The Artful Mind . May 2023

THE ARTFUL MIND

RICHARD ALAN COHEN Photograph By Edward Acker

MAY

The Fine Art of Printing Fine Art.

Playa Santa 22 — Virginia Bradley

Deborah H Carter

Upcycled Wearable Art

Instagram: @deborah_h_carter

debhcarter@yahoo.com

Clock Tower Artists. Studio 315. 3rd floor

75 South Church St. Pittsfield MA

Eric Korenman Photography www.Korenman.com

Model: Tom Frelinghuysen @nogramthomas

Represented by The WIT Gallery

THE ARTFUL MIND

MAY 2023

A magazine for art, artists and you.

RICHARD ALAN COHEN

Photographic Image Maker

INTERVIEW BY H CANDEE PHOTOGRAPHY BY EDWARD ACKER 14

HARRISON LEVENSTEIN

Ceramist / Woodfire Potter

INTERVIEW BY H CANDEE 22

THE ARTFUL MIND VIRTUAL GALLERY / MAY ...32

ASTROLOGY FOR CREATIVES

With Deanna Musgrave - May 2023 43

RICHARD BRITELL | FICTION

The Queen’s Dog Rex. Conclusion ...44

Publisher Harryet Candee

Copy Editor Marguerite Bride

Third Eye Jeff Bynack

Advertising and Graphic Design Harryet Candee

Contributing Writers

Richard Britell

Deanna Musgrave

Contributing Photographers

Edward Acker

Tasja Keetman

Bobby Miller

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

FB Open Group: ART GALLERY for artful minds

The Artful Mind PO Box 985

Great Barrington, MA 01230

Gallery

Psilocybin Picnic Acrylic on canvas.

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KATE KNAPP, PORTAIT OF THE HEAD MASTER, OIL ON CANVAS, 30” X 40”

Erika Larskaya

"As an abstract artist, I search for ways to represent the invisible, subtle, and unexpressed. I am driven to lay out fleeting and intangible experiences on physical surfaces". —Erika Larskaya

Erika Larskaya Studio at 79 Main St. Torrington, CT www.erikalarskaya.art

“Pointless Fears” mixed media on canvas 36 x 36 inches

Ruby Aver

Don Longo Berkshire Memories

rdaver2@gmail.com

Instagram: rdaver2. Housatonic Studio open by appointment: 413-854-7007

www.donlongoart.com

Ghetta Hirsch

Home Studio Visits by appointment: 413. 597. 1716

ghetta-hirsch.squarespace.com

Ghettagh@gmail.com

The City Series no. 5 Fashion in Boston Commons Acrylic on canvas 20” x 20”

"A Drive in Upper Tyringham" 36" x 24" Acrylics on a 1.5" stretched canvas frame

April Snow oil on canvas 20” x 20”

Sally Tiska Rice

"The Shed"At Tanglewood Watercolor on cold press paper Matted and framed 16"x 20"

My New Hat Series #56 Acrylic 42 x 34”

ERIKA LARSKAYA

Confinement and Breakaway examine the mental state of struggle to make sense of our environment, both physical and psychological. I incorporate childlike drawing to represent nonconformity; the unadulterated state before we get confined by rules, commitment, insecurities, and other “add-ons.”

“I distress and repair parts of the painting, as we do within ourselves. The drawings of floor plans and elevations, which I use as a starting point, create a sense of enclosure, which I expand by continuing the lines outward, breaking the structural pattern. This alters the sense of confinement, breaking away from the [rigid, static] norm”.

Erika Larskaya - https://www.erikalarskaya.art

RUBY AVER STREET ZEN

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

Teaching Tai Chi for the last 30 years requires a Zen state of mind. My paintings come from this quiet place yet exhibit the rich grit of my youth. Movement, shape and color dominate.

Ruby Aver - 413-854-7007 rdaver2@gmail.com, Instagram: rdaver2

BRUCE PANOCK

The core of my work is landscape. But it is only the beginning. I use the landscape to help me share how I see what is around me. My work incorporates my dreams, how I see the social conflict that is part of our lives today, how I see what we are doing to our earth.

Though due to my health I am relegated to the digital darkroom, I refer to the photographers and methods used in the past, whether film photography, wet plate methods, or such other methods as were used. Among the photographers who have inspired me are Anne Brigman, John Gossage, Jerry Uelsmann, Dorothea Lange, and Sally Mann. I also refer heavily to Japanese Brush Painting, and the Abstract Expressionists.

Bruce Panock - 917-287-8589

www.panockphotography.com

bruce@panockphotography.com

PATH OF LIFE, PHOTOGRAPH

SOLO SKY ROCKET, ACRYLIC ON CANVAS, 12” X 12”

WAKING UP TO A NEW DAY, FROM BREAKAWAY SERIES 36" X 48" MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS

An Invitation from the Faerie Queen

A timeless traveler from a magical realm

I am happy to announce that I shall return To the Berkshire Mountains Faerie Festival On June 17th, from 10 am - 9 pm

At Bowe Field in Adams, MA.

Please come in costume if you wish To celebrate the arts and creativity

The admission is $12 for adults

Ages 6 - 12 $5

Children Five and Under Free

There will be storytelling

A Faerie Village Music and puppets

Merchants and artisans

Enchanting Delectables And so much more!

Come to my Queen's pavilion

And I shall send you on a quest For faerie wings and other things

And tell you ancient stories

From our faerie lore.

Portrait of the Faerie Queen by Deirdre Flynn Sullivan

MOLLIE KELLOGG You Are Magick!

You are magick! New work at Art on Main Gallery, 38 Main St, West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, July 14 - 24, 2023. A reception will be held on July 15.

Incognito Witch works reveal the subject’s hidden psyche, suppressed to meet society’s expectations. Mortals become magickal beings draped in mysterious fabrics, adorned with jewels and leaves, wearing messy makeup with a signature flash of color under the eyes. These figures evoke a Mother Nature archetype of power, strength, attraction, empathy and vulnerability.

I see my art as a way to promote self-acceptance, laughter, play, healing, community and personal possibility. The inner magick message resonates with like-minded individuals, participants, and organizations that support a mission to change the world through art.

Mollie Kellogg - www.molliekellogg.com; artist@molliekellogg.com; 413-242-4108; facebook.com/Artwork.MollieKellogg

GHETTA HIRSCH

When traveling, it is easier to work on a lighter substrate, and Arches paper is just wonderful for that. Thick and toothy, it is the closest to canvas, does not buckle, and the oil paint will dry quickly. I started using this paper in the spring of 2022 and seem to enjoy this surface more and more as I can paint seated at a table. Again, when I am not home, it is a challenge to carry an easel and canvases, so I appreciate working on a flat surface. The paper can be fixed down with painter’s tape, and I use a palette knife that is easier to carry than all my brushes.

I am sharing with you today “The Crane” which is an abstract rendition of toppled buildings created by a recent earthquake but could just as well represent the increasing consequences of a changing climate and the worry about tornadoes or earth slides. We can rebuild, but the destruction is still hitting us badly. I am sorry to see the effect of climate and pollution on our beautiful earth, especially as nature has always been the healing gift of my life.

I will be exhibiting at Kimball Farms in Lenox, Massachusetts in May. My studio in Williamstown will be opened for your Thursday visits if you wish to see more of my artwork. I would also accommodate a visit on any other day of the week if you let me know.

Ghetta Hirsch - Call or text 413-597-1716; ghetta-hirsch.squarespace.com; Instagram@ghettahirschpaintings.

ESTABLISHED GALLERY BUSINESS IN THE BERKSHIRES

This is an opportunity to acquire a successful, reputable gallery location with established traffic and more than 40-year presence in the center of southern Berkshire County. The existing gallery is nationally renowned. Assume negotiated lease with reasonable rent, lighting, pedestals, and all security system.

Please send inquires to— Berkshireartgal@gmail.com

MODEL:

SMALL

TITLE: SIT…DOWN

DEBORAH H. CARTER MULTI-MEDIA ARTIST

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

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

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

She has been featured in the Spring 2023 What Women Create magazine, and her work was on the front and back covers.

Deborah Carter - Clock Tower Artists, 75 S. Church St., Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Studio 315, 3rd floor. Instagram: @deborah_h_carter, Debhcarter@yahoo.com, 413-441-3220. Ogden Gigli Photography, Model: @brookemonzter; represented by The WIT Gallery.

MOLLIE-KELLOGG (CREDIT-PETYR-CIRINO)

THE CRANE, OIL ON ARCHES PAPER 11” X 14”

PHOTOGRAPHER:OGDEN GIGLI

BROOKE ROY @BROOKEMONZTER

CHAIRS BY YINA MOORE@ADAMSTHEATER

RICHARD ALAN COHEN PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE MAKER

“I create photographic images to highlight my reverential relationship with the environment through which I walk daily. I take natural details like streams, waterfalls, tree stumps and plants, and put them into a new context to build conceptual landscapes. I try to make my images provide a larger perspective that emphasizes the importance of climate change to even the smallest niches within nature. I often give my images an otherworldly appearance to impart distance from the ordinary reality in which these spaces are threatened by global warming and to pay them respect as places of beauty.”

Interview by Harryet Candee Cover Photograph by Edward Acker

Harryet Candee: While you were actively involved in your biomedical research career of 40 years, what over the course of time did you find to be most interesting and challenging?

Richard Alan Cohen: Science, like art, is all about ideas. There were the challenges of working in teams of students, technicians, and colleagues, of convincing piers that the work was good enough to put federal grant dollars into it, and of the long hours required to bring an idea to fruition. But, it was the development of the concepts which drove the work, to be sure they were solid and worthy, that was the most difficult and the most rewarding.

Can you explain some key points regarding the research, goals and challenges you did over those years?

RAC: Soon after I began in vascular research the discovery was made that the lining cells of blood vessels was key to their normal function. I took

that key finding and devoted my career to determining how diseases like diabetes and atherosclerosis disturbed that function and resulted in vascular disease. It turned out that the function of those lining cells was affected within hours by high sugar or cholesterol lipid levels, and the study of how to prevent and reverse that abnormal function led to current understanding and treatments for vascular disease. Many of your readers take medicines to lower blood sugar and lipids based on the many studies that showed that they prevent the dysfunction of those lining cells and the resulting long term vascular disease.

What originally drew your interest to the world of natural science?

RAC: Well, I grew up in Maine, and it was all around me. I also had great mentors in sciences. That can be very persuasive in choosing a career. Then there was the “natural wonder” that the sciences brought – but so did art!

You co-majored at Bowdoin College in art and science; that must have been like bringing chocolate and peanut butter together in one candy bar. What sort of art classes did you take?

RAC: Absolutely, and I like chocolate and peanut butter very, very much! In college, I was fascinated by draftmanship, and I still doodle alot! It has something to do with that amazing thing that happens when your brain transforms a 3D object into 2D image. I’m still fascinated by that same transformation that happens in my camera. I drew anything and everything nearby, and also developed the drawings into etchings and aquatints. One of my etchings from my senior thesis, was given first prize by a reviewer and appears somewhere in the annals of Portland Press Herald newspaper Sunday Arts section. It still hangs in our hallway. It turns out it’s archival!

Was there anything in particular that guided and trained your eye to see while on the job as a bio-

FEARLESS BEAUTY 1

medical researcher that sparked curiosity to pick up photography as a fine art?

RAC: Modern biomedical science uses all kinds of imaging technologies. Once you understand how they work and what they can do, they open up worlds of possibilities and potential understanding. That’s one of the arts in science. As you might imagine, as a photographer, I treat my camera the same way. I almost never just click the shutter. When I’m interested in something, I take many images of it, sometimes compositing them into a new thing altogether. My recent work on agaves in the high deserts of Mexico is a good example. Many of these images are each composed of 50-100 images shot of a subject during an hour or more, from different angles, or even on different days.. All the technology is not used for technology’s sake but to make me, and hopefully the viewer, feel the way I do when seeing my subject. In this case, I want to feel the “fearsome beauty” of an agave, or the “mysterious beauty” of an otherworldly landscape.

Is there an interesting story you want to share about your decision to go from science to art?

RAC: What was going on in your life at the time?

I’d spent 4 years realizing that both art and science offered stimulating ideas and challenges.

I was having a ball (weren’t we all?), but graduation was kind of D-day. Decision time came down to a choice of working in an environment with teams of people trying to benefit others or taking a more solitary route in developing my art. When my science career was winding down, it was natural for me to return to my own art. It’s a wonderful switch, because I now have all the tools with which to develop my ideas on my own.

The “Passages” series gives me a sense of balance between life and death and renewal. Tell us more about this body of work. I can relate to this series because I visited the Botanical Gardens every season growing up in the Bronx, and I know just what you mean.

RAC: In many of my series, life, death, and renewal are themes. Clean boat hulls, fresh plants, and healthy trees are lovely, but the real character in life comes with aging, resilience, and persistence! I appreciate this theme more and more! And where there is aging, there is always regeneration. The agaves and rotting tree trunks in my images are always thriving with new growth. This theme is also, of course, the title of Passage. Plants, trees and flowers, often in their last stages are shown against the background of worn and distressed textures of boat hulls to emphasize the aging pro-

cess. In all my series, though, I also emphasize that aging and life’s end can be beautiful.

It must have felt exhilarating to see the flow of your work take shape and present itself on walls in public spaces. To see your work in galleries, such as Kingman Gallery, Maine; Davis-Orton Gallery, NY; Sohn Fine Art, MA., to receive first prize in a show by an art museum director, and to have collectors want to purchase your work, and more! How much work did it all take you to get to this level? Did you do it alone?

RAC: The desire to show my work to others, and exhibiting it in galleries really comes naturally to me, again because of my earlier career. I presented my scientific work in many national and international meetings, and published hundreds of papers to represent the work produced by my team. Being invited to share my artwork in shows and galleries, or when it has been purchased by experienced collectors is similarly rewarding. It indicates to me that the idea being represented is done so clearly and, I hope, beautifully. In my art career as in my scientific career, I have been blessed by wonderful mentors. When I was thinking of making the switch, I took a semester long seminar and critique course at the Griffin Museum Continued on next page...

RICHARD ALAN COHEN, WATERLINE 11

RICHARD ALAN COHEN PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE MAKER

RICHARD ALAN COHEN, MOONLIT 1,

RICHARD ALAN COHEN, PLANET FALLS

of Photography, and, Bill Morse, a master printer, introduced me to Photoshop and showed me how best to present my work. I’ve also been supported by a wonderful photography critique group led by Emily Belz. I owe them a lot for getting me to see that I could make the transition successfully. And lastly, my wife is my first and best instantaneous critic. Luckily, we have a strong relationship!

I recently showed six-year-old Jaxson your photograph, Moonlit -1. Do you know what he immediately asked me in response? “Did you actually go there?” “Can I go there too?” What responses do you hear from viewers, and why those ones that are repeatedly asked?

RAC: Jaxson wins an artist proof! I wish to take all the viewers of my images to places they’ve never been before. Many of my series of images are “hyper-realistic”. They look real, but they may be actually more “surreal”. A tree stump becomes a mountain or a fortress (Moonlight burning-1). A small rivulet becomes a grand landscape (Discovered World-1). I hope that my images are surprising. I can’t get a better compliment from a viewer than one who says, “what the hell is that?”. “That” is something I’ve never seen before! For me, it’s a wonderful process to transform images to make a new place or thing.

Taking walks in nature must be very inspiring for you. Is there a better time you like to walk, daytime, evening? Why?

Nature is experienced best when it’s quiet, and colors are vibrant when the light is dimmed. So early in the morning is one of my favorite times. Most of the images in my recent Silver Light series were taken early in the morning, and I’ve been able to capture the light by printing the series on vellum and recreating the glowing morning light by adhering reflective silver foil on the back side (Silver Light-5).

Who in your life has been a mentor for you, and help you unravel the mysteries of whatever fascinates you the most?

Many, many people have helped. It started with my parents. My mother was an art teacher and painted huge canvases. My father designed and built houses, and had great maker’s hands. My parents gave me the building blocks, and both introduced me to that 3D to 2D transformation that I mentioned earlier. A college art professor, Thomas Cornell, a student of Leonard Baskin, was an incredible draftsman. He made a wrong turn in my opinion and became a painter. I spent a lot of my high school and college summers working one on one with mentors in labs, making

notes on how they thought and accomplished things.

Mixing music and work can be often necessary. Is true for you as well? What sort of music do you lean towards when creating your art?

I’ve listened to jazz forever while I work. Because I’m currently trying to reactivate my French, I listen to tsf-jazz, a wonderful streaming station in Paris. Vocals disturb my thinking, but jazz, particularly solo piano jazz stimulates ideas. I was so honored to have Wayne Alpern, ask me to provide the artwork for his recent album, The Shape of Strings, based on my abstract series of boat hull drains. I was also asked by the drummer of Megadeth, Dirk Verbeuren, to use one of my images for an album. To me it means that an image of mine hits a more universal sensory nerve beyond light and color. The shows and galleries that I have been in that I most appreciate are those that involve interdisciplinary arts, because it’s an honor to share insights from different artistic points of view.

I like your Waterlines series. I am convinced I see very strong horizontals and verticals working with each other, creating water and earth landscapes. Continued on next page...

RICHARD ALAN COHEN, SILVER LIGHT 5

Can you explain what we are seeing in this series?

RAC: As a kid, I spent a lot of time in Maine boatyards, in part painting the bottom of boat hulls. Not using art paints, but the antifouling kind of paint used on boat hulls. I’d start by cleaning all the rust and debris accumulated during the past season from the waterline – that horizontal painted line on the exterior of the boat hull that usually rides a few inches above the water. When I went back years later, I realized that our visual brains recognize a horizontal line as an horizon. Add the patterns of the crud left by dirty water, barnacles, and sea grass and, voila, you have a landscape image (Waterline-11).

Returning from your visit to SMA, Central Mexico, is there anything you like to tell us about that was interesting? Did you take photographs?

RAC: I have always enjoyed taking photographs of the Indigenous people, though they never wanted to be photographed. The churches hold

much history, and the vegetation and fauna, heated cenotes, and underwater life are miraculous and need better care. Open for discussion? ( I do like Agave in Turmoil) Mexico has an amazing people and culture. At the beginning of our six seasons spent there so far, I picked out the agave plant to focus on, because it has such a rich association with Mexican culture. Particularly the magueys, the giant agaves of which the blue agave is one, are incredibly imposing plants. Their fronds are often 6 feet long and it’s easy to get stuck with their six-inch long spines. I want my hyper-realistic agave images to not only engender respect for this plant that has endured years of adversity in the desert, but also to show it aging and dying in grace and regenerating in the wild (Agave Portrait-X). I also have several series of abstract images taken from agave fronds, that like my boathull series also appear to be landscapes (Agave in Turmoil-14).

I travel every day up the wooded path and see my favorite tree stump, old and growing moss, home to many creatures, allowing my imagination to run away with visions of cities and worlds within worlds, the life of a tree stump. I refuse ever to get it removed! It is a sanctuary. Funny, you have found the “…craggy, peak-like structures on stumps” that are “magnified into mountains.” Tell me about your experimentations with different imaging techniques that create large panoramic portraits of these voluptuous natural creations. RAC: I love tree trunks and I have made several series of images from them, often hyper-realistic (Moonlit, Moonlight Burning). First, I’ve learned to get down to the level of the earth. That’s the key to changing the perspective to the one I want where I’m looking up at what looks like a mountain. Then I often isolate the tree trunk from its surroundings, instead perhaps substituting fire, smoke, or starry sky. This takes the tree trunk out of its original environment. In the process, I hope

RICHARD ALAN COHEN PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGE MAKER

RICHARD ALAN COHEN, PASSAGE 1

RICHARD ALAN COHEN, MOONLIGHT BURNING 1

to put it into an even better one, one in which it enjoys a better environment.

Have you visited the Redwoods? Or the caves in Tangiers?

RAC: Sadly, no. One of my habits is to find the subjects of my images nearby. No Antarctica for me. All my series are based on subjects within 1520 minutes of my home, at most an hour. This allows me to return repeatedly to study and work on obtaining the raw images that I use to create my images.

Telescopes come in handy for us night sky watchers. But what you use is far more advanced, maybe more like microscopes and a NASA HUBBLE SPACE telescope that lies behind the scenes of your photo shoot process. Some artists keep their technique mysterious; the less they know, the better. But in your case, what do you say?

RAC: Many of my image series look like they

were taken through a telescope or microscope. Using one is a wondrous experience. Why not use this experience to enhance ones art work? One of my themes is to emphasize the effect of climate change on even the smallest spots that I see during my woodland hikes. In World Views, I took these small natural niches and gave them a global perspective by putting them into the center of a world, ambiguously constructed to appear like a planet or microscope view.

Are you a believer in Astrology readings? What part about astrology do you believe is science and not myth?

RAC: What’s wrong with myth? All the world’s religions are based on myths. Thousands of years ago, mythology was part and parcel to the beginnings of science, so it deserves a lot of respect. Now, it depends on what questions one asks of mythology or science, and what answers one expects and trusts.

What would you find entertaining to leave readers with as we close this interview? Food for thought? A secret? A line from a song? … a fresh image of the sky?

RAC: Life is a series of influential experiences. One of my formative experiences in art was matting and framing art work as a student in the Bowdoin College Art Museum. I’ve touched hundreds of master drawings including by Peter Paul Rubens, Raphael, Rembrandt, John Ruskin, Henri Matisse, Picasso, and Albrecht Durer. That was quite an education! One thing it taught me is that these guys were human, too, and made art the old fashioned way!

Thank you, Richard.

www.richardalancohen.com

Instagram: @richardalancohen

RICHARD ALAN COHEN, AGAVE IN TURMOIL 14

RICHARD ALAN COHEN, WORLD VIEW 7

SHARON GUY LUMINOUS LANDSCAPES

I am inspired by scenic areas with beautiful light, especially early morning and later in the evening before dark. Once I find a place that inspires me, I visit often and make small plein air studies, sketches, and reference photos. Some of my outdoor paintings are finished works, and some will be used as studies for my studio paintings. My technique involves using a personal, expressive style with vibrant colors and some abstraction. I look for big shapes and patterns in nature and try not to cover them up with too many small details.

My nature art helps me feel more balanced and less stressed. There is something very healing about going out into the woods or walking barefoot on the beach. The paintings from these experiences give my collectors a sense of serenity and help them remember their favorite outdoor places. I like to use my art to bring the beaches, mountains, and forests into people’s homes and offices.

Sharon Guy - sharonguyart@gmail.com; 941-321-1218; https://www.sharonguyart.com

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC

Close Encounters With Music presents The Escher String Quartet — Tchaikovsky, Ravel, Ruth Crawford Seeger on Sunday, May 21, 4 PM at the Mahaiwe, Great Barrington.

The “Souvenir de Florence” String Sextet takes us on a musical excursion to Italy, where Tchaikovsky spent some of his happiest times—reflected in the unforgettable tunes and warm catabile style. Assessments of the work’s national style 00 Italianate or inescapably Russian — differ, but the sextet is quintessential Tchaikovsky, suffused with his characteristic longing and incomparable melodies. Ravel’s Quartet in F Major is decidedly impressionistic and non-European, with exotic modes and mysterious, ethereal beauty. Listening to it is almost akin to exploring a foreign planet. The “1931” Quartet by Ruth Crawford Seeger, the first woman composer to be awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, is a tour-deforce for string ensemble.

Close Encounters With Music artistic director Yehuda Hanani and violist Daniel Panner join the Escher in a sparkling program of classical greats.

Close Encounters With Music – visit https://cewm.org for ticket information.

DON LONGO

When I begin a new painting, my end result would be one where there is texture, atmosphere, and feeling. Many are based on my background of growing up in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts where the natural beauty of the land and the serenity of quiet places gave me the daily energy I loved.

A Walk to the Lake:“As a kid, I would walk to Laurel Lake from my house on South Prospect Street, up W. Park Street, over Spring Road past St. Mary's Cemetary to Summer St. up to Highlawn Farm and through the fields to Lee Beach. Even though the walk was far, I had no time restraints, took my lunch and enjoyed the beauty of the solitude it brought me till I got there.”

My first paintings started with a more realistic design. I wanted to capture the light and the quietness of the environments, such as walking to the lake through pastureland, dreaming of my future, or driving the backroads by myself, looking for that solitary area to listen to the sounds of the wind, the leaves, birds and babbling streams.

Today, I concentrate more on semi-abstract versions of those places with some similarity of realism. I use colors of the season I want to represent with smooth and rough textures. I sometimes use close-up images to bring you into the painting, then make you travel around the scenery just like I did as a young man being there. Other times I like the viewer to be far away, looking at the solitude of the distant landscape.

Once I decide my viewpoint, I begin manipulating the canvas with textural pastes, acrylic paint, oil stains, water, mineral spirits, and spray paint until I get the final desired result.

I loved to explore as a kid, and I now continue to explore as an adult. But now I do it on my canvases.

Don Longo - www.donlongoart.com

STRAWBERRY BANKE HOME, OIL ON PANEL, 14” X 11” THE ESCHER STRING QUARTET

A WALK TO THE LAKE ACRYLICS ON A 1.5" STRETCHED CANVAS FRAME, 36" X 24"

BERKSHIRE BARNS, 12” X 24”

Parma Nights, Parma Italy, Oil on canvas, 24 x 36 inches

Portland Pub Oil on canvas, 20 x 18 inches

HARRISON LEVENSTEIN

CERAMIST / WOODFIRE POTTER

“My work exists on the threshold between the influence of my hand and the beauty my materials confer on their own. I draw on the language of fine historical craft and functional pottery traditions, and imbue these familiar objects with a sense of wonder evoked by the effects of the woodfired kiln. My training in woodfiring has offered me the working knowledge to harness the technique to my advantage, and the humility to know that the credit for its aesthetic boons can never be wholly mine; it is an elemental collaboration. The process of woodfiring offers the perfect venue for this dance of intention and chance.”

Harryet Candee: How would you describe your relationship with clay and creating works of art from this material? Many have described working in clay as a poetic rush of sensual experiences, a complicated, sensitive art form from start to finish.

Harrison Levenstein: The word relationship is fitting for how I tend to work with clay. I love to create my own clay bodies–mixtures of several materials formulated for specific technical needs and aesthetic goals–and each one asks of me a particular way of working with it. Some coarser stoneware bodies call to be handled heavily, with strength and gesture. Some porcelaneous bodies ask for a more delicate attention to detail and refinement. I ask of the clay to perform in certain ways and it will work with me only if I am open to hearing what it needs as well.

Do you wear many hats to make ends meet and to support yourself as an artist?

HL: Over the years I’ve worn many hats to support my studio practice, and I’m grateful for the

broad sets of skills and experiences they have afforded me. I’ve worked as a substitute teacher in public schools, a server in a pub, and laid boards for a decking company. I worked as a barista and a bathroom tiler. I was a local handyman for a moment, building and fixing things around a tiny mountain town. I was also an asphalt sealer, and a snow sports instructor. Right now I am so grateful to have part-time work at Simon’s Rock as the Lab Tech, and as adjunct faculty. This consistent paycheck, and access to the studio, equipment, and kilns has helped me live a stable life in the Berkshires while working toward my goal of building my own studio and kiln.

What other artistic talents do you put to work these days?

HL: As far as the traditional “Arts” go, I am always drawing and sketching as they help me see more clearly. I play the guitar and write songs. You may catch me out in downtown Great Barrington playing the Berkshire Busk! I love to write, and do so on occasion for the Studio Potter

Journal. Generally, I find there can be an art to anything that one does, whether making pottery, drawing, or something not generally regarded as artistic like washing the dishes or folding the laundry. It is a practice of mine to strive to make all experiences artful ones.

I get the impression you have a gypsy spirit. Can that be correct?

HL: I am unaware of having any real Romani blood in me, but I can certainly appreciate an itinerant lifestyle. Between finishing undergrad in northern California at Humboldt State University in 2014, and moving to the Berkshires in 2020, I never stayed in one place longer than about a year. Clay guided me across states and countries through a smattering of truly special places in search of a well-rounded life and education. I always thought that seeing as many places as possible would make it easier to find the right place to settle down. What I learned, though, is that all places have something unique and special about them, and no single place has all of the things.

Interview by Harryet Candee Photographs Courtesy of Artist

Photograph by Aarti Manik

What was one amazing experience you had working with clay that was life-changing?

HL: In 2019 I had the opportunity to travel to the famous town of Pondicherry on the Coromandel Coast of southeast India to work as an artist in residence at the Golden Bridge Pottery. Every day for 5 months I would wake up and ride my bicycle 2.5km through the bustling streets of Pondi to the inconspicuous, walled-in, palm and banyan-covered pottery compound which had only gained access to electricity in recent years. Working at GBP in the subtropical heat, within the vaulted ceilings of one of Ray Meeker’s famous fire-stabilized structures, surrounded by the work that he and Deborah Smith built from scratch was unforgettable and humbling to say the least. Ray and Deb are forces of nature, whose vision, commitment, and execution have been fuel for my soul ever since.

What pros and cons have you discovered about living in the Berkshires?

HL: Living in the Berkshires has also been life-

changing for me. Until living here I don’t believe I truly understood, with my whole body, the meaning of community. The folks that I have met and grown to know and love around here are some of the best in the world. There is unconditional love and support for one another. There is community involvement and care, and a sense of empowerment that comes along with it. Unfortunately, the Berkshires are not very diverse, and are becoming less and less accessible for younger folks like myself to afford to sustainably live in. I hope that we as a community can take steps to change that. My friends and I are working on this in Sheffield right now.

On your list to do, what do you want to try or see that you still need to do in the Berkshires?

HL: There are still many ski resorts that I’ve yet to ride. I’d also love to hike the full Massachusetts section of the AT.

Have you ever made something from clay resembling someone in your life, or have you made

something from clay and realized it was a response to an experience you went through?

HL: Absolutely. I love to make pots in direct response to my lived experiences and environment. For example my Bulb Cups are based on the bulbous shape of a small wildflower that grew outside my studio in Wisconsin. My Acorn Bowls were inspired by the gorgeous lids of acorns that can be found peppering the trail on a deciduous Berkshire hike in the Fall. These low, wide bowls are also a nod to the Uruli, a pot that I encountered often in India. The Uruli was traditionally made of terracotta and used to cook over flames, but is now more often found as a decorative object, placed in a foyer or entryway filled with water and a beautiful floating flower arrangement. These objects are formal reimaginings of things that I’ve encountered with thoughtful observation. I’ve also made a more literal reference to a decorative motif on my own body, using the pattern of a surgical scar to decorate my first batch of pots made after returning to work from the injury that caused the surgery. Continued on next page...

Firebox Bottle, porcelain, woodfired in the Oki Doki Anagama for 100 hours, 22”h, 2022

You fire your pottery inside a wood-burning kiln, in firings that can last up to 5 days in length, with someone at the kiln 24/7 to feed the fire. That is not the way most folks make pottery, right?

HL: Certainly not in the modern era. For thousands of years, wood was the only source of fuel used to fire pottery. The type of long, and very hot firing that I do has its origin in Japan, via Korea, via China. Teams of people - this is an important point. These types of firings are nearly impossible to execute on one’s own. They rely on cooperation and community - would work in shifts around the clock to stoke the enormous kilns that contained several villages worth of pottery, crockery, storage containers, art, and trade commodities. The knowledge of how to build and fire these kilns was passed down from generation to generation. In the mid-late 20th century, a handful of dedicated American potters traveled to Japan and apprenticed under these legacy pottery families, and brought the knowledge back home with them. This includes Monterey’s own Sushi Chef and Potter, Michael Marcus. Since then, the US has

grown its own vital woodfiring community and culture, but relative to potters who use more modern technology, our community is still quite small. I’m grateful to the potters in the area who have invited me to fire their kilns with them, particularly my colleague Ben Krupka here in Great Barrington, as well as Susan Kotulak and Andrew Sartorius at the Oki Doki Studios in Germantown, NY

There are centuries worth of history attached to ceramic arts and pottery making. What location and period have you based some of your work on?

HL: I’ve always felt a strong draw to the historical pots that I’ve seen in books and museums. Shapes and forms that stand the test of time and feel beautiful no matter where or who you are, but also carry with them a cultural moment and story. There is a connection that I feel when I experience these works of potters of the past that makes me feel part of something much bigger and significant than myself. If one has a keen sense for historical ceramics, you might be able to identify several references in my work. The idea of connecting to

the beauty of a pot exposed to the intensity of burning wood with melted ash, varied kiln atmospheres, and flame markings is owed to Japanese potters. In my slipped and carved works I make a nod to the Buncheong potters of Korea who used white slips and carving techniques to adorn elegantly shaped pots. Lately I’ve been exploring jug forms that are a direct response to medieval English and German pots, and pots made by the skillful black potters (both enslaved and free) in America in the 1800s like David Drake and Thomas Commeraw.

I know many standardized, formal steps and processes involved in creating ceramic art must be learned and studied for years. In what ways have you seen fit to alter those formal training skills and shape them to fit your vision and signature style?

HL: I think there are a lot of ways of approaching the making of art, particularly when there is a traditional craft involved. Many people may choose to learn the technical ins and outs of a medium

Pair of Bulb Cups, porcelain, woodfired in the Oki Doki Anagama for 100 hours, 4.5”h, 2022

Acorn Bowl, stoneware, woodfired in the Simon’s Rock train kiln for 40 hours, 12”d, 2022

and process and become proficient in them so that they can take full ownership and control of the process; learn the rules before you break them. Others boldly choose to declare that there in fact are no rules to be broken and work on pure intuition. I think both approaches are valid and I find myself somewhere in the middle. Although I have spent many years honing my craft, I find it important to maintain reverence for moments of happenstance and an openness and appreciation for discovery and chance. Hamada Shoji, a famous Japanese potter whom I’ve looked up to since I began, said that a potter spends the first half of their life learning to make pots, and the second half of their life learning to forget.

Including all the elements and processes involved in making a ceramic vessel, for example, which and foremost do you find most challenging to you?

HL: It’s a funny question! There are so many challenging parts to the ceramic process. Especially if you are not using the factory-made products,

clays, glazes, etc. It could be the technical challenges involved in formulating glazes or clay bodies. Building large-scale works using coil-andthrow methods. Or the intense planning and work that goes into loading and firing a large wood kiln. But honestly, the perennial challenge, as simple and humble as it may seem, is to make a truly good coffee mug; The mug that is perfectly balanced, feels good in the hand and on the lip, holds the perfect amount of coffee, and does so while simultaneously treating the eyes to their very own aesthetic experience. Think of all of the senses involved in that process! An object meant to bring all of your senses into harmony.

Tell us a bit about your training in becoming a potter. What was a humbling learning experience looking back?

HL: My training in becoming a potter has been an incredible and fulfilling journey; one that continues to this day. I’m humbled when I think about all of the people I have crossed paths with along the way that have helped me grow and get me to

where I am today. High caliber artists, mentors, nurturers, role models both good and bad. So many people have shared their stories with me and through that helped me shape my own story.

I was primed for an interest in pottery because as a kid growing up, we ate from beautiful pottery that was made by my mother. She made pots casually for many years from college up until about her second or third child. I never made pots with her, but found clay in highschool when I took my first ceramics class. I followed it through undergrad, deepening my respect for the art and craft and realizing I wanted to pursue an apprenticeship rather than continue with higher education. I apprenticed under Peter Olsen in the Cascade Mountains of Washington state, and with Simon Levin in the sprawling midwest. Both exceptional woodfire potters. After apprenticeship I completed a variety of artist residencies which eventually led me here to the Berkshires.

When did you first realize you had a strong interContinued on next page...

Harrison working Photograph by Tim Cassavaugh

Cosmic Mug, porcelaneous stoneware, woodfired in the Simon’s Rock train kiln for 40 hours, 4.5”h, 2022

Fissure Jar, Indian stoneware, woodfired in the Golden Bridge Pottery Chinnagama for 90 hours, 36”h, 2019

est in working primarily with clay? What did you then do with this new and exciting focus?

HL: I realized I loved clay very quickly in my first ceramics class in high school. I figured out that I could turn my funny drawings into 3-dimensional objects! I remember making a sculpture of an acoustic guitar whose neck and fretboard terminated in a hand making the rock and roll gesture. Then I learned to throw on the potter’s wheel, and there was nothing that captivated me more.

What do you envision, and what has transpired for you in the Berkshires regarding your ceramic work so far? Have you found your own studio and wood kiln yet?

HL: I arrived in the Berkshires in the Fall of 2020 to take a year-long artist in residence position in the clay studio at Simon’s Rock. When I arrived I thought I’d only be here for a year and then promptly on my way to the next adventure. Here we are now in the spring of 2023 and I am dreaming of settling in to finally build a studio. I am envisioning a large wood kiln with a community of potters who fire it together. I see communal firings and meals, unloading parties, live music and events, classes and workshops; a new beautiful

cultural hub in the Berkshires! I haven’t found the place yet, but I am currently working toward manifesting it. It is coming to me, I can feel it!

How do you achieve the rich and abstract, natural and earthy glazing effects and surfaces on your work?

HL: This question gets to the foundation of my work. As I mentioned before, when I fire a wood kiln, the work is exposed to several days of burning wood at extremely hot temperatures. Over the course of the firing, the flames rush through and around all of the pots in the kiln which have been carefully placed with the imagined path of the fire in mind. At high temperatures, the surfaces of the work in the kiln become receptive to the volatile minerals, burning gasses, and melting wood ash that are swirling around within the kiln’s chamber along the flame’s path. The pots become imprinted with the path of the flame, creating oneof-a-kind marks and surfaces that tell you the story of the particular firing and how the pot was placed within the kiln. Important aesthetic considerations include clay choice, wood choice, placement of work in the kiln, duration of firing, style of firing, temperature of firing, and style of cooling. Making intentional choices in all of those

areas result in circumstances that set us up for these types of incomparably rich and enigmatic effects.

Can you jump into one body of work you have produced and tell us about it, please?

HL: Recently I have been really into jugs. I’ve visited the jug now and again on my journey, and have always found it to be exceedingly difficult to nail down. It is an ostensibly simple form (aren’t they all), but when you really get down to it, there is so much to unpack. Jugs used to be a common household object. They were what you stored your liquids in; beer, water, milk, oils, wines... Strictly functional and built to last, with extra-thick handles and rounded, chip-resistant edges. Nowadays the jug is just about eradicated from our daily lives. The closest things being your plastic gallon of milk, or your factory-made glass craft beer growler.

Jugs lost their elegant and full bellies to the demands of capitalism and industrialization. You can fit more straight-walled bottles together in a box (and a kiln) than you can bottles with voluptuous curves.

I also love the way in which many pottery tradiContinued on next page...

Harrison on thr wheel Photograph by Tim Cassavaugh

tions are imbued with the spirit of place. Some do so through forms that serve a particular placebased function. Some achieve it by showcasing a particular place’s unique geological boons through thoughtful use of local materials. Some communicate with words, letting you know where, how, why, or by whom they were made. These are ways potters have been serving and creating culture over the millennia. American-made jugs and other crockery were often stamped with their place of origin. On this large jug, I wrote in cobalt script the kiln in which it was to be fired; the “OkiDoki Anagama”. A little slice of history.

What are you experiencing as far as showing your work to the public? Have you been a strong promoter of your work and find that you are receiving recognition and positive feedback? Being a functional art form, you must get many orders from people.

HL: I’ve always felt a bit squeamish when it comes to promotion and sales. It pains me to conceive of myself as just another addition to the modern human’s daily deluge of content and adverts. I try to be selective about the way that I

show my work and offer it to the public. Over the years I’ve built a loyal base of collectors across the country and abroad, who eagerly await the few times in a year that I contact them through my email list to announce the availability of new work. I’m endlessly grateful to those folks who have supported me and continue to do so in that way. It makes my day when I get a sweet message from someone letting me know how their “Harry pot” is making a positive impact on their day-today lives and experience. I am open to taking orders, but tend to prioritize making the work that excites me personally first.

You have been writing about artists. Are the literary arts also a primary part of your artistic life? Everything I have read that you wrote has been done well and engaging, informative and clever. Can you tell us about one of those artists and why you selected to write about them?

HL: Thank you, Harryet! Yes, I do enjoy writing, and often feel more comfortable on the page than I do out loud. In the most recent piece that I wrote for the Studio Potter Journal entitled, An Unconventional Life, I highlight a midwestern woodfire

potter whom I’ve admired for a very long time and had the opportunity to get to know when I was living in Wisconsin and Illinois. Linda Christianson is one of those genuine, salt of-the-earth Minnesotans whose work-ethic, grit, and dedication are matched only by her humility, kindness and generosity. The piece was about how difficult it is to make a living as a woodfire potter, the myth of rugged American individualism, and how hard work and grit must be paired with cleverness and unconventionality to create the strange brew of a successful career in woodfiring. It’s a piece of writing that I’m quite proud of, and I hope your readers might like to check it out!

Are you following trends in today’s world of ceramic art?

HL: I do try to stay somewhat in tune with the state of the field of ceramic arts. Ceramics and pottery in general seem to be trending at the moment. More and more I am seeing and hearing references to pottery in pop culture. I think that’s wonderful! Many contemporary ceramic artists are breaking those “rules” that we spoke of earlier in order to bring their ideas and experiences to

HARRISON LEVENSTEIN CERAMIST / WOODFIRE POTTER

Oki Doki Jug, porcelaneous stoneware w/calcium as secondary flux, woodfired in the Oki Doki Anagama for 90 hours, 14”h, 2023

life. There was recently an incredible show at Mass MoCa entitled Ceramics in the Expanded Field, featuring 8 artists who use clay in ways that challenge the traditions of the field. There were larger-than-life figure sculptures, ceramic furniture, and enormous abstract sculptures hung from the ceiling with steel cables. The work was no doubt very impressive. Admittedly, however, my main interest remains on the humble functional pot and the important place it holds in our lives, as well as the unending challenges and explorations involved in firing them with wood. A worrisome trend that I have been observing in the last few years has to do with our culture’s increasing addiction to screens. I’m noticing a shift toward image-based work that is made to look good on camera by way of instagram or online gallery shows, but sadly leaves the intimate aspect of touch and use to afterthought. My friend Jack put it poetically in an email when he said, “...the haptic is necessarily negated in an online show. Texture - the weighty presence of things - is needed to confirm the eye’s susceptibility to allurement, if such a word there is.” It is so important to me that my work be experienced physically and in

person. There is no photo that will ever do it justice.

Readers wish to hear what one of your favorite phrases, sayings or parts of songs you love are, and what they mean to you.

HL: There is a quote that I often find myself coming back to. It was said by the Portuguese Nobel Prize winner, Jose Saramago. It is very short. It goes, “Chaos is order yet undeciphered.” For me this quotation is filled with wonder, awe, and hope; a reassurance that just because we don’t understand something, or can’t put it in a box using a name or a label, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have purpose or validity. It acknowledges the limits of human intelligence and modes of perception, and with that brings humility. I think of this quote in the microcosms of my work, and also on a broader socio-political level. There is a hint of faith, and trust in process; a letting go that can feel both scary and liberating at once.

What are three most important things you would put on a wish list?

HL: The tippy top of my selfish wishlist is a beau-

tiful and affordable piece of property that would provide me the space to set up my dream studio and wood kiln here in the Berkshires (or somewhere close by). Land, studio, kiln!

If you could be anywhere in the world right now, where would that be and what would you be doing?

HL: Right now my mind goes straight to big mountains and warm beaches. I could be back in Red Lodge, MT riding fresh, light powder with my buddies, or somewhere in Baja or Southeast Asia soaking up the warm sun, surfing, and eating fresh fish on the beach. Sounds like this guy wants a vacation!

Thank you, Harrison!

www.hlpottery.com, instagram@harrison_lev gettincentered@gmail.com

Harrison sidestoaking casuarina wood into the GBP Chinnagama Photograph by Aarti Manik

MARGUERITE BRIDE COMMISSIONS

Is there is a significant occasion in your future….a family wedding, a special anniversary, graduation, retirement? A commissioned painting of that memorable setting is a treasured gift….one that will bring back cherished memories and last a lifetime. I am now accepting commissions to paint your special scene.

Here in the Berkshires, we have so many stunning sites for weddings and other memorable events, from rustic farm settings to glorious mansions and everything in between. An unusual guest book idea is to have the painting of the scene done ahead of time and have it on display at the reception for guests to sign the mat surrounding the painting. I have also painted scenes of college campuses for new graduates and a very special painting of “where he proposed”.

Visit the page on my website (under “Commissions”) to see many examples. I love painting cherished memories. A custom watercolor painting of a wedding venue, a home or other special location is always a thoughtful gift for any occasion.

Or, are you interested in a Berkshire original or reproduction? My website has my full portfolio of images available. Visit and be in touch.

Marguerite Bride – Home Studio in Pittsfield, Massachusetts by appointment only. Call 413841-1659 or 413-442-7718; margebride-paintings.com; margebride@aol.com; Facebook: Marguerite Bride Watercolors.

BERKSHIRE DIGITAL

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 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 did a beautiful job in photographing 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

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, www.BerkshireDigital.com

PARADISE CITY ARTS FESTIVAL MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

It’s Springtime in Paradise! The best way to spend some of your holiday weekend is in Northampton, the cultural heart of New England, at one of America’s most spectacular fairs of fine craft, painting and sculpture. The Paradise City Arts Festival (literally) rolls out the carpet for this season’s splendidly curated collection of hundreds of artists and fine craft makers, coming from every corner of the country. It’s three great days of astounding visual arts, eye-popping design, scrumptious food and, of course, great fun!

The Festival is held inside three carpeted, airy new buildings connected by covered walkways, keeping patrons comfortable and protected, rain or shine. The 12,000 square-foot Dining Tent commands a grassy lawn surrounded by outdoor sculpture. With scores of brand-new artists, sensational food by local chefs, a craft cocktail bar and the eye-popping exhibit “With Flying Colors!”, attendees are kept entertained, enthralled and well fed all weekend long.

The Silent Art Auction benefits the International Language Institute of Massachusetts (ILI). They provide free English classes for new arrivals from all over the world so they can utilize their skills in this country and successfully integrate into the local community.

Paradise City keeps its visitors’ hands, eyes and brains busy. Stephen Procter of Brattleboro, Vermont is an acclaimed teacher, and his demonstrations of throwing enormous ceramic vessels is something to see! Alan and Rosemary Bennett, known for their life-sized, realistic renditions of fish and sea creatures, lead very popular clay sculpture workshops for children (and the young at heart). Plus, the changing installations and large-scale sculpture along the Sculpture Promenade are catnip for kids, Instagram heaven and full of fantastic decorating ideas for the attendees’ own gardens.

Paradise City Arts Festival, Saturday, Sunday and Monday, May 27, 28 & 29, at Northampton’s 3 County Fairgrounds, on Old Ferry Road off Rt. 9. For complete show and travel information, advance online tickets and discount admission coupons, visit www.paradisecityarts.com

LARGE CERAMIC VESSEL BY STEPHEN PROCTER

GEDNEY FARM, WATERCOLOR

RUBY AVER

Ruby Aver 413 854 7007

Housatonic Studio open by appointment

rdaver2@gmail.com

Instagram and Facebook

The City Series no. 1 Amsterdam Afternoon, Acrylic on canvas 18” x 24”

The City Series no. 2 Approaching Paris by Auto Acrylic on canvas 18” x 24”

Return of the Hummingbird, Watercolor, 16” x 6"

Lenox Station, Watercolor, 12” x 16”

Spring Symphony, Watercolor, 12” x 16”

Mark Mellinger : 914-260-7413

The Clock Tower Business Center, 3rd floor, 75 South Church St, Pittsfield, MA markmellinger680@gmail.com

Sungazer. Welded scrap steel. 2023. 38"

Sawfish. Saw, pine, doorknobs and dried paint. 16"x 54"x 6". 2021

“It’s up to you to decide who my ladies are and what they are thinking. They only came to me with the first stroke of a brush and a little paint. I don’t know their stories or where they hale from. I only know that they now exist, and some will love them, and some will not. Such is the life of a woman.”

-Mary Ann Yarmosky

That’s What She Said, Acrylic on canvas, 16” x 20”

Waiting for the Train, Acrylic / pastel on canvas, 16” x 20”

Silent Spring, Watercolor, 40” x 30”

For Rick Costello, Berkshire astronomer, the sky is limitless. Rick is enthusiastic and generous about sharing his life-long passion for learning about the universe. All year round, on clear nights, he sets up his telescope at various locations throughout the county and invites anyone interested to stargaze with him.

With loving attention to detail and accuracy, Rick also paints celestial images. The Connector Gallery at Kimball Farms is honored to offer twelve of his paintings in its upcoming show; The Sky’s the Limit, opening on May 20 from 2-4 pm.

The Connector Gallery, literally connecting two wings of Kimball Farms, hopes with this show to connect viewers with the heavens.

As well as Rick’s paintings, there will be sweeping vistas in the lush paintings of Ghetta Hirsch, heavenly moments captured in Lonny Jarrett’s photography, and the beautifully uplifting, thought-provoking World Views of Richard Alan Cohen.

Joel Hotchkiss’s original mobiles delight, and the elusive and popular, sometimes Berkshire artist Jill Johnson, flies in with spectacularly colorful birds!

Grounding us in granite are six lovely sculptures by Binney Meigs, three of them newly installed on the grounds of Kimball Farms.

Be prepared to be enthralled, uplifted, and delighted.

Kimball Farms Life Care Continuing Care Retirement Community is the only Life Care community in Western Massachusetts. Based in Lenox, Kimball Farms includes Independent Living, Assisted Living, the Life Enrichment Memory Care Program, and the Kimball Farms Nursing Care Center. Kimball Farms is owned by Integritus Healthcare, a leader among not-forprofit, post-acute care organizations in Massachusetts.

Integritus Healthcare (IHC) (www.integritushealthcare.org) is a national leader among notfor-profit, post-acute care organizations in Massachusetts. IHC operates 14 skilled nursing facilities in Berkshire County, the Pioneer Valley, the North Shore, South Shore and Cape Cod; Kimball Farms Life Care in Lenox; Linda Manor Assisted Living in Northampton; Day Brook Village Senior Living in Holyoke; East Longmeadow Memory Care Assisted Living and HospiceCare in The Berkshires as well as Pioneer Valley Hospice & Palliative Care (Greenfield) for those with life-limiting illnesses. For more information, visit www.kimballfarms.org

The Connector Gallery at Kimball Farms235 Walker St, Lenox, Massachusetts. Come by to see the art! Close to downtown Lenox; easy parking; lovely grounds, inspirational art perfect for our Berkshires springtime!

SEAN HUTCHEON PHOTOGRAPHY

I’m a fine art and product photographer based in the Hudson Valley and New York City, NY.

My imagery stems from a background in filmmaking, writing, and music. I got my start in early 2000 and have numerous awards for my short films, and my photography has been showcased in numerous group and solo shows throughout the years.

In 2005, I relocated from Bucks County, PA, to NYC, where I have thrived in the photo industry as a product and on-figure photographer for numerous clients such as Amazon Fashion, Tumi Luggage, New York and Company, Bloomingdales, Macy’s, Target, Ralph Lauren, Fairway Markets and Labucq.

At the end of 2021, I started a new venture as a fine art and furniture photographer who has shot a variety of mediums for Christie’s in NYC, Stair Galleries, and Naga Antiques in Hudson, NY.

In my spare time, I enjoy working on photography, playing guitar, spending time at my house with my partner, and going on hikes with my Border Collie.

Please contact me directly for projects or to inquire about purchasing my work.

Sean Hutcheon - sean.hutcheon@gmail.com

HOTCHKISS MOBILES

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT OPENING MAY 20, 2 TO 4 THE CONNECTOR GALLERY AT KIMBALL FARMS

BINNEY MEIGS, MOTHER AND CHILD, 2007

RICK COSTELLO WHERE I FOUND SOLITUDE

JILL JOHNSON, YELLOW BREASTED CHAT, RED SATYR BUTTERFLY

The CONNECTOR GALLERY at KIMBALL FARMS, lenox MA

THE MAGIC FLUKE

The Magic Fluke Company designs and builds innovative musical instruments in the Berkshires. Dedicated to our community using locally sourced materials whenever possible, our agents are engineered with modern methods and materials for quality sound, playability, and legendary durability.

In addition to our renowned Fluke, Flea, and Firefly ukuleles and banjos, we offer four or fivestring acoustic/electric travel fiddle, mandolin, and five-string banjo. Customized top printing, laser engraving, and repairs of most stringed instruments are available. We’ve recently added experienced violinist Nora Carvalho for violin setups, repairs, and lessons. Local jazz guitarist Michael Junkins is also on staff for all expert guitar setups and repair.

The Magic Fluke - 413-229-8536 - Factory and showroom on Rt. 7, Sheffield. Hours: M-F, 9 to 4:30, or call for an appointment.

FRONT ST. GALLERY

Pastels, oils, acrylics, and watercolors…abstract and representational…..landscapes, still lifes and portraits….a unique variety of painting techniques and styles….you will be transported to another world and see things in a way you never have before…. join us and experience something different.

Painting classes continue on Monday and Wednesday mornings 10-1:30 pm at the studio and Thursday mornings out in the field. These classes are open to all...come to one or come again if it works for you. All levels and materials are welcome. Personal critiques are available.

Classes at Front Street are for those wishing to learn, those who want to be involved in the pure enjoyment of art, and those with some experience.

Front Street, Housatonic, MA. Gallery open by appointment or chance anytime. 413-5289546 at home or 413-429-7141 (cell) www.kateknappartist.com

MARY ANN YARMOSKY NOW SHOWING PAINTINGS AT DOTTIE’S CAFE IN PITTSFIELD MA

We long for a way to be heard from the moment we are born. For some, words suffice; for others, there needs to be a deeper form of expression.

That is how artists are born. Where one might send their message through an instrument in the form of music, another might write poetry or prose. Still, others speak in something more tangible through painting, photography, pottery, or sculpting. Words only bring us so far…art is the language of longing…a longing never fulfilled.

I have always found expression through art. At age five, I began speaking through the piano that sat waiting expectantly in our den, an instrument that brought me peace throughout the years. Later I took to creating through fashion design, dreaming up and constructing costumes for the Boston Opera Company and outfits for the fashionable elite of Newport, Rhode Island. From there, my path took many twists and turns as I lived as a wife, mother, caretaker, and professional career.

When my youngest son passed away unexpectedly several years ago, my longing to be heard returned with a vengeance. Words did not suffice. There are no words to express grief and hope for what is lost. On that journey of anguish, I met other women who had or were experiencing their style of pain. I marveled at their resilience and ability to go on despite different types of loss or simply dealing with the uphill complexities of life’s challenges. I began to recover my voice through paint and a bit of canvas, but it was not just my voice. The women I create in paint are a composite of the many amazing women I have met and continue to meet. I paint their humor, joy, hidden heartbreak, and longing. These women do not exist except on canvas, and their stories are yours to imagine. Hear them.

Mary Ann Yarmosky-maryannyarmoskyart.com

CAROLYN NEWBERGER

Watercolor painting, mixed media, and a practice of drawing from life form the body of Carolyn Newberger’s work, with an emphasis on human connections and experience.

An avid and award-winning artist in her youth, Carolyn returned to art after an academic career in psychology at Harvard Medical School. Her work has received many awards, including from the Danforth Museum of Art, the Cambridge Art Association, Watercolor Magazine, and the New England Watercolor Society, of which she is a signature member.

Many of Carolyn’s performance drawings and plein air paintings accompany reviews and essays she writes, often in collaboration with her husband, Eli, for “The Berkshire Edge,” a publication of news, arts and ideas in Western Massachusetts.

Carolyn Newberger -617-877-5672 www.carolynnewberger.com cnewberger@me.com

MARK MELLINGER

Practicing art for 60 years and psychoanalysis for 40, Dr. Mark Mellinger’s careers concern what can be spoken of and what transcends language. In painting, collage and constructions of wood and iron he is drawn to the physicality of materials.

Avoiding predictability of style, Mellinger explores the possibilities of matter and media. Our lives and our world are transient. We must seek meaning in truth, creativity and connectedness.

Mark V. Mellinger, Ph.D.-

71 S Church St, Pittsfield MA / 914 260-7413

Sean Hutcheon

Elevated digital photography and media services for the visual arts

ILENE RICHARD ILLUSTRATOR / PAINTER

Ilene is an established fine art figurative painter. She is known for her expressive and colorful paintings and her use of lines, which has become a signature style of her work. Ilene’s work is highly consistent and recognizable. Working as a published children’s book illustrator for many years has helped Ilene create a narrative with her work, which often features people in whimsical and fantastical situations.

Ilene is a Past Board Member of the National Association of Women Artists and an artist member of the Rockport Artist Association and Museum.

Ilene Richard – 978-621-4986, www.ilenerichard.com, ilene.richard@gmail.com, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ilene-Richard-IllustratorPainter/109216825770985

Specializing in meeting the imaging needs of visual artists,artisans,and galleries in a variety of mediums, including sculpture, jewelry and furnishings.

RIKI-TIKI-TAVI

JAZZMEN

PLEASANT VALLEY SPRINGTIME, WATERCOLOR, 12” X 16"

LONNY JARRETT

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

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

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

Lonny

Jarrett -

Community: Nourishingdestiny.com

Books: Spiritpathpress.com

Art: Berkshirescenicphotography.com

Teaching: Lonnyjarrett.com

MY NEW HAT SERIES #5 MARY DAVIDSON

SOLO SHOW AT HOTEL ON NORTH RECEPTION MAY 5, 5 - 8PM

Mary Davidson has been painting regularly for the last 16 years. Davidson’s paintings are a twodimensional decorative visualization of line, color, design, shape, patterns, and stamping. As you begin to study the paintings, you will find that the foreground and background tend to merge with overlaid patterns. “I love the intense complexity and ambiguity of space and dimension.”. The effect can be startling: the longer you look at the piece, the more you see.

Davidson’s New Hat series consists of 70 paintings. “I start with a basic drawing, building with color and shape, coming to life with gesture and flow. As the title suggests, the hats are important, and the millinery designs emerge. There is much joy in their creation, and my passion for playful designs is reinforced by their bright colors, linear rhythms, and patterns leading our eyes around and through the painting. My newest series is even more abstract, with an even stronger emphasis on design. I do like to use stamping, along with painting, because I love the result. When I finish with a painting, I adhere the canvas with mat gel to gator board, creating a nice tight surface. My paintings are always framed.”

Mary Davidson - PO Box 697, South Egremont, Massachusetts; 413-528-6945 / 413-717-2332; mdavidsongio@aol.com marydavidson83155@gmail.com www.davidsondesigncompany.net

CITY STREET, OIL ON CANVAS, 40” X 30”

J. DAMIANI GALLERY RETURN TO HILLSDALE

After two decades and two different gallery spaces, the J. Damiani Gallery has left Warren Street in Hudson. It is returning to its roots in the new gallery, which opened on April 1 in a recently renovated space just behind the IGA supermarket. According to Managing Director and gallery coowner Juliette Crill, the return to Hillsdale has been planned for a while.

“The timing for our relocation has been optimum. We were one of the early participants in the Hudson art scene. The J. Damiani Gallery opened its doors in 1998. Through the years, we watched Hudson become a keystone in the burgeoning Hudson Valley gallery movement, but our roots have always been in Hillsdale. This new gallery space became available, and it felt right to make a move. We look forward to becoming a member of the Hillsdale creative community.”

Artist and gallery co-owner Joan Damiani has been painting the beauty of Columbia County for over 25 years. “I love to reimagine the rich, rural landscape of our area and scenes of everyday activities of ordinary people. I look for how shadows and light interact with their environment and capture the fleeting moments people forget to remember.”

Reviewers have referred to Damiani’s style as that of an American Realist painter. Whether it be the quiet serenity of a seascape or barn at sunset or the examination of intricate details in urban architectural scenes, Damiani elevates and creates subdued drama out of commonplace subjects.

J. Damiani Gallery - 8 Anthony Street Hillsdale, New York. jdamianigallery@gmail.com Jdamianigallery.com

Conversational Spanish

Astrology for Creators

May 2023

Manticore May

(Western Tropical Astrology. Time Zone EST/EDT)

Deanna Musgrave

We begin May 2023 still influenced by the Aries Solar Eclipse that happened April 19-20th, 2023 which likely brought forward some intensity and conflict. We are also heading straight for the Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio on May 5-6th, 2023, which might reveal secrets. It is important to take note on what happened for you during this eclipse season as this Aries part of your chart will become important in the coming months given the North Node (what I consider to be the collective focus) will be moving to point to Aries in the middle of July. Aries is symbolised by a fiery ram bringing an increase in energy of entrepreneurial drive and creativity however, there will also likely be serious conflict in the world. As creators we can only control ourselves and I invite you to choose to lean into what makes Aries positive by using this fire energy to spark new ideas, innovation and to take on being more of an entrepreneur in your artistic business for the next two years.

It is also worth noting that at the beginning of the month of May 2023 we will be well into a Mercury Retrograde. As I have written in the October 2022 column, Retrogrades tend to make the energy of a planet more inward, express differently or become more intense. A Mercury Retrograde is more well known as causing disruptions in all things having to do with communication, which will be present for many until this planet goes direct on May 14th, 2023 (although there may be some echoes after during its two-week shadow period).

I am more interested in how the Pluto Retrograde starting on May 1-2nd, 2023, is going to play out given that we are in a preview of its journey into Aquarius that started on March 23, 2023. This 2023 preview ends when it Retrogrades back into Capricorn on June 11th, 2023. It will return to Aquarius on January 20, 2024, for 20 years which makes this generational shift a big deal. The qualities of how Pluto manifests in our lives is going to be gradual but, huge for the next two decades so, take note on what happens around May 1st2nd in the Aquarius area of your chart that may have a Plutonian flavour of death, rebirth, and

transformation. If you don’t know where Aquarius is in your chart, just pay attention and notice what in your life seems to be pushing you towards transformation that suddenly takes on a different flavour on and after May 1st-2nd, 2023. These pieces that you are noticing will come back with intensity when Pluto returns in a direct motion in Aquarius on January 20, 2024. For the collective, we will likely see something interesting around humanitarian causes, technology, astrology, or visionary ideas. I advise artists to notice what in the creative sector is being impacted around these dates. Is it some form of technology or themes in art? It might be worthwhile to invest into these things for the coming two decades as, Pluto represents where the power will be placed and transformed.

It’s also important to keep in mind that as Pluto moves in and out from Capricorn to Aquarius, we will be finishing up lessons having to do with the 15-year Pluto in Capricorn journey that started in 2008. For the collective, much of this has to do with The Great Recession of 2007-2009 which started the Pluto in Capricorn transit so, expect an intense echo of that as the energy builds up to Pluto finally leaving Capricorn for Aquarius on January 20, 2024. You will also have personal lessons with Pluto depending on where Capricorn is in your chart which my January 2022 column touched on.

I also find myself drawn to the aspects of Venus and Neptune in the month of May 2023, which are both planets traditionally associated with the arts. Venus tends towards physical beauty, such as a sculpture, whereas Neptune can be more spiritual or illusionary, such as film however, these aspects can merge. For example, a sculpture (Venus) expressing a dreamy, spiritual, or illusionary concept (Neptune) has both energies. Likewise, a film (Neptune) can be focusing on the beauty of the reality of a garden (Venus). On May 3rd-4th Venus in Gemini will square Neptune in Pisces. Squares are more challenging aspects that yield a positive result if overcome. As a real-world example, I could see some tension coming up between AI Art, which might be associated with Neptune for its illusionary qualities, and human-made artwork. This tension between Venus and Neptune could manifest in different ways such as playing out in your own artistic practice.

This tension may resolve as Venus moves into the sign of Cancer on May 7th, 2023, and then makes a positive trine aspect to Saturn in Pisces on May 12th-13th. Whatever the issue that Venus in Gemini and Neptune in Pisces had on May 3rd-4th could be resolved by Venus moving into understanding Cancer and then working with Saturn, the builder of structure, in Pisces to construct a path that will resolve the issue. To go back to my example of AI Art versus Analog/Human-made Art, Saturn could be working with Venus to put some structures in place within the illusionary world of Pisces and Neptune. This could look like a court case taking place that forces AI companies

to abide by the same copyright rules humans do.

Another significant astrological movement to pay attention to this month is Jupiter moving into Taurus on May 16th, for the rest of the 2023 year, while also making a challenging aspect of a square to Pluto in Aquarius. Right after that, there will be a New Moon in Taurus on May 19th, 2023, happening in sequence with Mercury making a positive sextile aspect to Saturn in Pisces. What this translates into for me is a lot of ups and downs in Taurus areas which could have to do with banking systems, money, stocks, food, land, the environment, security, and some areas of the arts. While Jupiter’s ingress into Taurus might expand the positives, it could also grow the negative issues. One example could be Jupiter expanding the instability of the financial systems. Jupiter in Taurus is also making that difficult square aspect to Pluto in Aquarius which could look like financial issues becoming so big that they need to evolve and change with something that is more Aquarius, such as within a new area of technology. Right after this, is a New Moon in that Taurus area which will have the benefit of Mercury (communications) making a positive sextile to Saturn (Karmic Teacher/Structure) in Pisces. An example of how this could play out is communication (Mercury) about financial systems (Taurus) that brings the need for structure (Saturn) for new positive changes (Sextile) that involves new technology (Aquarius). While money and banking are significant to pay attention to for creators, it is also worth noting that Taurus can be associated with the arts due to its rulership by Venus. In the artworld, this could also be a similar turbulence and resolution between that which is reality-based art versus that which is the new technological art forms coming forward with Pluto in Aquarius.

We finish off the month with two astrological motions that will lighten the mood. First Mars will move into Leo on May 20th, 2023 which will bring out our passion for self-expression. The day after, the Sun moves into Gemini to start the summer season which should bring in a warm glow of colourful energy and happy conversation. So, the month of May 2023 generally feels to be coming “in like a lion” starting with the eclipses however, I expect to see the second half of the month feeling more joyful with astrological weather like a “lamb” from that Mars in Leo and Gemini season energy. While the general overview of the month mostly fits with the proverb of “in like a lion, out like a lamb” the overall extremes of energy this month has me calling it “Manticore May.”

Deanna Musgrave is an artist, energy worker, channel, and hypnotherapist.

You can contact her through her websites at: www.deannamusgrave.com

www.artisthehealer.com

The Queen’s Dog Rex CONCLUSION

As you perhaps remember from the first part of our story, the Queen’s dog has run away. Little Rex was found by a farm girl, who adopted him and named him Ralph. After the adoption an entire month went by, and then two months, and then three. After three months had passed Rex had very nearly forgotten that he was the Queens’ dog, and had more or less become the dog of the farm girl who could do division. She was three months older, and so had learned division in the school for the farm girls and boys.

All during this time the family taking care of Rex expected to discover whom he belonged to, and were certain that he did not belong to them but to some unknown person. They even went so far as to put an ad in the Lost and Found Dogs section of the newspaper, but it was the farmer’s newspaper, something Royal families would never read, so nobody in the town found out about where Rex had disappeared to.

Meanwhile, back at the Palace the Queen had been very upset for many days, and even after a month went by, she was still not quite herself. It was observed that she was often sad, and even if someone were to tell a joke and get her to laugh, even so, after that, she would seem even more upset. But finally after three months, she began to get over the disappearance of her little dog, but still nobody would even dare to suggest getting a new puppy. Such a suggestion was sure to make the Queen absolutely furious, so nobody said anything about it.

Back at the farmhouse with the family and the girl who could now do long division, Rex gradually became a member of his new family. They did not call him Rex, because they had no way of knowing what his name was, but instead they called him Ralph. They asked him what his name was and he said, “Ralph, Ralph, RALPH, Ralph, so they shortened it to just Ralph.

Because of his new name, Rex almost forgot who he was, and tried his best to come when he heard the name Ralph called, especially if it was half past supper time.

One day, Sarah and Ralph were weeding the garden in front of their cottage when a government stage with important documents for the King and the Queen went by. That meant it was Thursday, and this event was no different than any other , except that when the carriage was a great distance away it slowed down, and then it stopped. This had never happened before, and Sarah felt a strange foreboding.

Sarah had noticed in the past that Ralph would sometimes act oddly whenever it was Thursday and the court coach happened to go by and now, as she stood there in the garden, the carriage turned around and came back toward the town. To Sarah’s amazement it stopped right in front of her garden, and the driver came down from his seat and addressed her saying. “Tell me young lady if there might be a place where a famished driver might find something to eat.”

“There is none such,” she replied, and continued weeding the garden. Little Rex ran up to the man and sniffed his boot, then he ran away, but turned and came back up to him. The man knelt down and scratched Ralph’s head like strangers so often do and he also began to compliment little Ralph, not neglecting to examine his back paw, which seemed to be an odd color. Then he arose, and with nary a thought of something to eat, turned his carriage around and headed for the palace.

The queen, when she heard a new report of the sighting of Rex, entered it into a ledger she kept concerning Rex, and then gave the courier a silver coin from a bag she kept under her throne expressly for that purpose, although after such a long time it has simply become a polite way for beggars to ask for alms, a thing the good queen was said to encourage. But there was something about this new sighting that aroused her interest.

Late in the summer, the farmers of Sarah’s village all got together and held a giant fair. All the various farms set up tables to display their very best produce. Awards were handed out for the best tomatoes, the best carrots, and the best garlic. Sarah’s farm always got the award for the best garlic, because it actually was the best, and also because it was the only farm to grow only garlic, and sometimes radishes.

The queen was in the habit of going to the fair every year, and so she decided to go, and first have a look at the dog her courier had mentioned, but to do this she did a most curious thing. She did not want to be recognized and so that afternoon she dressed as a commoner. Then, all alone, without even a single attendant, she walked to the cottage the courier had named, and there from a distance she observed her beloved dog, Rex, frolicking and playing in a garden with a young girl.

The Queen wept, and when she was done with weeping she wiped her tears and returned to her coach. The queen felt moved to the depths of the essence that was her soul, and why? She was moved in this way because all her life she had wished in her heart that she could have been a simple farm girl, unencumbered by all the pomp and ceremony that her position in the world made unavoidable every day. She hated the hours it took just to have her attendants dress her, and there were the state luncheons and dinners lasting long into the night with odious guests she could never stand.

And so, like so many Queens, and even Empresses before her she had constructed a farmhouse, with gardens and even a barn with cows goats and chickens where, as often as she could manage to get away, she would go and play the farm girl, and she even would go so far as to milk the cows, feed chickens and collect eggs wherever they could be found. And that is the simplest and most obvious explanation of why the Queen abandoned her beloved dog, for she thought that Rex was where he ought to have been, and she was not.

She felt no interest in the fair and so set off for home. She felt in her heart that she could not take her dog away from its new home, however, even so, as the cottage with her dog drew near and she spotted it in the distance, she asked her driver to stop, so she might take one last parting look, and as she gazed out of her window Rex suddenly recognized her and in that very instant she inadvertently clicked her tongue, by force of habit and despite herself and Rex leaped through the open window and the coach drove swiftly away. Once reunited with her dog, all her tender thoughts of the farm girl fled away as well.

Sara, watching from her garden, understood exactly what had happened, and now understood whom her dog belonged to, as everyone in the kingdom knew the Queen’s coach.

Then one week went by. People thought that Sarah would be upset, but she claimed that she was certainly grown up enough to know that you have to return the Queens’ dog to the Queen, and it was probably for the best. But Sarah’s teacher could see that she was really unhappy, because on two separate occasions, she got 4 times 4 wrong, and had difficulty for a while with division, which before she got perfectly, even with fractions.

But after a week Sarah received an invitation to attend lunch with the Queen at the Palace. Sarah’s mother stayed up all night sewing a dress for her daughter, but did not really need to because the Queen was the sort of person who would have preferred overalls, even if they had those brown spots on the knees you get when you are planting radishes.

The Queen sent a carriage for Sarah in the morning, and the carriage took her to the Palace. When the carriage pulled into the parking lot of the Palace, Rex was asleep under the Queen’s feet under her throne, but in a dream he thought he smelled the smell of radishes, and so he opened one eye and looked around.

A little later, as Sarah was coming up the long staircase that led to the Queen’s audience room, Rex began to think he could smell garlic, as well as radishes, and so he woke up and started looking all around.

Then Sarah appeared, way at the end of the hall that led to the throne room, and Rex jumped up, ran right past the edge of the red carpet, and all the way down the hall to Sarah. The Queen did not bother to click her tongue because she knew it would do no good, and everyone else seeing Rex had run past the carpet started clicking but Rex did not hear anything.

So the Queen invited Sarah to come to the Palace every Saturday afternoon, to babysit Rex, whom she now would sometimes call Ralph. Sarah was paid one gold coin a week, and given a permanent pass to the Museum.

The Queen said, “Do you like to read?” Sarah answered “Yes,” even though it was not her best subject, but she knew it was the answer the Queen wanted to hear. Sarah was therefore given a permanent pass to the library as well as the museum, and, having never seen anything like either place, she found the two very fascinating and so she began to work on a special project.

—Richard Britell

For Elke M, April of 2021, During the covid, but after the trump