Berkshires artzine promoting and supporting the visual and performing arts since 1994
THE ARTFUL MIND September / October 2020
Artist Katrin Waite Photography by Tasja Keetman
MATT CHINIAN “Paintings of village life in Upstate New York”
Come visit! See open studio schedule at
mattchinian.com #160B Gas Station at Night 5-6-20 16 x 20” 1200.
#1611 Water, Oil, Whiskey 5-9-20 9 x 12” 400.
By appointment, mattchinian@gmail.com
#1625 Madison Ave 5-25-20 11 x 12” 450.
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 1
THE ARTFUL MIND The world is a changing place and we are the runners with the light. SEPTEMBER
INTO
OCTOBER
2020
VIRTUAL GALLERY / ARTIST DISPLAY SEPTEMBER/ OCTOBER CONSUME GOOD ART HERE! ...7 KATRIN WAITE / ARTIST PHOTOGRAPHY BY TASJA KEETMAN INTERVIEW BY HARRYET CANDEE...24 KATHERINE BORKOWSKI-BYRNE /ABSTRACT ARTIST INTERVIEW BY HARRYET CANDEE ...34 ASTROLOGER RANDY SPIERS INTERVIEW BY HARRYET CANDEE ...40
"She Brings the Light" Photographic Performance Piece by Julia Grey Model: Lorraine London | At Large Studio, Las Vegas, NV
www.xgender.net Julia Grey
RICHARD BRITELL / FICTION THE DRAWING LESSON ...42 Publisher Harryet Candee Copy Editor
Marguerite Bride
Third Eye: Jeff Bynack Advertising and Graphic Design
MARK MELLINGER
Harryet Candee Contributing Writer Richard Britell Photographers Edward Acker, Tasja Keetman CALENDAR LISTINGS and ADVERTISING RATES, please call 413 - 645 - 4114 artfulmind@yahoo.com issuu.com / instagram FB Open Group: ARTFUL GALLERY for artful minds The Artful Mind Box 985 Great Barrington, MA 01230
Collage on paper 12 x 12”
100 North St Pittsfield #322 Painting - Collage - Construction 914. 260. 7413 markmellinger680@gmail.com 2 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
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. All commentaries by writers are not necessarily the opinion of the publisher and take no responsibility for their facts and opinions.
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 3
#1625 MADISON AVE 5-25-20 11 X 12” CHAIR SERIES
PASTEL ON CARDBOARD
4 X 5”
APPROX.
DYNAMO
MARK MELLINGER
SHARON GUY
Sometimes a curse like this pandemic has small blessings attached. Freed from hours of commuting between work in NYC and homes in Yonkers and Pittsfield, I have time to do art. That said, I find the malaise taking away much of the energy needed to use that freedom. In the '60s, I went to Cooper Union Art School and then worked in commercial art and photography. Later I returned to college and careers in bio research and ultimately, psychology. While continuing my practice of psychoanalysis, I spend free moments in my Pittsfield studio. Free also from any dream of fame or fortune, at 75 I can indulge any curious whim in my artwork. I do, nonetheless, appreciate when someone can connect to it. Mark V. Mellinger, PhD - 100 North St. Room 404, Pittsfield MA 01201; markmellinger680@gmail.com / 914-260-7413
CONNECTING WITH NATURE My purpose as an artist is to connect with the healing power of the natural world and to encourage others to do the same. Nature is alive and infused with spirit. I constantly seek to reconnect with this spirit of nature through creating art. While I quietly observe and study land, water, and skies, the ordinary world around me is transformed by light and shadow into the sublime. I enjoy painting the dramatic seascapes and clouds of the Gulf Coast and New England scenes. My work is in private collections in the United States and Canada. Sharon Guy - sharonguyart@gmail.com , 941-321-1218, http://www.sharonguyart.com
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MATT CHINIAN Like a reporter I record the time and place of my wanderings around Upstate New York and New England. I find places and scenes of fascination: quiet woodlands or gas stations, farmlands or industrial sites, places I see in passing, sometimes from the corner of my eye often easily overlooked by others. This is where I find beauty. This is where I find the sublime. www.mattchinian.com / mattchinian@gmail.com
“If the artist has outer and inner eyes for nature, nature rewards him by giving him inspiration.” – Wassily Kandinsky
“Obstruction“ 2020 15”x30” Oil on Canvas
Ghetta Hirsch website: www.ghetta-hirsch.squarespace.com instagram: @ghettahirschpaintings Text or call : 413. 281. 0626
Carolyn Newberger "As an artist and writer, I have struggled to communicate how these events and realizations have affected me. Both words and images feel too light for the heaviness of the truths that we must bear. And yet bear them we must, communicate what their truths mean to us we must, and work toward change we must." --Carolyn Newberger, “Contagion,” The Berkshire Edge, June 29,2020
BRASICA 1 CHARCOAL ON PAPER 24 X 36 “
www.carolynnewberger.com
617-877-5672
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 5
6 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
FRONT ST. GALLERY
ELEANOR LORD
Painting 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) www.kateknappartist.com
www.Eleanorlord.com
Front Street, Housatonic, MA
SHARON GUY
Autumn Paradise 14x11 Oil on panel 2020
400.
sharonguyart@gmail.com (941) 321-1218 https://www.sharonguyart.com
LARRY FRANKEL
Red Lilly, Photography, 2020
www.Larryfrankelphotography.com Larryfrankel@me.com Cell 914.419.8002
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 7
SEPTEMBER 2020
VIRTUAL GALLERY FINE ART & PHOTOGRAPHY FEATURED ARTISTS: GHETTA HIRSCH SHARON GUY CLAUDIA D’ALESSANDRO CAROLYN NEWBERGER LARRY FRANKEL BRUCE PANOCK MARK MELLINGER KATRIN WAITE CAROLYN M. ABRAMS CARL CHAIET
Art is a sound investment and a lifetime of enjoyment...
artfulmind@yahoo.com Box 985, Great Barrington, MA 01230 FB: ART GALLERY for Artful Minds
8 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND VIRTUAL GALLERY
GHETTA HIRSCH
Cut Limes 11 x 14” Oil on Canvas Unframed $450 First Eggplant 8 X 10” Oil on Wood Panel Framed in white wood $425
Green Tomatoes 11 x 14” Oil on Canvas Unframed $450 Squashy 8 X 8” Oil on wood panel Framed in white wood $300
“This time I am going to exhibit some Still Life. Being indoors most of the time, everyday items and food take a new importance. I notice the beauty of the veggies coming out of my garden and I loved looking for green objects to match. You might like these paintings for your kitchen or dining area!”
- Ghetta Hirsch
CONTACT: Ghetta-Hirsch.squarespace.com Instagram@ghettahirschpaintings Text 413-281-0626
Paintings can be viewed in my Art Studio. Masks and proper distancing required. Accepting PayPal and Venmo at Ghetta Hirsch
VIRTUAL GALLERY THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 9
SHARON GUY
Garden Shed 7 x 5” Oil on Panel $100
Wandering 7 x 5” Oil on Panel $100
Dynamo 8 x 8” Oil on Cradled Panel
“Connecting with Nature”
Autumn Paradise 14 x 11” Oil on Panel $400
CONTACT: sharonguyart@gmail.com https://www.sharonguyart.com 941-321-1218 10 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
$125
Upstate Pasture, 7 x 5” Oil on Panel SOLD in August 2020
VIRTUAL GALLERY
CLAUDIA D’ALESSANDRO
Sunset Stripes
Day’s End
Mansfield Mirrored
Rosy Sunset
Sky Painting
Sun Break
Nature's Ethereal Palette "Nature manages what we cannot easily do: to paint the sky." These works are printed and mounted on canvas 24 x 36” $235 each Mention The Artful Mind for a Special Discount
CONTACT:
cdalessandro26@gmail.com https://www.dalessandrophotography.com 413-717-1534 VIRTUAL GALLERY THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 11
CAROLYN NEWBERGER
September Forest 2018 $1200
Autumn Ferms with Red and Yellow Mushrooms 2018 $1200
Incandescence of Mushrooms 2019 $1200
From Carolyn Newberger’s series: “Forest Revelations”... Watercolor 6 x 16” CONTACT: www.carolynnewberger.com cnewberger@me.com 617-877-5672 12 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
VIRTUAL GALLERY
LARRY FRANKEL
Red Lilly 2020 11 x 17”
$750
Kodak Truck 2020 11 x 17”
Olive Tree 2020 11 x 17”
$750
$750
Pez 2020 11 x 17”
Lillies and Butterflies 2020 11 x 17”
$750
$750
CONTACT: Larryfrankelphotography.com
Larryfrankel@me.com Cell 914-419-8002 VIRTUAL GALLERY THE ARTFUL MIND AUGUST 2020 • 13
Bruce Panock Fantasy Brances and Leaves
Bruce Panock Abstract Red Flowers For this body of work, everything starts with the search for shapes and patterns in the landscape. When I get back to the computer I then mask out what doesn’t add to the subject. This could take days of effort. When the shapes and patterns have revealed themselves, Then I begin thinking about the background, the colors and the textures. It all evolves….or fails magnificently. —Bruce Panock 14 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND VIRTUAL GALLERY
BRUCE PANOCK
Abstract Ink Painting
Each image is part of a limited edition. There are several sizes available. Each piece is priced according to size. Images are unframed and printed on Hahnemuhle archival papers.
CONTACT: www.panockphotography.com bruce@panockphotography.com 917-287-8589 VIRTUAL GALLERY THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 15
Mark Mellinger Arshile Gorky and Andre Breton. April 1945 Acrylic and collage on canvas 20 x 16" 2020 $475
I live in two separate worlds. One verbal and one visual. What they have in common is an attitude of pushing into the unknown; of allowing unconscious elements to take form within consciousness. I couldn’t live without both. — Mark Mellinger Mark Mellinger Hamilton Ontario Acrylic on canvas 48 x 24" 2018
$1450
16 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
VIRTUAL GALLERY
MARK MELLINGER
Arshile Gorky and his Mother. Van City Armenia Acrylic and collage on canvas. 20 x 16" 2020 $375
Patriarchs triptych 40 x 48" (3 panels each 40 x 18") 2019 $3000
VIRTUAL GALLERY
CONTACT: 914-260-7413 markmellinger680@gmail.com THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 17
Katrin Waite A Quiet Day 2020, 8 x 8” Acrylic on Wood Panel $250
Katrin Waite Ether
Acrylic and Oil on wood panel, 10 x 10” $400
18 •SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
VIRTUAL GALLERY
KATRIN WAITE
Traces in the Snow 10 x10” Acrylic, oil & copper on wood panel $350
CONTACT: Hot Morning 8 x 8” Acrylic and Oil on wood panel $250
rigasvelns@gmail.com www.katrinwaite.com instagram: @katrinwaite Tel. 518-223 3069
VIRTUAL GALLERY THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 19
CAROLYN M. ABRAMS Carolyn's artwork is intuitively created from the soul and honors the beauty of the Creative Spirit in us all.
The Moon and Me Acrylic / Collage 8 1/2 x 11” $200
Ascension of the Queen Acrylic / Collage 12 x 12 $200
In the Moment, Mixed-mediums 12 x 12” $200
Circle of Women Pastels 8 x 10” $200
Prints are available through the website: Www.carolynabrams.com http://www.healing-power-of-art.org/carolyn-mabrams/ Like my art on Facebook Www.facebook.com/CarolynmAbramsArt
20 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
VIRTUAL GALLERY
CARL CHAIET
Hunter 2020 Acrylic on pine plywood 14” x 11.5” x .5” $750
Superman 2018 Acrylic on oak plywood 53” x 20” x2” $300
Sherlock 2018 Acrylic on oak plywood 65” x 20” $400
Vincent 2017 Acrylic on maple plywood 14” x 11.5” x 5 $200
The Cut Outs reflect my interest in objects as art and juxtapose the concept between the real and the simulated. Each work is drawn onto wood, cut, primed and painted. Nothing is digitally generated; therefore each work is unique. All of the artwork is a replica of the exact size of the original work it represents.
Contact: Carlchaiet.com Telephone: 860.364.5618 Email: Earnest.telford@earthlink.net
VIRTUAL GALLERY THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 21
"IN YOUR FACE!" PHOTOGRAPHIC PERFORMANCE PIECE BY JULIA GREY MODEL: JULIA GREY AT LARGE STUDIO, LAS VEGAS, NV
JULIA GREY Artist, advocate, veteran and survivor, Julia Grey has built a meaningful life from the ashes of tragedy. Her focus as a photographer and author is advocacy. To date, Grey has taken on: PTSD, childhood sexual abuse, mental illness, homelessness and life as a transgender woman. Simultaneously, her pioneering work with open shutter photography is changing the way photos are made. Artists that influence her work include Caravaggio, Mapplethorpe, and Man Ray, among others. Ms. Grey may be found in her metro Las Vegas apartment where she lives and works in isolation. Her work can be found in private and public collections in the United States and United Kingdom. Julia Grey - www.xgender.net
“You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” – Ansel Adams
PRIDE AND JOY
STILL LIFE WITH FLOWERS BY KATE KNAPP
POPS PETERSON
FRONT ST. GALLERY
Because one exhibition wasn’t enough, Pops Peterson will be featured in two concurrent exhibitions this fall, at The Norman Rockwell Museum and Sohn Fine Art. Pops' famous digital painting, “Freedom from What?” comes direct from its smash hit feature at The Denver Art Museum, where curator, Timothy Standring, called Peterson “the new Caravaggio!” A protest artist born for these difficult times, Pops will have ten canvases on view in the final leg of the Rockwell’s critically acclaimed world tour, “Enduring Ideals,” based on Rockwell’s Four Freedoms. Peterson’s award-winning updates of iconic Rockwell masterpieces will, for the first time, include surviving Rockwell models recreating their famous images. Sohn's feature will present Pops’ powerful reimagined Rockwells plus several of his own, stunning original compositions. Opening September 25 at Sohn Fine Art, Lenox, and October 17 at Norman Rockwell Museum, 9 Glendale Rd, Stockbridge, MA 01262.
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. Front Street Gallery – Front Street, Housatonic, MA. Gallery open by appointment or chance anytime. 413-528-9546 at home or 413429-7141 (cell) www.kateknappartist.com
EPISODE 4 and more!
Gotta Minute? Great! Because every Monday I introduce you to one of New Brunswick Canada’s finest artists! Just mosey on over to Instagram or Facebook and check us out! Remember, if you like what you hear and see, leave a comment and share the post! Or, visit my YouTube page to easily find past episodes! —Thanks, Jennifer
https://www.instagram.com/jenniferpazienza/ https://www.facebook.com/jenniferpazienzaartstudio/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiqXBQdVAQ0 www.jenniferpazienza.com 22 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
ST. CROIZ #8
VIRGINIA BRADLEY
SIGNS 22 OIL ON PAPER 39 X 36” JOAN GRISWOLD
CHRIS MALCOMSON
BERKSHIRE DIGITAL
This latest painting is my attempt to bring together all that I have learn through a lifetime searching for meaning. I have been influenced by poets such as Rumi, Mary Oliver and Kabir. Transpersonal and Jungian psychology. Men’s work with Robert Bly. The tranquility of the turning Dervishes and the many friends who have been traveling with me on the Journey. My paintings are attempts to offer works that will enhance living spaces and bring tranquility to peoples’ lives through their stillness. For several years I worked on a series of vertical striped paintings, with a fixed form, allowing the freedom to explore colours. They offered stillness and a gap to squeeze through to another space. I am always trying to offer the opportunity to move away from our busy lives into a more serene space. When cataloguing recently I was amazed to find there are ninety-five of them! The above is the culmination of my current series of which there are twenty-two paintings. I am interested in symbols and what they convey. For example, the swastika is ancient in one form but reversed has come to stand for total evil. The cross has a multitude of powerful associations. I wanted to try to create images that had no associations which, of course, is almost impossible but I have enjoyed the attempt. It was so pleasing when a visitor suggested that they could be used for meditation. It is always good to have visitors to the studio and get their comments as it is difficult to see one’s own work. Do contact me if you would like to set up a time to visit. Chris Malcomson - www.chrismalcomson.com, chrismalcomso@mac.com
Since opening in 2005, Berkshire Digital has done fine art printing for artists and photographers. Giclée prints can be made in many different sizes from 5”x7” to 42”x 80” on a variety of archival paper choices. Berkshire Digital was featured in last Summer’s issue of PDN magazine in an article about fine art printing. See the entire article on the BerkshireDigital.com website. Berkshire Digital does accurate hi-res photoreproductions of paintings and illustrations that can be used for Giclée prints, books, magazines, brochures, cards and websites. “Fred Collins couldn’t have been more professional or more enjoyable to work with. He came to my studio, set everything up, and did a beautiful job in photographing a ton of paintings carefully, efficiently, and so accurately. It’s such a great feeling to know I have these beautiful, useful files on hand anytime I need them. I wish I’d called Fred years ago.” ---- Ann Getsinger We also offer restoration and repair of damaged or faded photographs. A complete overview of services offered, along with pricing, can be seen on the web at BerkshireDigital.com Another service offered is portraits of artists in their studios, or wherever they would like, for use in magazines, as the author’s picture in a book, websites or cards. See samples of artist portraits on our website. The owner, Fred Collins, has been a commercial and fine art photographer for over 30 years having had studios in Boston, Stamford, and the Berkshires. He offers over 25 years of experience with Photoshop, enabling retouching, restoration and enhancement to prints and digital files. The studio is located in Mt Washington but drop-off and pick-up is available through Frames On Wheels, 84 Railroad Street in Great Barrington, MA (413) 528-0997 and Gilded Moon Framing, 17 John Street in Millerton, NY (518) 789-3428. Berkshire Digital - 413 644-9663, or go online to www.BerkshireDigital.com
When I look back on creating the St Croix Series, I resonate with Vija Celmins when she mentions how she “loves big spaces and tries to wrestle them into small spaces”. I think I was not only trying to wrestle infinite space into the series but also a wide range of emotions layered and buried in COVID isolation. In February 2020, I was invited to St. Croix to be an Artist in Residence at the Caribbean Museum for the Arts in Frederiksted. I was immediately inspired by the lush landscape and its interplay with the ever-changing Caribbean Sea. Simultaneously I watched huge cruise ships dock as the COVID pandemic emerged. During the residency, I started 8 paintings inspired by the St. Croix landscape and the emerging pandemic. The paintings traveled from St. Croix to my Winter studio in Puerto Rico in the wing of an 8-seater plane, which was severely affected by the 6.4 earthquake and then back to my home in Western Massachusetts, where Covid-19 was in full swing. During this time, I continued to work on all eight of the 20x20 paintings as a group. With the St. Croix series, I am inscribing the physical and emotional happenings of this period into the complex layers of the image and endeavoring to create a meditative vision of this defining time. Virginia Bradley - virgbradley57@gmail.com www.virginiabradley.com, 302-540-3565
Editorial and advertising questions? 413. 645. 4114. artfulmind@yahoo.com The Artful Mind box 985 Great Barrington,MA 01230 THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 23
Artist KATRIN WAITE INTERVIEW BY HARRYET CANDEE
Harryet Candee: Let me ask you Katrin, since I see such high levels of energy in your artwork, how would you explain the piece that I am drawn to, titled: I feel You Walking Through My Mind. There is a conversation going on that on this canvas that I want to be a part of! Katrin Waite: I was thinking about an appropriate title for a while, to be honest. I forgot which title I had first, but it must have been so wrong that I even lost it. Once I noticed how important the theme of memory is for my art, it came fast. I developed a concept how our human memory works and manifests patterns in the art as well as in the reception of the world. The composition of the painting is defined by scattered smaller color fields and fields of texture. As scattered memories trigger moments of reconnection and recognition, visuals, sounds and other impacts walk through our minds. They are remnants of our experiences. I found it interesting to make the painting sound like a person who walks through my mind. It minimizes the distance with the viewer and makes it personal. And I see it obviously spoke to you! You cannot put a price on art, they say‌ So I am wondering, how do you figure out the pricing of your work? This may actually be an an-
PHOTOGRAPHY BY TASJA KEETMAN
swer that a lot of artists would be interested in, since it is difficult for some to do. Can you put some light on this subject? We are living in an interesting time for asking this question, to put it mildly. Even before the covid19 pandemic, it was hard for artists to develop a price concept in a permanently and rapidly changing art market. I am no exception. As many other artists, I of course weigh the material and time factor as well as the size of the painting. However, the process is essential as well. The making of the artwork is key. And the question whether and how the painting can be reproduced. Some paintings have the potential to surprise even me in the making. They are unique and I often develop a deeper personal connection with them. Others I can vary but keep the general patterns. They are unique as well as any artwork but offer motifs for similar paintings. Does a painting have the potential to develop into a series or is it a distinctive piece, a one of a kind? I am a collector too and I try to place myself into the role of the buyer. That helps to find a better balance between my expectations and the other side. And of course, often I am overthinking (and laughing). The art market keeps changing permanently.
24 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
Ever-changing, yes! I’m curious in knowing about the adventure you went on going from historian to visual artist? What were the key points in your life that took you from one world in art to another? Also, how do they now possibly overlap? That was even more interesting than your question. Before I learned to read and write I started to paint or rather to draw. That was my very first expression. Then school started, and my analytical side began to get to work. Basically, I found both worlds and professions separately. Now, being a historian and an artist is still the expression of that constellation: on the one side painting, on the other side research, reading and writing. I am very careful to keep the balance between these two fields. I am often asked whether I want to be a full-time artist. But I love my work as a scholar, as a researcher and writer. I really do! Honestly, I love science, too, but unfortunately never had the capability of abstract mathematical imagination. However, without this cognitive impact, my art might lose its balance and structure. The methodological approach of an analysis based on facts and empiric research is the other side of the coin. The side that I visualize is in the art. For instance, I learned as a histo-
Katrin Waite I Feel You Walking Through My Mind Mixed Media and Oxidized Copper on Canvas 2020
rian how human memory permanently transforms. I cannot point out enough how much that influences my artwork. Katrin, can you go into explaining more about human memory? As human memory is in a constant transformation process, my art is changing as well. If I take a year to work and rework an artwork, my individual changing process becomes part of the evolvement of the artwork. I am an artist who overpaints. It happens that I find an older artwork that does not quite match anymore either my contemporary situation nor my memory of it. In that case I have no hesitations to radically overwork it. However, the old artwork is not lost. The now invisible and overpainted layers are still there and they speak to the senses of the viewer. Make the invisible layers speaks – I learned that in Finland as well. How do you land on a subject to paint? What takes shape in terms of your immediate interest in something? Does it come from your emotions, does it come from a physical need to get a certain energy flowing and out onto a canvas? I have my general themes, but I am always open
for unexpected new moments and triggers. Actually, I count on them! I get my ideas from basically everything! From music, film fragments, poetry, light shapes, moments that I experience in my own life. Conversations and encounters I have— color and texture combinations I observe in nature— its endless. And yes, there is a physical need to get at least the essence of that momentary inspiration down to keep it for the future artwork that I am intending to turn it into. I do the usual classic move. I get up late at night to draw a sketch, take a quick photo, write down some keywords that I do not want to lose. True, in these moments there is an immense energy flow that I can feel physically. Once I am in the position to bring it down on a canvas and start the actual working process, this energy flow has transformed already into something calmer and sustainable. How is your art making / process scientific? I am a historian. Science for me is understanding our universe with the means of natural science. Unfortunately, I have absolutely no abstract mathematic imagination. I look at the fascinating world of astro-physics with the eyes of an innocent and astonished artist. The newest findings of the scien-
tists are not only mind-blowing, they show our limits as humans. The universe shows us how limited our perspectives are. For me, following new findings that show that up to 10 dimensions are possible is a way to extend my mind as an artist. Thinking outside the usual patterns. As I use the historic term of memory based on my work as a historian, I also use the findings of the sciences to play with ideas and to cross limits in my art. Our mind can really become a visual movie screen, camera, worksheet tool for planning out art and how we communicate. How do you decide on the medium you are going to use? What predicts the use of mixed media versus pure paint? For long years I have worked with acrylics exclusively, using their ability to bring out transparency to a maximum. Then I included oil, then mixed media, metal and rust. Now, I am grateful to have the skills of combining them and to take decisions what medium is required by which theme and artwork. My first decision when starting an artwork is balance and composition. How can I turn an empty field into a complex of shapes, lines and Continued on next page...
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 25
KATRIN WAITE
Katrin in her studio Photograph by Tasja Keetman
space with colors and texture? How large is the canvas, the wood panel. What does the chemistry of the medium allow? A smaller wood panel with a fine surface mostly invites for subtle delicate and even colors, acrylics or oil. The effect of calamity is beautiful. Larger size canvas gives more freedom in choice of theme and composition. They can become great playgrounds for rough materials and contrasts. I call it playing with the mud! Which brings me to asking you about the backgrounds and the textures you use throughout your work. Are the backgrounds a separate world you enter, like a backdrop to a stage? What is in the planning phase that gives you your texture, color and momentum? The background! Oh yes! How often did I face the situation that I planned a solid background and ended up turning the background into a painting that was ready in itself? It often left me speechless. Like the artwork laughing in my face saying it is accomplished and ready. My brain however was yet behind and not prepared for that outcome. After a number of these experiences I learned to accept it. Then I learned to laugh about it. Now I can control it better. Not fully. Art and control don´t go well together! But I take myself back and keep some certain colors or media for later, after the background dried and I can use them for the middle or final touch with mixed or other media. This is pure experience that gives confidence and knowing the medium as I know my changing skills. 26 • AUGUST 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
The Ellenbogen Gallery in Manchester, Vermonthas given you a one-woman exhibition. Tell us about your show, please. As an artist, what work aside from creating art was involved and probably time consuming for you? The Ellenbogen Gallery has become a very special place for me. We took it very slowly. After the first contact I took a full year to prepare my cooperation with these two gallerists/artists. I noticed from the beginning how much of an artistic vision Carolina and Michael Ellenbogen are developing. The gallery has a huge space that the gallerists turned into a magical energy field. They are not only excellent artists, but masters in hanging the artworks to perfection. We are going through the covid-19 crisis together and are learning a lot from each other. Initially, the idea was a solo show for me. During the process it developed into the beautiful concept you can see in the exhibition until the beginning of October 2020: a retrospective! I cannot deny how proud I am; and also, thankful!
then…may be this is the impact that you are talking about, then yes, of course. After I saw the space of the Ellenbogen Gallery the first time, I definitely did my “homework” and created a number of large size paintings. At the same time, I gained the opportunity to rent a larger studio at the Copper Trout Gallery. That gave me the space to do that, to do big work. Coincidence? Corona? The biggest challenge that we all face during the covid-19 crisis is not different for the arts: uncertainty. We decided to use it for our learning and changing. Artists and gallerists fortunately are in the position to do so. However, we visual artists are in a much better position than performing artists who have to deal with a much more challenging situation. Art is always connected with the changing world. Change is key. In the case of the Ellenbogen Gallery the result is an online concept that Michael Ellenbogen developed as an e-commerce site. The gallery has become a hybrid with both physical and online representation.
I went to the gallery to see your show, and as you say, it is a beautiful space and your art work really looks amazing. I was drawn right to it. Can you tell us what you may have done different, or kept the same for this show? The impact of Corona must have made things more challenging? It is strange. Covid-19 did not have the impact on me to do my art differently. On the contrary, I felt provoked to strengthen my concept of memory. But
Where are you off to next for showing your artwork? It is hard to top a retrospective show of the size that I am having the privilege to present now at Ellenbogen Gallery, even under covid-19 ordained conditions. The gallery has an online presence that allows my artwork to stay, to remain available even after the end of the physical exhibition. I am also a member of the Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vermont and the LARAC in Glens
Katrin Waite Ghost Ship Acrylic on Paper 2020
Falls, New York. These galleries give me every year the possibilities to participate in group shows. At the end of the year I might become part of the DaVallia Gallery in Chester, Vermont. Those are the plans for now, if covid-19 does not interfere. Plus, when I began to write the short essays for the last issues of The Artful Mind, I noticed how much fun I have doing them. I will soon include an art blog on my website. Who knows where this path leads me to eventually. Oh, yes! Do you have a group like yourself, artist friends that you spend time with shooting the breeze? Or are you a solitary individual liking not to share so much with others? Are there a few artists out there that you admire and want to hang out with? I am both. As much as I like company, the creation of an artwork is a lonely and solitary process by its nature. It is very much a dialogue between artist and evolving artwork. That must happen without an audience or other company, at least in my case. For me, this solitude and independence are extremely important. But I am as well a person who really enjoys contact and interaction with people. I try to learn from other artists. I like to listen to their experiences, to swap stories, tales of little accidents (so, who else mixed up a water and a coffee cup when painting and putting the brush into the coffee mug instead of the water cup?). I learn a lot from other creative individuals, from friends who are not painters. I believe that performing arts and music
are key for my concepts and ideas. Another great inspiration is knowing we are not alone and we can laugh together. Humor is so important! Humor is vital. Is there any glamour now a days, or over past five years to the art world, you think? How, and where does it exist? Certainly, there is glamour. Art is a luxury product if we see it as an object of consumption. The art world did its own part to create myths about being avant-garde and a luxury playground at once. Basically, these are the extremes between the “starving artist” and the “celebrity artist”. In reality, most artists never worked in any of these worlds. There always was glamour in the art scene, especially in a big city such as my other home, Berlin, Germany. This city is a great experimental place. But as every big city, art is abused as a vanity object. I am very careful in looking at this world from my outside position. It is like a circus. My philosophy as an artist is that I just do my work, as everyone else. Mostly it works, sometimes the artist has to play by the rules.
and learning experience. The first years I spent in the D.C. area. Soon we found our home in upstate New York. About 10 years ago we decided to split time between Shushan, New York and Berlin, Germany. That reconnected me with Europe. My roots…in the last years I noticed that my life in East Germany, behind the Iron Curtain, shaped me more than I was willing to admit for a long time. Meissen, my hometown has a long tradition. Soon, my research in a number of countries of Eastern Europe shaped my thinking and decision-making further. I was always drawn to the East. During these years, I focused exclusively on my research work. Coming to the US, especially travelling to the Southwest, to see Native places, art and culture, reconnected me with art. I started painting again. Finally, living in upstate New York I connected with the North country.
What was your life like behind the Iron Curtain? This short question can fill books. My experience is similar to the life that I shared with altogether 16 million others. It was my childhood. My family Roots!... I wonder, why you decided to live in was divided between East and West Germany as the United States? That must be an interesting was the case in many families. The system of injustice and a really poor economy shaped our lives, story I hope you can share. I did not decide, life decided for me. I met my hus- but it provoked us to develop a sense for alternative band and we wanted to live together. Yes, and I did thinking. I was surrounded by very creative people decide. I did not ask him to come with me to Eu- who had a good sense of humor. However, it did rope. I moved to the US in January 2000. I had not have the initial impact for me to become an artnever been here before, and it was a great challenge ist. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 27
KATRIN WAITE
Katrin Waite White Night Mixed Media
Art would have found me in any system. How does your personal life intertwine with your art creating and thinking? I have the tendency to put personal experience and ideas into a general context. I cannot help that. Maybe this is the historian´s disease…always attempting to put the contemporary moment into perspective. In a short term, it makes life heavy and it is sometimes very tiring. In long term, it is very, very rewarding! I give my brain some analytical stimulation and sometimes it feels like I have a short circuit in my head. Then I let it be and distance myself from overthinking. I know I can rely on my subconscious to work. And suddenly, I come up with new ideas for my art. I guess this procedure is not for everyone. But it always works for me. My life put me where I am, between two worlds. It’s a lifestyle that demands some effort, but it is so inspiring! It forces me to think in terms of changes.
us for the future. The key to finding out how much of both worlds is helpful, is again, balance. Everybody has to find this balance for him/herself. What music do you favor? There is a huge difference between the music that inspires me for my art. That can be anything: Bach (remember, I am German), Finnish Tango, some very beautiful soundtrack music, especially composed for science fiction films, experimental music of all kind, African music, especially Kora music from Mali. However, when I am in the process of painting I prefer noisy loud and metal sounds. Under the headphones. That gives me the noise chamber that I need to get into a dialogue with my work. Do you play any musical instruments? No. Not at all. Believe me, I have tried. I feel a deep respect and admiration for artists who master an instrument. But this door remained closed for me. As a student I got a guitar from a friend. When I tried to learn to play this instrument, my teacher smiled at me and asked whether I knew someone who really could use this nice guitar. And that after only 2 classes. I know that I can really enjoy music, that has to be enough.
To you, what do you keep in your life that would be considered “trendy” and what do you keep in your life that you consider traditional? Trendy is a word that I don’t like. I prefer change. Change is key. It is impossible to say what change I decide to keep in my life. Change – as we see now – has the tendency to come into our lives and it dictates to us. It forces us to adjust. Tradition. As both, Katrin, to keep educating yourself, what do you an artist and historian, I do make a big difference engage in? What is the latest of learning you between paralyzing nostalgia aka living in a frozen have taken on? past and valuable memories, experiences that shape My magic word again: balance! Two years ago, I 28 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
started to take calligraphy classes with a Chinese master in Berlin. That process is now interrupted due to covid-19, but I definitely will continue. I learned so much patience. I learned to let go and to understand medium. The rules that define calligraphy in terms of holding the brush and the usage of ink and water go for every medium. But the most important process is what I am learning about what to do with the empty space. By creating and recreating ink interpretations of Chinese symbols, I learn about the endless variety how to turn lines and dots and shapes into a space. The work with lines in my art has definitely altered since I have taken these classes. Do you have a favorite Chinese symbol? I actually do not have a favorite symbol. My master uses the Chinese symbol to train me the usage of brush and ink and to turn the space into a field of art. It is all about composition. Sometimes I am confronted with up to 15 symbols within one session. I cannot remember them all. But one basic symbol that is the source for a big variety of dynamics in calligraphy is the symbol “ren”, meaning person or individual. The next level, after or beside the symbols, is the drawing of bamboo. We started to work with symbols and objects. It’s an entire world! Please unfold the painting’s meaning of “Encounter”. The titles I am giving my paintings are often sug-
Katrin Waite The Forbidden City Acrylic and Silver on Paper 2020
gestions. I am aware of the fact that it is very different how I see my art and what I see in it from the way others see it. I want to give an impulse to the other person, to unfold their own interpretation. I want to trigger a story without forcing the other person to feel obliged to what he or she is supposed to think or something like that. “Encounter” finds its origin in the shapes of the color fields in the painting, the contrasts and also the diptych character of the artwork. The rest is the imagination of the viewer. In that particular case the title “Encounter” also plays with the process of viewing the artwork. It is the first encounter between the painting and its viewer. It is a possible metaphor because this painting has a size that makes it possible (22+28 inches). Do you often look at your earlier work to base your new work on? I am one of the artists who overpaints or adds or alters older artwork. I very seldom use older artwork to find new inspiration. I don´t say that it does not happen or is not possible. I just do not look for it that way. But indeed, sometimes an older artwork falls again into my hands. I take a breath and am astonished how I look at it now, after several years and what an impact it has on me now. These are moments I really treasure. Do you create your works of art and make them into a ‘series’? This is a procedure I started only within the last two years. For long years I felt kind of restless. Always
chasing new ideas. I guess I was still more in an experimental mode. Now, while answering this question, I am realizing that – getting back to a previous question – it was two years ago, when calligraphy classes started to teach me patience. Maybe there is a connection. I am still in the process of learning how powerful a series can be and how innovative for unfolding a story texture. Actually, I just started a series that will keep me busy for the next months. Maybe even longer. It is a path that I am turning more and more into a conscious process.
beauty: both, Ernst and Feininger were objects of the abysses of a very problematic century and both absorbed these cathartic experiences into their works. Among contemporary artists, Julie Mehretu and El Anatsui are essential for me. And a large number of Native American artists. There are big names as Dan, Arlo and Michael Namingha (HopiTewa), but also artists as Sheldon Harvey and Antoinette Thompson (both Diné), just to mention some names. But as everything else, this too is a process.
Do you believe imitation is a form of flattery? Have we created everything and now we are working off of already done ideas? Thoughts? Imitation. Is that possible? Sure, one can try, but even the best imitation is an imitation. Flattery? It rather is disturbing. But we all are exchanging ideas and interpretation whether we do it on purpose or not. My focus on lines is partially based on the beautiful landscapes in Finnish Lapland that went to artistic transformations numerous times before. I am not the only artist who got inspired by the Tell us what artists that exist that you have di- shapes of Northern landscapes. One visit to the National Art Museum in Helsinki made that unmisrect influence with in your work? How? Among the large number of artists that I do admire takably clear. What matters is the handprint and the there are some individuals who had and continue individual mental processing the artist gives the to have a deep inspirational impact on me. First, the source of inspiration. It is impossible to have works of Max Ernst and Lyonel Feininger are key created everything. If an endpoint would be posfor me to understand the path of art in the 20th cen- sible, mankind would have reached it already a tury. I admire the elegance of the shapes and colors long time ago. Picasso would have become an engithese great artists left to us. And the philosophical neer or a scientist. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 29 How do you know when you are finished with a painting? Often I don’t. I am not afraid of an empty white canvas. I never was. But knowing when a painting is ready is very challenging for me. When I paint I am in a dialogue, an interaction with the artwork. The more it is shaping and evolving the stronger its charisma becomes. It´s voice gets louder. To know when to let go is sometimes not easy.
KATRIN WAITE
Katrin Waite Gravity Acrylic, Ink and Oxidized Copper on Paper 2019
Portrait of Katrin Waite by Tasja Keetman
Where have you traveled to that has brought you to inspiring people, and expansion of your imagination? Travelling was always key. I don´t have to mention all the art museums that triggered city trips. Landscapes and cultural territories were more important than doing the “homework” of training the mind with art history. Now, sitting back and feasting upon the memories of travels I am processing and reprocessing these landscapes, patterns, colors again. The most inspirations I felt in the Southwest of the US, namely in Native Territories (A:Shiwi/Zuni, Hopi, Diné/Navjo, Háák’ u/Acoma). And the journey to Finland was eye opening in many respects.
Katrin Waite Solar - Moon - Constellation Ink and Gold Leaf on Paper 2020
30 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
In what ways was Finland an eye opener for you? How does it influence your work, and can you refer to a specific painting that really shows this? Finland was an eye opener in many respects. The landscape of the North is connected to a minimalistic approach to life and it found an expression in the arts and architecture that astonished me. I have never seen such beautiful straight birch tree forests covered in the light of the short summers. After that journey I definitely intensified the work with lines in my art. I also modified the color range. I stepped back from the bright colors and screaming contrasts and considered so-called moderate colors. If used in a minimalistic way, they can be as loud as any bright color. (see attachment). It sounds like a cliché, but less can be more. I am still learning to respect the empty space on the canvas and to let it speak.
Katrin Waite Communication Mixed Media and Oxidized Copper on Canvas 2019
cookie: we are always stronger than we think we are. As ugly as the world looks like now, there is beauty. As an artist, I see myself a messenger of showing beauty. We never should forget how beautiful our planet is.
Katrin Waite Silence II 2019
At the end of the day, what is one of your rituals? Do you think you are a creature of habit or total spontaneity? I am both. Habits are getting more important when facing a crisis such as covid-19. The outside world is changing so fast. Politics are so challenged. We are inside our isolation while big changes and transformations are happening in the outside world. Many of us feel helpless or thrown back to the position of passive observers. That creates a need for habits to have some certainty. But the urge for change needs to find channels as well. I guess we all have good and bad days in the moment when dealing to sustain a certain amount of stability. I tried to reduce the impact of my spontaneous activities, mostly for the sake of not endangering others. We have to be very careful not to harm each other.
Katrin, what heart-felt message do you have to share with us, maybe our eyes will open yet wider thanks to you. Who am I to give answers? Or to offer a message? I feel we are living in a time that demands us to admit that we do not have things under control. And that we admit how much we are failing. I can share experiences. Or observations. Yes, and I see myself mostly as an observer. Only that much: having friends in Belarus I am following closely the horrible events in the country, the brutal and blind terror of a dictator against peaceful civilian and the bravery of the Belarussian people, and so many women! It is amazing how much creativity pours into this protest that has already developed into an uprising. These new protest patterns seem to be part of a changing global communication. One thing is for sure, even if it sounds like a Chinese fortune
The layers in your art are like layers to our life that deepens as we grow. Can you expand your thoughts on this by using the painting named: Communication. You chose one of the rare pieces that has a very personal meaning for me. Communication! The layers are so complex! Acrylic, mixed media, more acrylic, scratches, abuse of the surface and oxidized copper. Once finished, the title hammered my head like an imperative: Communication. I believe that one of our largest problems is broken or disturbed human communication. With the internet and social media, communication has changed its previous functions and shapes. And it definitely gained in speed. The global online communication runs so much faster than our physical face to face communication and the political communication that we almost physically feel this imbalance. Communication fields and chambers are fighting each other. I even feel it in my personal life. We are changing our capability to be attentive. I am constantly working on being a good listener and talker. But with communication running faster every day I have to find a mode and time for processing. I feel privileged that I can retire to my art studio and limit myself to hours of slow motion communication with an artwork. And noisy metal music for my ears. How can we follow you? I am on facebook and on Instagram, under my artist name: Katrin Waite My website: www.katrinwaite.com My e-mail address: rigasvelns@gmail.com Thank you!
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 31
THE WAY OUT 20 X 20” OIL ON CANVAS 2020
WINDBLOWN 2020
BRUCE PANOCK PHOTOGRAPHY I have been a student of photography for more than 20 years, though most intently for the last five years. I am primarily a landscape photographer. Recently my photographic voice has migrated to the creation of work with reference to other art forms, notably encaustic painting and ancient Chinese and Japanese brush painting and woodblock art. My intention is to create with viewer a moment of pause and reflection; a moment to digest the image and find their own story in the art. Each image is part of a limited edition. There are several sizes available. Each piece is priced according to size. Images are unframed and printed on Hahnemuhle archival papers. Bruce Panock bruce@panockphotography.com
GHETTA HIRSCH Good News! I am finally painting other things than COVID19 hopeless art. I am still painting the social turmoil we are experiencing, but what I am sharing with you today is closer to my usual landscapes. The painting exhibited in my Ad Page is called “Obstruction” and shows a tree blocking an otherwise perfect Berkshires Landscape. We are not free to move ahead yet! The next painting I will offer you today is trying to show protection while a bit of obstruction is still present. “The Way Out” (oil on canvas still goes around a tree obstacle but suggests the protection of a barn around the corner. How I wish we could all find a way out and protection in this horrendous 2020 year! Some of my small paintings are at The Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, VT. Some are in the pages of this magazine, but many more can be viewed in my art studio in Williamstown. Ghetta Hirsch - Call or text 413-281-0626; Ghetta-Hirsch.squarespace.com; Instagram @ghettahirschpaintings
SEPTEMBER FOREST, WATERCOLOR, 6 X 16 INCHES CROPPED AND SEGMENTED VERSION
CAROLYN NEWBERGER “A tree without a forest dies. You see, not only do trees communicate underground; they need each other both above and below. The big trees need the smaller trees. The small trees need the big trees. Together they breathe moisture into the air, creating an atmosphere. Their thick canopies keep the sun from drying out the earth. Their dense thickets keep the wind from penetrating. Their intertwining branches hold each other up through difficult circumstances, like windstorms. Their interconnecting roots can nourish and protect each other.” -The Berkshire Edge, July 26, 2020 Carolyn Newberger is an artist, musician and writer who came to art after an academic and clinical career in psychology at Harvard Medical School. A recipient of awards from Watercolor Magazine, the Danforth Museum, the New England Watercolor Society and Cambridge Art Association, she writes and illustrates music and dance reviews in The Berkshire Edge, a publication of news and ideas in Western Massachusetts, often in collaboration with her husband, Eli Newberger. Her most recent project is an illustrated book of essays, “Illuminating the Hidden Forest,” which is being serialized in The Berkshire Edge. 617-877-5672 / www.carolynnewberger.com
“The beautiful, which is perhaps inseparable from art, is not after all tied to the subject, but to the pictorial representation. In this way and in no other does art overcome the ugly without avoiding it.” – Paul Klee 32 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
PENGUINS PHOTOGRAPH 11X17”
SUNBREAK
SISTERHOOD ONE OF DIVINE VESSEL WORKS
CAROLYN M. ABRAMS ROSY SUNSET
CLAUDIA D’ALESSANDRO There is never a better place or time to experience Nature's Ethereal Pallette than the Berkshires in the late summer and early fall. As the light grows long and the shadows, deep, the hills seem to glow with the hint of emerging fall colour, colour worn by leaves and trees, by bushes and even by the hills, themselves. Yet even where no solid surfaces exist, Nature manages what we cannot easily do: to paint the sky. This month I look at Nature's year-round 'painting' in the air above us. Compelling landscapes, skyscapes and images of the natural world remind me of the awesome beauty that surrounds us, and the mighty power of the natural world which we inhabit. Even the 'thin air' which surrounds us can serve as a canvas. I hope you will enjoy this look at a few instances of "Nature's Ethereal Pallette." "Claudia's photography touches our souls with deep joy!" ~ CHR "She sees with her eyes and feels with her heart." ~ DKAH For more information on purchasing these, or other prints, or to - order 2021 calendars, please email me at: cdalessandro26@gmail.com, - visit me at https://www.dalessandrophotography.com, or - follow me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/cdalessandrophotography/ and on Instagram as: dalessandronatura. Don't forget to mention The Artful Mind for Preferred Customer pricing! Cheers, to all, for the rest of a beautiful and artful summer and the beginning of a fruitful fall!
Carolyn M. Abrams is a visual artist from Brunswick, NY. Her work is an exploration of the wisdom of art. As a passionate artist, intuition has always guided her in her exploration of the spiritual and material worlds. An enthusiastic learner, new techniques and unique art materials drive Carolyn's work to best express her passion for creativity. Carolyn's artwork is intuitively created from the soul and honors the beauty of the Creative Spirit in us all. Prints are available through the website: Www.carolynabrams.com http://www.healing-power-ofart.org/carolyn-mabrams/ Like my art on Facebook Www.facebook.com/CarolynmAbramsArt
RED LILY PHOTOGRAPH 11 X 17”
LARRY FRANKEL HOW BAD IS CLIMATE CHANGE NOW? IS WHAT I DO IMPORTANT? The growing issue of Global Warming became the inspiration and impetus to create these new images. My imagination transformed Flora and Fauna into a future representation of a newly created landscape. My newly created world consists of constructed photos using combinations of various imagery I have taken and have in my inventory. Shifted colors become my new reality in which to view our environment. www.Larryfrankelphotography.com/ Larryfrankel@me.com / Cell 914-419-8002
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 33
RAIN-WOMAN, PORTRAIT / NOVA SCOTIA
KATHERINE BORKOWSKI-BYRNE
ABSTRACT ARTIST INTERVIEW BY HARRYET CANDEE
What is going through you emotionally when you apply paint to a fresh canvas? Katherine Borkowski-Byrne: There is something sacred about a fresh canvas and I approach it with a bit of fear that these first few brush marks will determine its success or failure. But, then I do not like to get precious with my painting. It has to be prepared to take a beating. Are there any particular memories you can share that you affiliate with to your first discovering of the alchemy and magic of markings with paint onto surface? The delicious smell of oil paint reminds me of my decades of longing before I could use it. As a small child perhaps four or five years of age, my father informed me that he ordered a “paint-bynumbers” set for me from someone at work. It seemed like I eagerly waited months for my gift to show up. But, when it did, my parents decided I was too young for it, and gave it instead to my brother who was two years older. I distinctly re-
member that seductive smell of the oil paint as my brother greedily worked with my gift. In eighth grade my parents informed me that I would prepare for secretarial work in highschool as they refused to sign the papers sent home for high school’s college preparatory course work. As a business student in high school in Freehold, New Jersey, I was allowed one elective each semester, but sadly “art” was never on the list for non-college prep students. No fancy ideas for those bound to a desk. But, at the age of 22, I found myself with free time. Being a young, newly married woman living in Nova Scotia, I signed up for an adult education class in oil painting.
It was here that I fortunately connected with a small group of supportive young artists. I had my first solo show, my first printed review in the newspaper, and a blue ribbon won at the local art fair. I still have that blue ribbon art prize. After returning to Nova Scotia for another few years to pay back the study leave, we decided to move to the Boston area where we would take our chances on job prospects. As my youngest son started kindergarten, I started my formal art education at the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts or as it was known as the Boston Museum School. I was able to get six months credit for my art experience in Tallahassee.
Can you tell us about the educational gain you have achieved through the years on painting and art in general? At the age of 27, we moved temporarily to Tallahassee, Florida with my two-year-old son in hand, as my husband pursued graduate work on a study leave from the Acadia University in Nova Scotia.
What have you discovered and apply that makes your art recognizable in style to viewers? A clash of marks, a collision of colors, a splash of wet paint, a crash of new paint on top of old paint, a break in lines and ongoing experiments within each new work make my art recognizable to viewers. For me, the small details must be as in-
34 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
Katherine Borkowski-Byrne Tall Tale
teresting as the total composition and the use of very thick paint in parts of the painting makes the painting change and renew itself in different lighting. What else in your life do you do that gives you similar enjoyment? Are you a cook? A gardener? Musician? How would you describe the differences and similarities from a creative point of view? Funny thing: Once while an art student, a very famous woman artist came to the Boston Museum School. I asked her to stop by my studio space for a critique. She came and was surprised to see my very big, painterly paintings. She looked back at me, and asked if this was my work because she said, “you look like a woman that bakes cookies.” I told her that I do bake cookies. I bake very delicious cookies too though I usually stick to my recipes so only the decorating leads to creative activity. I do lend more creativity to stir-frying and making risotto. Here no two dishes are ever alike as I try
to balance the flavors and colors as it is true for my paintings. I follow no recipe or formula to hold back my experimentation. We find that challenges easier as we grow because we have experienced similar ones along the path. How would you say if you looked back, and see yourself today, what challenges in life make today easier and more tolerable? Time has always been my biggest challenge. I took a day job as my two sons were getting older and money was needed for their education. For almost 20 years, I worked for the local selectmen’s office, with benefits that allowed me to retire at age 60. I guess those business skills came in handy after all. During those years, I painted in the evenings after work. Now, I have the gift of time and freedom to not only paint but also to let my mind focus on my artwork. Putting on loud music puts me back into the energy mode of my younger self. But, in my 70's, I know that my time is sadly running out.
What do you feel confident that you have mastered? Still learning? I feel confident that I have mastered the art of moving paint around to produce something new and original that speaks to the eyes. Yes, I am still learning with each new piece. This is what makes painting so exciting, to see my work evolve and reach new levels. Does your painting reflect your mood? Is there on that especially does that you can explain how and why? It is hard for me to analyze my paintings as to my moods, but I’m sure that it does. As an experimental painter more involved in the process of painting, there’s a letting go of intention and letting the subconscious guide the painting. There’s that “being in the zone.” Not that “being in the zone” stops me from going too far and ruining the occasional piece. My conscious goal is usually to see how far I can go within a particular piece without ruining it. Continued on next page...
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 35
KATHERINE BORKOWSKI-BYRNE
Katherine Borkowski-Byrne Figments
Katherine Borkowski-Byrne Out-To-Sea
36 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
Katherine Borkowski-Byrne Notes To Myself
What has formal art education that you have graduated from given you as a gift that you still use? My years as an art student, taught me to have confidence in myself as an artist and also how to be my own critic as we spent most of our time critiquing each other. The Boston Museum School at that time emphasized finding yourself within your art and then “pushing it” to the limit. I learned to disregard rules and outside critics and to listen to my own voice. Tell me, has COVID affected your life? Your art? Tell us. Yes, COVID, has affected me and caused me to shrink my world with no more meetings with other artists, except by Zoom. Two shows that I was preparing new work for were canceled causing me to lose my focus for awhile. I think my recent painting, “Figments” reflects this time of loss and sadness. Fortunately, I have my garage-converted-to-studio about 30-feet outside my back door here at home. I no longer have the big studio envy for those that have city studios surrounded by working artists. I also maintain another live-in
studio out in the Berkshires for the past 12 years located in North Adams, MA, and I do miss the camaraderie of being with the other Berkshire artists and joining them for dinners, museums trips, and the discussions with debates about art. I am wondering what your life was like when you were a teenager? I always find it interesting because those years shape us in many ways. As a teenager, I was a bit at a loss with no college to work toward. But, in another way, there was no pressure on me to study hard or to get good grades; therefore, I had more time to hang out with friends and to just have fun. I lived at the Jersey Shore (not anything like the TV Show) and there was the beach. I think spending hours, staring at the ocean, greatly influenced my painting in many ways, as perhaps, I am always painting the movement of the sea, the crash of the waves, the surprising melding of color, the reflections of sky and clouds, the drips from the rain, the whirlpools, and the dance with the sandy shore with its thick and thin texture. I graduated highschool at age 17, and was told that I had two weeks to find a job, and start paying board. I guess that abruptly ended my adolescence
and threw me into the adult world. As a teenager, I ended up working in a secret office for three special agents within the Internal Revenue Service. All the local mafia learned my name, as they were continually arrested at that time under “gambling stamp tax” raids. Tell us about the memorable travels you encountered, and about the years you lived in Nova Scotia, please. Do you have art work that was influenced by those places you spent time in? Nova Scotia was our official residence for 10 years, and it is where I started to paint. After the two years away in Florida on my husband’s study leave, I enrolled in university classes. Professor James introduced me to his Alma mater, the Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts, and told such interesting tales of his studies there. Classes with Ian James expanded my concepts of art and painting and increased my yearning to study more, and if possible, at this Boston Museum School. My beginner paintings of Nova Scotia seascapes and landscapes expressed the wildness of nature, Continued on next page...
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 37
KATHERINE BORKOWSKI-BYRNE
Katherine Borkowski-Byrne Rocky Watercolor on Yupa Paper
and the forceful movement that was hard to capture with a paintbrush. More sophisticated people, told me that I painted like “Soutine.” At the library, all I could find was a picture of his “Carcass of Beef.” I thought, “Why do people think I paint like this bloody picture?” I’ve since become a big fan and admirer of Chaim Soutine, and I love that “Carcass of Beef” at the Albright/Knox Museum in Buffalo, NY. Soutine himself was influenced by Rembrandt, my painterly hero. I still do have a portrait painting done in Nova Scotia. As a reward to myself for working a rather demanding and uninspiring day job, I put aside money for traveling, particularly to visit the great art collections of the world. I have visited most major museums in the USA, and visited collections in Montreal, Paris, London, Dublin, Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, Lisbon, Athens, Vienna, and institutions all over Italy and Germany, and even Bucharest, and Krakow. With much difficulty as I’m not fond of tours, I arranged a private trip to visit the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, and found Matisse’s La Danse hanging on the top level worth all the effort. Where is it that you live now, and tell us about your living space, studio, and life. I live 20 miles south of Boston, in an old New England Town called Sharon, in an 100-year old house. The two-car garage was converted into my studio when I took the full-time day job. I live here with my husband Tom, of 51 years. I also bought an even older Victorian House on N. Main Street in North Adams. It is a two-family; and, I rent out one apartment that helps to pay my bills. I keep
another small studio in North Adams mostly for working in acrylic and watercolor. For many years, I was an active member of the NACCO Gallery that was across from Mass MoCA, in North Adams, and I commuted back and forth. Presently, I enjoy membership in the Fountain Street Gallery that is actually not on Fountain Street but in SoWA, in the Boston arts district. What is on your easle at the moment? What is it about? I just started a new painting. I began by attaching a long-haired brush to a broom handle and created a rhythm and flow with lively, thin and thick strokes for an overall composition. Most of my paintings are abstracts about painting and creating something akin to “music for the eyes.” Do you teach art? Sadly, I never got to teach art. Being in the Boston area, it is important to have an MFA degree for teaching positions that I never had the opportunity to pursue. I do think I would be good as a teacher. I would take the Museum School philosophy of helping others to find themselves in art and then guiding them in how to teach themself to find what they need. Tell us why you think all art is vital and important in your life and others as well? Art gives one a higher plane to live upon. As Picasso said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” Also, it is wonderful to have something that one can forever continue to learn and discover something new while doing it. It gives meaning and excitement to life.
38 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
What medium have you tried working in but leaves you frustrated? For me, I think it’s the potters wheel. Watercolor on watercolor paper never worked for me as I am too physical and rough with my approach to painting. I would always tear the paper. Then, someone invented strong Yupo paper and I love playing with it using watercolors, particularly for imaginative landscapes. What has made this summer special for you? This very hot summer has been special for me as our old house in Sharon for over 40 years came with a private back lot with an inground swimming pool surrounded by large trees. I feel like I can now afford to just spend hours sitting outside by the swimming pool, listening to birds, reading books, reflecting, napping and jumping in the water for cooling offs as needed. It is my happy place. Tell us three beliefs you feel is part of your heart and soul to follow. 1. To live more in the moment as this is all we have. 2. To stay close to my family and friends. 3. To appreciate the gifts I have been given. Thank you! Website: http://katherineborkowski-byrne.com
ALEX KAMAROFF One of the greatest abstract hard edge painters in the world.
glendalebrookstudio.com Glendale Brook Studio 27 Church Street Lenox, Massachusetts
413-623-5081
ASTROLOGER
RANDY SPIERS Interview by Harryet Candee
Hi Randy! What’s New? Randy Spiers: Well… like most everyone else... I’m navigating this time of pandemic. It’s really an interesting experience for me, tho’. I find myself enjoying and adjusting to the change even though there is some inconvenience . I feel an increasing sense of home and nest. I am more peaceful. Even at work… working with autistic young men… I feel greater sensitivity about so many things. As a result of these feelings and experiences I have chosen to pick up where I left off about a year and a half ago with astrology. Nothing gives me more joy than being an astrologer. It is a way to get to know people from the inside out. When I look at a client’s astrology chart I am able to get a sense of who they are well before they come into my office. Do you miss living in the Berkshires? I miss the Berkshires a great deal. I can recall awesome concerts at Tanglewood. I “took care of” Peter, Paul and Mary backstage. I hung out with Arlo at Kripalu Center on many a day. I hosted Roberta Flack while she visited at Kripalu then was invited to come visit her in New York home. Kripalu Center was home for fifteen years. I lived in the Sumneytown, PA site, Summit Station, PA site and the Berkshires location. I loved conscious living with it’s yoga, meditation and breathing exercise. I was the founder and manager of the Kripalu Shop. This is where I learned about retailing. It was after leaving the Kripalu Shop that I
Photographs supplied by Randy
started Hippolings with my partner. Hippolings was “New Age” store in Lenox. That was a dynamite experience. Where do you live now, and how is life there compared to here? I have the good fortune of living in Asheville, NC. It’s kind of a stretch but I would call Asheville and Lenox “twin cities.” Yes, Asheville is sprawling and full of interstates compared to Lenox but there is a sense of community and consciousness in the two towns which is remarkable. The two towns are downright compatible. Yoga studios, health food stores, specialty shops, incredible restaurants and so on. You name it… Asheville and Lenox have it! You are still very strongly involved in astrology. Can you tell us why you have such an interest? My romance with astrology began in Richmond, VA when I was 10 years old. I went with my brother (nine years my senior) into a bookstore so he could look for books to read. He was an avid reader. I definitely was not. I saw a book that stopped me cold in my steps. It was a book by Max Heindl who was an astrologer in the early 20th century. I was spellbound by the book. The photos, the drawings, the zodiac signs… they made my eyes bug out. I asked my mother if she would buy me the book. She did... allowing Max Heindl’s “Simplified Scientific Astrology” to go home with me. I looked endlessly at the pages and drawings. This was my start in astrology.
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While living at Kripalu Center I was introduced to one resident who I had known for several years. This gentleman was an incredible astrologer. I knew next to nothing about astrology when I met him but my curiosity was definitely piqued given my past experience with Max Heindl’s tome. I ended up chatting several times about the planets and stars with my new friend. Around that time I moved out of Kripalu in order that I could work in my own store with my partner. The store was called Hippoling’s. At our store I made the acquaintance of Jackie Wescott who mentioned she was going to give an astrology workshop for beginners in her home. She asked if I wanted to attend and I excitedly said “Yes.” I was in Heaven! Jackie Wescott is the best! She provide and incredible learning experience to me. Now, especially, with so much going on, your readings must be off the chart. I wonder, can you explain what retrograde actually means? Retrograde motion is an apparent (not real… apparent) change in the movement of a planet through the sky. It is not real in that the planet does not physically start moving backwards in its orbit. It simply appears to do so because of the relative positions of that planet and Earth and how they are moving around the Sun. Got that? And from a layman’s perspective, how does one begin to understand the art of astrology? The planets all have a function. Figuratively speak-
Sample of a Chart
ing they all have chores to tend to. Therefore planets need to be viewed as part and parcel of your life... or the “life” of the collective. Some planets are great for helping a person to relax such as the Moon. The Sun will bring forth food from the earth for us to eat. Venus opens us to caring and loving. Pluto takes one to their deepest… sometimes darkest... self whether it be for reflection or self-reconstruction. The list goes on. The house system… the 12 houses in one’s chart… contribute to this process as well. The 3rd House helps us to think and communicate more effectively. The 7th House allows other persons into our lives through sensitivity and partnerships. The first thing that a student of astrology should learn is where these various energies come from in their own chart. Once you have done that you can apply the same principals to a client’s chart. Randy, what qualifies you a master astrologist? As I mentioned above, it takes time to effectively fit together everything one should learn about astrology. You need to take things a step at a time. Fortunately there are awesome books and teachers that one can learn from. The real answer to your question is to “master” things one at a time. “Master” does not just mean “understand”. It means “understand” and “know why”. Start with something like “Spiritual Astrology: A Path to Awakening” by Jan Spiller and Karen McCoy. Read it until it all sinks in. Then go to the next level… you’ll know it when you feel it. Another great book is Steven Arroyo’s “Chart Interpretation Handbook.” . So, then, can I ask you, where does the universe go after what we can humanly see? There is so much we just don’t know. Thoughts? I know a guy in India… Let me try and ring him up on the phone. Hold on… Darn line is busy. There is indeed a lot we just don’t know. BUT… you are in It and It is in you. Do you give personal readings to people? Why is it they need exact time of birth? My favorite part of being an astrologer is giving readings to clients and friends. It is touching for me to have an individual trust me about the most important things in their life. The thing I like the best is bonding… getting a sense of what it’s like
to be the other person. If a client does not have the correct time of their birth their chart won’t be 100% accurate. This can be a real dilemma. If you think you were born at 10:30 am but it was really 10:30 pm you will potentially have a big problem with interpretation. I always suggest that if you are uncertain about your birth time, get a copy of your birth certificate Can animals get their astrological readings done for pet owners? I have done this only once for my dogs. On a scale of 1 to 10 I would rate the accuracy of the experience a 4. Don’t bother. What makes your world beautiful? My beloved partner, my beloved dogs, my beloved friends, my beloved brother, working with autistic young persons. Sitting with an astrology client. What do the stars tell us about the coming up months as we head towards 2021? Is that too vague of a question? How does one come up with a good question to ask an astrologer? There are four retrograde planets at this time…. Pluto, Neptune, Uranus, Saturn and Jupiter. By January 14th they will all have completed their retrogradation. Around this time so much will have been lifted off of us both physically and psychically. Do not think about returning to “normal”. “Things” will never be the same again. We have taken a necessary detour and now we are on a different road. It is so important that everyone not expect to “go backward”. Remember what we have done and all we have gone through. Our consciousness has shifted. What determines an astrologer to be a good one, or not a good one? An astrologer needs to give information to their client when needed. Particularly if he… the astrologer... is the seer of what is to come. An astrologer who sits and blabs for an hour is going to end up with a sleeping client. The astrologer must listen with his Soul. This makes him a real astrologer… an actual helping professional.
The planets are the teachers of the zodiac. Learn about them then listen to them. Really… you will hear them from inside of you. And do you know why? Because you asked. Who were your teachers? How did they compare and contrast to each other? My two teachers were Ernst Wilhelm and Jackie Westcott. Ernst is the best Vedic astrologer ever anywhere in the Universe! Similarly, Jackie Wescott was my first teacher of Western Astrology. Her training was out of this world. She made everything so easy to learn. What impact does history have on the events that take place in the present time from an astrologer’s point of view? Let’s look at one event from history. Currently planets Jupiter and Pluto are close to conjunct one another. This means they are moving through the same degree(s) of the zodiac at the same time. That would be 22 to 23 degrees of Capricorn. The last time Jupiter and Pluto shared this specific 22 to 23 degree area in Capricorn was in 1771 during the Russian Plague. That was exactly 250 years ago. Much of the Russian population was decimated by the Russian Plague and believe it or not… the queen wanted no one to know the truth about what was happening. Sound familiar? Let people die? Hide the truth? There is a lot to be learned here. And it is astrology that can offer the evidence. Is there anything new and exciting going on in the Astrology world for you? It feels really delightful to be putting my energy into things that I have loved so much. How can we get in touch with you, Randy? 828-333-0906 or randy.astrology@gmail.com Thank you!
What can one do to get to a deeper level of understanding of the stars and how they affect our lives? THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 41
The Drawing Lesson RICHARD BRITELL
About three years ago I began teaching a five year old to play the piano. In the past I have taught piano, but the most awkward moment in the piano lesson was that few minutes after it was over when you had to be paid. For some reason I hate to be paid for teaching piano, but I will not offer any explanation. Why should I explain something so obvious as why it is wrong to be paid to teach piano? No, I should have been the one to pay, pay for the opportunity to be allowed to instruct a five year old in music. But I didn’t pay for the privilege, at least not at first I didn’t. But I did stipulate that the lessons had to be free, and the mother of the five year old agreed if only I would consent to take some vegetables from their garden home each week as a form of payment. This I said I would do. As the summer was just beginning, this form of payment was used for a while, but when fall came it became obvious that some new form of compensation was needed. At the end of September I offered this arrangement. I suggested that my piano student do a drawing each week and pay for her piano lesson with the drawing. I had explained in the past that I was an artist and often sold my paintings and drawings. “Drawings are worth money aren’t they?” And to this idea she readily agreed. Then, for many weeks when I arrived for her lesson she formally offered me her drawing, created during the week, sometimes with great care, and sometimes dashed off as I was coming up the walk. The price of the piano lessons was $25 dollars, and her drawings were considered to be worth that exact same amount, but that amount was quite arbitrary, arrived at only by convenience. Then one day when I arrived my piano student informed me that her drawing was not a twentyfive dollar drawing, but this most recent work was two hundred, two hundred dollars, exactly. She asked me if I would be able to make change for the drawing. Subtracting twenty-five from the two hundred left a hundred and seventy-five. She agreed to take the change in small drawings of various denominations. Everyone knows that the only reliable measure of value when it comes to art is the question of size. “A tiny drawing by Rembrandt could be worth thousands,” you might object, but a larger drawing by Rembrandt will invariable be worth much more. So
she was correct to expect the change to be rendered in small drawings, which I began to produce during the week in preparation for her piano lesson. Perhaps you might imagine that making these drawings might have become a bother and a nuisance, but you would be wrong, it was just the opposite. The drawing created for change became very important, and I especially was concerned that she would like my drawings. I wanted her to like my drawings instantly, and not after any kind of thoughtful consideration, and especially not after any skeptical questioning. A five year old has a precise and invariable reaction to something she likes, she will yell out “Mommy, Mommy, look at what Richard drew. ” You might think that a review in the New York Times is something to be proud of, and perhaps you might be right, but to my mind, “Mommy Mommy, ” is a more significant accomplishment. Inevitably, after some time of the exchange of drawings, the activity of creating drawings and paintings became a part of the piano lesson. The piano lesson itself was progressing very slowly, perhaps because of the young age of my student. At the beginning her idea of piano playing consisted of pressing down as many notes on the keyboard as possible, even resorting to the use of a yardstick to hold as many notes down at once. She also loved to press notes down with her entire left hand, while pressing the buttons and turning knobs to alter the sound, as it was an electric piano. I did make attempts to instill in her the concept of “one note at a time,” using one finger at a time, but there is not the slightest element of discipline in my approach to teaching, and I am the sort of teacher that would much prefer to hear a child playing the piano with a baseball bat, as opposed to that Bach gavotte you have heard a billion times at grade school recitals. I know John Cage would agree with me, even though I despise Mr. Cage and the presumptuous idiotic noise he called music. Is he dead now? I don’t know but I hope so. I would occasionally make attempts to interrupt her tendency to play the piano only with her palms. For example sometimes she would use both hands at once, employing a variation consisting of having her hands land close together, and then far apart. At other times she created a variation by playing first the left and then the right hand alternately. A logical extension of these patterns of hers might have been to suggest the introduction of a rhythm, for example, one hit with the left hand and twice with the right, and that would lead perhaps to twice with the left hand and twice with the right, treating the keyboard as a sort of percussion instrument. It was easy for me to picture in my mind her willing acceptance of these ideas, and I could even imagine an entire lesson where we might alternately invent various rhythms, I would suggest one pattern and she would invent another. That idea turned out to be simply the daydream of a person long unacquainted with the stubborn intransigence of a five year old. If my piano student suspected, just by the slightest change in the tone of my voice, that I was going to suggest anything new, she would bow her head down to the keys, and then extend her
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arms to cover all the keys at once thereby symbolically conveying to me that she was going to have nothing to do with any suggestions I intended to offer her. Banging on the piano with her fists and her palms continued for about a year. Some time after her 6th birthday we arrived at the skill of playing individual notes with specific fingers, and this was probably a turning point. I recall an absurd conversation with the mother in the form of a progress report, in which I commended my student on having graduated from handwork to finger work. Don’t think that I was not sometimes discouraged by my lack of progress in the conventional sense. For years I have been familiar with videos that present well groomed little three year olds dressed in tuxedos, bowing and sitting down at gigantic black Steinway pianos in a hall someplace, and with a serious bow of the head, launch into a Bach Fugue, and play it faultlessly, even the trills. You can dismiss what I am about to say as an expression of the frustration of a failed piano teacher, a person who has perhaps even failed in many other aspects of life, a person perhaps congenitally unable to appreciate the accomplishments of others. But I can’t stand the sight of virtuoso children, and have to turn away after just a minute. I don’t like virtuoso piano, or virtuoso violin or virtuoso anything, because it looks to me like the result of discipline, discipline with a capital D. I could be wrong, but I think childhood virtuosity is attained by punishments, constant relentless punishments. There are punishments that only the parent can inflict, not physical punishments, but simply the act of the withdrawal of approval repeated over and over again, until the child, crushed in their innermost being, becomes an accomplished performer. “But what of Yo-Yo Ma,” you say? Is he some sort of crushed victim of childhood repression, or simply one of the most fortunate individuals who ever lived? You are correct to bring Yo-Yo up, and so I will admit to you that, because of YoYo Ma, I am wrong, but still, I suspect that YoYo stands on the top of a mountain of emotionally damaged children. I for one experienced just the thing I am trying hopelessly to explain. At five years old I could not tie my shoes. My father, sitting on the stairs a few steps below me was attempting to explain. He was saying, “Make a loop, tie it around and push it through.” I did not know what his words meant, but after his third attempt he gave up with a look of frustration. All these years later I recall that look, and what it signified. It signified that I was, “a slow child”. My Mother made a serious attempt to encourage me by frequently saying to me, “Now Dicky, you’re not stupid.” She said this repeatedly through out my childhood, and it wasn’t until I was past middle age that I realized how correct she was. But then, after a year of almost no progress at the piano the question arises, “How did I view my student, and her prospects.” I will offer this description of her. She was an unusually intelligent child who manifested an iron, rigid determination never to learn anything form anybody,
except herself, and my attachment to teaching her can therefore easily be understood since that was also an exact description of myself. The business of playing the piano with her fists had an equivalent expression in the visual arts. Shortly after her piano lessons started I began to introduce a session of drawing to the lesson. On the dinning room table was a drawing pad and some magic markers. I picked up the pad and drew a red circle in the middle of the page. Having completed my circle I handed the pad to her and asked her to ad something. She took the marker and scribbled all over her side of the page. She stopped for a moment and looked up at me questioningly to see how I would react. When she detected no reaction she proceeded to extend her scribbling to cover my red circle which at first she has spared. I said, “Now it is my turn again,” and I took a different marker and drew another shape on the paper, ignoring her scribbles. I handed the pad to her again indicating that it was her turn to draw, and she did something that took me completely by surprise. She took all of the markers at once, grasped them in her fist and then scribbled all over the paper again with all the markers at once. She did this in a kind of bemused defiance, just to see how I would react to what she imagined was a kind of deliberated disobedience. Regardless of the scribbling, interactions involving drawing now became a regular part of our weekly lesson, and her contribution was to scribble all over whatever idea I was trying to explain to her. She was going on six years old at this time and I had observed that she had long ago developed all the various drawing skills one expects at that age. There were examples all over the house of her drawings with the characteristic ground line, figures with clothes and faces, trees and houses, and always above all the yellow sun with its rays in the upper left had corner. And yet I patiently allowed her to scribble over everything we would set out to draw, but then one day I pulled a devious trick on her, one that she could never have imagined or anticipated. I introduced her to the works of Cy Twombly, the greatest scribbler of all time.
Twombly I suppose you could divide the population into two groups; those who know who Cy Twombly is, and those who do not. Those who have never heard of him would be by far the larger group. You might find that those who know his work hold him in high regard, as one of the important but lesser known modern abstract artists. He has attained that
stature in the art world that you can be certain, if you go to the library you will be able to find a large coffee table book devoted to his life’s work. And so, I went to the library, and I got out a huge volume of his collected works, and I brought it to the piano lesson, and I showed it to my six year old student, to show her that one could become world famous for one’s scribbling. I have to stop right here and state that I will not be dragged into any sort of art discussion examining the question of whether Cy’s paintings are more than scribbling. Obviously there is composition, I am aware that there is sensitivity to color, I can’t deny that his obscure archaic titles point to deep meanings, but I am talking about the understanding and perceptions of a six year old, who is not going to be impressed with the idiotic things docents say in museums. A six year old knows scribbles when she sees them, and so do I, and that is all there is to it. Perhaps you imagine that in this instance my plan was to try to impress my student with the fame of the scribbles in the book, but my objective was the opposite, it was my intention to criticize Twombly, and my criticism was sincere. Here is what I said, “This artist is a very famous artist, and he is famous for his scribbling. When he scribbles he is trying his hardest to be a child, and he wants his marks to look just like a child might do, but you are a true child, and your scribbles are the real scribbles, a thing that Mr. Twombly can only hope to imitate. So you see, your scribbles are better than the ones in this book, and you are the better artist, because your things are more true.” I was uncertain whether my student would understand my argument about Twombly, but I discovered instantly that she comprehended the critique entirely. She shouted out, “Mommy Mommy, Mommy Mommy.” Then she grasped the book in both hands, ran into the living room and declared to her Mother, “My scribbles are better than these scribbles.” It was a double, “Mommy Mommy.” I was pleased with the success of my critique of Twombly, and its effect on my piano student, but there was something about it that bothered me. I thought that her extreme reaction had more to do with the compliment, than the art history lesson, because, although I had been teaching her for a year and a half, I had hardly ever complimented her on anything. This might sound strange, but it is true. There was one exception. When I told my daughter about my failure to make any progress at the piano she asked me this question, “Are you giving her any stars?” I did not even know what Julia was talking about. What did stars have to do with teaching a child to play the piano? “Everything,” I was told, stars are the best and most often used stimulus for children to learn. “Isn’t it a kind of manipulation,” I asked? “Isn’t a Twombly lecture a kind of manipulation?” If a child draws a picture they will be told by any adult that the drawing is beautiful. This is an automatic response. Once in a while an adult will append a question to the complement, in order to feign interest in the child’s work of art. I do not know why it is, but children become utterly and completely absorbed in their drawing, and it has always seemed to me that telling them that their things are “beautiful,” in an automatic way is an inadequate response. But I am an artist and so I am aware that the life of the artist consists of a lifetime
of meaningless praise. So I did not complement my piano students drawings and paintings but that is not to say I did not appreciate her things. She was now seven, and the exercise of my drawing something on paper and her scribbling all over the page had slowly evolved into something both strange and beautiful. We would place two pieces of paper side by side and she would begin a drawing, and then pause, and I would, to the best of my ability, duplicate her drawing on my piece of paper. Then she would continue her drawing, and I would copy it line for line, all the while describing with words what I was doing. So I might say, “This half circle of the sun starts here, about an inch down, and ends here about an inch over, and twists and gets lighter as it ends.”She would respond, “That very good Richard, you are doing a good job.” When our two identical drawings were done they were pasted up side by side around the wall over the piano. It was not possible to detect who had drawn which drawing. Since she was now seven, her piano skills began to improve, she composed a song, and wrote it out on paper, and improvised a version of it. You can see this manuscript below. It was called, “I love my Mom.” So finally, after two years me student was learning to play the piano, and she was entirely absorbed in her drawing and painting each week, to pay for her lessons, and I was absorbed in producing little drawing and paintings for her to give her as change for her two hundred dollar paintings and drawings. And then she and her Mother moved away, so ended the drawing lessons.
RICHARD BRITELL: FROM THE BLOG NO CURE FOR THE MEDIEVAL MIND
THE ARTFUL MIND SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 • 43
MARGUERITE BRIDE, WATERCOLOR
MARGUERITE BRIDE WATERCOLORS
“FRIENDLY CREATURE” (2020) BY KATRIN WAITE
Our minds are going in a dozen different directions these days, filled with uncertainties, worries and concerns. And now it is fall, and guess what is right around the corner???? The holidays! Something else to think about! Want to get your holiday gift-giving decisions made now? How about a house portrait, or a custom painting of a special scene for that special someone? Marguerite Bride is a Berkshires-based watercolor artist. Besides painting local and regional scenes, Bride specializes in creating custom watercolors…..in particular, house portraits, and paintings of very personal and meaningful places. “I tend to get crazy busy in the fall (well, who knows what this fall will bring...could be even busier...one can hope!). Lots of folks like to have a snowy winter scene done so they can make holiday cards. Something special for the folks? Get together with your sibs...you can be the holiday hero! Think about it...I'm here...painting away and happy to answer any/all your questions. Visit my website and click on the "Commissioning a House Portrait" line.” Marguerite Bride – 413-841-1659 or 413442-7718; margebride-paintings.com; margebride@aol.com; Facebook: Marguerite Bride Watercolors.
“There are no rules. That is how art is born, how breakthroughs happen. Go against the rules or ignore the rules. That is what invention is about.” – Helen Frankenthaler
SALEM ART WORKS Salem Art Works (SAW), has made a series of recent property improvements to help welcome visitors to the Cary Hill Sculpture park. These improvements are designed to ease in accessibility for guests and will help set SAW up for next season’s programming. Improvement projects include: • A new road behind Barn 2 • New walkways throughout the campus • Roofs on the tent platforms • Regrading of steep areas of the landscape • Improvements to the pond for easier access • Enclosing the welding bays to offer yearround access While SAW’s general programming for the public and artist residencies is on hold, the sculpture park offers a wonderful opportunity to enjoy nature among world-class artwork and bucolic views of Vermont’s Green Mountains and surrounding Washington County, New York. The park features mostly open terrain that can be walked or driven, allowing ease of social distancing and maintaining health protocols. Like any organization, SAW recommends that all visitors observe the recommended personto-person distance of at least 6 feet and to wear masks when close to others from different households. The sculpture park is free and open from dawn to dusk daily. Salem Art Works is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit art center and sculpture park located in rural Upstate New York. Founded in 2005 by artist Anthony Cafritz, Salem Art Works is dedicated to supporting both emerging and established artists in the creation of new and progressive work, as well as promoting the understanding and appreciation of contemporary art within the region. Salem Art Works – www.salemartworks.org 518-854-7674
Take time to promote your art ... artful mind can help! artfulmind@yahoo.com
44 • SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2020 THE ARTFUL MIND
“10-10-19, JOURNAL” (2019) BY REG DARLING
ELLENBOGEN GALLERY Katrin Waite captures the fragile nature of memory and its many facets. Painting opens doors for interaction with memories revealing worlds that are never complete. Upon opening these doors, memories choose their own path, turning and transforming but never letting go. That which remains makes them valuable. Waite’s 2014 to present solo retrospective, “What Remains | Treasured Memories” has been extended through October 10, 2020. On a 2019 trip to a part of the Kingdom of Denmark, an archipelago comprised of 18 rocky, volcanic islands between Iceland and Norway connected by road tunnels, ferries, causeways and bridges known as the Faroe Islands, Reginald Darling encountered forms and spaces in nature that resonated with his approach to thinking and painting along nonrepresentational lines. Many of these breathtaking vistas have been captured by Darling, applying his unique visual language to all paintings, in his upcoming exhibition, “Impressions from the Faroe Islands”, opens Wednesday, September 30, 2020. Ellenbogen Gallery is a 7000 square foot open plan gallery featuring the contemporary artworks of 20+ artists with a focus on nonrepresentational and conceptual art, providing an opportunity for anyone to start building or expanding a collection of original artworks. The gallery also provides services to artists and collectors that include photographing and scanning of original artworks for reproduction, marketing and archival purposes. Ellenbogen Gallery - 263 Depot St., Manchester, Vermont; Hours: Wed-Sat, 11-6, or, by appointment. ellenbogengallery@gmail.com; (802) 768-8498; e-commerce 24/7/365; www.ellenbogengallery.art; Facebook/Instagram @ellenbogengallery.
EDWARD ACKER PHOTOGRAPHER
Time Flies D Get Pictures EdwardAckerPhotographer.com 413-446-8348