time, but the explanation of the grand piano remains a complete mystery even to this day.

—Richard Britell, March 2024

Painting Gary Lisz

“The Transience of life and the importance of cherishing every moment.”

ALEXANDRA ROZENMAN

ANDREAS ENGEL

BOBBY MILLER

BRUCE LAIRD

BRUCE MURPHY

BRUCE PANOCK

CANDACE EATON

DEBORAH H CARTER

DIANE FIRTELL

ELEANOR LORD

ELIZABETH CASSIDY

ERIKA LARSKAYA

GAIL GELBURD

GHETTA HIRSCH

HIDEYO OKAMURA

JANE GENNARO

JANET COOPER

JAYE ALISON MOSCARIELLO

JEAN BLACKBURN

JOHN LECLAIR

JONI CARRON

JORDAN NOBUKO BAKER

KAREN J ANDREWS

KATE KNAPP

KATHERINE BORKOWSKI - BYRNE

KATHLINE CARR

KEITH DAVIDSON

LESLEE CARSEWELL

LINDA MASON

LIONEL DELEVINGNE

LONNY JARRETT

MARCIA CLARK

MARILYN ORNER

MATT BERNSON

MICHAEL CHELMINSKI

MOLLIE KELLOGG

PAMELA BERKELEY

PAMELA TUCKER

POPS PETERSON

RICHARD BRITELL

RICHARD CRIDDLE

RICHARD NELSON

RICHARD TALBERT

RUBY AVER

SALLY TISKA RICE

SARAH HORNE

S.R. AIKEN

SUSAN SABINO

SUZANNE LACKE

TAMARA KRENDEL THE ARTFUL MIND Presents

MARY ANN YARMOSKY

MARY DAVIDSON

Deborah H Carter

Embarkment

Upcycled Wearable Art

@deborah_h_carter

@eric.korenman.photography

Model: @shondaevette_ Clock Tower Artists Pittsfield MA

Represented by the WIT Gallery