INTERVIEW BY H. CANDEE

Morgan was interviewed and photographed for cover by Tasja Keetman in The Artful Mind, March 2018. Read on issuu.com

UPDATE | visual artist

MORGAN BULKELEY

Interview by Harryet Candee Photograph of Artist by Tasja Keetman

Hey, hi! Welcome to a new age of enlightment, Morgan. We were all thrown for a loop in 2020 with Covid, and other things. Tell us, what was life for you for over the past year? What are some of your thoughts about it all, and, did any of it affect your artistic career? The past two years, while I was working on this series of 64 carved/painted pieces, began as “Selfies”, beginning with a simple self portrait with a pileated woodpecker. As time wore on, events began to overwhelm me, COVID, friends dying or leaving, the world trembling. Many of the newer pieces were about “wounds”, or the consequent struggle with optimism and pessimism. What new art work has come about? Tell us what you have been doing and working on. Have you altered your views on what you are creating now? Pieces, such as “No….Yes….No” contained a record of pain and confusion, as the gun does in “No….Yes….No” aimed at the four leaf clover lying on the Queen of Spades. Where does the bullet go? Luck or disaster? I was thinking of the structure of cubist painting where overlap and fracture compose space. “Goofyitis” is composed of varied levels of thoughts swimming in confusion. Four basic images, a brain stem (top left), a heart (top right), Venus of Willendorf (bottom left), and a CalabiYau shape (bottom right) (this is a shape conjured by physics to support String Theory, which supposes ten instead of three spatial dimensions). Levels of objects, forms and paint sink beneath, while a whole different puzzle floats overall.

You are presently in a new exhibit, what is this all about? My show at the Howard Yezerski Gallery in Boston is my twelfth one person show there. It is a selection of 26 pieces from this series, the good, bad and ugly.

Mountain Guard Carved, rotted white oak, 10’ tall, 32” wide, 32” deep, 1986

Goofyitis Oil on carved gessoed wood, 15” x 12” 2021 NOW SHOWING at Howard Yezersky Gallery, Boston, MA

for example, should do its thing and allow to change as it ages in your work. Can you show us one of your sculptures and tell how this all works for you? My large, old wood sculpture never found a home, so lies sinking into earth in a field. I used to sand and oil them, but nature had a different plan. Ants, frost splitting, lichens, mosses, even small trees began to grow on them, much better than any finish I could imagine.

And you have a great sense of humor! Working up sculptures, reliefs, paintings, explain the importance for you to include humor into your work?And you also mention a frightening aspect to your work. Where can we find this, and how do you know it will frighten us, and not just you as the artist? When I made “Frittering With My Face” it felt like I had touched a raw nerve, feeling the complete loss of physicality, facing human powerlessness. My next piece, “Urge to Fly” was bright yellows, and included multitudes of cartoon characters (with a vestigial dinosaur and fighter jet). My work can sometimes wrestle me out of despondency. your art? Can you can tell us a great story about someone who has been a great fan of your art. I have been lucky to have one of my dearest friends, Bobbie Hallig, believe in my work. Her house bulges with my pieces. Bobbie is part Cherokee, which endeared her to me since I was always, as a kid, playing in the woods with a loincloth, moccasins replete with a “Mohawk” hairpiece made of deer hair tied to my head. Her dedication to environmental and human causes gives me hope for the future.

Tell about your Masks. Why have you given birth to them? Masks have felt alive to me, African, Iroquois, Tlingit, Japanese, always a silent watcher looking out from behind the object…..benign, dangerous……….. some God?

How long does it take for you to do a painting? These carved/painted pieces take me roughly two weeks, the carving about six days, the painting eight days.

Do you work on more than one venue at a time, like bounce from a sculpture to a painting, or is it one at a time for you? I ALWAYS finish the piece I am working on; the obsessive feelings of a particular piece are too omnipresent to allow different feelings for a new piece to sneak in.

As a smart man, Morgan, I wanted to ask you, what message do you want to convey to your audience? Mostly don’t sleep through life. We are in an existential moment in our politics…will we choose to live in a lie that defeats democracy? And equally, will we hack away at nature until it is just more of the expanding dump of refuse we are building? Will all our gifts of birds follow the Lord God Bird into oblivion? Irreverence for the sublime will consign the future to a stunted Neanderthal existence in ex-Eden.

www.morganbulkeley.com

Thank you, Morgan, great catching up with you!

H

KARIDA GRIFFITH WALKER WITH DORRANCE DANCE AT JACOB'S PILLOW, INK AND WASH, 11 X 8 1/2” CAROLYN NEWBERGER

Music and dance returned with gusto to the Berkshires stages this summer. With joy and gratitude, and with pen in hand, I sat in the audience trying to capture the rhythm, intensity and artistry of the performers.

Carolyn Newberger - WWW.carolynnewberger.com, cnewberger@me.com, 617-8775672.

SELF PORTRAIT, KATE KNAPP SUNDAY, DECEMBER 12 @4PM THE ROARING TWENTIES--BERLIN, PARIS, NEW YORK. CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC

KATE KNAPP

PORTRAITS AND SELF PORTRAITS 50-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE

510 WARREN STREET GALLERY

NOVEMBER 5 - 28, 2021

The wonder of art is to see the world through someone else’s eyes. To see people—and the painter—through an artist’s eyes, is doubly fascinating. Trained in the American School of Impressionism, Kate Knapp, 70, has long brought the understanding of color and light so gloriously vivid in her landscapes to these seldomshown portraits. The paintings have a refreshing directness and honesty. Knapp paints quickly, before her subjects tire. She must feel a connection, and she does not hold back how she perceives her models. “I try to become a channel, so that the person can come through my paintbrush onto the canvas,” she says. “I really want my subjects to paint themselves.” And, of course, that is the literal truth in her self-portraits. Each portrait, whether of Knapp herself or another, evokes an intense presence that allows the viewer to know someone in a deeper way than possible in a simple likeness. And these are environmental portraits: How the sitter relates to the space—to surrounding objects and fabric and patterns and light—is integrated in complex and evocative compositions. A new book, “The Self Portraits, An Artist’s Journal,” will be available at the gallery to elaborate on how Knapp composes and conceives of her portraits— straight from the artist’s mind. We welcome you to come and see for yourselves! 510 Warren Street Gallery, Warren St, Hudson, NY. Hours: Fri, Sat, 12-6 and Sunday 12-5. 510 warrenstreetgallery.com

LAUNCHES 30TH SEASON Close Encounters With Music launches its celebratory 30th season with a signature mix of innovative programs – live, in person and with a virtual option. Café music kicks off the reopening with the upbeat classical jazz fusion medleys; escape to the twenties of the former century in roaring prewar Berlin, Paris and New York. Take a Da Vinci code adventure through secret symbols buried in ancient manuscripts with Grammy-nominated A Cappella Skylark singers; head to Havana for Flamenco Dance and much more. Plus, a fireside concert; collaborations and celebrations throughout the season. Embarking on its 30th year of presenting outstanding chamber music with lively commentary, Close Encounters With Music presents a season that sizzles and sparkles with the widest swath of genres, styles, composers and instruments—and of course, the great performers who share their brilliant artistry. Upcoming guest participants include the most recent Van Cliburn Competition Gold Medalist; first oboe of the New York Philharmonic; a Tchaikovsky Competition award-winning violinist; opera, lieder, and choral vocalists; a hip-hop artist; Flamenco and classical guitarists; dance diva; and returning favorites on piano and strings. CEWM supports the renaissance of the Southern Berkshires by presenting six concerts this season at the landmark Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. Situated in the heart of Great Barrington’s historic district, the Mahaiwe offers modern comfort in the nostalgic atmosphere of a 100-year-old theater. A seventh performance is held at the acoustically superb Saint James Place. Tickets, $52 (Orchestra and Mezzanine), $28 (Balcony) and $15 for students, are available through the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center box office, 413-528-0100 and mahaiwe.org. Subscriptions are $250 ($225 for seniors) for the series of 7 concerts (a 35% savings!). Season subscriptions are available on the Close Encounters With Music website, cewm.org.

Let the artists know you have read about them in ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM

NOVEMBER’S FIRE IN WATER

CLAUDIA d’ALESSANDRO

Endings are hard, regardless of their circumstances, even as they prepare us for new beginnings. Taking stock of what has been - of the riches enjoyed, or lessons learned - is part of a healthy relationship with endings. Perhaps it is no accident that we continue to celebrate Thanksgiving in the last days of November, when the year and its season of harvest are at their end. First frosts have killed tender vegetation, and leaves have fallen from all but the most tenacious trees: the mighty oaks who seem to cling to many of theirs until the spring begins again. October’s flamboyant colors, too, have faded. Its glorious golds, reds, deepest oranges, greens, purples and pinks resolve to brown, while November skies show the many shades of grey interspersed with blues and whites. Early snows give a test-frosting to higher elevations, only to disappear as the last of the warm sun continues to shine. All is winding down. Yet hints of color persist, if we pay attention. In November, many of us feel some sadness, melancholy, or wistfulness at least. Some of us take advantage of special lighting that offers us safe, indoor, ‘sun’ at a time when our days seem impossibly short. Nonetheless, the month of “Thanksgiving” offers us a chance to be grateful for having passed another year. We can appreciate the stark beauty and deep colors that surround us, even if we have to look a little harder for them. We can hear new music and see farther through the newly bared trees. In the surround of endings, we can imagine and perhaps begin to design the new beginnings that will emerge after winter’s rest, in spring. As always, in this beautiful issue of The Artful Mind, I am honored to share my appreciation of “Autumn Endings.” Nature’s images remind me of the magnificent beauty that surrounds us - the mighty power of the natural world which we inhabit. Air, earth and water serve as my canvas. I hope that you will share my appreciation of “Seasonal Reflections.”

“Claudia’s photography touches our souls with deep joy!” ~ CHR “She sees with her eyes and feels with her heart.” ~ DKAH For more information on purchasing these, or other prints, please email me at: cdalessandro26@gmail.com, - visit me at https://www.dalessandrophotography.com, or- follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cdalessandrophotography/ and on Instagram as: dalessandronatura.

Don't forget to mention The Artful Mind for Preferred Customer pricing not printed here! Cheers to all for a safe, healthy and inspiring autumn!

FOOD AS MEDICINE

The kitchen is our first line of defense against disease. According to the 4,000+ year-old Indian science of Ayurveda, our tissues are created from the digested foods that we eat…so, in essence, we are what we eat. Sound familiar? Following this line of thinking, if we have an imbalance of excessive heat in our body (ex. Acid reflux, inflammation, etc.), Ayurveda would have you begin by looking at your diet to instigate change. Eating cucumber is a way to counter heat in the digestive system. Digesting turmeric is a great way to counter inflammation in the body. The principle of opposites is a key tennet in Ayurvedic philosophy. The principle of opposites theory in Ayurveda is the idea of bringing the body into homeostasis by using opposing qualities of that which is predominant or that which is in excess. To avoid a health crisis, apply the theory of opposites to dietary practices and therapeutic treatments seasonally to stave off accumulations which can cause imbalances. Said another way, seasonal cleansing can help rid your body of muck. To cleanse or not to cleanse…that is the question. Or maybe, what is cleansing? A better question to start with. A cleanse could be something as simple as eating fruit for the day, or could be as complex as spending 3 or more weeks in India following the guidance of a doctor who suggests a dietary and physical treatment regimen, including emotional/spiritual practices. If interested in the latter, research “panchakarma”. The degree of one’s cleansing will determine the degree of clarity of that which is being cleansed…one of the many beauties of Ayurveda is that it is logical. I’ll use my own experiences as an example. At 27 I stopped eating meat and dairy for a month to see the benefits. I lost 5 pounds and cleared all of the mucus out of my sinuses and throat (and probably other places that I wasn’t aware of). That impressed me, so I took it a step farther. I followed a protocol that had me eating just fruits and vegetables for a month, along with ingesting a regimen of herbs and psyllium shakes. There was quite a bit more involved, but the moral of the story is that I lost 35 pounds in that month, my energy levels were through the roof, and I can honestly say that it changed my life in every aspect, including emotional. Cleansing can be as simple or complex as one would like it to be. However, one must know their limitations physically and emotionally, and most importantly, you must appreciate the process. If it’s torture or creates dread, change the process or just don’t do it. Your mind has to be on-board. According to Ayurveda, the mind is shaped by the five senses. During your cleansing process, enroll the mind to be “in the game”. Make sure that your surroundings support what you’re doing. Try to make everything you see, hear, touch, smell, and feel be a positive part of this rare opportunity in your life! Terrel Broussard - Ayurvedic Practitioner, Herbalist, Bodyworker; 413-329-5440.

Offering private cooking nutritional consultations and the 21 day restorative cleanse

www.elixirgb.com