THE ARTFUL MIND THE SOURCE PROMOTING the ARTS SINCE 1994 Free!
SEPTEMBER 2016
DOUGLASS TRUTH
ARTIST / PERFORMER
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SABINE VON FALKEN
Mary Carol Rudin
G. Moss, Primary Statement, 2012, oil on canvas, 48"x48"
GEOFFREY MOSS New Works
LAUREN CLARK FINE ART
25 Railroad St. Great Barrington, MA 413.528.0432 Lauren@LaurenClarkFineArt.com www.ClarkFineArt.com
"Round in Atmosphere", Acrylic on Canvas, 18 x 24
510
www.mcrudin.com
marycarolrudin@earthlink.net 510 WARREN STREET GALLERY
510 WARREN STREET, HUDSON, NY 518-822-0510 (Friday & Saturday, 12 - 6, Sunday 12 - 5 or by app) 510warrenstreetgallery@gmail.com 510warrenstreetgallery.com
WARREN ST GALLERY
EDWARD ACKER photographer
Time flies. Get pictures.
800-508-8373
edwardackerphotography.com
CREATIVE TRANSITIONS Creative Transitions, is an expressive arts practice that engages individuals and groups in the exploration of different art media as a way to tap into their own innate creativity.
ARTIST'S WAY
September 21 - December 21
A 12 week course to clear any blocks and reframe old beliefs so that you can create freely, claim your “VOICE” and express yourself in your unique creative expression-whatever your chosen medium. This program is based on Julia Cameron's "Artists Way". New artists welcome. No art experience necessary- just an open, curious mind and heart. Facilitated by Eileen Mahoney, Expressive Arts Therapist and Coach.
ART IN THE ADIRONDACKS September 9 - 11
A week-end for women to relax into their creative selves at a 100+ year old “camp” in the Adirondacks at Big Moose Lake (the fire boy starts the fire in your cabin every morning!).Everything provided. Just bring yourself!
June, Work in Progress, 2015-16 Oil on Canvas 54 x 52 inches
Jennifer Pazienza
Creative Transitions - For more information, call Eileen at 413- 441-4258 or email: creativetransitionsberkshires@gmail.com
jennpazienza@gmail.com http://jenniferpazienza.com/
LAUREN CLARK FINE ART
R I C H A R D B R I T E L L “ N Y, N Y ” presents
PAINTINGS OF BIG CITY ARCHITECTURE UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
OCTOBER 8 - OCTOBER 31 • RECEPTION FOR THE ARTIST SATURDAY, OCTOBER 8 FROM 4-7PM 25 Railroad Street, Great Barrington MA •
2 •SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
413 528. 0432 www.LaurenClarkFineArt.com
Beautiful Massachusetts Berkshires & Beyond
2017 Art Poster Calendars
eLeanOr LOrD artist
MOnTH Of SePTeMBer: Lee LiBrarY, Lee, Ma
eleanorlord.com
Twelve Monthly Posters
featuring the diverse beauty of our neighborhoods. They include Outdoor recreation, farming, farm-to-Table, History and more... available sizes: 5” x 7” and 11” x 14”
FRONT ST. GALLERY
I aim to share what I see by chance or by design. that is beautiful to me. The camera allows me to do that. -Lynne M. Anstett - Photography© Imagery Art Works
Lynne M. Anstett - Photography © Imagery Art Works 860-888-3672 ImageryArtWorks@hotmail.com • Imagery Art Works Facebook Website for prints: http://www.gicleeone.com/lynne-m-anstatt
Giclee Fine Art Photographs ~ Lynne M. Anstett Choose fine art paper or canvas, framing and stretching available. 2017 Art Poster Calendar available here and other fine stores:
Williams & Sons Country Store – Stockbridge, Berkshire Museum – Pittsfield LOCaL – Lenox Paperdilly – Lee Gateways inn – Lenox Lakeview Orchard – Lanesborough Chester railway Station & Museum – Chester Gran-Val Scoop – Granville Cedar Chest – northampton Booklink Booksellers – northamptonBlack Birch Vineyard – Southampton The Bookstore - Lenox Holiday Brook farm - Dalton art & Chocolate - Lenox Stockbridge Coffee and Tea - Stockbridge Old Creamery Co-op Cummingtonfarm Country Soup - Southfieldartisans Guild – norfolk, CT
STiLL Life BY 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: open by chance and by appointment anytime 413. 274. 6607 (gallery) 413. 429. 7141 (cell) 413. 528. 9546 (home) Front Street, Housatonic, MA
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 3
THE ARTFUL MIND ARTZINE September 2016
There will always be an Oasis for us
Marshall Jones
Interview by Natalie Tyler page 10
Douglass Truth Artist / Performer Interview by H. Candee page 20
Eric Rudd The Berkshire Art Museum by Natalie Tyler page 30
Jeanne Bassis A Serious Player! Interview by H. Candee page 42 FICTION: The Snare of The Fowler Part I Richard Britell page 42
Grandma Becky’s Recipes Laura Pian page 43
Berkshire Handmade page 46 Painting The Town Natalie Tyler page 47
Contributing Writers and Monthly Columnists Eunice Agar, Richard Britell, Laura Pian Photographers Edward Acker, Lee Everett, Jane Feldman Sabine von Falken, Alison Wedd Publisher Harryet Candee
Copy Editor
Marguerite Bride
Editorial Proofreading Kris Galli Advertising and Graphic Design Harryet Candee
Quote Meister Bruce MacDonald
Mailing Address: Box 985, Great Barrington, MA 01230
artfulmind@yahoo.com 413 854 4400 ALL MATERIAL due the 5th of the month prior to publication
FYI: ©Copyright laws in effect throughout The Artful Mind for logo & all graphics including text material. Copyright laws for photographers and writers throughout The Artful Mind. Permission to reprint is required in all instances. In any case the issue does not appear on the stands as planned due to unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, advertisers will be compensated on a one to one basis. Disclaimer rights available upon request. Serving the Art community with the intention of enhancing communication and sharing positive creativity in all aspects of our lives. We at The Artful Mind are not responsible for any copyrights of the artists, we only interview them about the art they create.
4 • SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
THE MUSIC STORE
All things must come to an end, paving the way for new beginnings. And as we celebrate the last days of the beautiful Berkshire Summer and the beginning of autumn, we are mindful that the benefits of shopping locally are many. . And as more and more small, independent stores close we think how thankful we are for our many loyal and hugely supportive customers. We continue our support for many of our local schools' art programs and performance groups. And we are able to showcase some of the fine work that independent instrument makers and luthiers are creating ONE AT A TIME right here in Berkshire County including: - Brier Road's Guitars' gorgeous OM Acoustic Guitar made ENTIRELY from fine tonewoods sourced HERE in Berkshire County, and his extraordinary Redwood/Padauk Baritone Ukulele! - Undermountain Ukuleles' lovely A/E Flame Maple Soprano, a big voice in a small, appealing package with the pro K&K Aloha Twin preamp to amplify the loveliness! - our own Dr. Easy's Drunk Bay Cigar Box guitars, simply the most amazing bang for a box ever heard and featuring ten brand new boxes so far for 2016, - The Rowe Stick Dulcimers - strum sticks par extraordinaire, provided for sale and for donation to outreach and Veteran's programs, - the lovely Stockbridge made Serenity Bamboo Flutes and Walking Stick/Cane flutes and - Whitmer Acoustic Guitars, lovingly made one at a time in Pittsfield from fine tone woods and - Don Waite's Gadjo Guitars - gorgeous and daring for a KILLER price! The Music Store has, for fifteen and a half years, enjoyed helping the community, near and far to make music. And this is a rewarding and satisfying enterprise for us. We look forward to continuing this mission into the second half of our second decade. And, as always, we offer wonderful musical instruments and accessories at competitive pricing. But there are just some things that we like to share with you, including support for our newest music makers, and Great Deals, Raffles and New and Used Instruments for everyone. Come and join the fun . . . We welcome the lovingly Berkshire County INDIVIDUALLY (NOT factory) made: Brier Road Guitars and Ukueleles, Whitmer Guitars, Don Waite's Gadjo guitars, and Undermountain Ukuleles. Play and own an ABSOLUTE ORIGINAL! Composite Acoustic guitars (the forever guitar!) and their peerless travel guitar, the Cargo, a favorite of our own Dr. Easy, David Reed, made of carbon graphite and impervious to most changes of temperature and humidity. You can see it often in his hands in performance locally and abroad. Guild Guitars - Light, powerful, affordable, beautiful SOLID woods, gorgeous tone! Beautiful Breedlove Guitars, including Koa, Zircote and Ebony Limited Editions and the 2015 Dealer's Choice
Award Winner Oregon Concert! TERRIFIC UKULELES! 60+ DIFFERENT models: Soprano, Concert, Tenor and Baritone, acoustic and acoustic/electric, six string, resonator, the Maccaferri-like Makala Waterman Uke (made all of plastic for easy portability almost anywhere!) the remarkable U-Bass, and the Solid Body Uke Bass prototype by the Magic Fluke Co.! How about a Cordoba Cuatro? Or Guitarlele? Or Gypsy Kings' Ltd. Edition? Experience the haunting sound of High Spirits Native American Flutes! How about a West African Djembe? Try a 'Closeout Corner' instrument to suit almost any budget. ALVAREZ GUITARS - great tone and great value. Breedlove - beautiful, American, sustainable. And so many more brands and types, including Luthier Handmade Instruments from $150-$5000 . . . . Ever heard of Dr. Easy’s Drunk Bay Cigar Boxes? Acoustic/electric cigar box guitars, exquisitely made, which bring the past into the present with a delightful punch, acoustically AND plugged in! You can even hear them in concert if you catch Dr. Easy's act in local venues! Harmonicas, in (almost) every key (try a Suzuki Hammond ‘Mouth Organ’). Picks (exotic, too!), strings (!!), sticks and reeds Violins, Mandolins, Dulcimers, Banjos, and Banjo Ukes! Handmade and international percussion instruments! Dreamy locally made bamboo and wooden flutes and walking stick flutes! And the new Berkshire County Rowe Stick Dulcimers, easy to play and adore, the sales of which benefit Veteran's homes and outreach programs. And there is more to delight the eyes, intrigue the ears and bring warm joy to the heart! We remain your neighborhood music store, where advice and help are free and music is the universal language. Working with local luthiers and repairmen we offer stringed and band instrument repair. And we just may have something you haven’t seen before (have you heard the Electric Cigar Box Guitars?). We match (or beat) many on-line prices for the merchandise that we sell, and do so in person, for the most part cheerfully (though we reserve the right to glower a little when asked if we can ‘do better’ on the price of a pick!)! The Music Store, located at 87 Railroad Street in Great Barrington, is open Tuesdays through Sundays and by appointment. Call us at 413-528-2460, visit us on line at www.themusicstoreplus.com, on Facebook as The Music Store Plus, or shop our online Reverb store at https://reverb.com/shop/TheMusicStorePlus. Happy MUSIC MAKING!
2016 A GREAT EDITORIAL LINE-UP! Advertise your event and business with
THE ARTFUL MIND e-mail: artfulmind@yahoo.com Don’t miss this one!
Stephen Filmus
Denise B Chandler Fine Art Photography
Denise b Chandler
eXHiBiTinG and rePreSenTeD by:
• Sohn fine art Gallery 69 Church St., Lenox, Ma
• 510 Warren Street Gallery 510 Warren St., Hudson, nY
COMMISSIONS
ROBERT FORTE
Time to commission your favorite scene. art.sfilmus@verizon.net
www.denisebchandler.com info@denisebchandler.com
I
edge of the field, oil on canvas, 30" x 40"
413-528-1253
in the field, oil on canvas, 30" x 40"
robertforte.com
510
WARREN ST GALLERY
field impressions, oil on canvas, 30" x 40"
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 5
ARTFUL CALENDAR
SEPTEMBER 2016
JOHN DAVIS GALLERY 362 1/2 WARREN ST, HUDSON, NY • 518-828-5907 art@johndavisgallery.com Saturday, Oct15: five artists in the Main Galleries, Sculpture Garden and Carriage House. On display through Nov 6, reception for the artists on Sat, Oct 15, 6-8:00 p.m. Leonid Lerman, Paul Harbutt, Leticia Ortega Cortes, Pamela Cardwell, Jock Ireland JOYCE GOLDSTEIN GALLERY 16 MAIN ST, CHATHAM, NY • 518-7648989 / JoysGall@fairpoint.net Deborah Ellis, Sep 24-Oct 29.Opening Reception: Sat, Sept 24, 4-6:00pm
PAINTER ROBIN WILLIAMS PRESENTS TRAILING OFF, AN EXHIBITION OF 5 LARGE-SCALE OIL ON CANVAS PAINTINGS ON HILLMAN JACKSON GALLERY IN THE DANIEL ARTS CENTER, 84 ALFORD RD, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA. THE EXHIBIT IS OPEN DAILY THROUGH OCTOBER 7 GALLERY HOURS: WEEKDAYS: 10 A.M. TO 6 P.M., WEEKENDS: 2 P.M. TO 6 P.M.
DISPLAY AT THE
ART
510 WARREN STREET GALLERY 510 WARREN STREET, HUDSON, NY 518-822-0510 510warrenstreetgallery@gmail.com / 510warrenstreetgallery.com John Lipkowitz, Dakota territory. photographs on display thru Dec 2016 (Friday & Saturday, 12 - 6, Sunday 12 - 5 or by app) BERKSHIRE MUSEUM 39 SOUTH ST, PITTSFIELD, MA • 413-443-7171 Living on Earth: The Work of Robert Hite, thru Oct 30
CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY 622 WARREN ST, HUDSON, NY • 518-828-1915 Abstraction: Robert C. Morgan, Jack Walls, Bruce Murphy, Joe Wheaton and Gabriel de la Portilla. Upstairs Photo Gallery: Nude Men by David Halliday, Newbold Bohemia and Kahn & Selesnick
CHESTERWOOD 4 WILLIAMSVILLE RD, STOCKBRIDGE, MA 413-298-3579 June 18-Sept 18, 38th Annual Outdoor Sculpture exhibition, “The Nature of Glass”, 24 works by 12 internationally recognized glass artists, curated by Jim Schantz of Schantz Galleries Contemporary Glass
CLAIRE TEAGUE SENIOR CENTER 917 SOUTH MAIN ST., GT. BARRINGTON, MA 413-528-l881 See the newly rehung permanent collection. Eunice Agar paintings. Regular Hours: Monday- Friday, 8:00 AM 3:30pm
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. 6• SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
DENISE B CHANDLER FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY & PHOTO ART 413-637-2344 or 413-281-8461 (leave message) *Lenox home studio & gallery appointments available. *Exhibiting and represented by Sohn Fine Art, Lenox, MA. Exhibiting as an artist member/owner at the 510 Warren Street Gallery, Hudson
DIANA FELBER GALLERY 6 HARRIS ST., WEST STOCKBRIDGE, MA • 413-854-7002 dianafelbergallery.com Robin Crofut-Brittingham, fresh out of university, plus abstract paintings by Martina Müller, gorgeous imaginative landscapes by Joan Marie Barber, as well as exotic landscapes by Will B. Sillin. Larry Zingale, Birgit Blyth. Sept 14 – 31. Reception is September 17, 5-7 pm. (Open 11-6pm, closed Tues.)
FRONT STREET GALLERY 129 FRONT ST, HOUSATONIC, MA • 413-274-6607 Kate Knapp oils and watercolors exhibit thru the summer
GOOD PURPOSE GALLERY 40 MAIN STREET, LEE, MA • 413-394-5045 INFUSED WITH PASSION August 12 – September 21 (9am - 4pm every day) Richmond West Stockbridge Artists Guild Inc. (RWSAG) for the fall show, Many Hands, Multiple Methods. This exhibit includes nearly 20 artists and runs through November 1. Please join us at the gallery on Friday, September 23, from 5:30 - 7:30pm for opening reception and an opportunity to meet the artists and hear their stories. JO-ANNE IRWIN DOWNTOWN PITTSFIELD INC. 33 DUNHAM MALL Home Studio, Lenox, MA • 413-637-3228 jai.artist39@gmail.com Paintings on display for the month of September First Fridays Artswalk. Watercolor, Acrylic, Pen & Ink
LAUREN CLARK FINE ART 25 RAILRD. ST, GT. BARRINGTON, MA • 413-528-0432 Lauren@LaurenClarkFineArt.com www.LaurenClarkFineArt.com Richard Britell, A Study of New York Architecture will be on exhibit October 8 – 31. A reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, October 8, from 4-7 pm.
L’ATELIER BERKSHIRES 597 MAIN STREET, GREAT BARRINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS www.atelierberks.com. • 510-469-5468, natalie.tyler@atelierberks.com LAND OF THE FREE, paintings by New York City artist Marshall Jones. The exhibition runs September 1Oct 10.
LISA VOLLMER PHOTOGRAPHY NEW STUDIO + GALLERY 325 STOCKBRIDGE ROAD, GT. BARRINGTON • 413-429-6511 / www.lisavollmer.com The Studio specializes in portrait, event, editorial and commercial photography : by appointment. The Gallery represents Sabine Vollmer von Falken, Thatcher Hullerman Cook, Carolina Palermo Schulze and Tom Zetterstrom. (Open daily from 11-4pm closed on Wednesdays) MASS MoCA NORTH ADAMS, MA Alex Da Corte: Free Roses, thru 2016.
MARGUERITE BRIDE HOME STUDIO AT 46 GLORY DRIVE, PITTSFIELD, MA • 413841-1659 or 413-442-7718 MARGEBRIDE-PAINTINGS.COM FB: MARGUERITE BRIDE WATERCOLORS Original watercolors, house portraits, commissions, fine art reproductions. Seasonal scenes always on exhibit at Crowne Plaza, Pittsfield; Studio visits by appt.
NEW MARLBOROUGH MEETING HOUSE GALLERY NEW MARLBOROUGH, MA newmarlborough.org./music-more/ New Marlborough Artists, exhibiting the work of eight New Marlborough residents, September 3 through October 2.The Music and More season, with six exciting events, begins Saturday, August 27, and runs through October 8. All programs begin at 4:30 p.m. and are followed by a reception in the Meeting House Gallery
NO. SIX GALLERY 6 DEPOT ST, WEST STOCKBRIDGE, MA Jeanny Tsai Photographs
NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM 9 GLENDALE RD, STOCKBRIDGE, MA • 413-298-4100 Rockwell and Realism in an Abstract World, thru Oct 30
CLARK ART INSTITUTE 225 SOUTH STREET WILLIAMSTOWN MA 212-572-2694 www.randomhousebooks.com/events October 8, 2016, 1- 4 PM Small Great Things tells the story of Ruth Jefferson, a labor and delivery nurse at a Connecticut hospital with more than twenty years’ experience. During her shift, Ruth begins a routine checkup on a newborn, only to be told a few minutes later that she’s been reassigned to another patient. This is the authors' most personal novel to date.
SCHANTZ GALLERIES 3 ELM ST, STOCKBRIDGE, MA • 413-298-3044 schantzgalleries.com A destination for those seeking premier artists working in glass
SCOTT BARROW PHOTOGRAPHY & GALLERY 17 HOUSATONIC STREET, LENOX MA • 413-637-2299 Photography exhibits
HELSINKI CAFE 405 COLUMBIA ST, HUDSON, NY • 518-828-4800 info@helsinkihudson.com Sept 16, Vieux Farka Toure, Sept22, ProJam 17 25, Trixie Whitley 30, Ian Hunter & The Rant Band October: Amy Ray & Her Band / Chely Wright , (co-bill) 7: Grant Gordy & Ross Martin • CD Release
SCULPTURE NOW THE MOUNT, 2 PLUNKETT ST, LENOX, MA • 413-551-5111 / www.edithwharton.org/ SculptureNow: Remix, thru Oct 31, 28 large outdoor sculptures by 28 artists. The show includes regionally and nationally recognized artists William Breslow, Rick & Laura Brown, Jamie Calderwood, William Carlson, Matt Crane, Peter Dellert, Murray Dewart, Anthony Garner, Lucy Hodgson, Sue Huang, Ann Jon, Conrad Levenson, Kathryn Lipke, Philip Marshall, Gary Orlinsky, Jerome Harris Parmet, Chris Plaisted, Kate Raudenbush, Laura Reinhard, Susan Ferrari Rowley, Laurie Sheridan, Fletcher Smith, Leon Smith, Robin Tost, Mark Warwick, John Wilkinson and Bernard Zubrowski. SOHN FINE ART GALLERY, PRINTING, FRAMING & WORKSHOPS 69 CHURCH STREET, LENOX MA • 413-5517353 Contemporary photography by local and international artists. We also offer photographic services, archival pigment printing and framing services.
FILM
SPENCERTOWN ACADEMY ARTS CENTER 790 STATE ROUTE 203 IN SPENCERTOWN, NEW YORK. WWW.SPENCERTOWNACADEMY.ORG / 518-392-3693. EXHIBITIONS BY SCOTT THOMAS BALFE & JANE MCWHORTER SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24TH-OCTOBER 9, 4:00PM - 6:00PM / ART /
SUSAN ELEY FINE ART, NYC 46 WEST 90TH STREET, 2ND FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY http://susaneleyfineart.com/index.php/Detail/fairs/110 Transitory Space, Nova Scotia, Canada and Prospect Park, BrooklynOpening Reception November 1st, 6-8pm On view to December 1st, 2016
ST. FRANCIS GALLERY RTE. 102, SOUTH LEE (just 2 miles east from the Red Lion Inn) Friday thru Monday 10-5pm. THE CLARK MUSEUM 225 SOUTH ST, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA • 413-458-2303 222.clarkart.edu/ Thomas Schütte: Crystal, thru Oct 9
VAULT GALLERY 322 MAIN ST, GT. BARRINGTON, MA • 413-644-0221 Marilyn Kalish at work and process on view, beautiful gallery with a wonderful collection of paintings
EVENTS / WORKSHOPS
“CHROME TWIST” BY JANE MCWHORTER
9 WEEKS, 9 WRITERS WWW.JAYNEBENJULIAN.COM/EVENTS Advanced workshop in prose and poetry with Jayne Benjulian. Thursday evenings, 7-9 PM, Housatonic September 22 – December 1 (no workshop October 13 or November 24) 9 sessions
MUSIC
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC 4 CASTLE STREET GREAT BARRINGTON MA • 518-392-6677 Chamber Orchestra Kremlin, October 15, 6 PM www.cewm.org The grand and lush sweep of Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings was not lost on the composer. Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C was discovered in a private music collection in Czechoslovakia in 1964 and has since been embraced by cellists as one of the major solo vehicles for their instrument. WHITNEY CENTER FOR THE ARTS 42 WENDELL AVE., PITTSFIELD • 413-212-4459 / INFO@SAMANDRON.COM Samantha Talora & Ron Ramsay: A Sondheim Trilogy, Part III, Saturday, October 1, 7:30 pm, Doors open at 6:45pm. $20.00
THEATRE
PITTSFIELD CITYJAZZ FESTIVAL Berkshire Theatre Group • 413-298-5576 6 East Street Stockbridge MA www.berkshiretheatregroup.org October 15, 2016, 7:30 PM.
Friday, Oct 7 from 7 to 9 pm: showing of “The War Around Us” at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Catskills, 320 Sawkill Road, Kingston (access to UU is from Rt. 209/Sawkill Road). In 2008, two best friends found themselves trapped in one of the most dangerous places on earth as the only western journalists in the Gaza Strip. The free film tells their true story as they witness and cover one of the most disturbing wars of our time. Sponsored by: Middle East Crisis Response www.mideastcrisis.org Hudson Valley Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions www.hudsonvalleybds.org Contact: Jane.toby7@gmail.com or 518 291-6808
WORKSHOP
NOURISH & EMPOWER WELLNESS RETREAT FOR WOMEN November 17-20, 2016 @ Good Commons Retreat Center in Plymouth, VT Hosted by Kimberly Coleman & Padme Amy Tanner. Come dance, release limiting beliefs, and celebrate the woman you are with sacred sensuality practices that energize and rejuvenate your whole being. Website: http://kimberlycoleman.love/retreat/ Send in your events by the 5th of the month prior to publication. Welcome text files and images:
artfulmind@yahoo.com
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“My boyfriends back and your gonna be in trouble- hay-la! hay-la! My boyfriends back!” --From the second studio album released by the American pop girl group The Angels
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 7
A STUDY OF NEW YORK ARCHITECTURE RICHARD BRITELL
RICHARD BRITELL, “UPPER WEST SIDE”, OIL ON WOOD, 10” X 8”
DIANA FELBER GALLERY MARTINA MULLER
FALL EXHIBITION
This September we will have another spectacular show, featuring the fresh new work of Robin CrofutBrittingham, fresh out of university, plus abstract paintings by Martina Müller, gorgeous imaginative landscapes by Joan Marie Barber, as well as exotic landscapes by Will B. Sillin. Larry Zingale will take up some delightful wall space, and Birgit Blyth will return with her lily pad images-absolutely luscious. There are always more surprises, so be sure to stop by. The show goes from September 14 – October 31. Reception is scheduled for September 17, 5-7 pm. Diana Felber Gallery - 6 Harris St, West Stockbridge, MA. Gallery Hours: Open daily 11-6pm; closed Tuesdays. 413-854-7002, dianafelbergallery.com, Diana@dianafelbergallery.com
"There is a dream dreaming us." -- a Kalahari Bushman
8 • 2016 SEPTEMBER THE ARTFUL MIND
”There are modes of Realism in which the depiction of concrete detail is so concentrated - and so obsessive - that the visual result bears a distinct esthetic kinship to pictorial abstraction. Richard Britell's paintings are a particularly vivid example of this phenomenon. Mr. Britell's subject matter is drawn from the world of pre-odernist architecture. What he focuses on are brick facades, stonework structures and the elegant decorative embellishments that were once a standard feature of the gothic revival, neo-classical and other historicist styles of American urban architecture. These he depicts with a great deal of pictorial force. Only rarely, however, does the imagery in Mr. Britell's paintings offer us much in the way of social documentary or social commentary. (The broken window that we glimpse in a brick facade in the painting called ''Bank Row, Syracuse,'' for example, is unusual.) It is the design element in this architecture that interests him - the density and regularity of its formal detail, say, or the handling of light and shadow in conception of a complex outdoor structure. Often the façade of a building is observed in the kind of close-up view that becomes, in effect, the equivalent of a geometrical abstract painting. He is particularly good at painting brickwork, stone window frames and decorated entrances. He has a very analytical eye, and he commands an impressive technique. If there is also an element of nostalgia in these paintings, it isn't particularly bothersome. After all, we all have ample reason to cherish this architecture today, and Mr. Britell's homage to it proves wholly equal to its quality.” - Hilton Kramer New York Times A Study of New York Architecture will be on exhibit October 8 – 31. A reception for the artist will be held on Saturday, October 8, from 4-7 pm. Lauren Clark Fine Art - 25 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, Massachusetts; www.LaurenClarkFineArt.com, Lauren@LaurenClarkFineArt.com, 413-528-0432.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHERYL LUFT
MEETING HOUSE GALLERY PHOTOGRAPHY BY CHERYL LUFT
NINE NEW MARLBOROUGH ARTISTS
The 19th annual New Marlborough Artists Show opens Friday, September 2, and runs through October 2, with nine artists presenting a lively variety of work. Shawn Fields focuses his work on the adventures of his young family. The vitality of his subject matter is captured in detailed drawings, then rendered in striking oil paintings. Ritch Holben, the designer of innovative houses frequently showcased in leading architectural magazines, has turned his eye to the creation of stunning photographs. Bruno Quinson, a noted book publisher, has, since retirement, devoted his energies to painting award-winning watercolors. Constance Sussman creates colorful oil paintings of land and sky. Photographer Cheryl Ann Luft brings a fine eye to the details of nature, while Tanya Walker’s photographs bring the viewer to far-flung corners of the world. Adding to the variety of the show is an amazing sitespecific construction by Pamela Hardcastle; a short film titled Something’s Fishy by former Simon’s Rock Professor Larry Burke; and a captivating series of small sculptures by Dez Ryan. The Meeting House Gallery, situated in an historic -and newly renovated -- church building, is located in New Marlborough Village on Route 57, near the Old Inn on the Green. It will be open Saturdays and Sundays from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Meeting House is also home to Music and More -- an exciting series of concerts and events presented each Saturday at 4:30 p.m. from August 27 to October 8. For more information, please go to http:newmarlborough.org./music-more/
MANY HANDS MULTIPLE METHODS
ROBERT FORTE
RICHMOND WEST STOCKBRIDGE ARTISTS GUILD
ROBERT FORTE, FIELD IMPRESSIONS
Robert Forte's paintings continue to explore themes and ideas drawn from experiences in his life and in the world around him. The canvas used as a vehicle of expression as opposed to representation provides Forte with the excitement that makes painting an ongoing adventure and a source of limitless possibilities. Artists that have become increasingly inspirational are the great expressionists Soutine and Schiele and contemporaries such as Kitaj and Doig. There has always been an element of spontaneity in Forte's work, but this has become more necessary to achieve the expression that he seeks. Although oils have made up the bulk of his work, Forte is finding that acrylics, employed without extenders, provide an immediacy that is challenging and intriguing. What initially might seem to be an undesirable effect can be captured and used to redirect the painting and open up previously unforeseen possibilities. Forte has just completed his first group show at Atlantic Gallery in New York City. During the month of June, he exhibited at the St. Francis Gallery in Lee, Massachusetts and has been invited to exhibit there again during the month of October. In 2017, Forte is scheduled to have a solo show in Chelsea, and also will be in a second group show there.
haveanicedayjb
The Good Purpose Gallery welcomes the Richmond West Stockbridge Artists Guild Inc. (RWSAG) for the fall show, Many Hands, Multiple Methods. This exhibit includes nearly 20 artists and runs through November 1. Please join us at the gallery on Friday, September 23, from 5:30 - 7:30pm for a festive opening reception and an opportunity to meet the artists and hear their stories. The lively and fresh work that RWSAG presents ranges from realistic to abstract, tiny to floor-to-ceiling and various mediums such as photographs, watercolors, oil and acrylic paintings, collages, mixed media, stained glass, ceramics and sculpture. Artists and supporters formed the guild in 2015 to encourage, support and promote the artwork of Berkshire artists. The guild exhibits and sells local artwork, educates members and the public about art and hopes to contribute to the quality of life in the Berkshires. Good Purpose Gallery and Spectrum Playhouse are professional venues that exist to offer students real-life training, experience and integration with the community. Both venues host professional artists and events on a regular basis throughout the year, including student events such as plays, performances, art exhibits, and more. Good Purpose Gallery - 40 Main Street, Lee, Massachusetts. The gallery is open 9am - 3pm every day. For more information on the Gallery, visit our website: Goodpurpose.org
STEPHEN FILMUS COMMISSIONS
For me, it is joyous to feel that I have captured the essence of a special time and place through my art and have given new life to a memory that will give pleasure for years to come. The commission process is collaboration between artist and client. Whenever possible we visit the site together and discuss elements of subject, color, form and the ‘feeling’ of the scene. The next step for me is to create a detailed color sketch that reflects the client’s vision and gives them a good sense of how the finished artwork will look. At this point the commissioner can give input and suggestions as I work toward the final design. Lastly, I simply do what I know how to do – I sit at my easel and paint. Stephen Filmus is represented by J. Todd Gallery in Wellesley, MA. His work can be seen at his studio in Great Barrington by appointment. Stephen Filmus – art.sfilmus@verizon.net, 413-528-1253, www.stephenfilmus.com
9 W EEKS , 9 W RITERS
Advanced workshop in prose and poetry with Jayne Benjulian “As Roethke said (after Shakespeare), you must ‘kill your darlings,’ must not flinch from deleting words, lines and even stanzas you love. You must, that is, if you want to write like Benjulian in lines that are taut, spare, and fiercely compressed. I admire her poems, too, for their cinematic sense, complete with deftly-drawn characters, vivid scenes, and authentic dialogue, and for how they align family drama with the drama of the human condition.” —Rebecca Foust on Five Sextillion Atoms
Thursday evenings, 7 - 9 PM, Housatonic September 22 - December 1 (no workshop October 13 or November 24)
For more information: JayneBenjulian.com/events
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 9
MARSHALL JONES ARTIST
INTERVIEW BY NATALIE TYLER Natalie Tyler: Lately, I have been asked, “How do you find the artists you give exhibitions to at L’Atelier Berkshires Gallery?” My answer is, by looking at a lot of art over the years in the states and abroad. I remember what I see and take note of what moves and inspires me. I strive to exhibit artists who blow me away with their technique, message and the overall feeling that transpires from the work they create. This past spring, on a New York City trip to the lower east side galleries, I was at an opening reception at Dacia Gallery on Stanton Street, where Marshall Jones’ paintings were being exhibited in a solo show. It was a powerful, evocative and compelling exhibit, where every piece stood on its own. I was not only impressed by Marshall’s incredible 10 • SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
painting skills, but I found the longer I looked at each art work, the deeper its message became. In the painting entitled Dreamscape, it feels almost like a film still, capturing a moment in time, yet so much is happening. The woman and her baby are prominent in the foreground. The mother has a protective yet shameful stance; you feel the weight of her responsibilities. The baby looks out of the window into a pure light, casting stripes of shadowplay across her face. Just around the corner is a woman running down the barren concrete hall, a labyrinth, going away from the light at the end of the tunnel. The woman at the end of the tunnel emerges with a bullhead, a minotaur and a guardian god. At the far left, another woman is
seen crawling out of the red light district. Reception, another one of Marshall’s large-scale paintings, is layered with significance. A woman is in a crouching posture and simultaneously lifting herself into a dreamy, ghost-like, spiritual offering. She is in an industrial setting, surrounded and protected by deer, and there is a safe door behind her. As she is beckoned, dangerous fires burn outside of the building. A scientific cloud formation hovers above her. Biblical themes of the Israelites being lead to truth and the promise are undertones in this painting. This woman becomes what she was meant to be by turning into a symbol of her own desire, and yet while resisting, she realizes the threatening dan-
Marshall Jones America 1 20 x 16” gers of the outside world. Marshall Jones has the rare gift of conveying the complexities of the human condition; each work has many levels of meaning, in a dream-like, symbolic state. He skillfully demonstrates the ability to change significant perspectives with the stroke of a brush. He draws from our contemporary and complex society, incorporating mythology, symbolism, imagery and depth of feeling. He doesn’t tell us what to think. Instead he offers us signifiers and encourages freedom, allowing the viewer to come to their own conclusion. We are proud to have LAND OF THE FREE exhibited in the Berkshires for the first time. Marshall Jones’ most recent series explores the role of im-
agery in the collective unconscious. The narratives in these paintings inspire us to question our own views and our contemporary American identity. He is a rising star of an artist with a brave vision, helping humanity to check itself and question deep intentions. His paintings have a haunting presence. With a photo-naturalistic style, he enables viewers to steal a moment with a sharp, cutting edge.
Where are you from originally? How long have you lived in New York City, and what was it that brought you here? Marshall Jones: I am originally from Atlanta, Georgia. I have been in the city for 11 years. I came here
to go to the Art Students League. The League is such a special place for me; studying there and knowing the history of that place with all the artists who went there before really links you to the past—in some way you can almost see the progression of American art there. At the time, it provided me with exactly the education that I was seeking. Before I got there I was totally full of ideas and a good painter, but what I needed was a place where I could develop technique and build my skills—kind of like a musician practicing scales. Studying there really enhanced my skills and freed me up to focus on making more interesting work. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 11
Marshall Jones Dreamscape 34 x 72
In what ways has living in the city influenced the concepts found in your work? Marshall: The city has been crucial in shaping me as an artist and a person. Living in New York City has made me more interested in people. All the different cultures you become exposed to and the range of human activity are endlessly fascinating to me.
You’ve had many art exhibits of your work in New York City and across the nation. This September, you will have an exhibition called LAND OF THE FREE at L’Atelier Berkshires Gallery in Great Barrington, MA. This will be the first show of your paintings in the Berkshires. Do you feel your work will have a different impact in a more conservative, rural area? Marshall: One of the most interesting things about being an artist is meeting and talking to people from all over. For instance, meeting Natalie Tyler while I
12 • SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
had a recent solo show running on the Lower East Side at the Dacia Gallery… that led me to a show in the Berkshires. I'm excited to have been given this opportunity by Natalie, and for the chance to have met new people at the opening a week ago. There is a lot to be learned from others' input and feedback. I always enjoy a good conversation on the topics of art and culture. Ideally, the work will make an impact on those who see it, and on the community, and their responses will make an impact on me in return. You live in a great city, but in recent years Manhattan has become unaffordable for most artists. How do you manage to live in Manhattan and survive as an artist, when many artists have moved out to the other boroughs for more space and lower rents? Marshall: I have been very lucky. I was blessed with
talent and opportunity. I have an amazing wife, also a painter, Liz Adams-Jones, and we really help each other to succeed. I couldn't have survived in this world without her. Do you see your paintings as autobiographical? If so, in what ways? When did you decide art was an important path for you to take? Marshall: Yes, my work is very autobiographical. I think artists sort of told all the big, common stories a long time ago, and now that we got that out of the way, we can focus on the smaller, individual stories. I think the subject of modern or contemporary art is our own psychology. My work is a journal of my thoughts and reactions to life on a bizarre and strange planet. I never thought it was possible to be an artist. Growing up, I didn't know any professional artists, I hardly know any now. I was certainly compelled
Marshall Jones Reception 54 x 72”
from a very young age to draw and paint and make images. But I had always expected to work at a Waffle House or something and do art on the side... and you know, that would have been fine with me. Some days it seems preferable. But this, many years in, to have people still interested in looking at my paintings—I never thought that would be a thing.
What ideas do your new series of paintings explore? Marshall: The themes are essentially the same, but the symbols are evolving. I have been playing around with imagery that fetishizes oil and snow, and the idea of both being endangered species. There is something kind of hostile, cold and incapable of sustaining life with these elements, and yet, visually speaking, they are sexy at the same time, like whipped cream and chocolate syrup. What aspects of American culture do you feel the
desire to tackle? Do you have a plan when executing your art, i.e. certain responses that you hope to provoke? Marshall: I find American culture fascinating, maybe because I live here. For example, just the psychological effect of the American flag is amazing! It's all sort of bundled up with God, freedom and nepotism—such powerful concepts that we don't really know much about. And then patriotism took a dark turn. It's now more associated with dissolution and exploitation. I think it's fascinating when a symbol makes a 180 degree turn like that. In my painting, in the show America 3, there is real cynicism: on the surface it's just a girl in front of a flag—what's not to love—but there is dark humor to it now, in 2016, that would not have been there, say, 30 years ago. And I know the viewer will bring those same types of feelings to it. I love that space to play in. I do plan on eliciting certain responses. Semiotics are endlessly complex and fun to think about. However, I am most
excited when a viewer doesn't respond the way I expect—it’s a good chance for me to learn!
Do you feel your paintings initiate conversation? Do you feel that discourse is important for changes in humanity to occur? Marshall: Yes, I certainly do, and that's what I'm most proud of as an artist; not just that my painting really looks like the particular subject, but that people want to talk about the imagery. The conversations I have around my work really excite me; at one opening a woman asked me how I understand women so well, and the next person hinted that he thought my work was sexist. I love when you can get disparate opinions on the same work. The truth is, I don't understand women at all, and I'm also not a sexist, I'm just commenting on what I see in a complex society and world that is way too complicated to understand. I guess if I ever fully understood the world, I would stop painting. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND AUGUST 2016 • 13
Marshall Jones Mick oil on canvas 24 x 32”
Do you see your work as controversial? Marshall: I don't intend for it to be, but from what I hear, it is. It certainly isn't mainstream or populist. So much of contemporary art is fashionable and benign. I believe my work is honest. I do have things to say. I think any time you say anything you risk polarizing people. Maybe that's why contemporary art is so bland, because the stakes are too high to risk big, honest thoughts. But I didn't get into art to make balloon dogs, for example, and I find it less complicated to be true to myself.
Why do you see most contemporary art as populist? Explain, please… Marshall: Oh I don't know. I feel like so much of contemporary art is made by hyper-privileged, educated artists who are too smart to make risky work and who instead cater to the market by creating work with less substance, which makes it harder to care 14 • SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
about. Unfortunately, some are just basically content providers, strategically making very watered-down art so it can hang anywhere. The intent is not to make people think, or risk their thought being challenged. It's more like a visual white noise machine. The pop equivalent would be Justin Bieber or Transformers 5 or something. Art that is so trivial I feel ashamed to be called an artist. They have so many resources at their disposal and they use it to hire assistants to create work that panders so specifically to the art market, instead of pushing thought forward and challenging established patterns. If you think about it, all that capital and manpower could be used to build houses for the homeless or something. Your S.K.L. series involves females holding guns—a very loaded topic, yes? How do you think the significance deepens and changes when you’re depicting a woman holding a gun, as opposed to what we are used to, seeing a man holding one?
What would you say to someone who interprets these paintings as glamorizing violence? Also wondering, Marshall, what are your views on guns and the gun control issue at hand? Marshall: This series is my reaction to all assumed gender roles—and how I can't believe we are still dealing with this shit. The patriarchy is a pretty nasty bit of business that isn't good for any of us, male or certainly female, and this was a very direct way to vent about that. It came out of some of my reading at the time: Brian K. Vaughn's Y: The Last Man, a comic book that envisions a world without men, and Hannah Rosin's The End of Men, a book that talks about the rise of women in modern America. Other influences were movies like Children of Men, Jackie Brown and Ms. 45. As a feminist and a human being, equal rights in all forms are very important to me, and I find something fresh and intriguing about a world where women go shirtless and save everyone. Unlike the stale story where that role is usually only
Marshall Jones S.K.O.5 oil on canvas 24 x 32� designated for men, the women in this series of mine are sort of like Arnold Schwarzenegger or Sylvester Stallone, just a lot cooler. This series is probably my most commercially popular and also my most conceptually misunderstood. It is so interesting how in a New York City gallery setting filled with educated people, some will have the most basic read on them. I am using hot-button elements that often find a more receptive audience in an illustration context than in fine art, but I'm often surprised at people's one-note reading on art. Are these paintings glorifying violence? I don't think so. I am a huge fan of 1970s cinema, and there was a similar criticism lobbed at those
movies as well. However, history looks very favorably on them now, and these paintings are not about violence, they are more about power. I am for gun control because it seems that we are churning out broken people like a factory. At the same time, I can't see how anyone sees these topics as so binary. The argument on the right has a certain logic to it, and the argument on the left does as well. But even as I'm talking about this, it's super tricky. I don't like a world where anyone has guns. Anyway, the argument is academic, because we can't make guns go away. Would I choose to erase all knowledge of guns if I could? Absolutely. Do I believe you can
get rid of them? Probably not. It reminds me of Adam and Eve: once they ate the apple, they couldn't go back to the garden the way it was. Hell, now you can print a workable gun in your house and put it on a drone if you are so inclined. Discussions like this are more like thought experiments on an ideal world than an attainable reality.
Do you see your work as being honest? Marshall: I have a strong belief that art, music and literature are powerful tools in the ecosystem. I am fortunate enough to be able to work on my art everyContinued on next page...
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 15
Marshall Jones Ritual 3 Oil on Canvas 20 x 32"
day. I think my good fortune was largely laid out by others in a broad sense because of when and where I was born. Whether I agree with the politics of my time is beside the point, but life in modern America has afforded many of us time to work on our art. I think with that good fortune comes a great responsibility to make work that is true to ourselves and attempts to give back and influence the system in which we operate. I am essentially living my life completely out of the mainstream of American culture. I paint all day, read philosophy, have conversations with super-interesting people. As a teacher, I get to help others on their artistic journeys. If I didn't approach that with humility, and honestly attempt to use my position to inform, it would be unimaginably 16 • SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
ungrateful and a squandering of opportunity. Oftentimes, honest work is a bit ahead of its time or not quite right for the mainstream, but its impact can be enormous. When I think about the music, movies or books that have impacted me, they were usually made by courageous women and men who were honest enough to bring new thoughts or seemingly dangerous ideas into their art, often at the cost of a larger monetary payout. A real-time example would be a more savvy person not answering these questions, like I have. How does modern-day psychology and sociology play into your concepts? Marshall: I am very much into the work of Ernest
Becker. I have read The Denial of Death three times. The work that he did on understanding our motivations has been a real key to understanding people and the world. Sheldon Solomon took his concepts and really built on the idea of how images and symbols impact the viewer. Solomon and Joseph Campbell have really helped me choose the elements I put into my work in order to better communicate my ideas. Do you see your work as having a political voice? What are your views on the upcoming election and the mindset of America as we approach November? Marshall: I am not a very political person, but the imagery does seep into my work—WWF meets
Marshall Jones S.K.O.6 oil on canvas 22 x 18 Fellini-zaniness. Like Trump in front of a gigantic screen, or millions of balloons and the celebrity speakers Clinton has, there are no genuine ennui to these kinds of spectacles. But, I wouldn't say the political aspect is a focus of mine. I guess I have grown a bit cynical of global politics.
Your work is really getting recognition. What does the future hold for you? Marshall: I really like the direction my work is moving towards. I feel as if I am getting closer to ideas I have been developing all along. It's funny, it feels like the more I work on my art, the more my art works on me.
Professionally, I have a couple solo shows in New York City to prepare for, and I want to continue to expand and grow. I am trying to keep an open mind and be a perpetual student. That's another reason I think art shows like this are important; they encourage conversation and help us to see connections. Honestly, I just hope I can continue to grow and become more open. Whatever has allowed me to grow this far, I hope to open it up even further.
LAND OF THE FREE paintings by NYC artist Marshall Jones will be on exhibition at L’Atelier Gallery from September 1st- October 10th. L’Atelier Berkshires is located at 597 Main Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230.
Gallery Hours are Thursday-Sunday 11-5 or by appointment, phone number is 510-469-5468 and website www.atelierberks.com
THE ARTFUL MIND AUGUST 2016 • 17
9 WEEKS, 9 WRITERS
ADVANCED WORKSHOP IN PROSE AND POETRYWITH JAYNE BENJULIAN
Every writer has a voice. Every writer has a story. Every writer has a story about her voice, including how she came to acquire and record that voice. In this workshop, we will work on developing and clarifying our individual voices and leveraging voice to strengthen a speaker or narrator. The workshop is designed for writers who want to understand more deeply their own gifts and challenges and use that knowledge to elevate the level of their work. The number of writers will be capped at nine. We will focus on elements of craft as they pertain to the mission of each writer—most certainly voice, but also language and structure. We will address revision and look at several examples of work in draft and revised forms. In this place of collaborative learning, where some of us write poetry and some prose, we will learn from artists who are doing something different than we are and let their practices influence our work. Thursday evenings, 7-9 PM, Housatonic September 22 – December 1 (no workshop October 13 or November 24) 9 sessions, $405. Jayne Benjulian is the author of Five Sextillion Atoms. Her poems appear in numerous literary journals in the U.S. and abroad; her essays about theater, poetry, and the influence of artists on each other in theater playbills and performance journals. Her work as a poet, essayist and dramaturg informs her strikingly original approach to teaching. She was an Ossabaw Island Project Fellow; teaching fellow at Emory University; lecturer in the Graduate Program in Theater at San Francisco State University; director of new play development at Magic Theatre; Fulbright Teaching Fellow in Lyon, France; and chief speechwriter at Apple. For more about the workshop: www.jaynebenjulian.com/events
18 • SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
DENISE B CHANDLER DENISE B CHANDER
FINE ART LIMITED EDITION PHOTOGRAPHY
Denise B Chandler is a fine art photographer who has had her work exhibited at The Berkshire Museum, Sohn Fine Art Gallery, Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, IS -183 Art School of the Berkshires, St. Francis Gallery, Chesterwood, The Hudson Opera House, Spencertown Academy Arts Center, and Tivoli Artists Gallery. In 2012, Chandler completed the Photography Residency Program at Maine Media Workshops & College. While in Maine, she was guided, encouraged and her work critiqued by renowned photographers: Michael Wilson, Andrea Monica, Peter Ralston, Arthur Meyerson, David Turner, Brenton Hamilton, David Wells, and Syl Arena. Chandler has continued her formal workshop training with master photographers, Seth Resnick, Greg Gorman, and John Paul Caponigro. Denise B Chandler, a lifelong Lenox resident where she maintains her studio and private gallery. The majority of Chandler’s work is contemporary and concentrates on the details of a subject frequently embracing bold colors, geometric shapes and patterns. Denise B Chandler is represented by Sohn Fine Art Gallery at 69 Church St. in Lenox, Massachusetts where various selections of her work can be seen throughout the year. Chandler offers private gallery visits at her personal studio/gallery by appointment only...please call either number listed below. A member of 510 Warren Street Gallery, Hudson, NY., her fine art photography can now be viewed Friday and Saturday 12 - 5, and Sunday 12-5 or by appointment.Denise B Chandler, Studio & Gallery visits by appointment only. 415 New Lenox Rd, Lenox, MA. Please call 413-637-2344 or 413-281-8461 (cell). Website: denisebchandler.com / : info@denisebchandler.com
JOHN LIPKOWITZ
JOHN LIPKOWITZ FROM DAKOTA TERRITORY SERIES
DAKOTA TERRITORY
John Lipkowitz born and raised in Manhattan, relocated to Great Barrington, MA in 2006, and has never lost his zest for travel. A self employed attorney in the City, he was fortunate enough to be able to indulge in that travel bug and nearly twenty years ago grabbed his camera and with his wife Nina began traveling to exotic destinations around the world. Travel and photography thereafter became twin passions and during the waning years of film he continued to perfect his eye and photographic techniques. The digital age enabled Lipkowitz to take control of his entire photographic process, from the viewfinder to the final print and thereafter to framing decisions. Each stage of this process adds another element of creation, enabling the artist, for better or worse, to fully claim his product. Dakota Territory results from Lipkowitz’ re-engagement with the American West and a return to “yesteryear” in the old Lone Ranger tradition as he and his wife visited South Dakota wild horse rescue ranches, Custer State Park and Badlands National Park and North Dakota’s Theodore Roosevelt National Park with a little wandering in Eastern Montana. The wild horses, no longer quite wild but clearly not domesticated, have largely been rescued as whole herds from public lands as an alternative to sale for slaughter and, as they allowed him to walk closely among them, became compelling subjects. Free range bison within the State and National Parks occasionally crossed their paths while driving, enabling some close encounters with our country’s newly named United States Mammal. Pronghorn antelope, unique ungulates and the second fastest mammal on earth, still mark for Lipkowitz and his wife that invisible boundary between central and west somewhere in the Dakotas, and a first such sighting continues to define their entrance into The West. Dramatic landscapes, both within and without the parks, continuously presented themselves, sometimes as not so subtle reminders of the traditional West. Driving through small western towns and along lonely dirt roads, old, long unused grain elevators beside rail sidings and abandoned homesteads took them back to the early decades of the Twentieth Century or even further. This exhibit highlights the photographer’s choices among the nearly 4,000 images taken on his trip and will be showing at the 510 Warren Street Gallery, 510 Warren Street, Hudson, NY. Gallery hours: Friday and Saturday, 12-6; Sunday, 12-5. Artist’s reception, Saturday, September 10, 2016, 3-6 PM. Alternating images from Dakota Territory will also be on exhibit through the end of 2016.
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTMBER 2016 • 19
DOUGLASS TRUTH ARTIST / PERFORMER
Douglass, I’ve known you as a very brilliant visual artist, back when you lived in Pittsfield for many years, and I am so glad you are here visiting the Berkshires. Why have you chosen to grace us with your presence? Is it simply that the summers here are so beautiful and you wanted to see your friends and old stomping grounds? Tell us about your time here so far - and where is your permanent residence these days? I had been wanting to do my new stage piece, An Intimate Evening with Death Herself, on the east coast. The show started under a different title (Death As A Salesman) ten years ago at the Dreamaway Lodge, and I thought how great it would be to take it back there—back to the Berkshires, that is. I had been thinking about it for months and wondering how to pull it off, when Lauren Clark asked if I 20 • SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
INTERVIEW BY HARRYET CANDEE PHOTOGRAPHY BY SABINE VON FALKEN
wanted to be in an art show at her gallery. Of course I said yes, but I also noted that her place was big enough to hold events. I said, how about some performances, too? She said yes, and I started to plan the trip around those dates. Staying in contact with people on Facebook really helps. Even though it’s been some years, I feel like I’ve never left. My time here in the early part of the 21st century was super important to me and my work—North Street culture, the Storefront Artist Project, the great artists I met and, in the case of some, befriended. A lot of great things happened. So while this isn’t my home—my heart is in the West— this is my second home. I’ve had a blast running into my old friends—at Dotties in Pittsfield, Lenox Coffee, the Coop in Gt. Barrington. It’s like I never left sometimes. I live
now in Nevada City, California, a cute little old mining town in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. I’ve got a lot of old friends there. A lovely place to live.
How long are you staying around, and do you have any interesting plans? I’ll be around at least until the end of September, but possibly longer. I was invited to take part in the United Solo Theater Festival in NYC, on Theater Row. The festival gives you one time and date, (9 pm, Saturday Sept. 17) and if you sell out the theater, they give you more slots—as many as eight, and lasting until late November. So this tour could keep me here till the snow flies. I hope it does. I’m doing more shows—at an assisted living center in New Paltz, and an old theater in Rosendale, NY. I
Douglass Truth night of his performance at Lauren Clark Great Barrington, MA
Douglass Truth Death of Ivan photo: Eli Ackerstein
believe I’ll be doing a Year Ten Encore Performance at the Dreamaway Lodge. My people are discussing it with Daniel’s people. I’ve gotten some terrific help on the play from some old friends and I’m busy re-writing and rehearsing the piece now. I used to wonder how you keep a performance fresh when you’ve done it fifty times. Now I know you just keep working it. Keep getting better.
I had the pleasure of seeing your one-man show—twice—at Lauren Clark this summer. It was clever and intriguing. You had full audiences each night! It was a diversion from your visual art side, a surprise to many, as well as myself, that you have crossed over into another artistic venue. Mind explaining the origin and passion behind this explosive exploration and discovery for you?
I almost died in 1998, and it re-set something for me. From then on I knew that death was not something to fear. The thing to fear was not living life fully. Shutting down possibilities, unique possibilities, by being fearful—that’s something to be afraid of. I started writing the piece with the older title, Death As A Salesman, in 2005, and I’m not really sure what set it off. With art, I just get a feeling— whether it’s a painting or a play—I just get a feeling that I ought to do something, and then I do it. Sometimes it works, and sometimes not. But there isn’t really a long term plan. I just started doing this writing, and it just started growing and all of a sudden, ten years later, it’s this thing that I love doing and people love seeing. It’s very exciting, and in some ways the opposite of painting. Constant development. Many of us have an uncomfortable feeling about seeing a live and intimate performance on the subject of death. But you have clearly pointed out that we can laugh at the plight of the inevitable for human beings in all walks of life. You have a wonderful sense of humor, and wonderful storytelling skills. I’m wondering, did you know that you were always comfortable in front CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE...
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 21
feeling of the brush in my hand, the bristles on the canvas, the color… I started painting right there on that day. Writing and performing are more long-term efforts, and rewarding in a different way. There are techniques to learn—tho I don’t want to go too far in that direction. I trust my instincts more than received wisdom on any project I do. Now that I’m sufficiently far along in the storytelling gig, I feel more open and receptive to help than I was before. The work is strong enough to take it and not be unduly influenced by other ideas. The physicality of painting and stage are both really important and really different. Stage work means a relationship with the living beings in the audience and the more ethereal being of the play. Painting is paint—liquid, colorful, shiny. And not thinking, just moving. What do you think is the most important idea you’d like to communicate to an audience? Don’t worry. Everything is going to be OK. There is a god. We’re all in this together. There are no enemies. Live! And Love!
Do you find you change the act depending on the location and the kind of audience you have? Yes, every time. Theaters have a magic built in—that is, the audience is primed by the raised seats and the colored lights and so on, much like a church primes people for a certain experience. But no matter what the venue, it’s the same job. I’ve done shows on sunny decks overlooking San Francisco bay, in assisted living centers and in coffee shops in Casper Wyoming. Sometimes you have to work extra hard to set the mood, create the space. It’s all good—that’s what I’m there for. But a small theater, perhaps 100 seats, that’s perfect.
Douglass Truth photo: Sabine von Falken
of a live audience? Visual artists often live secluded, private lives. But you have clearly broken through to another side of self-expression and embraced the idea that telling your story is satisfying, possibly healing. Are you feeling satisfied with your new work? When I was in Pittsfield, working in a studio above North St., I had the feeling that my life had gotten too solitary, that painting played too much into a natural tendency to be alone, to work alone. And that it might be a good idea to at least try to work more with others. I bought a video camera, thinking that I might actually be forced into working nonsolo. I’m not sure how that morphed into working solo on stage, but it did. I had no idea I had any storytelling skills. But I guess I do, and it’s absolutely incredible. I enjoy it so much. Every night, every audience is different. The story is a living thing, too—so it’s this marvelous collaboration with audience, story, and me. It’s fantastically alive. I still love painting, but I have to say this performance is more my work these days.
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Seeing the audience’s response to the show is really inspiring, as in: this has an effect on people. So there’s no wondering, Is this what I should be doing? No question at all. It’s a love affair.
What in particular do you love about painting in contrast to theatre work? Is one more physical than the other? Can you go into the differences and similarities? Painting is solitary and non-verbal. It’s such a relief to work in a realm with no concepts, ideas, words, any of that. Just color and shape. There are stories in my paintings for sure, but it’s not as if I come up with a story and then paint it. I paint and some story emerges. I often wonder myself what they mean, what’s really happening in there, in that painting. I don’t really own the paintings in a certain way, I just helped them on their way to being paintings. I’m not sure where they come from. It—painting—all started kind of accidentally in 1995 or so at a friend’s house for a party. He had easels set up with canvases. Just for fun. But the
Can you give me a short monologue here directly from the show, so readers can get a clear idea of what you’ve created and successfully taken on the road? “I walk down the seven steps and open the twin blue leather upholstered doors with the round windows in ‘em. The place is as usual. Nearly full, mostly guys. I take a seat at the bar, the only open seat. The place is like a tomb. Not a sound, not a pin drop, not a bubble on a beer popping. They’re all staring into the distance, or down at the ground. Bud - martini! I want to celebrate. But nothing from him. The thousand-yard stare. In fact the only guy in the whole place showing any signs of life is sitting to my right. New guy, not a regular. Tall. Old. Old farm implement leaning up against the bar. Grinding his teeth, just a bit. Just a bit tense. A bit unhappy with things. Maybe he’s Amish. Tired of the restrictions. Fuck it. Gonna have a drink. But now he’s here, can’t get one. What is wrong with Bud? I put my hand on the dude’s arm. I’m a friendly touchy type. Don’t worry friend, don’t you fret. I’ll get us both a drink. Wonder what’s gotten into everyone? I get off the stool and head around the bar. Strange day, no? He’s just staring at me. Wonder what’s gotten into everyone. Amish dude’s never seen a cocktail waitress I suppose. Do their wives
have to wear full length sleeves, and bonnets and all that shit? I’d get tired of that too.” Thank you! Does this overlap into the paintings you have created over the years, or is it totally separate? I see that you have worked them together in your book on spirituality, humor, death and dying. I avoid thinking too much about my paintings, or analyzing them, but it does seem, if you tilt your head a certain way, that there is a kind of interest in death in a lot of my paintings. That might be the story. The black dogs—traditionally a harbinger of death, or guardians of the underworld… like that. And in a lot of paintings there’s the sense that there was somebody just there a second ago and now they’re gone. Maybe they died and are looking at the scene again, with an open mind but a lack of interpretation. Not totally separate at all. Whatever my work is, I think it appears in anything I do. Death (and life!) are always a big part of it.
How is your performance linked to your female character, Dorothy? In your performance, you tell the story about how you discovered you had an invisible female twin. I love the part where you explain that your invisible twin simply one day appears out of nowhere, and your mom and her are screaming, “OMG! WTF!!” over this “miracle,” shall we say? Well, that’s part of me, revealed by my painting habits in the old days… I’d get old prom dresses at the thrift store and wear them while I painted. Is that TMI? That part of me is a mystery, very deep and
were part of native American life, and I don’t feel like I’m out of my mind any more. There’s a tradition, a spiritual tradition, that holds this.
What are your spiritual beliefs? I believe we all can learn quite a bit from artists. Can you paint a picture in words of who you think God may be? (Dog/God/God/Dog…..) As above. There is a god. We’re on our own to work it out. There’s nothing really to worry about. Kindness is always possible. We are going somewhere. We’ve all been here a very long time in different shapes and lives and so on, and yet for some reason we don’t remember. There’s soul and it has a life of its own.
What symbols, like flowers and dogs, have specific and personal meaning to you in your art, and can you explain their meaning for you? I can’t explain the meaning. I just love dogs, flowers, kitchens, old trucks… snowy mountain ranges in the distance and cool calm lakes under the trees. They are a language that can’t be translated. I love places where words can’t function.
Two paintings by Douglass Truth
important, but still a total mystery to me. I lived in a trailer park in CA a long time ago. There was a box for free clothes. One day I found a dress and thought, “I must wear this.” Pretty soon I’m wearing pleated skirts as I ride my bike to the Coop. It felt weird of course, but also something I absolutely had to do. It was a kind of madness I suppose, but part of my spiritual life. I’ve since read that these things
Douglass, you must be proud of your book, “Everything I know about Death•• Subject to Verification.” Why did you need to publish this book? What do readers expect to learn? Again, it was something I had to do. I had no idea what it was going to look like. It took about 9 months from start to printed book. It was a huge amount of fun to do. I love writing and layout and so on. Continued on next page...
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 23
Douglass Truth
The “Douglass Truth Institute” fascinates me, as part of your book. Describe the purpose of all these black and white ads and editorial notes. It is very artistic, and quite personal and intense. This is from the 1980s and early 90s. I love science and religion, and I started playing around with them at the Kinkos—old school platform. I made up a character, Douglass-Truth, and years later, big surprise, I became him. I just had a take on the world. Scientific, funny, spiritual. I loved parodying ads and cults and religion and phony stuff everywhere.
Like many of us, you have dealt with a medical situation that has been life-altering. Can you explain what you experienced? How did you manage to rise above in order to re-create the quality of life you desire? 1998… a brain infection that almost killed me. It destroyed part of my brain, the left temporal lobe, and I was told I was very, very lucky to be alive and that my verbal skills would not be returning. Surprise, they did. Must have been the other side of my brain— Dorothy?—kicking in. But it sure was a surprise to everyone. The ER doc who was there the night I came in wrote me a letter when he retired. Said it was a miracle, that I should be dead, not writing books and doing shows. It wasn’t a near-death 24 • SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
experience in the sense that I remember tunnels and lights and angels, but I was very different when I woke up. Lighter heart, and with a certainty that everything is OK. It wasn’t much of an effort, besides the pain of speech therapy (“Name a movie. Any movie.” Impossible!). I was having the time of my life. I was super-inspired to use every minute of my life in some way. So I painted like crazy. And then that morphed into the show. I love to work. How much of your visual art tells who the private Douglass is? Hmm. I don’t mind spending lots of time alone. i.e.—there’s hardly ever anyone in my paintings, besides the viewer, that is.
How many different Douglasses have you discovered you house? I would call them the layers and the understanding-of-Self characters, perhaps. Interesting question. Is there just one, that morphs and is seen in different lights, like a kaleidoscope? I think that is more likely. The feminine part might be the real me, who knows? And the efforts one makes to fit into the world as it is—and that’s no joke, ya gotta survive this place—distort us in ways we sometimes can’t really be aware of. It’s a dance between whatever it is that we really are—our souls,
I guess—and the outside world, other people, and so on. And I think that’s the real purpose of life, to do that dance, mix it up with the world, be kind and loving as possible, and work toward trying to figure it out, even though I’m mostly convinced that that is really impossible. But to do that with others. Have your goals now changed? In fact, what has not changed since your life-death experience? Can’t remember what they were all those years ago. Probably just to “survive.” What hasn’t changed? Hmm… attributes. So, you’re not painting as much as you have in past years? No, I’m moving around too much days these, and spending more time and energy on videos (Youtube series: Words Fail Me) and writing. Still, I’d like to talk for a moment about your visual art. Describe your most loved techniques when painting a canvas? Making a space or drawing—something—from which a story or presence emerges. I don’t try to put something in; it’s more that I try to make a place where something can emerge. I’m as delighted as anyone when it happens.
Discussion with Douglass
photo: Sabine von falken
“I never met a color I didn’t like,” is a wonderful quote. Did you come up with this? It’s a quote from an depression-era comedian whose name escapes me: never met a man I didn’t like. An art teacher, in one of the three classes I ever took, told me, “Oh, don’t use that green.” I thought that was ridiculous. All colors are equal and wonderful, of course.
What do you think makes life so wonderful for you? The ability to entertain and perhaps even make things better for others. Not getting bogged down too much in the everyday, the quotidian. Having a bigger picture and something to do in it. What is your temperament these days? Good. Worried about the world but then realizing
there’s not much to do except what I’m doing already. We’re all in it together, no matter what “it” is. Love my work. Hope everyone gets to see it.
Are you dealing with any demons that have possibly come to visit you, part of the yin-yang balance? Depression and sadness were always my biggest issues, even as a small child. It still happens occasionally, but now it’s more like my body’s problem, a set of habits and programming that I can see in action. I don’t take it so seriously any more. And it’s easier to take a bigger view, and work for others. When I am about to do a show, and I’ve got anxiety, or I’m really tired from driving or something, I remember the audience. And that they deserve the very, very best I can do. So I always come back to working for others. That’s basically the prescription
for depression for anyone: Stop thinking about yourself. What can you do for someone else?
Life is so short. If you could advise from experience the best ways to get through life, what would you say? Do yoga? Travel? Follow your dream? What? Imagine great things? Serve. I know it sounds funny, but serve. That’s the direction. If you take that on, the rest comes easy. So I do yoga—not enough, but it’s so I can stay healthy enough to keep working. There’s a poem… Tennyson I think. Not to rust un-burnished. To shine in use. I think that’s what we should do, be useful, in whatever ways we can. We all have something to give. What is coming up for you in terms of theatre performances and gallery shows? Continued on next page...
Turning pages in Douglass Truth’s book while he contimplates on buttery soft couch at Lauren Clark fine art
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 25
United Solo Theater Festival, September 17, 9pm! Rosedale Theater September 3! I’ll be setting up tours for the Southwest this winter, and the PAC NW next spring. Less painting, fewer art shows, and more performances. That’s based both on my own predilection and what the audiences are asking for. People like my paintings still, but the show is what is really happening for me now.
Do you find it enjoyable to be your own marketing and promotions and PR man? Does it get in the way of creative time for you? I do enjoy it, but would love someday to pass it off to someone else. It’s fun, but I could be doing other things, too. Douglass, where did you grow up? Can you tell 26 • AUGUST 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
Douglass Truth Photo: Sabine von falken
us what life was like there for you? Indianapolis, IN. Suburbs. Football, wrestling, track. Good student, youngest of four kids. Dad was a lawyer, mom a housewife. I walked to school, rode my bike everywhere. Bought a car (with paper- and egg-route money) even before I had a license, so I’d be ready when my 16th birthday arrived. Driver’s license was the rite of passage then. I read constantly, everything I could get my hands on. I hated school passionately the longer I was in it. I didn’t even go for the last semester of high school—I had enough credits to graduate. Tried college a few times, not for me. Left home a week after graduation. Worked construction. What memories stand out in your mind when you think about your childhood experiences of
growing up, learning, making mistakes, and discovery? Summer camps were the best. New Mexico, when I was 13, completely blew me away. I’m gonna live here, I said. I knew I would not be staying in Indiana. And there was Minnesota canoeing camp later. I loved that stuff. Realizing when I was a junior in HS that I didn’t have to do certain things, like football and track. Realizing that I hated both of them and there was no reason to do it. No one cared. My dog was my best buddy. Other than that, hard to remember. Seemed ordinary at the time… not sure if it was or not.
Maybe the idea of marriage is fading. Maybe many traditional institutions are leaving our modern world. A shift is taking place.
So, are you a traditionalist? And do you feel the Change so many of us are going through? Relationships are a mystery to me. I think I’m not wired for that. When I was young and watched a movie like Quo Vadis or read Ben Hur and there was a monk, I thought, maybe that’s for me. Work and service! Keeping it simple. I thought then that monks must be a thing of the past. I never would have made it there (in a monastery) anyway. Too rebellious.
Painting by Douglass Truth
below: photo by Sabine von falken
I think of you as a warm and gentle man, maybe a visionary in some ways. Has something magical struck a chord in you, something that’s made you who you are today? Almost dying is so wonderful. Wish we could bottle it. Perspective changes from, “What does this mean for ME?” to something larger. We’re all in it together and I mean that in the most profound way possible. I listen to my insides and my instincts. They are not always right, but you have to start somewhere, and who/what else are you going to trust? And kindness is very important—I know it sounds crazy in today’s world, but we really are on the same team. We are children of god, and all this fighting and fussing (mercy mercy me, things ain’t what they use to be) is just what we do till we figure that out.
Who is Douglass? Pray tell. I seem to be a verb. Motion, awareness, attention, presence. See you at the end of the race; we can check our notes. What color describes Douglass in a nutshell? Blue sky.
How does music fit into your life? I just started playing guitar. First time. Marvelous. I love to sing. I do it more all the time. Music and dance are our gifts to be given and received. Crazy that we’ve mostly outsourced this joy to the so-called professionals. Sun Ra said our creativity is the best prayer we can send to the creator—and that’s how he framed it: Prayer is something we give to God, not a list of wishes we hope are granted us. Of course for Sun Ra, music was the highest form of it.
Three wishes:________________. Place to live where I can grow flowers and have a dog. Even more friends. Show is a big hit.
Continued on next page...
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 27
Favorite cartoon? Krazy Kat
What is your favorite of the paintings you’ve made? Why? Please let us see. Dream of the Death of Ivan I had a life-changing dream, circa 1990, of a friend of my dad’s. He had died, and in the dream I saw his whole life as a tiny spark in infinite space. It was a totally shattering dream. This painting is from that night. Scatter’s Court trailer park in Davis, CA.
Who are some of your favorite artists and why? El Greco, View of Toledo. I used to stare at that painting for hours in the World Book Encyclopedia. Van Gogh, everything. Breugel, everything. Eddie Izzard
A goal that might be impossible to reach, but you’ve always wanted to try? Making a movie—maybe not impossible, but nearly.
Where in this world would you like to go… somewhere exciting and challenging and strangely entertaining? Why? Norway.. and Mongolia Thank you, Douglass!
“Everything I Know About Death* *Subject To Verification, interesting advertisements found on page 27 by Douglass Truth
28 • SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
LARRY S. FRANKEL larryfrankelphotography.com
413. 645. 3246
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 29
ERIC RUDD Barbara and eric rudd in Berkshire art Museum
THE BERKSHIRE ART MUSEUM INTERVIEW BY NATALIE TYLER
Natalie Tyler: The Berkshire Art Museum in North Adams, Massachusetts had a very exciting exhibition happening over the summer. Berkshire Artists of the Contemporary Artist Center 19901999 showcased nine artists, all of whom who had a close association with the CAC for many years. Do you see this as a historic exhibition? Eric Rudd: I hope this exhibition documents the CAC’s important and historic contribution to making the arts so active in North Berkshire County. With limited space (although we are quite large) and resources, I couldn’t seek out work from the thousands of artists who came to the CAC over the years— many from around the United States and from other countries. So for practical reasons, I limited the exhibition to those artists who were located in the Berkshires. However, when thinking about how much the art scene has grown here, I know that the CAC played a pivotal role in making all that happen. Yes, MASS MoCA was the mother lode, but without the CAC, I’m not even sure if that project would have succeeded as it did. The CAC was operating for ten years before MASS MoCA opened to the public. Eric, you have been an important pioneer, bringing artists to North Adams and influencing the
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city as a mecca for the arts, starting several decades ago. What first brought you to North Adams? Eric: I wanted to make huge, abstract, sculptural “icebergs.” But how to do that? I got myself “invited” by G.E. Plastics in 1987; they were nice enough to let me use a million-dollar industrial plastic blow-molder. They gave me 4,000 lbs. of (© Lexan) plastic, an engineer and an operator, and let me create for a week at their R&D facility in Pittsfield. At the time, I was living in Washington DC. I think I had heard of the Berkshires, but had no real idea where it was until I came up to make blowmolded sculptures. Then I returned the following year, discovered affordable mills, and the rest, as they say, is history. Keep in mind, however, that I had a large studio in Washington DC, but I was out of room and couldn’t do more work unless I put stuff into the dumpster. So I had constantly been on the lookout for outrageous space for a ridiculous price—who knew that mills were cheaper than houses? And who knew that because of G.E. Plastics’ kindness to me, there would be such a positive ripple effect? My advice to others: be kind to artists; you never know the benefits until you try.
What inspired the creation of the Contemporary Artists Center? Do you feel it was a catalyst for the arts movement in the area? Eric: Once our eyes were set on acquiring the Beaver Mill, Barbara and I often drove the seven-hour drive between Washington and our future home in North Adams, and we talked about how life would be, moving to such a small (and at the time depressed) town. Other than my studio work, what would we do? Barbara reminded me how stimulated I had been when studying in Europe with artists from all over the world, and wondered if we could start some sort of art center; if the area was so culturally barren, perhaps we could bring the culture here, she suggested. I’m not the most patient of people, and so I advertised our art center even with our mill still filled with debris, broken windows and frankly, a mess—but we rushed the repairs in order to accommodate the 19 artists who signed up for our first summer. That was in 1990, and it was so exciting, so stimulating, so successful, that the next summer, we expanded our programs. The Contemporary Artists Center was active from 1990-1999. How many artists did it bring to the area? What was the basis of the Art Center?
eric rudd, Glass Ontogen Sculptures
It attracted quite a few famous artists and curators… who were they and what was the draw for them to come to North Adams in those early days? Eric: If I may say so, it was super-active during my ten years as director—until I stepped down in order to spend more time in my studio. It continued for an additional seven years, but I don’t think it ever surpassed the excitement it had when I was involved. Each year, more than 100 artists were in residence during the summer. Scores more came for shorter visits. We housed and fed breakfast, lunch and dinner daily to at least 40 artists and staff. We had a constant flow of prominent museum and gallery directors/curators, as well as famous artists who would come, talk to attending artists one-on-one, and often present slide talks in the evening. We had a who’s who list of invited guests, some of whom I knew, and some I asked by calling them up cold. (You know, it’s amazing what you can achieve by asking if you just know how to be polite and passionate.) We could only pay a token honorarium, but everyone loved the energy that the CAC created. And for city dwellers, spending two or three days visiting the Berkshires with great food and a promised tour of the proposed MASS MoCA project proved alluring—artists like Judy Pfaff, Elizabeth Murray, Grace Hartigan, Julian
Schnabel and Larry Bell; museum people like Tom Krens, Kirk Vanderdoe, Glenn Lowry, Walter Hopps, Milena Kalinovska, Lynee Cooke, and so many more.
The nine showcased artists are quite diverse in media, process and concept. Do you feel that they have influenced and challenged each other over the years? Eric: In some ways, that has happened because most have stayed in touch with each other, but in practical measures, the nine artists are very diverse in their approaches. Three incorporate printmaking (The CAC built one of the largest presses in the country, with a 5x10-foot bed and 800,000 lbs. of pressure, first designed by Dale Bradley. Then the CAC programs were taken over and expanded by Brandon Graving; then Robert Schechter started coming and experimenting—so all three are in the exhibition); other artists were into digital imaging, either realistic or abstract. Then too, so many additional artists migrated to the Berkshires and have added to the mix. What started with two or three artists soon became dozens and dozens of artists who have made North Adams their creative base.
David Zaig’s large-scale portraits are quite impressive, especially knowing that they are acrylic on canvas painted by hand. He was creating these before large-scale digital printers existed. What opportunities did CAC give him as an artist to help him grow his work? Eric: Yes, amazing to realize that what David did in those paintings—point by point with a tiny airbrush—it was way before anyone could conceive of digitizing a photograph and just printing it out billboard size. But even then, there were so many ways to make art! It was hard to accommodate so many processes, and as CAC director, I just didn’t have the funds to equip every artist’s whim. Because Dale Bradley was in the mill and was a printmaker, he stimulated those programs, and so he built a really big press (nicknamed the Monster Press). Some of the “staff artists” had other interests—in computer art, robotics, plastics—so we would introduce those processes and interests to all the attending artists. The largest limitation the CAC had was that we just couldn’t supply every tool and technique that artists wanted to do. (Even art schools with institutional budgets have a difficult time doing this and usually CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE...
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 31
eric rudd in the annex
they are out-of-date a few months after the students graduate.) However, CAC attending artists came for relatively short periods, so what we could offer was space - lots and lots of space - and enough raw materials and processes for experimentation. If that stimulated an interest, that artist would return to his or her studio and pursue the technology there. I wanted most of the work in this exhibition to be from that period—to give viewers a taste of what was going on during that decade.
Another artist exhibiting was ahead of his time, in creating artwork influenced by budding technology, J.M. Robert Henriquez. His large scale paintings of barcodes were iconic imagery. How did you see his work being influenced by his time at CAC? Eric: We know from personal accounts how influential and important the CAC was for almost all the attending artists, many who returned for more than one summer. More important than the space and materials/processes we offered was the incredible number of stimulating guest visitors. Just think about how the majority of artists work in Boston or New York, for example. Do you really think any of them would have a chance for the director of the Museum of Modern Art or the director of the Guggenheim to have a personal chat in their studio about their work? 32 • SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
It would never happen in the city, unless your name was Holzer or Rauschenberg. But at the CAC, someone like Robert Henriquez could chat directly with Tom Krens (Guggenheim director) about his barcode work! Think how stimulating that must be— and how it might challenge and inspire an artist for years afterwards. Robert and many others made jumps in their development because for a month or two, they could concentrate and argue and discuss and experiment with fewer interruptions than in their normal lifestyle at home. We often described the CAC as a “boot camp” for artists to re-charge. It was!
Maria Siskind’s paper-mache sculptures are profound. Do you feel her work evolved through her residencies at CAC? Did conversations between the artists, curators and critiques impact the way these artists worked? Eric: I think Maria brought that quality to the table, but she did tell me that one reason she returned to the Berkshires and stayed was because of the CAC. I remember she was included in several exhibitions that we did, and like I just mentioned, the stimulation was always at a very high pitch. We often had discussions about work—and of course, one can be in tears as easily as inspired upon hearing comments, but I think the CAC encouraged the making of great art. The CAC was never for the timid; we heard from so many
visitors who knew of other residency programs that the CAC was operating at a fever pitch most of the time. The Berkshire Art Museum has some great spaces for artwork… I think Maria’s work has never looked better than in this exhibition (and I’ve seen her work exhibited before). Even great work needs a clear, intelligent viewing space!
Some of the artists that originally came to CAC made the Berkshires their permanent home. Which artists stayed on to be an integral part of the Berkshire art world? Eric: Of the nine artists in the show, three were already in the area (Bradley, Siskind—who returned— and Gillooly. Barbara May was a transplant here, arriving about when the CAC started. The others would not be here if it weren’t for the CAC. These nine artists have continued to be involved with the art scene here in scores of ways. I’ve always reached out to artists; the CAC operated with artists helping with programs; David Zaig was a resident staff artist, Brandon Graving took over gallery operations for a time and then expanded the printmaking programs, which later brought Robert Schechter into the picture. Robert Henriquez came up from NYC as one of the first attending artists, but later became a resident artist and friend (and met his wife via the CAC!). Chris Gillooly gave us a thank-you gift in the form
CaC exhibition, Maria Siskind and David zaig
of an architectural model by Bill Sweet—that model is now in our Art and Architecture exhibition, one of the three new shows this season, in addition to works by Sarah Sutro. Henry Klein was included in our first big CAC exhibition, then came to attend and then moved here—one thing leads to ten things and the world expands! And it continues today, because several of these artists are helping with the Berkshire Art Museum.
Do you feel the Contemporary Artists Center was a precursor for Mass MOCA? Eric: Of course! We introduced contemporary art to North Adams. In a way, we educated the population so that when MoCA finally opened ten years later, residents had become quite accustomed to seeing weird and wild stuff on display. When the CAC opened, the idea of the museum had been proposed but it was in an embryonic stage. The CAC was actually operating—for real. You know, every summer we did fifteen exhibitions in five gallery spaces at the Beaver Mill; we did downtown installations in the many empty storefronts (and 2,000 residents came out for our evening summer opening). We had weekly lectures and performances along with open studios, galas, public sculptures and installations, exhibition receptions, and so much more. Also impacting the community were the 100 artists living and
working for the summer and exploring the city and “getting around.” Needless to say, they were remembered.
Mass MOCA has been a huge draw for people to come to North Adams, but often they come to the museum for the afternoon, then leave without exploring the vibrant North Adams art scene on a deeper level. What would you say to someone who is coming to the museum? What else will they discover once they set foot into the downtown area of North Adams? Eric: That’s the one structural problem that the city has not properly addressed. Too many people go to MoCA and after two or three hours, they are exhausted. They want to eat and rest, and so they get into their cars and drive out of the parking lot without seeing what else there is to see. But MoCA is almost doubling in size by next summer, the Clark has completed its $150 million expansion, Williams College Museum of Art is planning on building a new museum shortly, and Tom Krens is planning on building his Global Art Center in a 160,000 square-foot new building mid-way between North Adams and Williamstown. With the Berkshire Art Museum (which someday will incorporate the Historic Beaver Mill) and so many other pop-up galleries, you need at least a week to see it all.
The solution? MASS MoCA and the Clark need to sell 2-day, 3-day, 5-day passes. We are no longer a day-trip destination. Visitors need to know they can spend an hour or two one morning, explore the downtown and return the next day to see more. During the summer months, there must be twenty galleries to tour in addition to the museums. While I’m personally capable of doing four museums in just one afternoon, most people need more time. In fact, our museum has 25,000 square feet of exhibition space— that’s an hour or more needed just there. With MoCA, Clark, WCMA and perhaps Global, Gallery 51, Eclipse Mill galleries and two dozen galleries scattered around town, we’ll need a much better infrastructure to help visitors, including trolley art tours, shuttle vehicles, better maps and signs, city hosts/guides, free downtown parking, better advertising, packaged tours, etc. For a quarter of a century, I’ve been talking about this area as a “cultural theme park.” We are almost there. We just need some “Disney-type” management in place to better service the many visitors who want to experience “mega-culture” in a “country setting.” You are a sculptor. How has living in North Adams— and the mill buildings—influenced your own work?
Continued on next page...
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 33
Berkshire art Museum
Has it given you space and inspiration? What projects have been your favorites to work on? Eric: I have all the space I need (well, who knows… but at least for a while). I have probably the largest personal art studio in the United States, using well over 50,000 square feet. A bust is one thing, but a sculpture the size of an elephant needs space—and a herd of elephants need giant space. One of the reasons I wanted more space was that I just didn’t have room in my 14,000 square-foot studio in Washington DC to carry out some “crazy” sculptural projects. My pet interest at the time was to create a “ride-in-thedark” art installation; it was intended as a museum exhibition, but an earlier recession did not stimulate corporate sponsorship, so I had to do it alone. In 1995, I finally constructed my dream project. It was called the Dark Ride Project, and it filled 15,000 square feet on the first floor. The highlight of the exhibition was an eleven-minute (Disney-like) ride thru my art in a “computer controlled robotic chair” which we called the Sensory Integrator. Anyway, it was my obsession to create this work, and only because I had incredible but inexpensive space could I realize this project. Now, larger is not always better, 34 •SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
and I do lots of small artworks, but when I want to do sixteen-foot paintings, a lack of space does not inhibit my art making. This area has much more than just space; it actually has a booming arts-technology aspect that would be difficult to access in a bigger city. For example, when I wanted to do my Dark Ride Project, Trumball and others were doing theme-park simulation rides and using CGI technology. My own near-miss: I came sooooooo close to being the first artist in the world to launch a sculpture into outer-space. This was a two-year project, working with a satellite company (unfortunately, international events curtailed it from happening). Another was working with MCLA—together with the late physics chair at MCLA, we created the first college-level robotic arts program, and worked on an arena-sized robotic installation. I worked on other robotic sculptures (one is included in the Berkshire Art Museum) with an animatronic facility in Vermont. All this, and remember why I’m here to begin with—because I was given access to a million-dollar blow-molding facility at G.E. Plastics, and later Sabic. The point is, this area has assets that point to the future. These companies are
much more accessible to artists than they would be in the bigger metropolitan areas.
What does the Berkshire Art Museum and Annex offer the city of North Adams? What are your visions for BAM in the future? Eric: Despite MASS MoCA, the downtown (only one block over) is almost deserted, with as many store vacancies as two decades ago. That’s just poor management on the city’s part. There’s no reason for that. If 150,000 people currently (200,000 projected by next year) visit MASS MoCA, the downtown should be filled with pedestrians. That needs to be fixed, and one day it will be. My vision has remained constant—I see North Adams as a cultural theme park with quality art in a concentrated cityscape where visitors spend several days to a week exploring. And along with the “institutional” giants, scores of smaller museums and alternative spaces (started by artists) can thrive. I believe North Adams will be known as one of the most vibrant art communities outside major cities—and it’s already happening. Artists, one by one, are moving here and buying houses and buildings. After a few years, it becomes
Berkshire art Museum, exterior, albisaurus
eric rudd, acrylic enamel on Polyurethane foam and glass with WC drawing
a movement. My advice for artists is to come here now, while it’s cheap, and get in on the bottom floor. How many artists were smart enough to buy in SoHo or Tribeca or Chelsea before it became “chic?” BAM is strategically located at the top of Main Street, so we are an important attraction to draw those MASS MoCA visitors to the downtown. And we have free admission, so there’s no monetary excuse not to visit. Also, we rescued two important historic churches that otherwise would be in ruin. So we are doing a public good and I think the real benefits will be felt in the near future.
How do you feel that artists can economically change a city? What role do artists play in city development? It seems developers are starting to realize just how valuable artists can be for economic growth. Is this something you have seen all along? Eric: I’ve always seen the potential and future of the area, from the moment I stepped foot in North Adams. And it wasn’t just MASS MoCA, although that sexy project drew me. It was when I was standing in the Clark Art, an institution comparable to the
Phillips Collection in Washington DC, that I realized that even if MASS MoCA failed, I was just five miles away from the Clark as well as from the Williams College Museum of Art. Of course, MoCA succeeded and now everyone is expanding and adding, so it’s happening even more than I envisioned 25 years ago when I moved here. I’m a serious artist, so I’m usually reluctant to talk about real estate because I don’t want people to get the wrong impression. I didn’t come up here with loads of money; I came up here and real estate was selling for the price of cars and I was willing to take risks—maybe too many, but I scraped through okay. So I developed the successful Eclipse Mill Artist Lofts project, bringing more than 60 artists into 40 lofts that averaged more than 2,000 square feet. Now, I should point out that I had already tried unsuccessfully to entice a few artists to buy it and split it up among just a few, but that was in 1991, when there were no believers. Ten years later they still called me crazy, but I sold out my vision in two months (although it took three hard years to do the construction). Now those lofts are selling for double the
original prices. So for many, yes, it’s a bit late. But you know, you can still find houses and buildings for the cheap—you just need to be resourceful. (FYI, for more information about all this, you can read one of my three advice books geared for serious artists.) Traditionally, artists have always played a role. Artists might “tame” a bad neighborhood, then some galleries open, then some restaurants, then the boutiques come in and the condos, and soon enough the artists are forced out because prices have gotten too high, at least for those artists who did not have the foresight to buy before the prices increased. North Adams is just that kind of SoHo, Tribeca, or Brooklyn. It’s happening now, but it’s not too late. There are already several hundred artists living and working and exhibiting and getting involved. Now is the best time to come.
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 35
JEANNE BASSIS
A Serious Player Harryet Candee: Now, what is PlayReflections all about? Jeanne Bassis: layReflections: Playshops For The Kid In Everyone brings more play, laughter, joy, relaxation and self-acceptance to a world that is deeply hurting. It’s a participatory approach, inclusive of all ages and abilities. I created PlayReflections almost 30 years ago. The mission statement from back then still rings true for me: “PlayReflections is committed to a peaceful and harmonious world.” I play with babies, toddlers, preschoolers, kindergarteners, first and 36 •SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
INTERVIEW BY HARRYET CANDEE
PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
second graders, individuals with special needs, elders in nursing homes, families, educators… basically anyone who used to be a kid. I especially love offering Intergenerational Play. How did you come up with this idea? Jeanne: I was just a few months into the job that I thought was the end-all be-all of jobs, pulling together my passion for early childhood education, my masters degree in Special Education and my new EEE certification (Essential Early Education, early
childhood special ed in Vermont). I started and ran a home-based EEE program in a very rural school district in northern VT. A big part of my job was to get the children thru the special ed eligibility process, so they could then receive services, and eventually be mainstreamed into the kindergarten for the first time. In the district early ed program, Headstart day care centers, I joined my little learners in the context of whatever program they attended and also in their homes. Mostly I was a bureaucrat, fairly competent at putting together the pieces of a new program. But
something was definitely missing - that energy/excitement/joy that happens in a circle/play group with kids. A friend, who was an out-of-the-box speech and language pathologist in the district, suggested that I could teach what I knew about using a playful approach with kids to a group of adults. Even though the idea terrified me (What if those grownups thought I was too weird? What if they didn’t want to play with me?!!!?), I was intrigued. I tried one group, signed up to teach at the local community college and was off and running. I just knew deep down inside that I had found my life’s true path. I was on fire.
What keeps you doing this work? Jeanne: Once while teaching, this little pearl came out of my mouth. “Play is being in the present tense, without being tense.” A friend’s daughter suggested calling participants “playshoppers.” My work is always changing and evolving, endless permutations of where play can lead… When I started writing songs four years ago, it was huge leap for me to play them for other people. (Notice how many contexts the word ‘play’ can have. I once did a brainstorm on that.) I’ve since learned that, as much as I need my songs for my own integration and expression of my life experiences, it really fuels me whenever people sing my songs with me. In a playshop, the journey of the group playing together is process, not product-oriented. Acknowledging that the practice of play is an artistic endeavor is an important thing, but actually making a piece of art, such as a song, is still pretty new for me. These days, playing my guitar and singing my songs have become a regular feature of my playshop repertoire.
Describe what happens in a Playshop? Jeanne: Playshops are intentionally designed to be flexible – what I call “structured chaos.” My teaching style is very casual, though much of what I offer is very deliberate. I use a progression of activities/games/exercises that build safety, through lots of opportunities for choicemaking, with a clear beginning and end, and tons of room in the middle for spontaneously winging it. I have a gigunda treasure chest of playful ideas to draw from (new fun things get invented all the time, by me and, more significantly, by the playshoppers as they learn to trust their creative impulses), plus an ever-changing collection of toys, props and costumes. People find common ground, humor in our imperfections, let their hair down and remember how good it can feel to play without the usual barrage of self-critiquing we all do. For all the uncountable variables that make each person unique, so goes a playshop…
What’s the philosophy behind PlayReflections? Jeanne: Play is multi-layered. In the commonly regarded way, play is something to do, whether its a solitary activity, or done together with others. Everything from jumping in puddles, playing frisbee, making a puppet talk, dancing with abandon… On a deeper level, regardless of any particular activity, play is a way to be, a state of grace, the delight of self-discovery, the willingness to take risks, try on new ways, make mistakes. A playful approach can be
a touchstone for unconditionally loving life, a spiritual practice that brings out our child-like (not childish) qualities that are usually subsumed by our stress-filled adult world. Be in wonder, let your cup be not just half-full, but bubbling over with aliveness. Play is a necessary component in all forms of art. A sense of play, exploration and willingness to be in the unknown is what lead to fresh discoveries. Think globally, act locally. May the force be with us. I thank my parents for setting a foundation that inspired me to choose this path. My mom was a nursery school teacher, and I’d go help out whenever I could get away from school. She taught me how kids learn. My dad was innately playful, went out of his way to be publicly silly, never missed a chance to wave at the kids in the back seat of the car in front of us. About Jeanne…. Where did you grow up and how did you end up living a Berkshire life? Jeanne: Born and bred in NYC, my parents had the
monumental good sense to take my brother and me on lots of little trips to “the country.” Growing up, I saw many wonderful performances; my culture-vulture passion has been well nurtured here in the Berkshires. I moved to the Berkshires in 1992, drawn by the powerhouse combination of spiritual and creative community here. I am grateful to call such a beautiful corner of the earth home.
What do you like to do with your free time? Jeanne: I sing with Berkshire Sings, the amazing Rob Kelly’s chorus. I ride horses and volunteer at Blue Rider Stables, one of the true gems of the Berkshires. I took my first dance class when I was two, and I love that dance is still a vital part of my life, thanks to Berkshire Pulse. I play outside as much as possible, walk on dirt roads and trails, relax with my cat in the hammock in the garden at my woodsy home, or up in the tree-house. I read novels, watch movies, play in water, volunteer at renowned cultural venues. One of the mainstays of my creative life is being both a performer and audience member at In Words Out Words (IWOW), the eclectic monthly
gathering at Deb Koffman’s Artspace.
You have a great smile, Jeanne. Must mean you are a confident and happy person. Tell us, what makes you tick, keeps you growing through life? Jeanne: Thanks. I’ve meditated on the question, “How deep does a smile go?” Throughout our often frenzied days, we can re-find that calm, curious place where our inner smile lives. I get lost in my head, forget to pay attention to the moment at hand. Most of us tend to live in the future, plotting and planning and worrying, or else we’re endlessly replaying the past. It’s a rare moment when we’re fully in our moment. Kids can show us the way – they know how to live in the moment – whatever they are feeling, they are in it, no holds barred. Think of a baby laughing or crying, full throttle, full body expressing… I’m from the city, and though I haven’t lived there in decades, I still often feel like I have a traffic jam inside me. That’s why I need to live close to nature, where it’s really quiet. I’m a big fan of the idea of hitting the pause button, taking a breath or three, noticing what’s happening in my body, tuning in to my senses, just slowing it all down. I play the “grateful game” a lot. I am blessed with incredible support in my life – goodhearted fellow travelers on this bumpy journey, dear friends and family who help me remember what matters. Strange as this may sound, and it’s happened more than once, someone has come up to me after an energizing and connecting playshop experience and said, “You must always be so playful,” or “You must never be depressed, right?” Nooooo, I’m not any one way, I have ups and downs like anyone else. I was brave enough to put on my first brochure, “I teach best what I most need to learn.”
What lights you up? Jeanne: Twinkling eyes. Sometimes on the same day, I play with babies and with folks with dementia – play is truly ageless. Also, sharing what I love. Being an enthuser, an uplifter, Believing in the magic of children and of the childlike spirit that lives in everyone. Music has always been a lifeline for me. The power of the right song can help get me through the rough spots. In particular, the music of my ever-creative friend Dan Bern (who is also my songwriting teacher) and my favorite band, The Slambovian Circus of Dreams, help me do my life. What annoys you immensely? Jeanne: Mean-spiritedness.
Tell me about the radio show you had? Jeanne: For eleven years, I had the amazing privilege of being on the air on WBCR-lp, Great Barrington’s community radio station. Doing my show, In the Spirit of Play, turned me on to previously unimagined possibilities, new ways to play. I created a “playshopon-the-air,” sharing the music that moves me and hosting guests that follow their creative paths and help make the world a better place. Lots and lots of musicians (including some of my heroes – Judy Collins, Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary, and Peter Tork, my favorite Monkee when I was twelve), Continued on next age...
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 37
Jeanne Bassis
poets, theatre people, artists of all stripes. We are currently in a transitional phase of regrouping and visioning, without a live studio right now, but with a pre-recorded mix airing 24-7. I think of it as Radio 201 and look forward to what will unfold. What are your future plans? Jeanne: To play with as many people on the planet as possible!!!
Would any current struggles get in the way of what you want to succeed at in your future? Jeanne: Well, I’ve always just barely managed the business end of being a self-employed creative type. My marketing skills always need improvement, although I do have a great website (www.playreflections.com). I share my passion for play a la Facebook and I’ve just dipped a toe into Instagram. For a long time I’ve dreamed of having a booking agent, someone who truly gets the power of play to change the world… anyone out there?!!? Truth be told, I do have more than a little of that Peter Pan “I won’t grow up” thing. Learning curves, always… You must be a great problem solver. I’d respect any advice you would ever offer to me on any38 •SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
thing. Do you find yourself being that kind of person to your friends and family? Jeanne: Aw, thanks for saying that… I suppose I have a bit of wisdom I’ve internalized over the years I’ve been on the planet. In the mid 80s, when I was a volunteer puppeteer with Bread and Puppet Theatre, one day I spent several hours at the entrance with a sign around my neck that said “Free Advice.” Talk about a conversation starter. However, my tendency for my mouth to get me in trouble started as soon as I could talk. One day I came home from high school to find a giant sign my father had taped to the wall over my bed: “THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK!!!”
Have you had a good summer? What things have you done that were fun and interesting? Jeanne: I love summer!!! I’m a mermaid, and nothing beats playing in water in our beautiful Berks… Through my work with Community Health Programs (CHP) Family Services, I’ve had the distinct pleasure of spending an hour each week encouraging motorists to come to the Farmers Market, while costumed as a piece of fruit. I’ve been a peach, a banana and a watermelon. Surprisingly, that bright yellow banana costume is as slimming as black – I look pretty dang good as a banana! Also, in the first half
of the summer, I was delighted to be able to offer Intergenerational Play each week at the New Marlborough Farmers Market in the field at Gedney Farm. For six indescribable evenings this summer, I hosted a trivia game in a biker bar. And I just had a wildly fun time as The Mad Hatter at Naumkeag’s Mad Hatter Tea Party. I researched for that gig, re-read Alice in Wonderland and watched two movie versions, with Martin Short and Johnny Depp making the Hatter come to life. Favorite quote? Jeanne: The brilliant light Robin Williams in his role as Mork said, “Be here now. If not, get there later!”
Favorite GAME? Jeanne: A lot of PLAY is really just glorified Peeka-Boo. My turn, your turn, now you see me, now you don’t…
Favorite film? Jeanne: The Wizard of Oz still does it for me every time. I always cry at the end and I’m still scared of the flying monkeys. xox thank you!!
FRONT STREET GALLERY KATE KNAPP
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).
"The minute an avant-garde artist becomes a household word - he stops being avant-garde." -- Michael Kahn 1977
MARGUERITE BRIDE
This is a great time to commission a house portrait or another special scene. For locations near the Berkshires, Marguerite Bride will do the photo shoot herself, but if you live afar, not a problem….you take the photos and send to her. The process is straight forward….she will do a drawing for you to approve; you may make additions, deletions, you can even decide on season and time of day. It’s a delightful journey for all involved. Visit Bride’s website for more details and a portfolio of custom house portraits she has done. And don’t forget….she’ll do houses, barns, businesses, a special scene too… you name it. Commissioned work is always welcome. Visit Bride’s website for the lastest on commissioning a painting. Known primarily for her custom house portraits and watercolors of the Berkshires, Marguerite Bride’s repertoire includes far more than that. Take a look at her online portfolio for a visit to Italy, Ireland, France, Mexico, England and other far flung destinations. You will also see lighthouses from near and far (even Lake Superior), quaint New England scenes, and some fascinating moonscapes. And the most recently added “Jazz Visions” page. Lessons in watercolor technique will be resuming in the fall. If you are interested in a group class or workshop, be in touch with the artist. Classes are being formed now. 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.
Summer Hours: Open Thursday, Sunday and Monday 10am – 4pm Friday and Saturday 10am – 8pm
40 •SEPTEMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
WATERCOLORS
U.S.A., OIL ON CANVAS PAINTING BY MARSHALL JONES, 20" X 20"
LAND OF THE FREE
PAINTINGS BY MARSHALL JONES
L’Atelier Berkshires Art Gallery proudly presents LAND OF THE FREE, paintings by New York City artist Marshall Jones. The exhibition runs September 1 to October 10 with an artist reception on Saturday, September 3, 7-9 pm. Jones’ recent series explores the role of imagery in the collective unconscious. His paintings tell stories based on our shared understanding of iconic imagery. Jones’ paintings challenge our understanding of archetypal modern day images that shape our world, crafting our desires, needs and prejudices. These narratives inspire us to question our own views and our contemporary American identity. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Marshall Jones moved to New York City to study at the Art Students League. Like many of his artistic predecessors there, Jones found technical concepts and skills that give a strong voice within his work. His paintings are photorealistic, capturing a moment in time, with an edge. Jones’ artwork has exhibited nationwide and he has won numerous awards and recognition for his paintings. Discover fresh and innovative contemporary art at L'Atelier Berkshires Art Gallery and Studio. Unique paintings, sculpture and furniture by a variety of artists are on exhibition in a historic Great Barrington building. Glass sculpture classes offered in the sculpture studio. Sculpture casting and mold making services are available for artists and designers. L’Atelier Berkshires Art - 597 Main Street, Great Barrington, Massachusetts; for more information contact: Natalie Tyler, 510-469-5468, natalie.tyler@atelierberks.com, www.atelierberks.com Contact gallery for fall hours.
JUNE, WORK IN PROGRESS, 2015-16 OIL ON CANVAS 54 X 52 INCHES
JENNIFER PAZIENZA JUNE, WORK IN PROGRESS
For the past two months, living in the context of easy access to some of the world’s greatest art that resides just outside the Manhattan apartment where I’ve been assisting our daughter, her partner and their new born son (see August issue), I have had the time to think about and reflect upon my painting practice. I love this part of the City, an area that my Sicilian immigrant family once inhabited in the early part of the 20th century. How fascinating it has been for me to slip back into the landscape of neighbourhood life. Into ways of being that call upon rituals learned in childhood, stored somewhere in my brain. Memories of urban dwelling that are both disconcerting, having to avert my gaze on the subway for example, and joyous, my daily walks to shop at my favourite Italian American bakeries, grocery and wine stores. Although Elizabeth Street is treelined, oh how I miss my studio, big skies and treed landscapes. I close my eyes and visualize the acres and acres of Saint John River Valley landscape that surrounds my Keswick Ridge studio. My mind rests on and wonders about what and how the experience of time away will affect June, Work in Progress, 2015-16, the painting I’ve decided to share with you this month. Taking a break from the City for the weekend, I write from our family home in the Becket woods. It’s sunny and hot for this hill town, but I don’t mind. I write with a view into the woods, a breeze from the screened in porch blows through and a glance upward takes me to the sky. The question on my mind is, “How do we know when a painting is finished?” This is not the first time I leave the painting to work on it again at some future date. Imagine a Sunday in June 2015, a glorious early summer Keswick Ridge evening around 6pm. I’m cleaning my studio (always a good strategy—surely gets me working again) while Gerry mows and Mela, our sweet Retriever/Poodle mix, follows behind. With my back to the north-facing window, I am sweeping the floor when the light through the branches of the trees from the west window catches my eye. Sounds
corny I know, but it’s true. There are moments in a practice, at least in my practice, where the world unexpectedly intervenes, and in that moment there is the choice to act or ignore. Instantly I trade the broom for a brush, the dusty floor for a newly stretched and gessoed canvas. With my ritual mix of French ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and cadmium yellow light I paint in the composition and lay in the darks. With a more strictly colourist approach I brush in medium-diluted (linseed oil and hypoallergenic paint thinner) cerulean blue in what would become sky area and medium-diluted cadmium yellow light in and through the branch structure leaving too, some white space. Just as quickly as it came however, the moment is over. Satisfied with and grateful for the experience I leave the studio thinking, “I’ll return tomorrow at the same time” knowing full well that minutes, let alone a day can shift the light. What I did not bargain for was three weeks of rain that followed! No worries. I can leave the painting until next year. Amazing how so much in our lives proceeds on the uncertainty of certain assumptions. I hang the under-painted canvas on a studio wall. Throughout the year I find myself gazing at it, thinking about aspects that work, others that are problematic. Visitors to the studio would comment, some saying that it was finished. Others remarked on the composition, or the striking contrast between the stark branches and the cad yellow and cerulean blue. I make several other paintings in its presence as it hangs there, working its way into my psyche until this past June, where on about exactly a year to the day I summon up the courage and return it to my easel. Positioning the painting to the north, I turn my gaze in the direction of the light that called to me a year earlier. Mary Oliver’s When I Am Among the Trees comes to mind. Thinking myself back into the experience of a year ago the mantra, “Be present in this moment, pay attention to what this moment is showing you” floats into consciousness. My eyes dart from marks on the canvas to the trees outside, to the light, the branches, their spaces, back to canvas and all over again and not necessarily in that order. Aware that the effect of countless visual decisions can be paralyzing, I load a brush and go for it. Then those fresh marks speak and the conversational dance that is my practice begins again. With the linear branch structures that weren’t working painted out I add others to the lower right hand corner. Working the branches from dark to light with cadmium reds and yellows against warm and cool blacks, mixed from French ultramarine blue, alizarin crimson and cadmium yellow with the addition of cadmium red dark, I begin to articulate subtle depth. The interplay between linearity, shape and colour is tricky—also representation and abstraction. I think of
"The speech we hear is an indication of that which we don't hear . . . a necessary avoidance . . . which keeps the other in place . . . one way of looking at speech is to say that it is a constant strategy to cover nakedness." -- Harold Pinter
Kermit’s lament, “It’s not easy being green.” For me, it’s not easy painting greens. When to work with manganese, when the potentially annihilating, yet at times necessary cobalt? That session ends. We are called to New York. I leave the painting on my easel. I email a pic of it to my dear friend and colleague Canadian Curator, Tom Smart. Ever generous with his time, he replies quickly. “It's density and tonalrange give it allusiveness and poetry. I also find its beauty in the way the naturalism is subtly giving way to personal expressiveness. Dynamic tension in the way the image is working.” Once again Tom’s words teach me to see what I have done and I am grateful. There is however, no discussion of whether or not the painting is finished. It will be two to three months before June, Work in Progress, 2015-16 and I are reunited and I wonder, will it be another year until I work on it again. Jennifer Pazienza’s work is held in Public and Corporate Collections in the Provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Alberta and in numerous private collections throughout the US, Canada and Italy. Jennifer regularly exhibits in the Berkshire area, with shows at Good Purpose and St. Francis Galleries and most recently at the 510 Warren Street Gallery June 2016 Invitational Group Show in Hudson, NY. Jennifer is looking forward to having work in the November-December Show at the Diana Felber Gallery in West Stockbridge. Jennifer Pazienza - : http://jenniferpazienza.com; Email: jennpazienza@gmail.com
New sttyyl Ne yle less fr from om Da Dan ansk sko! Grreeat supp porrt an nd allll daay coomfoort
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 41
“The Snare Of The Fowler”
From “No Cure For The Medieval Mind” PART 1
RICHARD BRITELL
I will attempt to describe the man who kidnapped Otis the Wolf. He was not a very nice person. In all of the characters I have had to describe in this story, this is the first one I do not like. Perhaps he has some redeeming traits, but at this point I do not know of any. I will have to describe him in reverse, by telling you all of the things this man was not; for example, he was not at all like Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo was tall and handsome, and Otis’ abductor was short and ugly. Leonardo could play the lute, but this man could only hum out of tune. Since we do not know his name we will call him Vince, after the man he was so unlike. He was also the opposite of Leonardo in that he could not paint or draw anything, and his conversation was not interesting because he could never finish his sentences without repeating himself three times. Leonardo had a long and flowing beard, and Vince only had a few warts with crooked hairs sticking out from them. Vince and Leonardo had this one thing in common. Leonardo used to follow ugly people around Florence and do drawings of them on the sly, and Vince looked like one of Leonardo’s drawings. Leonardo used to go to the marketplace and purchase birds that were for sale in little cages. Once he purchased them he would set them free. Vince, on the other hand, used to catch little birds, put them in cages and then sell them (when he did not have them for supper) because Vince was a fowler. People usually purchased birds when times were good and they had extra money, but when times were bad the price of birds fell, and they were sold for food instead of companionship. V ince thought up a way to waylay the owners of Otis after attending their performance. He could see how important the roles of the wolf and the rooster were in their plays, so he suggested to them that they might be interested in a talking parrot he had for sale. He built up his description of the parrot, but not so much that they would expect too steep a price. Everyone was invited to his tent where
he lived when he was doing business in town. They all sat down to dinner, the parrot also. Like most parrots, he repeated phrases as the spirit moved him. Anyone could see that he had no idea what the words he was saying meant. But the fact was that what he said often accidentally seemed curiously related to the topic of the conversation at hand. The explanation for this, according to Vince the Fowler, was that he was recognizing words and phrases from the conversation that reminded him of something he heard in his past, and sentences from that past would come blurting out. He was so smart in fact that the theatre troupe, Otis, and the rooster soon suspected that the fowler would never part with him for less than half a pound of ultramarine blue at the going rate, a sum of money none of them was likely to see in a lifetime. But by the time they realized the situation it was far too late. Vince had drugged their wine and their food, and before long everyone was fast asleep on the floor of the fowler’s tent. When morning came the three comedians slept very late and awoke to find they were asleep on the bare ground in the middle of a vast field that the previous day had been a fairgrounds but now, since it was late Monday morning, was completely deserted. All that was left of Vince the Fowler’s tent were the holes in the ground where the poles had been. After repeatedly calling out for Otis over and over again it slowly began to dawn on the three of them that both Otis and the rooster were missing. Even with that realization it did not cross their minds that there could have been any foul play. They expected that any moment their dog would appear from around a corner carrying in his mouth something fresh for breakfast. As for the rooster, they didn’t even give him a thought. The problem was that they had no comprehension of the value that Otis represented to their troupe; that is how dense they were. If Otis went missing, or if the rooster met with misfortune, they imagined they would simply replace the two of them at the earliest opportunity. They were never to understand how wrong they were about this, even when attendance at their performances dropped back to pre-Otis levels. Later that day Otis awoke to find himself bound and gagged in the back of a large canvas covered wagon being pulled along by two horses. In the dim light the canvas admitted to the interior of the wagon Otis could see numerous birds in birdcages of all shapes and sizes, which were thrashing back and forth with the motions of the wagon. The poor birds were in the middle of an argument amongst themselves the subject of which was difficult to make out because before a bird could finish a sentence the wagon would hit a rut in the road and the said bird would be thrown from his perch violently to the bottom of his cage. Added to this was the fact that the birds seemed to be trying to talk all at once. Even when the wagon came to a halt for a short while Otis could hardly figure out what the discussion was about with all the screeching going on at once. Even if they had been able to speak one at time, which as you know is completely against their nature, Otis was unfamiliar with the various dialects. Almost always birds talk about the weather, which is their favorite subject. After that they like to discuss the berry harvest and the state of the fruit at any one time of year. Talk of blueberries often will lead to talk of famous harvests of the past, and certain years that are considered high points in bird history, as far as berry harvests go. Crows are a culture to themselves, and they will hardly ever put a caw in when they hear blue jays or sparrows talking about their favorite foods. Crows will sometimes talk to the pigeons, but although they seem to get along, it is an illusion. A crow may perhaps put in his two cents when four or five pigeons are conducting a criticism of a piece of statuary, but the pigeons know for a fact that no crow is really interested in the aesthetics of sculpture. The crows pretend to be interested, and will dredge up pieces of conversation and observations they have heard
42 •SEPT HI JEFF EMBER 2016 THE ARTFUL MIND
by eavesdropping on other pigeon discussions, but it comes across as insincere and forced, just like the friendly drunk in a bar, who sidles up to you and spouts pleasantries, but in his eyes you can see his desire to stab you if he can just dream up some excuse. The conversation of the birds in the Fowler’s wagon was of an entirely different kind. These were mostly wild birds that had never been in cages before and it took them several weeks to get over the shock and the terror of their situation, and after that to figure out exactly what their situation actually was. Many of them were birds of very rare types, the sort sought out by a fowler on the look out for valuable and colorful birds. The rare and expensive birds had almost nothing to say and held aloof like aristocrats who find themselves in low surroundings. After a few days at an annual fair they soon figured out their situation: they were for sale to the highest bidder, and they were very expensive birds. The sparrows and pigeons on the other hand, were worth next to nothing. The reason the birds were all talking economics that morning, as Otis listened to them, was because now that they were being put up for sale the economic situation of the time had a direct bearing on their fate. The question was, would they be sold as pets, taken home and made much of, or would they be pushed into an oven along with some bread and made into a bird sandwich. This was a legitimate concern of both the sparrows and the pigeons. Even though they were relatively cheap poor people often will eat birds whenever they can get a hold of them, but they are just as likely to put them in cages, grow fond of them, and finally go into debt and practically bankrupt themselves bringing the poor birds over and over again to a veterinarian because the poor thing is plucking out its feathers. There was one bird not in a cage and not participating in the discussion and that was a rooster, Otis’ very own rooster. ~Richard Britell
"The Method actor's test for truthfulness, is the authenticity of his personal feeling. The Arteaudian actor knows that unless a feeling has been shaped into a communicative image, it is a passionate letter without postage . . . a pertinent stage image a gesture, a movement, a sequence of actions is a statement in itself . . . (that) when emotionally charged is twenty times more powerful (then personal) feeling alone." -- Charles Marowitz 1966
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Grandma Becky’s Recipes by Laura Pian
Apple Cake
Here it comes once again, our amazing Northeast autumn. The temperatures will be cooling down, the leaves will peak in color, outdoor festivities will abound us, and we will mark the beginning of apple season. There are so many varieties of apples, and so many different ways of enjoying them all. If you’re one of those folks, like me, who loves to bake with apples, it’s important to know that not all apple varieties are right for cooking. A few of my favorite apples to bake with are Honeycrisp, Rome, Granny Smith, and the Pink Lady (aka Cripps Pink). These varieties are sweet as well as tart and will hold up nicely under high temperatures without turning into mush. Some of my earliest memories of cooking with apples are with my Grandma Becky. Grandma would sit at the kitchen table with a small knife peeling the apples by hand. It was remarkable how precisely she accomplished this task, always with the greatest of care not to waste any of the apple with the tossed peels. She’d then slice and core, and finally my part came in! She’d pass the bowl to me and let me chop the slices into “kleyneh breklekh” (small pieces). Although Grandma would almost seem hypnotized by the tedious peeling activity, she always kept one eye upon me while I cut. Of course, we’d sneak lots of apple slices into our mouths while we worked and talked. Sticky hands and all, our apple cake was always waiting for the family as an after dinner treat with a cup of tea or a glass of milk. Grandma’s written English was very limited, therefore she never wrote her recipes on paper. Most of our family will tell the same story – when asking Grandma for her recipes, her response in Yiddish would be, “a kleyn bisl fun dem, a kleyn bisl fun daz, itst mishn.” (A little bit of this, a little bit of that, now mix.) Grandma Becky, like most cooks of her generation, used her hands and fingertips as her kitchen measuring tools. I’ve tried a few variations of this delightful cake, with the following recipe most closely resembling Grandma’s the best. Ingredients: 6 medium sized apples 2 ½ cups sifted flour 2 tsp baking powder 2 tbs sugar ½ lb butter (2 sticks) 1 egg (slightly beaten) 1 tsp vanilla Topping 1 ¼ cups sugar 1 ½ tbs flour ½ stick butter 1 tsp cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour spring form (or bundt) pan. Sift flour, baking powder and sugar together and cut in butter until mixture is crumbly. Add beaten egg and vanilla. Spread this mixture along bottom and sides of baking dish. Peel and slice apples and arrange in layers in pan. Mix all ingredients of topping together and spread over apples. Bake for approximately one hour and until the air smells like rich warm butter and cinnamon. Feel free to include your favorite additions such as chopped nuts and raisins. Allow cake to cool before removing from pan. Optional, top with confectioner’s sugar icing or dust with powdered sugar. Serve with your favorite ice cream or whipped cream.
Enjoy and “esn gezunt” (to your health)!
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 43
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THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 45
BERKSHIRE HANDMADE
CLAUDIA BARRY
Mind as the months progress into summer and beyond.
Innovation. Craft. Music. The Berkshires is known for and has ALL of it.! Most of us agree that using locally sourced materials beats importing. We love the idea of supporting local craftspeople before overseas mass-production. We like the idea of HANDMADE instruments, expertly and lovingly designed and made right here in Berkshire County. Local craftspeople are building guitars, ukuleles, ‘strum stick dulcimers,’ bamboo and walking stick flutes, cigar box guitars and ‘canjos’ - and The Music Store is fortunate to represent some of this wonderful collection!! And so, we proudly present our Homegrown Musical Masterworks, extraordinary instruments made locally and often using locally sourced materials as well! In each chapter of this series we will introduce a new instrument by a local maker, so stay tuned to the Artful
Some people create Art and Music for the joy and inspiration of doing so. And some do so in the hope that others will benefit from their efforts. Luthier Randolph Rowe does both, and fashions these wonderful ‘Stick Dulcimers’ one at a time, from fine and exotic tone woods worthy of the best. The lovely colors and figure of Padauk, Flame and Figured Maple, Purpleheart, Western Red Cedar and Walnut, among others, combine for simple elegance that never fails to please! Tuned in a basic open chord tuning (like that of an Appalachian Dulcimer), these delightful instruments are particularly easy to play, with fingers, slides or picks, either on one’s lap or held like a guitar. The sweet sound, whether strummed or plucked, travels easily and pleases the ears.
CHAPTER 3
Rowe Stick Dulcimers A Strumming Delight for Everyone!
And each individually handmade instrument is entirely unique! Perhaps the best part, though, is that Mr. Rowe donates half of these very reasonably priced instruments to Veteran’s Homes and other outreach projects, using the sales of the other half to cover the cost of his materials. No Berkshire County music maker’s home should be without the soulful sweet sound and delightful look of these simply beautiful instruments. And somehow, knowing that the money from the sales of each one gives music to another soul makes them sound all the sweeter!! In next month’s issue: Undermountain Uk
Alison Wedd Photography
Come take a look!
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alisonweddphotography@gmail.com alisonweddphotography.com
Showing your passion is my passion
Pets • Children • Family gatherings • Weddings • Events
(518) 329-6239 bd@docktor.com • bdocktor.com
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 47
STEPHANIE ANDERSON WATERCOLOR PAINTING CLASS
Beginning Wednesday, September 14 from 1 - 4pm, award-winning illustrator and painter Stephanie Anderson will host a weekly class out of her Great Barrington studio. The focus is to help students with prior painting experience advance to a new level with their work, through in-class exercises and self-directed projects. Using positive support and discussion, both as a group and individually with Anderson, students are encouraged in their exploration of watercolor techniques to further their love for the medium. The class is $600 for 10 weeks, and for more information please contact 518 577 2009 or stephanie.austin.anderson@gmail.com. To learn more about Anderson and her work, visit www.stephanieandersonart.com, featuring her still life paintings, drawings, and other media along with her illustration and commissioned work. See also the May 2016 edition of the The Artful Mind for an in-depth interview with Anderson. Please call or email to view available work for purchase or to commission new work, including family portraits, wedding and birth announcements.
SUPPOrT YOUr LOCaL arTiST. THe OaSiS is our oasis.
Be in the next issue. a superb line up of Berkshire artists. for advertising details, please email:
artfulmind@yahoo.com
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ELIXIR
GREAT BARRINGTON
Nearing the end of summer can be a challenging transition time. Vacations are coming to an end, summer camp is replaced with going back to school and school shopping, some are off to college for the first time. The weather begins to gently remind us that the sun’s warmth will soon begin to wane. Between this close for summer and the beginning of autumn, it is thought by some, as a season unto itself, and referred to as, Late Summer. Unlike other seasonal changes, we are given a more lengthy transition time to prepare for autumn. This late Summer season is the perfect time to cleanse our bodies of all that came with the summer picnics, cook-outs, vacation dining and perhaps less “scheduled” eating habits. One of our popular and most life changing cleanses is the 21 Day Restorative Cleanse. This cleanse, detoxifies the body while at the same time resets and builds all the systems for better digestion, deeper sleep and more energy. Consultations are available to help determine one’s needs and to find the cleanse and approach that works with the individual’s current lifestyle. If you are feeling that change is in the air, and you wish to have the most clarity, energy, strength, please contact us to schedule a consultation at organictearoom@gmail.com If you are not yet ready to take the step to cleansing, then stop by ELIXIR for juices, smoothies, salads and our healing main menue…this alone will create more health and well being in your life. ELIXIR is here to help support everyone reach their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual potential through organic vegan eating and lifestyle. See our website for the feedback of eople who have experienced the amazing effects of this way of life. Blessing to All! Nancy Lee
LYNNE M. ANSTETT PHOTOGRAPHER ARTIST VISION
Whether I’m traveling far from my native New England, hiking, or standing in my own back yard, I’m drawn to the endless variety of beautiful things outdoors. It is a hurried world. Photography, to me, is a way of paying visual attention and tribute to what is otherwise often missed or taken for granted – the quiet dignity of buildings, the magnificence of sky, water and land, the mystery of old things, and the countless daily proofs in nature that the world is made for our eyes. I aim to share what I see, by chance or by design, that is beautiful to me. The camera allows me to do that. My work focuses on farms, environmental portraits, landscapes, structures and edibles. I like to explore beyond the traditional scenes and formats as well. I launched a project two years ago to photograph “The Massachusetts’s Berkshires and Beyond”, taking a close look at the diverse beauty of neighborhoods including outdoor recreation, art, history, farms and more. I designed an Art Poster Calendar format to bring these images to life. Look for the 2017 calendar now in artist shops, hotels, bookshops and museums throughout the Berkshires. My photography has been exhibited with the motif Cultural Pittsfield 10 x 10 Upstreet Arts Festival at the Sohn Fine Art Gallery, Lenox and Hotel on North, Pittsfield; Ethel Walker School Bell Library, Simsbury, CT; Whiting Mills - Open Studios, Winsted, CT and at The Gallery on the Green, Canton, CT, where I am juried artist member. I’ve lived in Litchfield County, CT all my life but in recent years have been residing part-time in the Berkshires. Lynne M. Anstett - Website: http://www.gicleeone.com/Lynne-Anstett-Giclee-Photography, ImageryArtWorks Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LynneMAnstettPhotography/. Author of: Love Bound, The Journey – Lynne’s original poetry and photography, ImageryArtWorks@hotmail.com, 860-888-3672.
CREATIVE TRANSITIONS EILEEN MAHONEY
Creative Transitions, is an expressive arts practice that helps individuals and groups tap into their own innate creativity by exploring different art media, giving voice to their desires, longings and wishes. Upcoming fall programs include: Artist's Way- September 21 - December 21, a 12 week process to clear any blocks and reframe old beliefs, enabling you to move forward to create, claim and "voice" your own creative expression- whatever your chosen medium. Based on Julia Cameron's Artist's Way. Creativity Unstuck, at St. Francis Gallery, Rt. 102, Lee, Ma., is an exhibition of expressive arts students work.Their work reflects their process of reclaiming their voice, gaining confidence in their own craft and developing their willingness to show up- in their work, in the gallery and in life. Art in the Adirondacks- September 9 - 11: a weekend for women to relax into their creative selves at a 100 + year old “camp” in the Adirondacks at Big Moose Lake (the fire boy starts the fire in your cabin every morning!). Materials provided. Just bring yourself! Mindful Art and the Art of Mindfulness- An exploration of being present to oneself and one's art as a way to be more fully present if life. Dates TBD. Mindfulness for Recovery - a 6 week group for those recovering from addictions. Participants will learn mindfulness meditation and art as skillful tools to continue recovery, develop resilience and meet life's challenges. Date TDB Expressive Arts is predicated on the belief that each individual is creative and that their creativity is a doorway into each person's spirit that can become a path to resilience and joy in everyday life. The focus is on process, not producing a finished piece. NO ART EXPERIENCE IS NECESSARY: JUST AN OPEN MIND. All groups will be facilitated by Eileen Mahoney, MA, Expressive Arts Therapist and Coach. Eileen combines her practice of Mindfulness and Sufism with Expressive Arts to serve adults and adolescents who are at a point of change in their lives; those who want to tap into their creativity and may be stuck in some way; or those who may have experienced trauma, addiction, loss & grief. Creative Transitions - For more information, call Eileen at 413- 441-4258 or email: creativetransitionsberkshires@gmail.com
FINE LINE MULTIMEDIA LIVE PERFORMANCE PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEO
Fine Line Multimedia provides single or multi-camera video of music, dance and theater performances. Services include: scripting and storyboard art, videography with professional high definition cameras, high quality audio recording, sensitive lighting design and creative editing with the latest non-linear editing system. For the past 45 years Fine Line Multimedia has provided audio/video performance production for The Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood, Berkshire Performing Arts Center, National Music Foundation, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, United Way of the Berkshires, Arlo Guthrie, Rising Son Records, Bobby Sweet, World Moja, Phil Woods, Grace Kelly, Heather Fisch, Opera Nouveau, Ellen Sinopoli Dance Company and many more. Fine Line was established in 1970 by Lee Everett in Lenox, Massachusetts. Everett came to the Berkshires after studying Advertising Design and Visual Communications at Pratt Institute and working for years as an Art Director in New York. He taught Art in local schools and began a full-service multimedia studio in Lenox specializing in the Performing and Visual Arts and other business and industry. With Photography, Graphic Design, Advertising, Marketing, Audio/Video Production, Website, Social Network Creation and Administration together under one roof, Fine Line can satisfy the artistic communications and promotional needs of a wide range of clients. Please look at some examples from our portfolios of work on our website and use the contact information on the site to get further information, to see more samples, photographs or video reels, for professional and client references or for a free project consultation. Fine Line Multimedia - 66 Church Street, Lenox, MA; www.finelinelenox.com Contact: Lee Everett, 413-637-2020, everett@berkshire.rr.com
LARRY S. FRANKEL
Larry S. Frankel is a fine arts photographer specializing in landscapes and cityscapes. He has always be interested in the photograph and its relationship with truth and time. Does a photograph portray truth? Can an image expand itself into a different dimension of time and space rather then be based upon the fraction of time it took to create it? What are the underlying differences between painting and photography? Larry uses various techniques dealing with these ideas to alter landscapes and cityscapes in to imagery that represent a new reality. His images have been widely exhibited and he has several pieces in the permanent collection of the Hebrew Union College Museum. In addition several of his written articles and photographs are published. He has also served as an artist in residence for photography at the Hudson River Museum. He received his B.S. from Boston University and his Masters of Arts in Photography from New York University/International Center for Photography. Please visit his web site, larryfrankelphotography.com to view his imagery.
"The business of art is to live in the actual present, that is the complete actual present, and to express that complete actual present. -- Gertrude Stein THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 45
Paintin’ The Town
photographs & event covered by Natalie Tyler and photographs by Dalia Banevicius
Nick Mongiardo, Karen Allen, Michael Allen Lowe and Carol Schulze
Lisa Vollmer and Nancy Kolodney
The Salon through the window
Karen Allen and Chris North
Kiki Dufault and Natalie Tyler
Kalika Farmer and Pip Deely
The First L'Atelier Salon, featuring talks by acclaimed furniture designer Nicholas Mongiardo, his oldest son, designer Taj Mongiardo, and one of the Berkshires' finest painters Kiki Dufault. The Salon was moderated by Pip Deely, from CollectorIQ. L’Atelier Gallery is located on 597 Main Street in Great Barrington MA
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER 2016 • 47