PROMOTING THE ARTS IN THE BERKSHIRES SINCE 1994
THE ARTFUL MIND July 2019
PETER DELLERT PHOTOGRAPHY BY EDWARD ACKER
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LAUREL LAKE IN WINTER
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SHADOWS ON THE HOUSATONIC
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robert wilk
MÉNAGE À TROIS
L’ATELIER BERKSHIRES ART GALLERY 597 Main Street Great Barrington Massachusetts
www.rwsculpture.com
rw@rwsculpture.com THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 1
Anna Cypra Oliver
THE ARTFUL MIND ARTZINE
JULY 2019
I'm one of those people who thinks you can have a happy life and still be an artist. —Shelley Duvall
ANIMALS! CARYN KING H.CANDEE
/ PHOTOS BY EDWARD ACKER ... 8
SCULPTURE IS LIFE ROBERT WILK H. CANDEE
... 12
KAREN J. ANDREWS / INNER VISION STUDIO H.CANDEE
... 22
PETER DELLERT / ARTIST Berkshire Meadow, oil on canvas 48 x 60”
LEAF COLOR, PETAL SHAPE July 5 - 28, 2019 ARTIST RECEPTION Saturday, July 6 • 3-6pm 510 Warren St. Gallery
H. CANDEE
/ PHOTOS BY EDWARD ACKER ...30
JENNIFER PAZIENZA: ITALY 2019 H. CANDEE
...42
JASON AND HIS GRANDMOTHER
CH
1. THE KITTEN
RICHARD BRITELL / FICTION ...38
Hudson, New York www.510warrenstgallery.com Hours: Friday and Saturday 12 - 6, Sunday 12-5 518. 822. 0510
annaoliver@earthlink.net
Contributing Writer: Richard Britell Photographers: Edward Acker, Tasja Keetman
Leslee Carsewell Visual Artist
Publisher Harryet P. Candee
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Now showing 510 Warren Street Gallery Hudson NY 4ForArt Gallery Lenox MA 2 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
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The Artful Mind Calendar of Events
ART
510 WARREN STREET GALLERY 510 WARREN STREET, HUDSON, NY 518-822-0510 510warrenstreetgallery@gmail.com /510warrenstreetgallery.com Month of July: Anna Cypra Oliver: "Leaf Color, Petal Shape" July 5 - July 28, 2019 Opening Reception: Sat., July 6, 3 - 6 pm Fri & Sat 12 6, Sun 12 - 5 or by app aMUSE GALLERY 7 RAILROAD AVE, CHATHAM, NY • 518-392-1060 / www.amusechatham.com May 30 - July 28, “imMaterial reActions”, an exhibition of new work from an ongoing series of collages by Holyoke, MA artist, Peter Dellert. Eye of the Beholder, reception Aug 3, 4-7pm BERKSHIRE MUSEUM 39 SOUTH ST., PITTSFIELD, MA • 413-443-7171 HTTP://WWW.BERKSHIREMUSEUM.ORG/ | PITTSFIELD Thru September 8: Leonardo da Vinci: Machines in Motion; Till July 28: BerkshireNow: John MacDonald CLARK ART INSTITUTE 225 SOUTH ST, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA WWW.CLARKART.EDU/ | WILLIAMSTOWN June 8 - Sept 22: RENOIR: The Body, The Senses; July 4-October 14: Art's Biggest Stage: Collecting the Venice Biennale, 2007-2019; June 8-Sept 15: Janet Cardiff: The Forty Part Motet: sound installation CYNTHIA - REEVES 1315 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA THE COLLECTOR:Uncovering the Beautiful World of Donald Dreifuss. Exhibition through July 23 DOTTIE’S COFFEE LOUNGE 444 NORTH ST, PITTSFIELD, MA The Instagram Image Out of Context, thru June Exhibitors: Mike Carty, Ashley Chandler, Nina Silver, Jessica Rufo, Diane Firtell, Galen Carlson, Michael Downer, Richard Britell, Jade Roy, Jess Kin, Cassandra Redd, Garrit Baker FRONT STREET GALLERY 129 FRONT ST, HOUSATONIC, MA • 413-274-6607 Kate Knapp oils and watercolors and classes open to all. HANCOCK SHAKER VILLAGE 1843 W. HOUSATONIC ST, PITTSFIELD, MA tix: 1427.blackbaudhosting.com Thru Nov 11, 2019: Exhibition Opening: Borrowed Light: Barbara Ernst Prey. HESSEL MUSEUM OF ART & CCS BARD GALLERIES BARD COLLEGE, ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY HESSEL MUSEUM OF ART & CCS BARD GALLERIES • 845-758-7598 CCS.BARD.EDU June 22 - October 13: "Nil Yalter: Exile is a Hard Job," the artist's first solo U.S. museum exhibition HOADLEY GALLERY 21 CHURCH STREET LENOX MA 01240 • 413-637-2814 Fine art and contemporary crafts by acclaimed artists: paintings, jewelry, home furnishings, ceramics and glass
4 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
HOTEL ON NORTH 297 NORTH ST, PITTSFIELD, MA • 413-358-4741 July-Aug: Michael Fabrizio L'ATELIER BERKSHIRES GALLERY 597 MAIN STREET, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA www.atelierberks.com Thru July 31: ENTANGLED Paintings by Lisa French LINDA KAYE-MOSES BERKSHIRE CRAFTS FAIR The unruly jewelry by Linda Kaye-Moses will be at Monument Mountain High School in Gt Barrington, Fri, Sat, Sun Aug 9-11 LISA VOLLMER PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO AND GALLERY 325 Stockbridge Road (Rt. 7) Gt Barrington, MA • 413-429-6511 www.lisavollmer.com Exhibition: Independence, thru July. MASS MoCA 1040 MASSMOCA WAY, NORTH ADAMS, MA • 413-662-2111 Thru 2019: Laurie Anderson; Louise Bourgeois MARGUERITE BRIDE HOME STUDIO AT 46 GLORY DRIVE PITTSFIELD, MA • 413- 841-1659 or 413-442-7718 MARGEBRIDE-PAINTINGS.COM FB: MARGUERITE BRIDE WATERCOLORS “Seasons in Watercolor” will be on display at the Sandisfield Art Center, August 3 – August 28 with an opening reception August 3 from 2-4 pm. The center is at 5 Hammertown Road in Sandisfield, MA.; Bride’s solo exhibit, “Jazz Visions”, 22 original watercolors (mostly on canvas) are on “long-term” exhibit on both floors at 51 Park Tavern in Lee MATT CHINIAN
SIENNA PATTI 80 MAIN STREET LENOX MA 01240 • 413-638-8386 Sienna Patti represents innovative artists using traditional and non-traditional materials who push and pull the boundaries of studio jewelry and adornment. SOHN FINE ART GALLERY 69 CHURCH STREET LENOX MA 01240 • 413-551-7353 Contemporary photography dedicated to promoting artworks by international and local artists.
THE STATIONERY FACTORY 63 FLANSBURG AVE., DALTON, MA Instagram: @berkshirephotographygroup Berkshire Photography Group: “Portfolios” July 27–September 22, 2019. Opening Reception: Sunday, July 28, 3 – 6pm THE BECKET ARTS CENTER 7 BROOKER HILL ROAD IN BECKET, MA • 413- 623-6635 June 22 – July 7, will be featuring new originals by Margue; Exhibition 2: July 14 - 28, Opening Reception: Sunday, July 14, 2-4pm TURNPARK ART SPACE 2 MOSCOW ROAD, WEST STOCKBRIDGE, MA / TURNPARK.COM Thru Oct 31: Kathleen Jacobs:ECHOS. Paintings and sitespecific outdoor installation. THREE STONES GALLERY 10C MAIN ST, ROCKPORT MA • WWW.THREESTONESGALLERY.COM Ghetta Hirsch now showing her outstanding art along with Betsy Silverman,Jonathan MacAdam and Emily Passman, Jewelry by Lyca Blume and Emily Rose Maultsby VAULT GALLERY 322 MAIN ST, GT. BARRINGTON, MA • 413-644-0221 Marilyn Kalish at work and process on view, beautiful gallery and wonderful collection of paintings
MATTCHINIAN.COM
July 13-August 16 reception July 13, 4-6 PM - “Location Location Location”, 3 person Landscape exhibition at Lake George Arts Project, 1 Amherst St., Lake George, New York. Also, Open Studios Tour, 138 W. Main St. Cambridge, NY. Friday July 19, 11-5, Saturday July 20, & Sunday July 21, 10-5. NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM 9 MASSACHUSETTS 183, STOCKBRIDGE, MA Thru Oct 22: For the People: Memories of the Old Corner House RIVER ART PROJECT 3 STOCKBRIDGE STATION GALLERY 2 DEPOT STREET, STOCKBRIDGE, MA • 413-298-5163 / 413 563-4934 cell www.riverartproject.com Friday, June 21 – Sunday, July 28, Open Thursday – Sunday, 10:30-5 SCHANTZ GALLERIES CONTEMPORARY GLASS 3 ELM STREET, STOCKBRIDGE, MA • 413-298-3044 www.schantzgalleries.com Lino Tagliapietra: Visionary Glass art has been forever changed by Tagliapietra’s contributions to the field. As his audience, we are enlivened anew by his ability to visualize and capture the ineffable essence of the creative spirit. Exhibition Dates: July 11 – 27, 2019. Public Reception: Friday, July 12, 3-5pm. Open Daily, 10-6 pm in July
EVENTS & TALKS BERKSHIRE SOUTH COMMUNITY CENTER 15 CRISSEY RD, GT. BARRINGTON, MA 413-528-2810 X 10 FOR TICKETS July 11, 5:30 - 7pm: Five Wise Guys: Actors from the Third Act Project’s video series, “Five Wise Guys”, will present a live show
FILM TANGLEWOOD 297 WEST ST., LENOX, MA • 413-637-1600 WWW.TANGLEWOOD.ORG/ July 14: Defiant Requiem; July 21: Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters; July 28: A Tale of Tanglewood: Peter Grimes Reborn; August: 4: Cinematics/Full Tilt Special Event: John Cage Film & Song Books Selections; August 11: Babette’s Feast; August 18: Impromptu; August 25: Score: A Film Music Documentary IMAGES THEATRE SPRING ST., WILLIAMSTOWN, MA www.imagescinema.org Family Flicks Under the Stars Images Cinema’s Outdoor Summer Series Sunday, July 14: THE PRINCESS BRIDE Sunday, July 21: SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE Sunday, July 28: WALL-E
WORKSHOPS CHESTERWOOD 4 WILLIAMSVILLE RD, STOCKBRIDGE, MA www.chesterwood.org/calendar Session 1: July 13-14; Session 2: August 17-18 - Arlene Fins will be teaching two sessions of The Seated Pose. July 20-21 – Carolyn Wirth will be teaching Modeling a Portrait Head in Clay. August 10-11 – Michael Alfano will be teaching Sculpting the Portrait and the Features. DEB KOFFMAN’S ARTSPACE 137 FRONT ST, HOUSATONIC, MA • 413-274-1201 Sat: 10:30-12:45 class meets. No experience in drawing necessary, just a willingness to look deeply and watch your mind. This class is conducted in silence. Adult class. $10, please & call to register. First Tuesday of every month EASTOVER ESTATE & RETREAT 430 EAST ST., LENOX, MASSACHUSETTS 866-264-5139 WWW.EASTOVER.COM AUG 15: Tao Tan Pai Qigong with Terence Dunn
DANCE Eye of the Tiger, watercolor, 24x18" Carolyn Newberger
HUDSON HALL AT THE HUDSON OPERA HOUSE 327 WARREN ST., HUDSON, NEW YORK • 518-822-1438 |HTTP://WWW.HUDSONOPERAHOUSE.ORG/ July 12-14: Stephen Petronio Company PS21 2980 NEW YORK 66, CHATHAM, NY • 518-392-6121 PS21CHATHAM.ORG/ August 2-3, 8:00pm: Ephrat Asherie:Odeon
“Perched on a stool in the Berkshires wilderness, I draw, paint, and record in words the many revelations and insights the forest Inspires.”
Carolyn Newberger www.carolynnewberger.com
THEATER BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY 30 Union St., Pittsfield, MA • 413-236-8888 |http://www.barringtonstageco.org/ July 14 - July 15, 8pm: CLINT HOLMES: 100 Years of Nat King Cole MAC-HAYDN THEATRE 925 STATE ROUTE 203, CHATHAM, NY Sunset Boulevard; July 25-Aug 4: Ragtime; Aug 8 - Aug 18: Little Shop of Horrors; Aug 31: End of Season Cabaret SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY 70 KEMBLE ST, LENOX, MA / WWW.SHAKESPEARE.ORG May 23-July 14: The Waverly Gallery by Kenneth Lonergan, directed by Tina Packer; July 9 - Aug 17: The Taming of the Shrew; July 18 - Aug 18: The Children UNICORN THEATRE 6 EAST ST., STOCKBRIDGE, MA • 413-997-4444 BERKSHIRETHEATREGROUP.ORG July 18August 24: Working: A Musical. From the book by Studds Terkel WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL 1000 MAIN ST., WILLIAMSTOWN, MA • 413-458-3200 |HTTP://WTFESTIVAL.ORG/ July 31 - Aug 18: GHOSTS Please send in your calendar listing the 10th of the month prior to publication
BECKET ARTS CENTER Exhibition 2 Carolyn Newberger Ellen Grenadier H. David Stein Eric Grab and Bruce Panock
July 14 - 28, 2019 Opening Reception: Sunday, July 14, 2:00 - 4:00 PM Displaying Thursday - Sunday, 12:00 - 4:00 PM 7 Brooker Hill Rd, Becket, MA Phone: (413) 623-6635
THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 5
Leaping Jaguar Hood Ornament Photograph
Chrome: Vintage and Sport Cars Janet Pumphrey Photography 510 Warren Street Gallery Hudson, New York July 5—28 Opening Reception Saturday, July 6, 3 - 6pm
www.JanetPumphrey.com
It’s a Jaane
Doe Summer!
COME OUT & CELEBRATE SUMMER
7-12 7-20 7-22 7-28 8-4 8-17 8-23 9-27
MUSIC SCHEDULE:
Backwater Bar&Grille Queechy Lake Caanan NY Number Ten Steakhouse 10 Castle St Gt. Barrington MA The Lion’s Den Main St Stockbridge MA Readsboro Inn 7077 Main St. Reedsboro VT. 05350 1-4PM Round Lake Auditorium 2 Wesley Ave.Round Lake NY 4-6PM Number Ten Steakhouse 10 Castle Street Gt. Barrington MA The O’s Music Bar 330 Amherst Rd. Sunderland MA 01315 Bounti-Fare 200 Howland Ave.Adams MA 01220
10-12 Great Falls Brewing Company
JAANE DOE MUSIC AND MORE
VISIT
THE ARTFUL MIND
1 Railroad Plaza Caanan CT.
WWW.JAANEDOE.COM
www.facebook.com/JaaneDoeMusic www.reverbnation.com/JaaneDoe, https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jaane https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jaane-doe/214634239 6 • JULY 2019
2019
E oe e D IKE FIR n a Ja RNS L BU
AND
BERKSHIRE SOUTH
REGIONAL COMMUNITY CENTER Presents
THE
Five Wise Guys in Performance Sam Bittman Jeff Kent Daniel Klein Bob Lohbauer Matthew Tannenbaum
PHOTOGRAPH BY EDWARD ACKER
ORIGINAL NEW PLAYS BY DANIEL KLEIN • Melancholy Baby• Five-Letter Word Starting with “W”• Fidelity Hilarious wise guy free-for-all about life in the third act • Audience talkback
Thursday July 11• 5:30 - 7pm in the JAFFE THEATRE of Berkshire South Regional Community Center 15 CRISSEY RD, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA
Order your tickets now by calling Berkshire South at 413-528-2810
EXT 10
25.00 non-members / 18.00 for members For information on the work of the Third Act Project, and how to receive our monthly newsletter, visit our website at www.thirdactproject.com Or email sam@thirdactproject.com THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 7
Animals!
CARYN KING
CARYN KING KING ROOSTER WHITE DOOR
Interview by H. Candee Photographs of Artist by Edward Acker
Did you ever look a cow in the eye and want to just say I LOVE YOU you, you! Wonderful beast!? Are there any animals you will not paint? Caryn King: Exactly how I feel! You obviously have been in my mind. And it surprisingly seems we see more cows, goats, sheep and farms here than we did in Vermont. Since moving here in February we have done a lot of exploring by car, and as the better weather is here, on our walks. It is amazing to go around a corner or over a rise and be surprised by the gentle giants. Gorgeous large cows sashaying across the road to their barn, or grazing in fields by the edge of the road often stopping to stare at us as we are staring back at them. Cows are the easy ones for me to love. I’ve always had trouble painting or wanting to paint reptiles and amphibians. That is until the other day, when one of a few turtles, a very large snapping turtle made its way up to my yard last week to lay eggs. She became frightened of us, and our dogs who were on leashes noticed her first. The snapper retreated under the car and was there a few hours. 8 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
We tried to encourage her to leave because we needed to use the car. I spent much time looking into her face, especially her eyes. I was surprised how I felt her timidness, her predicament, and how she struggled for what to do next. Gently poking to move her along didn’t cause a snapping type of reaction, which I thought it would. Eventually we got her to move, and she quickly took cover under our front step. She moved on after we left. What is your true relationship with animals? … I think “we”, as humans, grow to love animals more deeply as our lives progress and change and make a home on this planet. Do you agree? How was it all for you? Caryn: Little bits of the past remind me of how my feeling for animals hadn’t been nurtured in my home. I don’t think my mother liked them. She did share her favorite artists with me always to make an impression - Louise Nevelson, Andrew Wyeth, and Paul Newman! I was on my own; drawn to the dogs in the neighborhood and to the little stories my father told me about pigeons he kept on the roof
of the three-story building he grew up in, and the horses he cared for during the war. Art and animals have been my passion and go back to my earliest memories. I was always an observer and never wanted to ride a horse though I always appreciated them. My first pet, a long-haired cat, came to me after I married and moved to Boston. Since then, we have always had dogs and cats. I grew up in a suburban New Jersey town close to New York City. I always enjoyed the pets of neighbors and friends and would volunteer to walk dogs. Around 10 years ago, I was called upon to save a poor chicken who couldn’t find a flock to accept her. Susie Wilson came with a name, but very few feathers. We promised her a peaceful home and built her a castle and then brought in other needy chickens but no roosters! We always considered our chickens pets. If we figured out the cost of each egg it would be at least $10 a piece for all the organic food and special year-round care we gave them. We were a ‘hen retirement home’ when the girls were done with eggs. When we moved, we couldn’t take
CARYN KING VERONICA
our five hens. Older, and not laying eggs often, we didn’t think we’d find them a home. After turning away offers to take them for stewing, we found a kind woman who understood our love for them, and she took them in with the promise to keep them going. Their first morning in her barnyard, she cooked them hot oatmeal. As I paint in my studio, my husband Rick produces archival art prints of my paintings. He has come up with a way to mount them, so they are ready to hang or sit on a table. I am grateful for this, as it gives a lot of people another way to collect and appreciate my animal paintings. We sell these at weekend craft shows and online through my website. At the weekend art shows I meet and talk with a lot of visitors to our booth. Surprisingly, I find not everyone loves animals. People stop by with great stories or appreciation for animals, but I also hear from those who just don’t see them as more than objects, or food. Sometimes I hear stories that are understandably sad. One time, someone stopped by the studio and bought a large original
Rooster painting. A week later, she called with a problem. She found she couldn’t keep it hanging in her home as it brought too many memories of being chased by a rooster on her grandparent’s farm when she was a child. All ended well when she exchanged the painting for a painting of a Pig, and I have since heard that she remains quite happy. In fact, I do hear quite a few stories about fears of chickens. And as many tell me about happy memories being brought up on dairy farms, I hear others who shake their head and say they are glad to be away from the cows. I guess it is easy for me to enjoy the landscape of grazing cows, but the reality of being a farmer doesn’t affect my life. I see your choice of animals to portray are more farm-raised then dogs and cats and jungle animals, reptilians, etc. Caryn: It does seem as if I gravitate to barn animals these days. Occasionally I do sneak in a bird, butterfly, bumblebee or a dog, tractor, etc. I have included a series of dog drawings I am now working on. Although I usually work with acrylics, these are
mixed media that begin with pen and ink, and are my impressions of dogs I’ve loved, or dogs other people love and share with me. I paint portraits of pets, or any other ideas requested on commission. Currently, I am painting a mural outside a window on a facing wall of a larger-than-life Pig looking straight at whoever walks past the inside window. I am thinking it will be quite a surprise for guests to come upon. A few years ago, I painted a life size cow inside a weathered wood window frame Rick created. Placed as you open the door to the room, it has quite a presence. You have taken your love for animals and given them a permanent life! How did you first begin this artistic direction? Caryn: I worked in different art directions through the years but never painted. I actually wanted to be a painter, but I didn’t have a vision for what to paint. I found the blank white canvas intimidating. Then about fifteen years ago, I painted a Rooster Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 9
CARYN KING KINDRED SPIRITS
CARYN AND THE GOATS Photograph by Edward Acker 10 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
RICK AND CARYN AT THE FARM Photograph by Edward Acker
under a sunflower and just kept going. It’s never been hard to find what to paint next or to get going in my studio regularly. The hard part is that I paint slowly and can’t get everything done I want to. Your art experience also involves a time when you were sculpting. What was this chapter in your artistic life all about? Caryn: I began my art life with clay. Raising two young children, I was always doing some kind of art. Working three-dimensionally with clay had stuck with me and quickly grew into having a work shop and business. Rick built us a solar-heated greenhouse attached to the work shop and then joined me full-time in the new clay business. I designed hand-built pottery, such as characters, mirrors and tiles, mostly. Rick found ways to produce molds and set up the production of it. We sold at weekend craft shows, gave classes, did school programs and wholesale. After traveling to 12 shows a year for fourteen years, we decided it was my time to get a formal art education. I settled not in clay, but in Illustration. I graduated with honors in Illustration, and receiving a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art. You were also an Educator. Did you enjoy teaching? What were some of your philosophies on education and for what age group? You also
worked as an illustrator and toy designer. Tell us about this time in your life, please. Caryn: After graduating art school, Rick and I moved to Martha’s Vineyard, and was illustrating greeting cards and text books. This is before computers. What a different graphic/illustration and design world was back then. Everything was by mail and had to be all color separated. I worked at a MA Audubon Society center where I had a Blue Jay named Fred, who hung out daily on my desk. Living on an island didn’t work for me after 10 years, as I tended to get sea sick whenever on a boat. We eventually relocated to Vermont and took on a job designing and illustrating stuffed toys for the Mary Meyer Corporation. Vermont was great. The company was very nice to work for, but I knew after a year that sitting at a drawing table all day, every day, wasn’t for me. Through Vermont’s Peer Review Program, I received my teacher’s license and began teaching elementary school art in southern Vermont. Teaching children was a joy. Being an art teacher in three or four schools at a time and seeing hundreds of children with only an art cart was a challenge. I worked hard to excite students’ creativeness and instill the idea that art was to be experienced as a process. After becoming a full-time studio artist, I occasionally gave one-on-one lessons in my studio to former students.
I know you have recently moved from Vermont to Southfield, welcome! Why have you relocated, and with whom do you bring to the Berkshires? Thank you for the welcome, Harryet! In a late January snow storm my husband, two dogs, cat and I moved from a dirt road in Southern Vermont to a dirt road here in the Berkshires. It is still hard to believe we could have moved to a spot so beautiful from such a beautiful spot. Early in our marriage, 49 years ago, we spent time out this way in the Berkshires, so we knew we wanted to return some day. We rented for a while, and now decided our next step. Our current feelings are that we want to stay here. Where we live now, is amazing, in that there is so much going on with wildlife. Although in Vermont we’d have an occasional bear or night visit from fox and skunks, we are now living next to a pond, and are seeing more critters and nature. There’s so much to enjoy between the animal life and the beauty of the land and buildings here in the southern Berkshires. It was hard to move from Vermont, as we left friends, galleries that carried our work, and the beauty of the state, but we are settling in happily every day. Today alone, my list of nature sightings grew with three garter snakes that I individually met up with like the Raptor, a very large wild turkey, crossing our yard, and a heron taking Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 11
CARYN KING DOGS PASTEL
Rick and Caryn
off from the pond, and the sad discovery of a turtle’s nest being dug up by a skunk on our night camera. Also, sightings of many birds such a Baltimore Oriole, the showiest today! Are you planning anything new to do with your life that you hadn’t done so far in Vermont? Anything you are glad to not have to do any longer? Caryn: Making my studio and Rick’s office/studio work, were very important in the first weeks here. It’s an ongoing endeavor and finding studio painting time is becoming easier. We were very happy to find two wonderful teachers to continue our Qi Gong. Rick has joined the Berkshire Ukulele Band, and we have found several great places to continue our walks. We were in our Vermont community, and I’m sure it will happen here, too. On the ‘work’ side of our new life, we have art festivals close by and lined up to go to, such as Berkshire Crafts Fair in Great Barrington August 9, 10, and 11, Stockbridge Summer Arts and Crafts Show August 17 and 18, and Berkshire Botanical Garden Harvest Festival October 12 and 13. I will also be exhibiting at the New Marlborough Meetinghouse Gallery Members Show in September. We are ready for studio visits here in Southfield by appointment. Yes, you are in the groove! Have you discovered great places to paint around here? I love Gould Farm in Monterey for its population of beautiful cows and farm buildings. Also, Hancock Shaker Village for its animals, herbs, history, and more. Caryn: Thanks for the ideas - I just put Gould Farm on my list. It’s a long list of places we want to visit and explore! Rick is my photographer, and together we enjoy the search for animals and farms. This week, we visited the Mount, the Berkshire Botanical Gardens, and went to the Unicorn Theater. We have gone twice up to Hancock Shaker Village, and I am working on paintings of two young Sheep and a Rooster who live there. Also, the prints Rick makes from my originals will be in the gift store there, so besides the wonderful animals, gardens and buildings, we have another excuse to visit Hancock Shaker Village. I do make time to go plein aire painting in the summer. I am hoping to this summer— put on a lot of bug repellent and get out there!
Photograph by Edward Acker
CARYN KING LIZZY
I love seeing sketches for preliminary paintings artists work up. Often, they have more character then the final art pieces! Do you have a collection of preliminaries? Caryn: I always have sketch books going. Sometimes I will try out an idea for a painting with a study. A recent one is of a Pig. The study is 6”x6” and the painting is to be 20” x 20.” I also count on my vision for a painting. Canvas size, flat canvas or textured and composition, are on-going in my mind as I plan new paintings. Sometimes these plans start when we are in the field photographing. Taking photographs while visiting farms and the animal centers is a bonus. We take lots of photos knowing that only a few will be possibilities for painting ideas. Sometimes I use multiple reference photos for each painting, and sometimes I use a photo plus my imagination. I am not trying to duplicate nature, or the camera - they are perfect. My work begins in the natural world and cameras, then its time to paint. My paintings are purposely direct reflections of my emotions, guided by photos, but I try for something within myself to come through.
I’m curious, can you tell me, how do you begin to form a connection with an animal? Do you have a natural gift with creatures? Caryn: I do not have a natural animal skill, but rather an appreciation for them, and that usually works. I say this as I smile to myself. Just this week I am feeling such a sense of accomplishment. After having dogs for over 30 years, I have finally trained one. Elby, our 8-year-old Chihuahua and Lab Mix can be stubborn and spoiled. I successfully trained her to stay off our bed and to stay on her own bed, all night. Elby has lived with us for four years and we never thought it could be done. All I used was kind gentle words versus all the ideas I read about using treats, gates, or crates to train. Another smile… remembering back when I started going out looking to photograph cows. We were at a large teaching farm in Keene, NH. A beautiful herd was very far from the fence, keeping cool in the shade. Without a thought, I went under the wood fence posts and started walking towards the herd taking pictures with my phone, as I walked. Quickly, I realized what I was seeing. The whole herd in full run coming toward me! I ran! I escaped
with a few scratches from the fence. I learned that for these cows, a human coming in the field in the late afternoon, usually meant the gate will open and they will make their way up to the barns. What is your favorite story, and why? Caryn: Watership Down by Richard Adams. I finally decided to give this book a try the time I started painting animals. I thought it would be good simply to help me fall asleep. Instead, I couldn’t put it down, and it became a favorite. After reading, I memorized all the names of the rabbits…just for fun. I appreciated reading Richard Adams saying about the book, “it’s just a story of rabbits,” when so many people attempt to make it an allegory. With my paintings I want my viewers to simply enjoy my painted reflections of animal life without pretense. I want to give each of the animals I paint their own “10 minutes of fame” because they deserve it. Thank you, Caryn!
THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 13
FRONT ST. GALLERY
STOCKBRIDGE STATION GALLERY
2 Depot Street Stockbridge, MA (413) 298-5163 www.riverartproject.com
The River Art Project 3 June 21 – July 28, 2019
KATE KNAPP
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: SATURDAY & SUNDAY 12 - 5pm and by appointment anytime 413. 274. 6607 (gallery) 413. 429. 7141 (cell) 413. 528. 9546 (home) www.kateknappartist.com
Front Street, Housatonic, MA
MATT CHINIAN
Ann Getsinger, Watershed, 2019
The third annual exhibition of The River Art Project features several nationally recognized painters who pay homage to the river with their subject matter, including; Bart Elsbach, Michael Filmus, Ann Getsinger, Mary Sipp Green, Scott Prior, and Jim Schantz.
MARK MELLINGER
1260 BACK BAY, 6TH LAKE, INLET NY 2-19-18
MATTCHINIAN.COM INSTAGRAM:
FACEBOOK:
@MATTCHINIAN MATT CHINIAN
Location Location Location, 3 person Landscape exhibition. Lake George Arts Project, 1 Amherst St. lake George, NY July 13-August 16 reception July 13, 4-6 P.M. Open Studios Tour, 138 W. Main St. Cambridge, NY. Fri July 19, 11-5, Sat. July 20, & Sun. July 21, 10-5. Visit mattchinian.com for more info 14 •THE ARFUL MIND JULY 2019
NOHO M55 gallery 530 W 25th St NYC room #408 June 25–July 13, 2019 100 North St Pittsfield Painting - Collage - Construction 914. 260. 7413 markmellingerart.com markmellinger680@gmail.com
Karen J. Andrews “Roses and Blue Bowl” WATERCOLORIST Showing at the Inner Vision Studio all summer 2 FURNACE ROAD, WEST STOCKBRIDGE, MA 01266 Hours: Open every Saturday July and August 12 - 4pm
THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 15
RED TRIANGLE 1
ROBERT WILK
SCULPTURE IS LIFE
robert wilk ! Interview by H. Candee
Robert, soon you will be returning to the Berkshires for another great summer of fun, entertainment and sculpture by you to see and share. While wintering in Florida, tell me, what have you been up to? Robert Wilk: Sarasota was very civilized, a culturally classy town. It’s been a very creative and productive time. I’m now in a very good gallery in the lively Burns Court area, and I received several new commissions, which were both satisfying ... and fun. You are a minimalist sculptor using bright red, blue, orange and yellow onto steel / aluminum. Have you added to your color palette? Robert: I’m actually using fewer colors. And my pieces are now one solid color. It’s another mini16 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
malist attitude, I suppose. One color. It’s focused without other colors to distract from the essential form. And more powerful, too, I feel. My main love is RED. I like to say, “RED: the color every other color wish it were!”. For me it’s the most ALIVE color there is, and I like being alive. What works of sculpture have you started and finished over the long winter ? Robert: I’ve started shaping metal with my bare hands. The first time was so surprising to me that it could be done and that I could do it. I started fooling around with red paper, which I often do, but usually in folds or origami style forms. In this case it just started to be so much fun, and I just went on and on for hours. It was rather thrilling and captivating.
Robert, have you been always been an artist? Robert: I’ve been creating since I was about five years old, mostly painting and always for pleasure and for friends. You are a friendly sculptor, Robert! Always striking up a good conversation with people, often times with strangers who you become friends with, who then, you may sell art to. Art and people go well together for you, yes? Robert: I like people. They are my favorite thing, “Best show in town”, as I say. So, I’m always meeting people and striking up an acquaintance if not, a new friend. One thing leads to another! I met Natalie Tyler in Great Barrington when I stopped by her gallery. I found out she lived in Venezia, studying glass-making on Murano during the same
ROBERT WILK
time that I was there. A new friendship started. Another example was meeting the experimental theatre owner in Sarasota, Harry Lipstein while attending a fundraiser party for a contemporary dance company at my home. He loved the huge red piece, my sculpture, and acquired it. It’s now at the entrance to his theatre. It has received a lot of attention, and as a result, so many people have been in touch with me since then. I renamed it EDGY/red, since the Urbanite Theatre is very “edgy”. Robert, so where did you grow up and what career history do you carry along the way to becoming a sculptor at the age of 72? Robert: I was brought up in the Berkshires, which in my early youth I thought was real boring. I mean, what to get excited about—all those trees and fields, right? Yawn. I dreamed of New York and the excitement and fun, craziness, outragiousness of life there. After getting a B.A in philosophy, I moved to New York, and was dismayed that there were no philosophy jobs in the New York Times Sunday Classifieds. So, having to
feed myself, a friends introduced me to a Dutch friend who worked for a modeling agency. So, I joined up and made a living at it. One year, in 1963, I became the Ballantyne Beer guy and was on every six pack in America. WAY better then being with those dumb trees and fileds so I thought. My life has been completely serendipitous. I was offered a job as a marketing assistant for a sixmonth project in Tokyo, and stayed 25 years. I was hired by Coca-Cola for about nine years as their first Director of Corporate Planning—imagining the future, based on researching where values and behavior were moving to, especially among the very young. So we ended up being one of the first companies allowed to do business in China. From all the places you have lived, where did you learn the most about art and life? Robert: Oh, that’s easy to answer. Japan! 25 years in Japan including five of those years in Hong Kong. Tokyo was off-the-wall, bursting with wild color in the crazy lights of Shinjuku, as in the film, Lost In Translation. But, at the same time, it was sweet and lovely, as most of the city consists of
LOVE RED BLUE
small neighborhoods. Tokyo was something like 8oo towns, and the city still retains to a large extent that localneighborhood felling. You get to know the old guy in a Kimono at his tea shop and the woman cooling the freshly made tofu in a barrel on the street, and sharing discretely a hot Ofuro bath at the local public sento bath house. AAt our neighborhood sento, you also enjoy Sake on Tatami mats and be entertained by the locals doing Japanese dancing. They loved having a foreigner there to whom they could teach traditional dance to. I can now do a dynamic Tanko Bushi coal miner’s number from the souther island of Kyushu. I guesss, what I learned in Japan was the elegance—and power—of simplicity. In a strange way, there is the element of of pwerful simplicity and elegance in the art of JApanese politeness, as well. It makes for a very civilized way of living. And, the more formal it is, the more beautiful. I also became totally impressed with the use of constraint and discipline in creating beauty. Ikebana flower arringing has strict rules, which in effect demand true, inventive creativity to arrive at Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 17
SWIGGY ROBERT WILK
MÉNAGE À TROIS ROBERT WILK LENOX MA UNWRAPPING THE SCULPTURE FOR THE ARTFUL MIND GALLERY Robert Wilk’s mock-up for LOVE RED BEST
18 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
Robert Wilk’s studio in Florida Full of Ideas!
a final masterpiece. In the theatre, for example, I think many of us have expereinced the greatest, most innovative and exciting performances in an old, small, technically limited space, compared to what is often produced in a huge, modern, technically pwerful new theatre. Limitations demand more creativity. I am wondering, Robert, what strikes your fancy that helps inspire you to create a sculpture? Is it something you see, or bear witness to, or maybe, dream about that sets the wheels in motion? Robert: All of the above ... and then some! I manipulate paper a lot, and something just comes out that works, and then I translate it into big and colorful. Mostly, I think, I react to something I see. I could be anything. Red/Yellow/Green traffic lights, for example. I had lots of fun doing a wall piece with about 25 champagne glasses with dangling red cherries. I’ve loved hardware stores since I was a kid. There are endless kinds of intriguing stuff in there. Also, I find somehow a hardware store smells good and brings me back to childhood moments. I’ve done some pieces with fat aircon tubing and also thin pink plastic tubing.
Do you have control over the installations after they are bought? Or do you give such advice as to where the art should be placed? Robert: If it’s a commission, I start with the site, not the piece. Some sites are really inspiring, like the “Ten Mauves” at a lodge deep in the countryside near Becket, MA. I was given freedom to just walk around the property and see where it may want to be placed. Otherwise, I leave it to people to place it. he logs were just lying around, seemingly just waiting for me to bring them to life and to bring joy to the forest. In most instances they already have the space in mind before acquiring it. What are your upcoming plans for showing your work when you return to the Berkshires? Robert: I’m very excited to have been invited to show at the prestigious Pingree Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit in Hamilton, MA, near Marblehead. It’s a pretty big deal, at least for me! As soon as I arrive, I’ll be spending a lot of time working on a big new piece for for this show. Guess what? It’ll be BIG and RED! So you make sculpture in the Berkshires as well as in Florida? Robert: I love working in the Berkshires and have
two metal fabricators, whom I love working with. As I prefer pretty big works, I need the major huge equipment they have to cut, fold and bend the metal. One of the fabricators had never done any art related work. The guys there really love it. It’s really very, very satisfying ... and fun! Do you have any opinion of how the Artists’ Market is doing these days? Robert: There’s great work out there, along with what I consider crap. But, “Chacun a Son Goût”! The pricing has gone off the wall. A Jeff Koons pink balloon dog for $91 million? I would much prefer David Hockney’s “Portrait of an Artist (with Two Figures)” painting for just $90.3 million. A bargain is a bargain. Are there any artists out there that you are especially keeping your eye on? What is it about their art you like or have a good feeling about, and why? Robert: Mary-Ann Prack. Exciting ceramic sculptor. Look her up at www.prackart.com. Really original. Love that. Have you been to the movies lately? Anything you can recommend? Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 19
RED CHAIRS EXPLODING ROBERT WILK
Robert: PAVAROTTI! That was one amazing human creation! And he couldn’t even read music! Fantastic. What would we do without Italians? No mozzarella! No prosecco! No Mona Lisa! No Pavarotti! No opera!!! What was the largest sculpture you have ever produced? Where is it today? Robert: It’s PETAL/red/silver. It was originally at the Berkshire Art Museum for a couple years and now at the L’Atelier Gallery in Great Barrington, MA. This was a real tricky, delicately balanced number. Tell me about Red Chairs Exploding, Robert. The illusion, and movement is captivating! Robert: When I moved into a new home in Sarasota there was this huge old wooden book case that covered the entire end of the main room. And since the home was originally a church, it was a real big room. There was a TV, which I don’t watch, set back in a big square space. I tried to replace the TV with a painting, but since it was set back, it had a “negative” feeling about it, and I wanted something positive. And popping red chairs just occurred to me. Out of nowhere! Maybe I had been thinking of chairs for something else, but I can’t remember. Hey, but who cares, right? What have you learned from being a successful sculptor? Robert: Be Yourself! Trust Yourself. And just DO it. If you had the opportunity, where would you really love to see your art displayed? Robert: I’d love to see my art in a prominent public space, like a roundabout, so it would offer people stuck in a car a reason to smile. A BIG, RED reason to smile! I know you have a mind of your own and can easily push the envelope with some of your ideas. You may say, “Why Not?” Where have you found that happen to you? Along the way, during or before the art making process? Robert: Pushing the Envelope is my middle name. I’d love to do a 50-story piece of sculpture. Not a building— but a sculpture. Quite thin. It would emit beautiful, quiet, restful, inspiring music. And it might wiggle a tiny bit. Very subtly. From afar it would make people gasp and smile. For color? Let’s see. What about RED?
Thank you Robert! URBANITE ROBERT WILK
20 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
CARYN KING
aMuse Gallery presents
Eye of the Beholder A group exhibition featuring art created from found objects
August 1 - September 29, 2019 Artist Reception: Saturday, August 3, 4 - 7PM
Geology #2 by Rick Patterson
Participating artists: Rosemary Barrett, Stephanie Blumenthal, Peter Dellert, Luciana Frigerio, Conrad Levenson, Jack Metzger, Cristobal Morales, Rick Patterson, Charles Schweigert, Peter Thomashow Jack, acrylic, 40” x 30”
Caryn King www.carynking.com 413. 229.5947
Animals!
(Peter Dellert’s solo show will be on view through July 28, 2019)
aMuse Gallery 7 Railroad Avenue - Chatham NY 518-392-1060 amusechatham.com Hours: Thursday thru Saturday 11am-5pm, Sunday 12-4pm
THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 21
KAREN J. ANDREWS INNER VISION STUDIO WEST STOCKBRIDGE Interview by H. Candee
Had you any clue, Karen, that you had been storing up all this artistic talent just waiting to pour out since your years in High School? People can start learning art at any age, but it must have been quiet a great discovery for you, yes? Karen J. Andrews: It took me many years to claim that I was an artist. I used to draw a lot of house plans, and I think it was just assumed I would become an architect. There weren’t any artists in the family, although they were talented in business, music and tennis. In high school I took Art History, and the art teacher commented on the quality of my sketches of the masterpieces we were studying. If it hadn’t been for her, I might never have pursued art at all. Senior year I took my first painting class, and I remember staying after school in the studio for hours, which was the first time I had gotten so absorbed in anything. The visual world began to open before me.
INNER VISION STUDIO EXTERIOR
22 •THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019
Favoring the art of painting, what in particular fascinated you the most, as opposed to other venues, like for example, sculpture, or printmaking? Karen: Other than architecture, I don’t really have a feel for that third dimension. Although I had fun in the one sculpture class I took in college dipping a bedsheet in plaster of Paris and hanging it from the ceiling. My main creative outlet for my first 20 years making art was photography. I came back around to painting many years later but was limited to watercolor and other water-based mediums because darkroom work had made me too sensitive to chemicals. I did a lot of drawing, but very little painting throughout those years. Photography helped me learn to compose, to get my ideas down quickly and to easily translate
WATERY FLORAL KAREN J. ANDREWS
three dimensions into two. Painting is a lot harder! But I am still both a photographer and a painter. Can you paint us a picture of what your life was like at this time, so we can see how it all fit together for you? Karen: After graduation from Oberlin College, I moved to Boston for five years where I did a lot of different jobs while taking art classes. One temp job landed me in the Polaroid Headquarters’ Audio-Visual department, where I learned about Multi-Image Production. I got to use my photography and other creative skills while freelancing at other production houses. I spent one semester at the Maine Photographic Workshops, and then came back to work at a variety of places: a portrait studio, a community newspaper, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, a frame shop, and as a temp at many universities and publishing houses. In 1987 my father invited me to move back to New Haven to help him figure out what to do with his abandoned 70,000 square foot factory building. I suggested we make it into artist studios, and we spent the next 10 years designing, renovating and managing Art Haven West. We created over a dozen art studios with high ceilings and big windows, a communal darkroom, a dance rehearsal space, band rehearsal spaces, and business incubator space. While working there, I took up Oriental Brush
Painting, and immediately began painting on tshirts. I figured if my art was on a piece of clothing, people might be more likely to buy it. I was one of the early t-shirt painting craft vendors. Eventually I became too chemically sensitive to stay in New Haven, so we eventually sold the building and I moved up to the Berkshires, in search of cleaner air. As a way to heal from environmental illness, I began walking in the woods every day, and began photographing my healing journey. I continued walking and photographing while traveling to find a new place to settle, landing in the Berkshires. These photographs became a traveling show, entitled the “Enchanted Forest Series” and had a life of their own. The show was a personal treatise about the healing powers of the natural world, about my journey with environmental illness and as a reminder of how we are slowly poisoning our world through the use of chemicals. A portion of the show was purchased as a permanent exhibit for the Hartford Hospital Chapel area, and a few other pieces traveled to Taiwan to a show at the American Embassy in Taipei. And now, Karen, you have taken what you so loved, like a vision, and made it a reality for you at Inner Vision Studio.Tell us what about this space. I know it is in a very beautiful part of the woods in West Stockbridge.
I moved in with Michael, now my husband of 14 years, to his hand-built log house, with a woodshop for his woodworking, and a little out-building that had been his daughter’s one-stall horse barn. As we searched around for appropriate galleries for me, we instead decided to fix up the little barn into our own gallery space. We had visited Deer Isle in Maine on our honeymoon, where many artists have such spaces attached to their houses in what is a thriving artists’ community. We began the threemonth process of shoring up the walls, building a new foundation, moving the building a few feet, and then finishing it off with non-toxic building materials. In the first few years when I was open every weekend, there would be about 200-300 visitors over the course of the summer. [Illustration: Studio Building interior] Was it a challenge to create all this amazing studio space from scratch? Karen: The building was already there, and Michael had built two houses and two shops in his life. It was a great education working alongside of him, renovating the structure, and learning more about that craft. I had a great time testing out which colors to paint the outside, and eventually came up with the color scheme of periwinkle with yellow trim and coral doors. We repurposed one of the Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 23
KAREN J. ANDREWS MUSES Watercolor on paper, design for many products, photographed at live dance performance
trating, even awful. It sometimes feels like I’m jumping off a small cliff, especially if I have gotten attached to certain parts of it, and I could easily blow it. There are those happy accidents, like when two colors meet and the painting just paints itself. I am willing to take some pretty big risks at times. I like to just play sometimes, and not care about what something looks like. I hate when it gets too serious.
original barn doors for the front door, and the interior has simple white walls, track lighting and baseboard heating. A neighbor told us it looked very “St Bart’s”, and I’ve caught people stopping along the road photographing the building. The building is mainly a gallery space because we don’t have running water there. But I love painting out in the lovely garden in the summer months, as flowers are some of my favorite subjects. How much time do you spend working on a watercolor? Karen: I usually complete a painting in one or two sittings. So maybe an hour, two, three at the most. 24 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
I don’t like to fuss with too much detail. I’m very prolific and I may do 3 to 5 versions of the same subject. People often say “Oh, watercolor, that’s so hard…” It is hard to control but I don’t try to be a super-realist. I don’t always know where I’m going and I paint a large range of subjects: flowers, people in groups, houses, dancers, landscape, still life. I’m not particular to one subject. I did a project which I called “A Feminine View of the Mechanical World” and took photographs and painted various machines, farm equipment, industrial sites. [Illustration: Muses or Jacob’sFour] But watercolor can be scary, exhilarating, frus-
How did you take the leap from watercolor paper as a medium to an entire website partly dedicated to printed textiles, placemats, glass cutting boards for your watercolors? Karen: As I mentioned before, I was in the “garment business” with my t-shirts in the early 80’s, so I was used to making art to sell commercially. About 10 years ago, a friend of mine suggested that my “Lilies” image might make a good placemat. We walked around some of the local stores in Great Barrington surveying buyers about the possible product, asked how large they should be and what kind of border they liked, and I began selling these 12 x 18” laminates as Artmats. I now have 10 different patterns, and the placemats seem to be very popular and durable. People often tell me how enjoyable their breakfasts are, eating on my cheerful placemats every day. These days you can pretty much print anything on anything, so over the years I’ve added in these
KAREN J. ANDREWS FLORAL SILHOUETTE Watercolor on paper, used as design for placemats
glass cutting boards, and then scarves, leggings, dresses, etc. Now tell us about your creativity coaching! Where did you study to be able to do such work? Karen: I have been studying and practicing a wide range of self-healing processes for about 20 years and now I am about to complete a formal coaching training specializing in the issues facing artists and creative people. The modalities I’ve trained in include: Co-Counseling, Focusing, Nonviolent Communication, Mediation, Internal Family Systems, and Heartmath. I have probably given (and received ) hundreds of hours of different kinds of sessions to help people get unstuck, clear distress, get more organized, reconnect with their passion and motivation, and communicate directly with their unconscious parts. Regarding artists, for example, you know they can sometimes be their worst enemy? Either their inner critics make them feel worthless, or some rebellious part keeps them in resistance. Do you know anyone like that? I know with my vivid imagination and creative mind, I can get myself tied up in some pretty intricate knots. So this kind of coaching, which can be both playful
and deep, helps artists unravel these knots from the inside. I’ve seen people turn some amazing corners after sessions with me, where a client suddenly feels free to pursue the very thing that had seemed completely out of reach. Bringing out people’s talents must be challenging, how do you do such a thing? Karen: I have had a lot of practice, and I just believe that as humans we are intrinsically creative. If this channel is blocked, it’s because something got damaged or confused along the way. It’s a matter of playing detective until we find what’s holding up the river. It’s kind of like a log-jam, and once we identify the logs, and start pulling out main ones, things begin to flow again. What I’m enjoying working with now is helping people use their fear and other strong feelings as fuel and pour them back into their work. It’s about finding your authentic voice, your truth, and transforming the pain into creative energy, which is what it probably was before it got blocked. Did you go from your own various fears and anxieties to being able to figure out what’s really stopping you in order move forth and break out
with your art? Karen: I was “blessed” with a lot of sensitivities, and for the early part of my life it was a deficit; now I see it as more of a gift. I was forced to learn how to manage these sensibilities and I developed an arsenal of tools for self-awareness, self-empowerment, and self-expression. I have a pretty loud inner critic at times, and in learning how to work with it, I have honed a huge repertoire of techniques and approaches that can really help other people deal with their criticizing energies. The coaching training was all about these issues, which are the territory of many creative people. I’ve certainly benefitted personally and artistically from doing the training. Do you think a person can become a better visual artist by studying the history of art? You were amazed by Van Gogh in your early years, and I think history can add so much perspective to learning how to see and express and create their own style and venue in art. How would you describe your watercolors? Traditional? Impressionistic, etc…? Karen: Absolutely! I think studying art-making Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 25
through history is a great way to learn to make art. I sometimes lament the fact that I didn’t go to a four-year art school. I might have missed some of the technical stuff and the daily discipline of it, but I also know a lot of art school graduates who have stopped making art. As an art history major, I looked at a lot of art, I drew and copied images, I read about the artists’ processes, I tried to get into their head, and I studied it in its historical context. I have a huge range or styles and approaches because of all that I’ve seen and absorbed. I’m pretty diverse and eclectic. Sometimes my gallery shows look like a group show, even if it’s just my work. If I have to classify myself, I would say my work is fairly impressionistic, although I prefer the term “magical realism”. In my painted photographs, such as the “Housatonic Hand-Painted” series, I alter reality by painting with oil pastels on top of photographs. The large hand-made marks invade the “real” photographic space and create an interesting tension that makes one question: what is the reality? I’ve done a similar “trompe l’oeill” effect with a couple of my placemat images like “Lilies” where I’ve photographed the flowers in front of the watercolor painting of the same flowers, so you’re not sure which is the painting and which is the photograph. [Illustration: Lillies] [ Illustration: Between Buildings] What other amazing experiences with art did you encounter that helped your education in art making? Karen: I took a semester abroad my sophomore year in college and went to Paris. I went to a wonderful life drawing class on the left bank that met daily, and learned drawing and French. In college we had the month of January off to do a project, and I spent it at the Art Students’ League. When I moved up to the Berkshires, I took classes at IS 183 and met Rosalind Gordon, an amazingly talented teacher who had studied with Elaine DeKooning. She helped a lot of us move into taking ourselves seriously as artists. I also began commuting to the Woodstock School of Art to study watercolor weekly, sometimes indoors and often en pleine-aire. I found Woodstock very supportive and enlivening. Inter-disciplinary skills are also a part of your art making, yes? Karen: I occasionally write poems, songs, and short stories as well as environmental essays. I sing and play guitar and was in a performing folk group in New Haven. I love to dance, and I enjoy being out in nature. I think each creative modality can feed us in different ways. I don’t want to limit myself.
KAREN J. ANDREWS ASIAN FUSION Watercolor and gouache (giclee print)
What would have been an alternative career for you? Karen: Maybe architecture, but I also enjoy creativity on a larger canvas, and perhaps would have enjoyed city planning. I have considered getting an MSW to become a therapist, but coaching fulfills the need to help others free themselves of distress. Let’s talk a little about your photography work, Karen. What do you enjoy? How does it
26 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
KAREN J. ANDREWS BETWEEN BUILDINGS Hand-painted photograph, printed on canvas
overlap into your watercolor work? Karen: Photography and watercolor weave in and out of each other. I use them both constantly. I paint from my own references; I sometimes stitch watercolor elements together in Photoshop; I print my own giclee prints (and sometimes don’t sell the original); I use photography to assist me in freezing images that change or move (such as people or landscapes). I paint on my photographs and I collage photographs and drawings together, physically and in Photoshop. Some of my work is pure painting and some is pure photography, but at other times I break all the boundaries and experiment. You are married to Michael, a very talented woodworker, yes? Karen: Michael has been a furniture and cabinet-maker for about 47 years. He is an artisan and an engineer. He did most of the woodworking restoration at Ventfort Hall and has had many high-end customers in New York City. As he aged, he needed to find something less physically taxing to work with and stumbled upon harp making five years ago. He now builds gorgeous Celtic harps (October Mountain Folk Harps) and is quickly rising to the top in his field. We each have our own building: he has a
large woodshop that is almost as big as our house, and I use the cute little blue building as Inner Vision Studio. It’s wonderful to work at home, but in separate spaces. Our work intersects here and there. For example, I designed some floral patterns that he carved into a headboard. We often ask each other’s opinions when we need to make an important creative or structural decision. I photograph his harps and he has helped me set up at crafts events. We just wrote an article together for the Folk Harp Journal and I help him with marketing and business development. And we renovated the barn into the gallery. Advice to the young artist? Karen: My advice to young artists would be to search until you find the ingredients for maximizing your creativity, and make sure you build those elements into your life. This could include keeping up your health and energy, bringing in the right support for yourself, and becoming very self-aware. It takes some time to get to know yourself, your patterns of work and rest, and what really floats your boat. So, I’d also encourage younger artists to be patient, to try lots of things to see what feels right, keep notes on what works and what doesn’t and most importantly have fun with it all. Karen, with your watercolors – can you describe one of your frequently used techniques?
Karen: I have done a few versions of “Construction Workers” originally a photograph I took in Puerto Rico of some hardhat guys resting on a job. It happens to be a well-composed photograph with a coherent balance of oranges and yellow and browns. This may sound nerdy, but it helps me to set a timer, using three 20-minute increments: 20 minutes to make the drawing, 20 minutes to put down the first washes and overall composition, and 20 minutes to fill in the bulk of the painting. I try to nail down the most important things first, such as the darkest darks. I try to avoid mud, the bane of many watercolorists’ existence. I find it best to use no more than two or three colors in a mixture. More than that and it gets muddy or bulletproof. I almost never use mask or frisket – I’m allergic to it. I try to identify the highlights and keep the paint away from them. I try to balance looseness and freedom with precision around certain colors, edges, and shapes. In this piece, I loved the contrast between the dark, complex innards of the building with the blander, lighter exterior. Why is the quality paper you use important to the process? Papers make a huge difference. Charles Reid introduced me to Fabriano papers and Holbein paints, which use honey as a medium. That’s mostly what I use now. It has a certain feel that I like. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 27
KAREN J. ANDREWS GOLDEN STORM photograph of trees reflected in puddle in the woods
I prefer painting with fresh paint as opposed to paint that has dried up. The juiciness of the pigment is what I like from a kinesthetic standpoint. Do you ever get artist block? Then what do you do? Karen: When life is busy, I sometimes find myself in resistance to sitting down and painting. I don’t always feel like it. For example, right now I’m feeling a little pressured because the summer season is upon us, and I have four open studios coming up. I’d like to have a substantial quantity of new work to show. So I “start with art” in the morning, right after breakfast my walk. It helps enormously if I plan the night before what I’m going to work on during my painting sessions. I have my materials ready to go, paper cut, palette and brushes clean and the house to myself for an hour or two. I like to keep the timer handy for those 20minute increments. I also keep a notebook nearby to make notes about what I’m about to do, how I want to approach the work and to record any inner critic mutterings (to get them out of my head). At the end of the session, I might make some more notes on what I did and what worked and didn’t work. I would love to attend an Open Studio with you. Can you tell me what is involved? It’s a great idea to go to the artist’s intimate place of work. 28 •JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
Karen: I actually don’t have people right in the space where I work, but I have work on the wall, in bins, and different series that I’m working on. Some of it will be framed, and some will be loose prints or watercolors. I think it’s a great, informal way to connect with art lovers and I always get a lot out of it. People can ask me questions about my process. I’m often asked if I teach, which I do on occasion. What time in history is your favorite? Why? Karen: I would like to have been able to hang out with Vincent Van Gogh, even though he was probably a bit strange. It was a time of incredible discovery of the world with new eyes, and the world was still so natural, beautiful and unspoiled. How does the Berkshires fit into the scheme of things for you in terms of your art, your life, your freedom to grow and with just living in nature, as opposed to like, New Haven! Karen: While I don’t love the winters here, it’s a good time to get work done! I need to be surrounded by nature. I kept trying to find a place to live near New Haven, and I just couldn’t find enough trees, woods and clean lakes. The Berkshires certainly has many like-minded spiritual, creative, entrepreneurial people so in that sense I feel right at home. It’s been very supportive to me as an artist. And the “Berkshire Shuffle” agrees with me, wearing a few hats instead
of having just one work identity. I seem to be a natural–born eclectic. And even though there’s a lot of driving, I’m often painting in mind while enjoying the way light hits a mountain. It’s never-ending beauty. [Illustration: Barn Door or Flower Essence] How can we get in touch with you? Karen: Come to my gallery in Richmond/West Stockbridge, open every Saturday in July and August. I will be participating in all four of the Art Studio Tours through the Guild of Berkshire Artists, a growing arts organization that now covers most of Berkshire County. People can find the map online at GuildofBerkshireArtists.com or on our brochure which is distributed throughout the county. The summer Open Studio Art Tours are Saturday July 13 and August 10, from 11- 5pm. I also welcome people to make a private studio visit if they contact me first at 413-212-1394 or karenjandrews@gmail.com. If someone is interested in the Creativity Coaching, I have a separate website where they can find out more about it: KarenAndrewsCoaching.com Thank you, Karen!
SMALL TRUTHS BY PETER DELLERT (IMMATERIAL REACTIONS EXHIBIT)
MARK MELLINGER / TRANSPARENT WASHES
TRIPTYCK
MARK MELLINGER
WATERY EYE BY CRISTOBAL MORALES (EYE OF THE BEHOLDER EXHIBIT)
NOHO M55 gallery
aMUSE GALLERY “imMaterial reActions”, currently on view at aMuse Gallery, is a solo show of elegant work by Peter Dellert, the very talented Holyoke artist featured on the cover of this magazine. In his stunning collage series we see a true collaboration between Dellert and Mother Nature, and begin to get a sense of the ways in which the process of creation is often similar for nature and man. The response to this show has been amazing, so be sure to find time to stop by and see this beautiful body of work. The exhibit runs through July 28. “Eye of the Beholder” will be the next exciting group exhibition at aMuse Gallery, featuring diverse works of art created from found objects. Utilizing man made and natural materials, these engaging, captivating creations infuse the viewer with a sense of discovery and delight… as well as encourage an appreciation of the beauty to be found in the ordinary things we so often overlook or readily discard. Through a variety of mediums, the artists will demonstrate how dynamic arrangements of different found objects, shapes, colors, and textures can bring a whole new perspective to things drawn from the past. Artists represented in this show will include Rosemary Barrett, Stephanie Blumenthal, Conrad Levenson, Peter Dellert, Luciana Frigerio, Jack Metzger, Cristobal Morales, Rick Patterson, Charles Schweigert, and Peter Thomashow. This show will run from August 1 through September 29, with an Artist Reception open to the public on Saturday August 3 from 4-7pm.This one will be a lot of fun, so don’t miss it! aMuse is an eclectic gallery in Chatham NY that represents artists from Berkshire and Columbia counties, the Hudson Valley and beyond. Housed in a beautiful Greek revival building, there is a warm home-like feeling to the gallery, and the relaxed and welcoming atmosphere allows you to explore the work with ease. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by this little gem, with its variety of interesting art and eccentricities available in a range of prices and styles. The gallery is located just across the tracks from the historic Chatham Clocktower and is wheelchair accessible. aMuse Gallery - 7 Railroad Avenue ~ Chatham New York; 518-392-1060, amusechatham@gmail.com, amusechatham.com. Hours: Thursday through Saturday 11am-5pm, Sunday 12-4pm.
530 W 25th St NYC room #408
CLAUDIA D’ALESSANDRO, LET THE SUNSHINE
PHOTOGRAPH
CLAUDIA D’ALESSANDRO PHOTOGRAPHY “Claudia’s photography touches our souls with deep joy!” ~ CHR Like John Burroughs, “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” Through my lens, I can capture moments otherwise gone in an instant — in prints on canvas, aluminum and photo paper — and keep close the scenes of the beauty and mystery that exist all around. “She sees with her eyes and feels with her heart.” ~ DKAH The Berkshires is a changing, moving and exciting palette with a seasonal and topographical backdrop that has made this region a destination for generations of people seeking a beautiful place just to ‘be.’ I have been a ‘here, gone, and now back’ resident here since 1965, and have come to realize that there is no place that I would rather be. In hills, skies, streams, lakes and brooks, valleys and woods, and from the tops of our mountains, there is everything I need to soothe my spirits and enliven my soul. And there is little that I enjoy as much as catching a tiny bit of that beauty and preserving it for all to see. The Berkshires truly shine in summer. And I enjoy trying to catch and preserve as many moments of it as I can, through my lens. To order prints or enquire about pricing, email me and mention the Artful Mind for preferred customer pricing. Claudia Dallesandro cdalessandro26@gmail.com; https://www.dalessandrophotography.com, Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/cdalessandrophotography/ and on Instagram as: dalessandronatura
June 25–July 13, 2019 I live in two separate worlds. One verbal and one visual. What they have in common is an attitude of pushing into the unknown; of allowing unconscious elements to take form within consciousness. I couldn’t live without both. Art came first, but after a while I began to feel self-indulgent and isolated. I wanted to address problems of mans’ impact on the environment. I went through careers in art, photography, carpentry, ecology and microbiology before landing in psychology at 30. 10 years ago, when we found a loft in Pittsfield, I returned to my first love, art. It’s not like riding a bicycle. I had to start from scratch. I feel I’m just now catching up to where I left off 50 years ago. I’m not satisfied with a piece for a long time. I’ll put it away and work on something else. I’ll look at it upside down and in a mirror, trying to get a handle on what’s wrong. It’s a very solitary meditation. I might gesso over everything except some small bits that are working; then start over from those. The viewer completes the process. It’s a collaboration. It’s a thrill when someone “gets” a piece, but I’m OK when they don’t. The connection with the viewer should be as rare and special as marriage. Mark Mellinger can be reached at markmellinger680@gmail.com / markmellingerart.com / 914-260-7413
THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 29
Photograph by Edward Acker
PETER DELLERT Interview by H. Candee Photographs by Edward Acker or otherwise credited
I recently saw your work at aMuse Gallery in Chatham, NY, and firstly, to say, there is nothing better than seeing your work in person and up close! I see that as an artist you use and reuse new and old materials and objects, natural materials and found materials, some really simple, others interestingly complex. There seems to be a sense of pure satisfaction in this for you. Can you tell us more about that inner feeling, how you use it to your advantage in making art? Peter Dellert: I stumbled upon using leaves to make art one fall after recently becoming single again. I had been riding the train to New York City from Springfield and you pass lots of dilapidated factories in places like Bridgeport CT. The window grids in the factories were fascinating, some altered or painted, some replaced. Somehow, I made the leap from Albers’ square within a square paintings, to something I could do only using natural materials. That was in 2005. I keep adding materials as I discover them and then figure out how to use them. Garlic skin is hard to 30 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
glue down. Wasp nest tears and resists accurate cutting. Leaves fade, so I coat them to protect them. Sheet music is mundane until you cut it into strips or squares and rearrange them. There has been lots of trial and error before I get what you see in a finished piece. I am an experimenter. Eva Hesse used to call these kinds of experiments her “tests”. You have to do a lot of this, especially with materials new to you, before you can begin to design and make finished works. All these weird materials have become my palette. It might be easier to be a painter, but first I have to teach myself how to paint. That might come later. People then may guess that your personal life must be fun and satisfying, as well. True? Tell us how you live your life today, and what were the key points that lead up to where you are at today? Peter: Being an artist is challenging, sometimes a
struggle, but yes, my life is good and rich and often fun and exciting. I live in a community surrounded by a group of friends some of whom go back decades. I have lived in the Valley, as we call it, for forty years and I tell people when they ask that the reason I stayed was when I looked around the cultural offerings were so numerous, especially music, that it just seemed like it would be a great place to live. I still like it here. Three Truths, Peter. So much to understand, yes? Not just the material physicality but also your mental comprehension and understanding that has evolved for you. Reveal what you have created in the Three truths, please. Peter: I created the title for a suite of sculptures I proposed for Sculpture Key West in 2009 which were not funded. I first came across the idea looking at the work of David Nash, a British sculptor of some note who worked then in charred wood, among other things. He had created three pieces, a sphere, a cube and a pyramid, each two or three
PETER DELLERT THREE TRUTHS, 2018. Garlic skin, red onion skin, wasp nest cut and reassembled on Found rusted metal. 9 ½” x 16” x 1” in Artists’ frame.
PETER DELLERT THREE MORE TRUTHS, 2018. Hydrangea petals cut and reassembled on laser print on Washi. A3 420mm x 297mm framed to 20” x 16”
feet on a side and then burned the wood but stopped so you could still see each form clearly. Nice work. I thought to repeat (steal) the idea but make the objects crisp, out of wood, paint them in glow in the dark paint and put them on the beach at Fort Zachery Taylor (Key West). In 2015, I decided to build the sphere, using three separate hoops of wood joined together on x, y and z axes. I painted it to glow in the dark. It was part of Art in the Orchard 2015 and stayed up for a couple of years. I called it Truth #1. I was then considering them as building blocks, the simplest of forms. You see them also in Kandinsky and other work from that period. Last year I was getting ready for a one man show in Kyoto, Japan and I made a simple 2-D rendition of the idea using rusted metal as a field. The square is garlic skin, the triangle is red onion skin, and the circle or sphere is wasp nest. All the ingre-
universe. The circle represents the infinite, and the infinite is at the basis of all beings. But the infinite in itself is formless. We humans endowed with senses and intellect demand tangible forms. Hence a triangle. The triangle is the beginning of all forms. Out of it first comes the square. A square is the triangle doubled. This doubling process goes on infinitely and we get the multitudinosity of things, which the Chinese philosopher calls ‘the ten thousand things’, that is, the universe. dients were first cut and then reassembled to make the elements. This became Three Truths. (It is in the aMuse show). My sister in law was translating for me and when I sent her early images of the piece she responded with a startling piece from the 1800’s done by a Japanese artist / monk, Sengai Gibon. He had done a simple ink drawing in the same order I had chosen, overlapping his lines. It appears this concept has been around for awhile. The circle-triangle-square is Sengai’s picture of the
How does it fit into the theme/title imMaterial reAction? Peter: Sometimes you just pick a title from words that resonate with each other. I use materials, materials are important to me even though most are simple, like the leaves and the sheet music. I am making actions on them, I am reacting to them, and reacting to the world around me. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 31
Photograph by Motoko Inoue Painting Bound Egg
PETER DELLERT BOUND EGG, 2016. Dyed concrete on steel and wire mesh armature, paint, rope. 46” x 46” x 66” As photographed at Sculpture Now at the Mount 2016. Now in private collection.
As an artist what I do is immaterial most of the time. Only in a gallery do people see what I do. And as a culture, in the United States, art does not garner very much attention. But the three truths still hold, they are absolutes. I like that. I know the universe is impossible to comprehend, but that does not keep me from trying to understand it. That is what keeps me going. That is why I make art. Titles are just that, titles. Sometimes only the artist knows the connection, and sometimes knowing that connection furthers your understanding of the art. Is there a difference for you in your smaller 2-D works of art like Labyrinth III, as opposed to big creations that are human scale or larger sculptures that can be seen on great, green lawns and/ or indoors? Is there a time frame, prefer32 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
ence, that you choose to create one or the other? Peter: There is of course the differences in scale and materials although sometimes there are material overlaps. I tend to make sculptures for outdoor summer shows so early in the year that is my focus. Winter is a good time to be inside working on the collages and smaller works. This can change if I have a show coming up, or a commission. I have worked for forty years as first a builder and then a
cabinetmaker, then a woodworker/ furniture maker so the sculpture fills the need to work large and to construct objects. The collage came later, when I was in my fifties but it has evolved into something very dear to me and has the ability to speak for my inner voices. I think it is also a more uniquely personal art. I do not know of any other artists cutting up and reassembling leaves. Who would be crazy enough? You’re very sensitive to our natural world. “Bound Egg” is one of my favorite outdoor sculptures of yours. The size of this Blue egg and the rope around it, binding it. I find sentimental value in this piece, as well as a feeling of time. Tell us a little about it please. Peter: Bound Egg was made as a response to an ar-
PETER DELLERT LABYRINTH III, 2018. Vintage sheet music cut and reassembled on laser print on washi. 420mm x 297mm framed to 20” x 16”
ticle I read in the Economist about the plight of the murres, circumpolar birds who live on cliffs, all crowded together in large colonies. Their very pointy eggs are all uniquely colored and marked, as if by Pollock. Warming ocean temperatures sometimes limit their food availability and they starve to death en masse. So they are literally in a bind, hence the rope. But I also used the rope to bind them, to protect them, and maybe we can clean up our act and live harmoniously with the murres and all the other creatures out there. Do you like to travel? Wondering, if your art has anything to do with your travel and leisure experiences? ( i.e. Postcards from Japan series?) Peter: I love to travel. I am blessed to be able to travel more now than ever. When I was younger I would go to Central America every winter to go SCUBA diving, and birdwatching and exploring. I met Motoko in 2010. Since 2011 I have been to Japan with her six or seven times. I started taking photos there, printing them on washi (Japanese rice paper) made specifically for laser printers, and
building collages on them, or behind them as in the cut series. Aside from the actual images I take, Japan has been creeping into my art subconsciously I am sure. It is an alluring and complex culture and it takes time to appreciate and understand it. We travel elsewhere too, and sometimes, just to Cape Cod or Maine, which I love. Can you describe the work involved you had to go through to get so many shows, solo and group? So much time must have been involved in getting accepted, plus, all the work to prepare. Its not always the favorite part of the artists to market themselves. How do you balance work and marketing yourself? Peter: People who know me, and even some gallerists know that I am tireless and keep trying, keep asking for shows, etc. I apply all the time to lots of venues but get accepted seldom. You have to apply to ten shows to get accepted to one. I visited the gallery in Kyoto twice before I secured a promise to show in 2018. I have applied to some residency programs five and six times and never been ac-
cepted. It can be very frustrating and the online applications might be easier if they were standardized but each one is different and sometimes when you hit SAVE, it doesn’t and you have to start all over again. I do work at it and I try to show outside my own back yard. The show at aMuse is no exception. It was intentional, although I was introduced by a local friend, Mary Nelen. Starting off as a potter and then becoming a furniture maker, and then a sculptor, how did this all evolve for you? What choices did you have to make to go from one to the next? What is the common thread throughout? Peter: The winter after I graduated from Clark I took a pottery course out of curiosity and stave off cabin fever. I fell in love with clay. That led to a three-year binge including an extremely eventful and opportune apprenticeship with a master potter in Maine, Ron Burke. He also had a woodshop on the premises so I got a bit of help with those tools too. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 33
PETER DELLERT NEW WORLD V, 2019. Hydrangea flower petals, postage stamp on found metal, vintage atlas pages, sandpaper, leaf on laser print on washi. A4 297mm x 210mm
Then I ended up at Penland for a stint, then Celo, an intentional Quaker community down the road in N.C. where I first worked on a house building crew. Then I settled in the Valley and eventually found a job on a construction crew. The rest sort of fell into place, and I never went back to the clay. Oftentimes, though people used to say they could see the clay influence in my furniture. I always took that as a compliment. I got single again at 50, and decided to do a sculpture residency at Vermont Studio Center, using my furniture slides to get accepted. I went back again the next year, put the tuition on my credit card, and decided to become a sculptor. I was not getting rich making custom furniture and decided I would rather make art. Or try to. Tell us, Peter, what kind of furniture did you make? Are you still active in this venue? Peter: I am a self- taught woodworker although I did take a few classes early on at Penland and Haystack. Pottery and working with Ron helped me learn how to work with my hands, carefully, accurately, repeatedly, tirelessly. Potting is not easy work. Wood is less forgiving but there is no kiln firing involved so it is less risky in my mind. You learn how to fix your mistakes. 34 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
I took a class in 1991 with Wendy Maruyama that changed my life and my approach to wood. It was a class in color and painting furniture. I spent the next fifteen years exploring that and developed a line of live edge tables with painted bases and wall cabinets with lots of dyed and painted surfaces and mixed media interiors. That is when the collage came into my work. The interiors of the cabinets were heavily decorated. That website is defunct but I want to rebuild it and I still make those cabinets, although now they are largely sculptural. I call them reliquaries. Lauren Clark Gallery in Great Barrington showed my furniture and wall pieces for years, mostly when she was in Housatonic. She sold one of those cabinets before I finished hanging it on the wall the day of someone’s opening. Wood is an amazing (and renewable) material and we are blessed to have many beautiful species here in the Northeast. Prior, your college days lead you to a BA in Biology. What interested you in this subject? Peter: Early on Jacque Cousteau was my hero and I wanted to become an oceanographer. The oceans seemed largely unexplored. The space race was on and I thought that was a waste of money (still do). What is really driving the bus are the little copepods
and plankton in the ocean and the reef systems. We can do without whales, but without the reefs we are going to be in trouble. Most people respond to things with two eyes. Only one tenth of one percent of the living organisms on the planet are animals. It’s all the rest we should be concerned about. Science taught me to look closely, ask intelligent questions and then develop a way to answer those questions. It still works for me. Where did you grow up? What was your family life like as a child? You must have some fond memories, can you share with us one or two that were significant to you? Peter: I grew up in Gardiner Maine. My mom lived there until very recently. And I still have a brother in Augusta, next door. But both my parents were from Massachusetts. My Dad was born in Pittsfield. There was a Dellert block on North St. built at the turn of the century (19th/20th). His father owned the first gas station in Pittsfield. I am trying to unwrite some of that karma now. We spent every Christmas in Pittsfield at my Nanas. I liked it there. It was bigger than Gardiner. My uncle Norman Dellert, the artist lived next door to my grandmother, my great aunt who lived to be 99 lived downtown in a huge apartment building she
PETER DELLERT (above) MUNDO PERDIDO (Lost World), 2008. Vintage atlas pages on found rusted oil drum lid. 22.5” x 2/5” x 1”
(Right) INTIMACY, 2012. Reclaimed cypress, gold leaf paint, found objects, nails. 49” x 10” x 3”
owned. It felt like there had been some successes there for the family. And GE was thriving in those days. We had dinners out at the Busy Bee. Urban renewal came and GE left but Pittsfield is still a special place. Maine is harsh, especially in the winter. I collected stamps to stay busy when I wasn’t shoveling snow or delivering newspapers. No, I didn’t walk to school barefoot but I did walk to school. My dad took us ice fishing in the winter, whether we wanted to go or not. It was fun til it was not and I got cold. The fish were good, and plentiful. We cleaned them, Mom cooked them. I thought I was middle class til I got to college and then realized I grew up lower middle class. But at least then there was a middle class. All my friends were just regular kids. Only a couple were doctors’ kids. One was the Episcopal priests’ kid whose dad studied at Oxford and had an English mom. We called him the Rev. He was very cool, and smart. I played a lot of basketball but quit before I made varsity. I ran before running was cool, cross country and the two mile in track. I preferred to read books, about one a week my last two years of high school. I was a real nerd, complete with a slide rule and a pocket protector, No shit. Gardiner was a factory town in those days. Paper and shoes. The guidance counselor wanted to make me a pulp and paper engineer. I went to Clark and studied biology. I fled Maine. Now I want to move back there, if only for the summers. My Maine summers were spent at the boys’ camp my father directed on a huge lake with forests all around it. I explored a lot there, got close to Nature, very close if I compare it to todays’ kids. No phone, no TV, not even radio. We swam, we did crafts, we played sports. I learned all about boats and canoes but also about trees and butterflies. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 35
PETER DELLERT HIDDEN WORLDS, 2018. Vintage atlas pages behind cut and altered laser print on washi, Colored pencil. A3 297mm x 420mm framed to 16” x 20”
It was a very special childhood from that perspective. And very inclusive given Maine is very white. My Dad hired counselors from all over the country and the world. He was ahead of his time in those ways. Who was your mentor and guide for you in your youth and adult life? What did they pass along to you that you still treasure and utilize? Peter: I have had many wonderful generous mentors. One in junior high who taught me about observation, and taking notes. One older man, Uncle Sam we called him, who had introduced my parents, and had worked on whaling vessels out of New Bedford at the turn of the century taught me how to sail and a few other things besides. He was also a pretty good woodworker. His son had become an oceanographer. So I knew one. I had a biology professor at Clark, Rudolf Nunnemacher, an early electron microscopist, who was influential but not enough to get me to go to grad school. He rode a unicycle and was also a jeweler, sort of a renaissance man. They invited me to come back to Clark for grad school.. Another three or four 36 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
years in Worcester. Yikes! But I had a printing instructor at the Worcester Craft Studios who was very helpful and inspiring. My uncle was a printmaker so I had to try it.. One day I mean to get back to it. Ron Burke was my mentor in clay and I consider my time in his studio as my graduate school. I had my own little studio in the milk room of what had been a dairy barn. I learned how to figure out how do things. I learned how to fail. I learned how to make mistakes and learn from them. He became a life- long friend and only recently passed. I am still close to his wife and their children. It was a second childhood for me. They had a farm a with a pond, hay fields and gardens. It was a lot gentler than my life in Gardiner. And, now, perhaps you have artist friends that share in your same interest in a post-industrial / post-apocalyptic point of view? Maybe more now than ever. Are they doing similar things to what you are doing, and share the same interests in the natural world and its destination? Are there exhibits all over the world that focus just on these topics and issues in which you try to participate?
Peter: Yes, there are some environmental residencies here and there but I have not been accepted to those that I apply to. My work is serious, and based in science and sometimes I think it is over the heads of the juries. I have a proposal, I am floating that wraps trees with surgical gauze and tape to mimic dying / dead coral reefs. I think it is too depressing to imagine. But actually, when done it becomes quite beautiful. I did one small dead tree here in Holyoke in a park. Now it is in rags but for a year or more it was very striking. I put a plaque up so folks would know what I was getting at. City kids need to be taught about what is going on with the planet. I know some of the artists who are doing such things worldwide. My friends Donna Dodson and Andy Morlein have been quite successful siting their large bird sculptures in many places, even the fashion district in New York. They are made of natural materials and call attention to environmental issues. In the U.S. people like Patrick Dougherty get all the attention. His is great work, but not so environmental. He just uses a lot of twigs. And Andy Goldsworthy. I like his work. But he is really a photographer. His work is extremely ephemeral. But any work that
PETER DELLERT AMERICA IN THE WEEDS, 2018. Vintage US postage stamps behind altered laser print on washi, colored pencil, ink. 420mm x 297mm (A3) framed to 20” x 16”
focuses attention on the beauty of Nature and calls for its protection is important work. What do you think makes a great artist? Peter: Very few great artists, but many, many very good ones. Any artist who is true to him or herself over a life time and has a unique clear vision and style in my mind is a good artist. Some great artists we do not hear about until long after they are gone. Look at Hilma af Klimt whose work was just shown at the Guggenheim and only now is being realized as one of the original abstract artists and was years ahead of Kandinsky and Malevich. She is a great artist. What gift were you given when you were making pottery? It is an ancient and beautiful artform. Did it offer you enough, or was there a plateau that lead you onto your next venue in art? What was most enjoyable? Peter: I had a wonderful apprenticeship in clay and continued working in clay for a year or so. Then, I had a tragic falling out with clay when my studio froze out one winter when I was living by the river
in a wood heated house, but the studio was not heated. The new still green and damp pots all warped and tore themselves apart. I had romanticized the life of a potter. I had no studio, no kiln, no market. I gave up. I have not tried to make pots since on any serious level although I did throw a few recently when I was teaching a furniture class at a craft school. Pottery taught me about form, positive and negative space. I was life drawing at the same time I was learning how to make pots. It was a heady time. They were bad drawings but the pots got better. And using glazes was my introduction to color and its uses. It was a marvelous springboard to a life of making, and evolving into an artist. As I said, it was my graduate school.
Have you ever gotten an art idea from a dream you had? Or, perhaps, from a bedside book you read? Peter: Ideas come in all forms, yes from dreams, but also from conversation, from looking at other art, from looking at materials, at Nature, from reading, from thinking, from drawing. I read a lot. I write down new words I don’t know. Sometimes just a word is enough to provoke an idea. My ideas come slowly but progressively. Three Truths is a perfect example. Five years or so to first rendition. Ten years to first actual sculpture. A few more years to realization of idea and complete understanding of concept. I work painfully slowly sometimes. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 37
PETER DELLERT PRAY FOR PEACE, 2019. Vintage postage stamps on found metal, gold leaf paper, sewing pattern on laser print on washi. A4 297mm x 210mm. Artist’s frame.
PETER DELLERT OBSOLETE OIL CAN, 2017. Grape vines, wood on wood armature. 108” x 66” x 66” As photographed at Sculpture Now at the Mount 2018.
Hence the need to do more than one thing so when one isn’t happening you can divert to something else. What are you busy with when not in the studio and have separated your time from the art world? Might you be engaged in art of cuisine, theatre and entertainment, walking the pups, family adventures? Poetry by the sea? Hammock dwelling? Wallmart visits? Peter: I love to cook. I garden and always have. Everyone should have a compost pile. I go out to listen to a lot of live music, mostly jazz and mostly “outside” jazz. We started an organization to bring more of this music to the Valley and fund it like a farm share. Valleyjazzshares.org. I work a lot and always have. I have been self-employed for 36 years. I go to NYC with Motoko when she has business there. We go to a lot of museums and galleries. We share a love of contemporary art and architecture which is one of the things that brought us together. We cook and entertain for our friends. We ride our bikes to tag sales. I am always looking for “stuff” and I never know where I will find it. She works for a children’s book author and has been in the book business for years. So books, food, music, art. What else do you need? 38 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
Can you advise us on some of good places to buy art materials and supplies that may be off the beaten path? Peter: I buy necessities at my local art supply store or at Micheal’s. I find everything else or I pick it.. Leaves, onion skin, garlic skin, Hydrangea flowers I grow. Wasp nests I find or people donate. Old atlases come from flea markets and online once I know which ones are good. I pick a lot of rusted metal off of the roads around my house and everywhere I drive. The catalytic converter covers took me ten years to collect, and I still collect them for the next piece. The stamps are from my collection as a child. I saved them. I knew they would be good for something. I like tools. If you are in central Maine, go to Liberty Tool. It’s in Liberty. Amazing. Pearl Paint was great until it wasn’t. Life goes on. Make friends with your local hardware store and buy stuff there! We had a couple of art shows at our local store. The owner is a kind of outsider artist but he denies it. It is also a bike shop. Stop shopping at Depot! What is next for you, Peter? Peter: Sculpture Now at the Mount in Lenox for summer 2019, and then? I teach a class in Sculpture from Recycled Materials at North Country Studio Workshops in Bennington VT at the college there in January 2020. First time for me. Still a few spots left.
In October we go back to Japan. I have a small group of artists friends there and I am trying to expand my gallery connections. I am working on a grant to get myself back there for an extended stay. In summer 2020, a show at Anchor House of Artists in Northampton, MA. Also, in 2020, Motoko is retiring, so we might just buy a van and see the country. I have been an East coast boy all my life. When all is said and done, would you ever consider making another chair? Peter: I am not really a chair builder. I have made a few. One is in the Lark series, 500 Chairs. I drew a casual dining chair based on a chair by Warren Esherick. He was one of the few early studio furniture makers, along with George Nakashima and Sam Maloof. I have a rough model but will I get to soon, probably not. Thank you, Peter! I hope everyone gets the chance to see imMaterial reAction, at aMuse Gallery in Chatham, NY before the end of July and at the Mount, in Lenox this summer!
Eleanor Lord
www. Eleanorlord.com
s 3 r t P O e c A a c
E F a
THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 39
KATE KNAPP WINDY LAUNDRY LINE 16 X 20 OIL
PHOTO BY SABINE VON FALKEN
FRONT ST. GALLERY
STOCKBRIDGE STATION GALLERY
Pastels, oils, acrylics and watercolors…abstract and representational…..landscapes, still lifes and portraits….a unique variety of painting technique and styles….you will be transported to another world and see things in a way you never have before…. join us and experience something different. Painting classes continue on Monday and Wednesday mornings 10-1:30pm at the studio and Thursday mornings out in the field. These classes are open to all...come to one or come again if it works for you. All levels and materials welcome. Private critiques available. Classes at Front Street are for those wishing to learn, those who just want to be involved in the pure enjoyment of art, and/or those who have some experience under their belt. Perfect if you are seeking fresh insight into watercolors, and other mediums. A teacher for many years, Kate Knapp has a keen sense of each student’s artistic needs to take a step beyond. Perfect setting for setting up still lifes; lighting and space are excellent. Peek in to see! Front Street Gallery – Front Street, Housatonic, MA. Gallery open by appointment or chance anytime. 413-528-9546 at home or 413-429-7141 (cell). frontststudio@aol.com
Situated in the antique train station, this year’s exhibition is held in the vibrant yet traditional gallery space featuring paintings of the rivers by six Western Massachusetts artists, along with important environmental literature. For the third year, The River Art Project will strive to help with donations from a portion of sales to support three organizations that are actively working to protect the Hudson and Housatonic Rivers: The Hudson Riverkeeper, the Housatonic Riverkeeper Initiative, and the Housatonic Valley Association. Through past efforts, the project has united various factions of the Berkshires and nearby communities with the goal of protecting our natural waterways through, education and awareness. The exhibition features six recognized painters from the Berkshire region who work with the river as subject: Bart Elsbach, Michael Filmus, Ann Getsinger, Mary Sipp Green, Scott Prior, and Jim Schantz. Artists are uniquely situated to arouse public interest through the visual expression of nature’s beauty. The River Art Project does precisely that— harnessing the allure of the river as a catalyst for advocacy. The six participating artists evoke diverse landscape art traditions to create both exquisite works of art and inspiring agents of change. River Art Project 3 Friday, June 21 – Sunday, July 28, Open Thursday – Sunday, 10:30-5 Stockbridge Station Gallery, 2 Depot Street, Stockbridge, MA www.riverartproject.com
MICHAEL FABRIZIO
LINO TAGLIAPIETRA WITH THE SECRET GARDEN, (LAGUNA), 2019 PHOTO: J. SCHANTZ
SCHANTZ GALLERIES Schantz Galleries is pleased to present forty works by Maestro Lino Tagliapietra, featuring his most recent innovations in glass. Tagliapietra, who will be at the opening event on Friday July 12, is pleased to introduce two of his newest innovations: Secret Garden (Laguna), a large installation of individually blown glass leaves in jewel-like aquatic colors inspired by Venice’s hidden parks, displayed as a group across the wall as if scattered by a gentle breeze; and Aurora, an LED illuminated glass panel, suggestive of the soft shimmer of the northern lights in the night sky. The title of this exhibition, Visionary honors Tagliapietra as an artist of foresight and imagination who transcends his thinking mind to embrace his intuition and access the mysterious and the beautiful. He sees and visualizes the unseen. He dares to experiment, demonstrating humility and vulnerability because he is not afraid of failure. Michelangelo said that “the greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim to low and achieving our mark.” Well into his 80s, Lino Tagliapietra continues to push himself and his medium, endlessly shifting his mark in a way that leads the viewer beyond the expected and into the uncharted and profound. For Lino, to love glass is also to love life, to embrace the harmonious elements of life that are so uniquely reflected in glass, and to communicate this reverence through beautiful works of art. For Lino, the key to continuing to transform new forms, ideas, and techniques after more than seventy years is to “listen to the intuition and make space for the imagination, and then...you must do it.” This good message has many applications. Glass art has been forever changed by Tagliapietra’s contributions to the field. As his audience, we are enlivened anew by his ability to visualize and capture the ineffable essence of the creative spirit. 3 Elm St, Stockbridge, MA. (413) 298-3044
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acrylic / collage 40” x 30”
Hotel on North July 1st through August Reception: July 5, 2019 5 - 8pm fabrizioartwork.squarespace.com 40 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
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• Be seen / get the word out • Sell in good galleries • Educate & inspire • Spend more time with what you love in the Arts 413. 854. 4400 artfulmind@yahoo.com issuu.com for advertising and editorial insights
Ghetta Hirsch Paintings
Evening Cornfield, oil on canvas, 30 x 40”
website: ghetta-hirsch.squarespace.com instagram: @ghettahirschpaintings Text or call for STUDIO visits: 413. 281. 0626 THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 41
Jennifer Pazienza
friends / family / art & education ... home away from home 2019
italy.
Interview by H. Candee
Jennifer! You and Gerry had yet another beautiful time in Italy. Where were you this trip and why there? Does time away inspire and feed your fire for new works of art to make when you return home, to Canada? Jennifer Pazienza: We were in Bologna with a stop in Milan on the way, and Parma on the return home. Each city inspired me in its own way, but the main focus of this trip was Bologna. Over the Pond Suite was included in an exhibition curated by Paola Trevisan at http://www.trevisan-international-art.com/. In its twelfth year, it is a small format show, of about 80-90 international artists; working in 2D, with the creative challenge was to produce four eight-inch square works. The exhibition, Little Treasures was held at Galleria de Marchi from March 30 - April 11. Travel can indeed be motivating for an artist. Participating in a curated show in Italy was for me, both exhilarating and daunting. I mean, it’s Italy, right! It’s my heritage, but in this case, it felt a little like taking “coals to Newcastle,” and yes, the 72 42 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
inch square painting I am working on at the time of this writing is inspired by the eight inch squares I made for that show. I know you are of Italian heritage, Jennifer, that must make it extra special and important to you, yes? You typically go to Sicily, right? Did Sicily play a role this time? Jennifer: Yes, I am of Italian heritage. My father was born outside of Rome and we have been there, but Gerry and I have been visiting Sicily, the landscape of my maternal heritage, every two years since 1998! Although we did not travel to Sicily during this trip, Sicily—that is our dear friends there—did indeed play a big role in me exhibiting my work in Bologna. The people… yes, those wonderful people there! Every return back, you must make new friends, and old friends that you can easily pick up with from where you left off. Tell us about some of
your valued relationships? What have they taught you? What have you brought to their tables? Jennifer: You really hit on what I believe is at the heart of my art making practice Harryet. To me, it’s all about relationships. We have our friends Anna Sapuppo and Guido La Rosa to thank for the relationship we now have with Italy. 21 years ago, as we were making arrangements for our first visit to stay at their agriturismo, Azienda Agricola Alcalà, (now Masseria delle Arance) that lasted for four months and included our two dogs, Anna sent by snail-mail, photographs of the surrounding countryside and her father’s paintings. It’s largely owing to Anna that we have been able to cultivate relationships and build the art community we have in Italy. If readers are interested they can learn more about this in the November 2015 Artful Mind at, https://issuu.com/theartfulmindartzine/docs/the_artful_mind_artzine__november_2_ec2da3f019c95c The Little Treasures Exhibition opened on March
DUOMO detail
And there’s Jen working on 72”!
Over the Pond Suite
30th, Gerry’s birthday! It’s one of the reasons I agreed to participate. To celebrate the exhibition, but to celebrate Gerry, I hoped our European friends could join us, but nothing could have prepared me for the response we got. First, Anna and Guido happily agreed to fly in from Sicily. Their oldest friend Anna Marin, and ours whom we’ve known for some time too, although responsible for her mother’s care, decided that morning that she could get away and come from Venice for the evening hopped on a train and did just that! Titti Trabucchi a more recent friend, who lives in Toronto, but was home visiting her family in Milan, prior to our arrival in Bologna, gave us a great tour of her hometown, with friend Amalia Gebbi took another train and came to the opening. Titti and I met when I needed my paper, Beautiful Dreamer translated into Italian for the 2015 Art & Psyche Conference in Syracuse. That was five years ago. https://aras.org/articles/beautiful-dreamer-landscape-and-memory. The newest friends, the woman from whom we rented our AirBNB, her husband and their friends came too! And newer still, three young American women
Jennifer Pazienza
studying a year abroad in Demark, visiting Bologna for the day, that we happened to meet over coffee, came to the opening too!!! Unable to join us for the opening, but arrived two days later, one of my oldest friends from graduate school, Marjo Van Hoorn and her husband from the Netherlands came to celebrate. What has this experience taught me— that my art practice is not separate from the rest of my life; that all those lives, have made my life possible. What have we brought to their tables? Well, that night after the opening, quite literally a great meal to celebrate Gerry’s birthday, friendship and art! How does the environment and atmosphere feed your senses for new artwork? Jennifer: I have come to understand and trust that the sensory and intellectual experiences I absorb generally and particularly while traveling, will one day find their way onto canvas. My past paintings confirm that. Is it possible to compare and contrast your Canadian lifestyle with your Italian lifestyle?
Jennifer: In Italy, with Gerry I am transported out of my daily routine. Of course we take our coffee in the morning and organize for the day as we do at home, but the content of what we do and the pace is somewhat different. When in Italy, or traveling anywhere else we let go of our Keswick Ridge rhythms and lean into the rhythms that in this case Milan, Bologna and Parma had to offer. Gerry and I are lucky in that we very quickly establish routines, rituals really. Some we carry with us from home, others we develop onsite. For me, one of the most challenging yet rewarding lifestyle contrasts is the opportunity I have to listen to and speak Italian everyday. In Italy is it trendsetting to set up a studio in a storefront? Are there pop-up galleries in Italy? When you consider it, Bologna has been setting trends in the arts for centuries! The town has the oldest university in Europe and has since 1802 the Academia di Belle Arti. In our residential neighborhood alone there were several studio/galleries with storefronts. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 43
Birds in window photograph
Jennifer’s Watercolor detail, Piazza Maggiore Liberty style arches
One was a photography studio and gallery, another had Chinese contemporary art and yet another housed a painter and potter who also offered classes to children. The Little Treasures exhibition, in its twelfth year at Galleria de Marchi, is a pop-up exhibition. Paola borrows the site for the length of the exhibition. Having had this experience in Bologna, is there anything for your artist’s resume that’s new and exciting? Any upcoming plans related to what you have participated in this time around? Jennifer: The Little Treasures Exhibition was our primary reason for traveling to Bologna. Meeting some of the 90 or so international artists, from Denmark, Norway, Lebanon, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, Britain and those who could not physically attend, but met on Instagram such as Ayairo, from Japan, 44 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
https://www.instagram.com/ayairoart/ was crazy great! What was over the moon crazy great was the award of excellence my four paintings, Over the Pond Suite received. As for the future, there are a few things in the works with curator Paola Trevisan. Spoiler alert, they may involve Budapest and Puglia! We all love Italian food! Was there a particular restaurant that was exhilarating and had knock out food and décor that you visited? Jennifer: Gerry and I are funny. We really like eating locally. We were very lucky to have two excellent home-style restaurants on our street! Osteria Solferino, https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Review-g187801-d807557-Reviews-Osteria _SolferinoBologna_Province_of_Bologna_Emilia_Romagna.html and Trattoria Trebbi, https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Reviewg187801-d1520841-Reviews-Trattoria_Trebbi-
Bologna_Province_of_Bologna_Emilia_Romagna.html Each had traditional Bolognese cooking that included traditional seasonal dishes of Tortellini in Brodo and Stinco, roasted pork and of course, Pasta Bolognese. As always, the food is fresh and locally sourced. Bologna is particularly known for its Mortadella. It’s not anything like its’ American bastardized version baloney. One wafer thin slice on fresh bread with a little olive oil is all that is needed to supply one of the greatest taste sensations in the world! While staying with friends in Parma we were treated to the freshest and most delicious prosciutto di Parma that we have ever tasted. And tell us about a typical day for you spent in this beautiful place, please? Jennifer: We arrived two days before the opening, so had time to get our bearings. It was an easy walk north, about 12 minutes mostly under portico-covered sidewalks from our accommodation to Piazza
Gerry and salumi ..see him?
Raw food
Maggiore, the centre of town. The porticoes or arcades, some with splendidly painted ceilings are a particular architectural feature of Bologna and readers can go to this link to learn more, https://www.bolognawelcome.com/en/home/discover/places/architecture-and-monuments/historical-buildings-and-streets/piazza-maggiore/ Once in the piazza we did what we always do, find coffee, sit and observe. I might make water colour sketches. Then we’d walk the streets radiating out from the centre breathing in the sights, smells and sounds surrounding us. We search out a place for pranzo the afternoon meal, or instead would later take una cena leggera, a light supper. Our first pranzo was at Eataly, https://www.eataly.net/it_it/negozi/bologna for a panino con mortadella! And the museums? Galleries? Tell about the exhibitions of art you attended while there. Jennifer: During our stop in Milan, we discovered art at every turn. Then Titti gave us a great tour of the city, of note, Liberty Style Architecture right in the neighborhood of our boutique hotel. We visited the Duomo di Milano, the cathedral and of course Il Cenacolo Vinciano, The Last Supper. Although our schedule did not permit us to attend an opera at La Scala, we did visit the opera house and museum. To some, Gerry and I may seem a little odd. Since Bologna has its origins in Etruscan, medieval, renaissance and baroque art, with one or two excep-
tions we decided to focus on the art that is part of everyday life. For example, a very unassuming church in our neighborhood has three Michelangelo sculptures that he made at age 19! On our first walk to Piazza Maggiore we discovered Piazza del Nettuno. We visited Il Santurario di San Luca with its art historically familiar surrounding landscape https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDpJZGq4Qx I. One Sunday in Piazza Maggiore, we participated in an art installation where sunglasses were donated for people in developing countries. Since this issue is dedicated to professional visual artists Jennifer, can you tell us what it is that makes your work and approach to painting unique? Jennifer: There is no Payne’s Grey in my studio! Thanks to having as my grad school professor, African/Native American painter Richard Mayhew I, for the last 35 years, paint from a limited colourist palette; some yellows, reds, blues and white. Stylistically my paintings oscillate between abstraction and representation. They reflect and resist modernisms’ ideal of flatness and immediate space, and my natural inclination for three-dimensionality. Perhaps the visual dance between the gestural lines, and the atmospheric colours and shapes that comprise the signature features in my paintings.
ings are a good financial investment, which they are J, how my work is a good investment has everything to do with the poetic effects my paintings have on the lives of those who engage with them. Whether they are installed on home, office, hospital, school, or corporate walls, over the years collectors have told me how living with my paintings is a sound investment in their health and wellbeing. A law firm in Nova Scotia effectively placed Coming on Summer 1 in their mediation boardroom to instill calm! Stepping off an elevator at White Plains Hospital in New York, a hurried psychologist on her way to see a patient, suddenly stopped, captivated by Charlotte’s Roses. Afterwards she tracked me down to tell me the affect seeing the painting had on her, and by extension her patient. Collectors in Canada, Britain, the US and Italy have told me how in the company of my work they breathe a bit easier, take solace in their visual embrace, confess their love and sorrows, admit their fears and celebrate their dreams.
Grazie, Jennifer!
Why is your work a good investment? Jennifer: Outside any discussion of why my paintTHE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 45
TREE REFLECTION, OIL ON CANVAS 2016, 20"X24"
THE FIVE WISE GUYS PHOTO BY EDWARD ACKER
BERKSHIRE SOUTH COMMUNITY CENTER
FIVE WISE GUYS
RIPPLES, OIL ON CANVAS 2016, 20"X24"
WINTER BRIGHT, OIL AND COLD WAX MEDIUM ON PANEL 10"X10"
GHETTA HIRSCH OIL PAINTINGS Two of my favorite paintings from 2016, "Tree Reflection" and "Ripples" were done on the same day with the same color palette. I love the mystery of pond water. I was trying to catch the light on the water and used a palette knife, a brush and a sponge. The palette knife gave me the texture I needed for the trees and the rocks in the pond. It also helped me show the contrasting colors of the reflected greenery on the water. The brush allowed for a variety of tones within the accented colors and the sponge invited you to feel the water, its different depth and the transparency of the reflected colors. Now I am working with oils and cold wax medium on wood panels and I can get the same complexity of colors and texture with subsequent color layers. Here is one example: This palette knife work with cold wax medium allows me to add ten or more layers of different tones, creating a smooth blend of colors playing with the light in an ephemeral and fleeting effect, something that often happens in the early mornings outdoors. The cold wax method speeds the process of drying between the layers and retains the transparency of each color used. The experience is different as color layers are thicker than with a delicate brushwork. I invite you to view these new paintings when you find yourself in Williamstown. Some of my paintings are also exhibited in Rockport and Concord, MA. If you are in that area, visit Three Stones Gallery or check their website. Ghetta Hirsch – website: ghetta-hirsch.squarespace.com, or text me 413-281-0626 with questions and studio visit. Three Stones Gallery: www.threestonesgallery.com. 46 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
Actors from the Third Act Project’s video series, “Five Wise Guys”, will present a live show at Berkshire South Regional Community Center on Thursday, July 11. The show takes place in the Jaffe Theatre at the Center from 5: 30 to 7 pm. If you haven’t seen these old guys do their hilarious roundtable free-for-alls about the ups and downs of life in the third act, you’re in for a treat. The cast is a familiar Berkshires bunch: Danny Klein, former gag writer for Flip Wilson and other greats, author and playwright; Matt Tannenbaum, legendary owner of The Bookstore in Lenox and fabled story-teller; brilliant actors and jokesters Jeff Kent,and Bob Lohbauer who’ve been performing on Berkshire stages for more than thirty years; and Sam Bittman, founder and curator of the Third Act Project. No topic about life in the sunset years is left unexamined by the Five Wise Guys, and none is too sacred to avoid the occasional goring. Illness, loss of libido and other appetites, fetishes and even death are fair game. There is nothing these boys won’t get into, including sharing their deeply held feelings that show real vulnerability and, in the end, great humanity. “People approach us all the time saying how much they enjoy our shows,” says Danny Klein. “One guy said recently how envious he was of having a group of pals who can discuss anything with each other.” “Women are also some of our biggest fans,” Sam Bittman said. “Just recently a chef at a well-known restaurant told me, ‘you guys are fricken freaks!’ I told her I thought that was the best review we could hope for.” Berkshire South - 413-528-2810 x10, for ticket information. For more information about becoming a member of the Third Act Project and to receive our monthly newsletters, contact Sam Bittman at sam@thirdactproject.com
I never said I wanted a 'happy' life but an interesting one. From separation and loss, I have learned a lot. I have become strong and resilient, as is the case of almost every human being exposed to life and to the world. We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. —Isabel Allende
JAANE DOE BURNS LIKE FIRE Jaane Doe has been part of the musical machinery, stemming the tides of change for more than three decades. This singer/songwriter, a mistress of reinvention in sound and likeness, has the ability to sing like an angel, or with the fierceness of a lion, sharing a message of depth and substance that comes straight from the heart. Born in New York, and traveling to the West Coast as a teen, her musical journey led her back East following her union with Andrew Berliner, Chief Engineer, Owner and Founder of the legendary Crystal Sound Studios in Hollywood California. During her music years in Los Angeles, Jaane was hired as a background vocalist for various projects, one of which brought her to Crystal Sound to co-produce Bobby Taylor with her mentor and longtime friend Joe Schermie, original bass player for Three Dog Night. Jaane, in leopard-spandex, and Andrew, in tie-die Tshirt with red suspenders, met and fell in love, married, and by the summer of 1994 had decided to give up the lifestyle and follow Andrew’s dream to return to Great Barrington where he had attended Cornwall Academy and at 17, earned his pilot’s wings with the assistance of his mentor Walt Koladzda at the Great Barrington Airport. Jaane Doe and Andrew Berliner very quietly assimilated into a happy life in the Berkshires sharing the work of supporting and raising a family together until August 30, 2002, when unexpected tragedy hit and Andrew passed away suddenly from a heart attack. BURNS LIKE FIRE is a tribute to her late husband and musical collaborator, and signifies Jaane Doe’s dynamic return to the music world. The blending of country-tinged Americana, Folk/Pop into a visual masterpiece with great songwriting, vivid imagery and inspired solos make BURNS LIKE FIRE a memorable album. In 2018, Jaane Doe teamed up with Annie Guthrie and was a featured performer at WoodyFest in Okemah Oklahoma. Jaane has new material in the works, and directed a music video shot here in the Berkshires, currently in post-production to be released in 2019. Jaane Doe Music and more - visit www.jaanedoe.com, www.facebook.com/JaaneDoeMusic, www.reverbnation.com/JaaneDoe, https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jaane, https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/jaane-doe/214634239
MATT CHINIAN, 1374 D.P.W CAMBRIDGE, NY 2-17-19 8 X 10” ANNA CYPRA OLIVER BERKSHIRE MEADOW, OIL ON CANVAS, 48 X 60
MATT CHINIAN
ANNA CYPRA OLIVER
“I paint pictures of places and things I find on my way somewhere or intentionally wandering about. I find patterns in the light and shadow, in the shapes. I’ll find glory in the bounce of light or the secret of a shadow, they all thrill; they fascinate. It is in the randomness, the mundanity I bear witness; at that time in that moment, I was there. Many of these places are recognizable, they are places we find ourselves in, places we live, work, shop or get gas, they are part of our everyday lives. Painting them unlocks their inner beauty, reveals their poetry.” See Matt Chinian’s work at the following exhibits: July 13-August 16 reception July 13, 4-6 PM - “Location Location Location”, 3 person Landscape exhibition at Lake George Arts Project, 1 Amherst St., Lake George, New York. Also, Open Studios Tour, 138 W. Main St. Cambridge, NY. Friday July 19, 11-5, Saturday July 20, & Sunday July 21, 10-5. Matt Chinian - Visit mattchinian.com for more info.
Anna Cypra Oliver is a painter and writer, most notably of the critically acclaimed memoir Assembling My Father (Houghton Mifflin, Mariner Books). Her paintings have appeared on the cover of The Best American Poetry 2017 and alongside her essays in various literary journals. She received a 2001 Fellowship in Nonfiction Literature from the New York Foundation for the Arts and holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota (1997). She took a few classes in painting at the New School in NYC about eight years ago, and just couldn’t stop. She lives with her husband Stephan in Great Barrington, MA. Leaf Color, Petal Shape: July 5 - 28, 510 Warren St, Hudson, NY. Artists Reception Sat July 6, 3-6pm. Anna can be reached at annaoliver@earthlink.net, and cell: 917-648-4532
BRUCE SHICKMANTER, FROZEN DAMN IN PITTTSFIELD
BRUCE SHICKMANTER Bruce Shickmanter retired in 2012 from his work as a physician in Berkshire County. After retirement he decided to pursue a long-term interest in watercolor painting. In his paintings Bruce develops his use of pleasing shapes along with light and color to convey a sense of magic, mystery and movement. He uses the texture and matte finish of gouache to create a contrast with the transparent and ephemeral qualities of watercolors. The scenes he paints are often places he has come across while hiking or biking or are inspired by a photo that stimulates his creativity. Bruce’s paintings have been shown at St. Francis Gallery in Lee, MA, The Artful Mind Gallery in Lenox, MA, Chocolate Springs Café in Lenox, MA and in multiple group shows in various locations with the Guild of Berkshire Artists. Bruce Shickmanter- 413-446-3721, ontrails13@gmail.com
THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 47
MARGUERITE BRIDE, GOLDEN MARSH (CROPPED VERSION)
MARGUERITE BRIDE SUMMER EXHIBITS
LINDA KAYMOSES, PRACILIUS PIED ALONGE
LINDA KAYE-MOSES BERKSHIRE CRAFTS FAIR The unruly jewels of Linda Kaye-Moses reflect a delight in the body-embellished, adornment offering the possibility of intimate transformation. Implicit in her jewels is their narrative quality, allowing them to speak with her voice, while conversing with those who will wear them. Her work fuses jewelry techniques including: engraving, enameling, oxidation/patination, roll-printing, and cold connections, all integrated with precious metals, gemstones, found objects, organic materials, and occasional enclosures, reflecting her interest in archetypal chambers (caves, caches, treasure chests, reliquaries, etc.) while supporting and displaying the jewels. As she works at her bench, she has a sense of unearthing what lies buried in the materials. . . the jewels are present before her hands begin to manipulate the materials, and all she need do is remove the extraneous material for the jewel to appear. You can find Linda Kaye-Moses’ jewels this Summer at Berkshire Crafts Fair (Monument Mountain High School; berkshirecraftsfair.org), Friday, Saturday, Sunday; August 9-11.
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CAROLYN NEWBERGER SOFTLY INTO THE NIGHT. MIXED MEDIA, 22X30"
CAROLYN NEWBERGER MIXED MEDIA In our dreams, we often find ourselves in landscapes and experiences that we recognize, but that are disjointed and reconstructed. We don’t quite know what we are doing, or where we are going. In our waking hours, we think that we live in a coherent reality, but do we really? Perhaps our fragmented dreams are truer than our daytime narratives. Collage is uniquely suited to capture that experience of a fragmented whole that almost holds together, but not quite. From a distance we see a child in a landscape. But on close inspection, the landscape becomes a jumble of naugahyde, tape, watercolor fragments, and torn paper. Who is this child? How precarious and fragmented is the world he lives in? My work can be seen at Galatea Fine Art in Boston, the Artful Mind Gallery in Autumnal season, in juried shows throughout the year, and by appointment in my studio www.carolynnewberger.com 617-877-5672 My work can be seen July 14 - 18 at The Becket Arts Center, reception is July 14, 2-4pm. & Brooker Hill Rd, Becket, MA, 413-623-6635
Through July 7, the Becket Arts Center will be featuring new originals by Marguerite Bride, plus many unframed matted originals in bins. Gallery hours are Thursday – Sunday, 12 noon – 4 pm. In addition to Bride’s watercolors, see works by Ben Mancino, Patricia Hogan, Joseph Tracy, and Sean McCusker. The Becket Arts Center is located at 7 Brooker Hill Road in Becket, Mass. In August, a solo exhibit entitled “Seasons in Watercolor” will be on display at the Sandisfield Art Center, August 3 – August 28 with an opening reception August 3 from 2-4 pm. The center is at 5 Hammertown Road in Sandisfield, Mass. This show will feature the glory of New England (and a selection of nearby scenes of NY and NJ) in spring and summer greens, autumn reds and golds, and a winter blanket of snow. Original watercolors and fine art reproductions, framed and unframed, will be available to view and purchase should a piece beg to go home with you. On August 10 (raindate Aug 11) the 5th Annual Home Art Sale will be held at the artist’s home at 46 Glory Drive in Pittsfield from 10 am – 2 pm. Look for the art tent in the front yard. Ridiculous prices for ONE DAY ONLY…not to be missed. Where else can you catch Bride’s work this summer? A new assortment of Marguerite Bride’s watercolors small matted originals (spring/summer village scenes), were recently delivered to the gift shop at Hancock Shaker Village; also cards and fine art reproductions of the village. LOCAL, a lovely high-end craft and art gallery in Lenox (across from Chocolate Springs) is now carrying new framed originals, plus matted repros and cards by the artist. Fine art reproductions and note cards of Berkshire images and others by the artist are also available at the Red Lion Inn Gift Shop (Stockbridge), Lenox Print & Mercantile (Lenox), Good Purpose Gallery (Lee) and also directly from the artist. Contact the artist and/or visit her website for more details. Bride’s solo exhibit, “Jazz Visions”, 22 original watercolors (mostly on canvas) are on “long-term” exhibit on both floors at 51 Park Tavern in Lee, Massachusetts. More paintings will be added soon. Now is a great time to commission a house portrait or favorite scene you would like captured in watercolor. Paintings (or a personalized gift certificate, then I work directly with the recipient) make cherished and personal gifts for weddings, retirement, new home, old home, anniversaries…..any occasion is special. Commission work is always welcome. Be in touch directly with the artist… it is guaranteed to be a fun adventure! Marguerite Bride – Home Studio at 46 Glory Drive, Pittsfield, Massachusetts by appointment only. Call 413841-1659 or 413-442-7718; margebride-paintings.com; margebride@aol.com; Facebook: Marguerite Bride Watercolors. For show hours and directions: Sandisfield Arts Center - sandisfieldartscenter.org; Becket Arts Center becketartscenter.org
BERKSHIRE PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP PORTFOLIOS JULY 27 – SEPTEMBER 22, 2019 The members of the Berkshire Photography Group will present their work in an exhibit, “Portfolios” at The Stationery Factory in Dalton, MA. The show will run from July 27th to September 22th with an opening reception on July 28th from 3:00 to 6:00 pm The Berkshire Photography Group (BPG) is a group of regional photographers who meet regularly to discuss each other’s work. Meetings provide lively, cross-fertilization of ideas that help members to perfect their artistic vision and learn new techniques. As seasoned photographers, they all share a common desire to have a connection and provide encouragement and resource assistance in their pursuit of fine-art photography. Two of the original members, Martin Greene and Arthur Hillman, have remained with the group and have seen it grow since 2004. The intention has always been to remain small and it is open to new members by invitation and portfolio review. The aim of the group is to help each artist pursue the highest possible level in their pursuit of a personal vision. Despite very different stylistic approaches, analogue and digital methods of production, subjects that range from the journalistic to the surreal, the goal is to create unique artworks with a medium that has become ubiquitous in our lives and culture. Nature photography is well represented in this show with works that focus on the flora and fauna from around the world and in our own backyards. Elaine Radiss concentrates on using special lenses that create
a soft focus and applies digital applications that add painterly and textured imagery. Macro photography enables this artist to live in the petal of a flower while drawing the viewer in to join her. For H. David Stein, the beauty and splendor of a flower is revealed by peering closely into the component parts or by viewing the object from a different vantage point or in different light. This is a group of well-traveled photographers who are willing to get out of their cars and look at all the angles and perspectives surrounding them. There was a moment at which John Lipkowitz became a “serious” photographer during a wild trip to the North Pole aboard a Russian nuclear powered icebreaker. It is wildlife that Lipkowitz finds most compelling and the images in this show are from many of his favorite experiences. Bruce Panock has made photographing a daily practice. Looking more closely at what is around him without assigning labels has lead him to a deeper awareness of himself and a search for an emotional connection to the viewer of his photographs. Arthur Hillman’s portfolio of color images are photographs taken at art museums in the Berkshires, Boston and Paris. Hillman is interested in architectonic spaces which are compositions of line, shape, and scale. With the increased possibilities made available by smartphones on one end of the equipment spectrum and wifi connected high resolution mirrorless or DSLRs cameras on the other, the creative energy of the photographic process has multiplied exponentially. Playing with the built-in panorama feature of her iphone, Sharon Lips has dug in deep to push the creative potential of this technology. Working with the multiple exposure blending modes of her camera and intentional camera movement, Peggy Braun has focused her attention on the figure.
Janet Pumphrey’s portfolio is called “Imagined Cities.” Each image is a creation of layers, multiple exposures or an impressionist rendition of urban features. Light is intrinsic to the way we perceive reality. Founding member Martin Greene is interested in the way light defines time. Though all photography is based on perceived light, the infrared part of the spectrum is not visible to the naked eye, but with a specially adjusted camera, Peggy Reeves is tuning into a deeper realm of awareness, one that is a bit surreal. For Denise B. Chandler, photography is a means of self-expression – she makes pictures for herself, to identify with hidden qualities of her character, to understand her reality, and to express her interpretation of the world around her. A special section of the exhibition is being devoted to the work of award-winning photographer Michael Bufis, a BPG member who died in 2018. The art of photography was a way for him to share moments that he encountered in the natural world. “Portfolios” is a show of diverse points of view in the medium of photography. We hope you will be inspired and moved by the art of the Berkshire Photography Group and hope that the show adds to your appreciation of how photography seizes the light of our world and allows us to linger there. Opening Reception: Sunday, July 28th 3 – 6 pm The Stationery Factory 63 Flansburg Ave. Dalton, MA Instagram: @berkshirephotographygroup
THE ARTFUL MIND JULY 2019 • 49
Jason and his Grandmother CHAPTER 1
The Kitten When I was thirteen I was in the seventh grade, in a certain sort of town. It was one of those towns where you knew everyone in your neighborhood, but no one in any other neighborhood, of which there were many. There were about thirty of us in my class and we had all been together for seven years. Perhaps one or two of my classmates had moved, and one or two had replaced them, but essentially we were like brothers and sisters. One day there was a most unusual event, a new boy arrived in the middle of the term; by the name of Jason Sweet. From the moment he entered our room one could see that he was strikingly different from the rest of us. His uniqueness announced itself by two things: his clothing and his hair. He wore dirty, ill-fitting second-hand clothes, and his matted and uncombed hair stuck out in small tuffs at odd angles. Our long-suffering teacher was talking to him as he came into the room but, as if he was deaf or hard of hearing, he didn’t seem to hear her. Around our classroom was a chalk tray, and in it were a lot of books lined up. When we had reading hour on Thursday afternoon, we would chose a book from the tray and read it for an hour at our desk. Jason picked up one of the books and started to look through it. It was just an unlucky chance that he picked up the book that he did, the favorite book of the boys in the class. On the cover it said, History of the United States; a big dark blue book with a picture of an eagle and a flag on the cover. But no teacher had looked closely at that book or it would not have been among the books in the chalk tray. The title actually read, A Cultural History of the United States. Lincoln wasn’t in our favorite book and Washington wasn’t mentioned. It had chapters like Cinema, Organized Crime, Jazz and Blues. It was full of fascinating pictures like John Dillinger full of bullet holes. Our favorite picture was of an actress named Jean Harlow, who was wearing a dress, but you could almost see through the cloth, under the dress there was apparently nothing. I suppose it wasn’t the nakedness that we liked about the picture so much as the happy look on her 50 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
face, as if she knew you were looking at her but didn’t mind. She was not like any of the women or girls we had ever seen in actual life. The book had been opened to the page with her picture so many times that Ms. Harlow opened for Jason as soon as he picked it up. He looked at the picture, and then he got a big crooked grin on his face. That was Jason’s strange introduction to our closed society. Later, about halfway through the math session, Jason got out of his seat for no reason at all and walked over to the chalkboard to have another look at Jean. To get up from one’s seat without asking for permission was an act of extraordinary rebellion in that place and time, and in our entire seven years of schooling it had never happened. We were all amazed at the audacity of it. Our teacher said nothing at first, but then, using a tone that would admit of no contradiction, she ordered Jason to return to his seat. Jason did not return to his seat, instead he seemed to grasp the back pockets of his ill-fitting trousers and pull them apart while at the same time bending over. We could not imagine what such a posture could possible signify, but our teacher was so offended that she shouted, “Jason, are you some sort of an animal?” Jason turned around to her and with strange composure replied, “Yes, I am a crocodile.” With that he opened his mouth as wide as possible showing us his missing front teeth, and roared at her. Our teacher was stunned into silence. In the face of this mutiny to her authority she didn’t say a word but put herself down into her chair behind her desk, pressing her hands on the desktop for support. We were witness to a complete impossibility; she did not go to the phone, the principal’s office was not called, and the police were not summoned. For the rest of that day Jason alternately sat in his seat, or roamed about the room, picking up and examining anything that aroused his interest. He even looked through Dorothy’s backpack and ate some of her lunch. He was however, entirely quiet. I once saw a rabid raccoon acting the same way; slowly curious about everything, and afraid of nothing. Jason’s behavior upset all of our established preconceived ideas about existence, as we had understood it up until that day. His arrival had many inexplicable things about it. First was the fact that the principal was not called, and the police did not come to the school. We had been told for years as an absolute fact that if we misbehaved after being yelled at, the principal would be called. Further disturbance would involve the police, and then “Reform School.” What Reform School consisted of, and where it was, no one had any idea. Reform School was never described to us and its location was unknown. No details about it existed even in our imaginations. So, when the principal was not called, it was as if the doors of some invisible prison were discovered to be unlocked. When I look back on it now from a broader perspective, I would have to say that Jason gave us our first glimpse of the terrible real world where there were no actual rules that you could obey and so depend on, a world where anything might happen to anyone. Every boy in our class became terrified of this new Jason person, and we actually held a conference to decide what to do about him. We all suffered from the conviction that he would murder each of us one at a time. The question was, “Will we be strangled, or simply stabbed to death.” We talked of a group attack, but then had to consider that he would subsequently just kill us one at a time. We took a vote, and it was de-
cided that I would attack him and “teach him a lesson.” Why I was chosen probably had to do with the fact that some time previously I had purchased a dagger from a mail order catalog. My aluminum dagger featured a naked woman as the handle, and the only time it was out of its hiding place in the rafters of the attic was a few days after it arrived when I had exhibited it proudly to my closest friends after swearing them to secrecy. The fact that I owned this secret object has earned for me a reputation for fearlessness among my peers. Of all the boys in our class it turned out that I was in the greatest danger from Jason. I found out very soon after he appeared in our class that he lived in a newly constructed housing project just a few blocks from my house, and on my route to and from school. My parents had talked often about this strange housing project but I was unable to quite understand what they were concerned about. For some unknown reason there was an atmosphere of fear associated with everything about it. My father had this to say, “Who authorized it? That’s what I want to know.” And so I began to have a terrible fear of him and his housing project, and to avoid him I would go out of my way by a great distance. This paranoia gradually became an obsession with me, until finally my life was completely disordered by it. Then one day a solution presented itself to me in a most outlandish way. Late one night I was returning home from a dance at the school. I was walking, alone and lost in thought, in front of one of those apartment houses that have bushes with prickers and small red berries on them that you’re not supposed to eat. The bushes were planted along the border of the sidewalk, and intended to act as a fence. Suddenly, from among the bushes, some small animal leaped out and attacked my leg. I had no idea what it could be, but I discovered something interesting about fear. If you are truly frightened by something you begin to scream very loudly without realizing that you have started screaming. You hear someone screaming and then realize that it is you yourself that is making the noise. It is also true that your hair stands on end in such situations. After a while I stopped my screaming and became aware of a weight of probably about a pound attached to my ankle. All around the bottom of my pant leg was a prickly sensation, and a curious rattling sound like a coffee grinder makes. It was dark. I couldn’t see what it was. Finally I bent down and discovered that I had a cat attached to my left foot. I was glad to make friends with a strange little animal in the night. He was an extremely happy little cat, who after he had detached himself from my foot threw himself down on the sidewalk on his side, switched himself from side to side, and begged and pleaded with his little cat like tricks, to get me to pet him. The cat explained to me how best to deal with Jason. I would not try to beat him up, but instead I would make friends with him, but first I would treat him to the friendly kitten experience. RICHARD BRITELL: FROM THE BLOG NO CURE FOR THE MEDIEVAL MIND
EDWARD ACKER PHOTOGRAPHER
Time Flies D Get Pictures EdwardAckerPhotographer.com 413-446-8348
CARYN KING, HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT
CARYN KING STARING BACK AT US
berkshire digital | collins editions Opening in 2005, we do fine art printing for artists, photographers and anyone needing our services. These Giclée prints, can be made in many different sizes from 5”x7” to 42” x 80” on archival papers. In addition to the printing services, we create accurate photo-reproductions of paintings and illustrations, and can have client’s film scanned into digital files, for use in books, magazines, brochures, cards and websites. We also offer restoration and repair of damaged or faded photographs. A complete overview of services offered, along with pricing, can be seen on the web at www.BerkshireDigital.com A newly added service, is photographic portraits of artists in their studios, or wherever they would like, for use in magazines, as the author’s picture in a book, websites or cards. See samples of artist portraits on the website at www.BerkshireDigital.com The owner, Fred Collins, has been a commercial and fine art photographer for over 30 years having had studios in Boston and Stamford. He offers over 25 years of experience with Photoshop™ enabling retouching, restoration and enhancement to prints and digital files. The studio is located in Mt Washington but drop-off and pick-up is available through Frames On Wheels, located at 84 Railroad Street in Great Barrington, MA (413) 528-0997. Reach the Studio: (413) 644-9663, or go online to www.BerkshireDigital.com
I want my paintings of animals to tell a story, convey an emotion, and be remembered. Animals themselves are honest, emotional beings and sharing this earth with them is such an honor. I want the viewer to look at my paintings see each animal’s individuality. To be able to capture something unique from my encounters with them has always been a drive for my work. After 14 years making my living as a sculptor, intermingled with a few years earning my BFA in Illustration and then working as a toy designer and an art teacher, I find painting now is where I am happiest. I recently moved from Vermont to Southfield, MA. The natural beauty and the abundance of animals on farms and in the fields in this region has been a wonderful surprise. Almost every day I am photographing amazing creatures I find here cows, goats, chickens, turkey vultures, bears, porcupines and so many more. I have more plans for paintings than there is time in the day to get them all done. Giving animals the up-front starring role in my work makes me feel that it’s the least I can do for them - they have given me so much joy. “Animals offer us a unique chance to commune with our humanity, to look into the eyes of a jackrabbit and see fear, or to watch a rooster pass judgment over us, or to stand before the pleading grace of a Jersey cow. That is the magic of King's animal paintings. What makes them relevant and important and brilliant is her ability to paint an animal staring back at us and for us to see ourselves a little differently." - Ric Kasini, Vermont Art Guide, Issue #8 Original paintings, works in progress and prints are available. For listings of upcoming shows go to the website. Caryn King - For studio visits please call 413229-5947 or text 802-380-7006; www.carynking.com
There is so much in the ARTS going on right now—this summer especially. Let The Artful Mind help to promote your gallery reception and exhibit, open studios, theatrical debutes, music schedule, health workshop, designing, goods and wares, etcetera... advertising rates & more. THE ARTFUL MIND 413. 854. 4400 artfulmind@yahoo.com Pick up a copy at your local art store in the Berkshires, or call for a subscription THE ARTFUL MIND — dedicated for over 20 years to the ARTS in and around the BERKSHIRES 52 • JULY 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND
DESIGNS BY JENNIFER Awarded Best Of Houzz 2019 Designs by Jennifer Owen of Great Barrington, MA has won “Best Of Service Award” on Houzz®, the leading platform for home renovation and design. The boutique interior design studio was chosen by the more than 40 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than 2.1 million active home building, remodeling and design industry professionals. Congrats! Recognized as a fabric guru with an eye for color, Jennifer has achieved accolades for her unique sense of style and vision. She has been featured on the cover of House to Home, Lifestyle Magazine of Fairfield County, featuring a home in Westport; East Coast Home Design Magazine; Shippan Designer Show House, (benefiting Stamford Museum and Nature Center); Weston Designer Show House benefiting Connecticut Humane Society. They feature her definitive style of design, transforming spaces to uplifting, functional environments, “simple elegance” at its best! A native of the West Midlands England, Jennifer grew up with a mother who was a passionate knitter and a talented seamstress, with a love to decorate and a relish for fabrics and yarns. This led to many inspiring visits with her to the fabric market. Hence Jennifer’s passion! Her client base extends to Fairfield County, CT, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and Berkshire County. Jennifer has a showroom and office based on Railroad Street in Great Barrington, MA. Jennifer is a member of IDS (Interior Design Society), with extensive training in interior design, IDPC (Interior Design Protection Council), member of Better Business Bureau, Metropolitan Museum, NYC, Museum of Natural History, NYC, Museum of Modern Art, NYC, member of Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, member of Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, and a member of A Women’s Creation Circle in Berkshire County. Designs by Jennifer, LLC - 6 Railroad Street, STE 17, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Office: 413-528-5200; Cell: 203-253-3647; www.designsbyjenniferowen.com
robert wilk
Ten Mauves Private Collection Lee, Massachusetts
www.rwsculpture.com
rw@rwsculpture.com
