THE BERKSHIRES SOURCE FOR PROMOTING ARTISTS TO THE NEXT LEVEL | In Print & Online Free Since 1994
THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023
IRWIN FELD Design Coach MARCY FELD PHOTOGRAPHY
Blue Tree Photograph
BRUCE PANOCK WWW.PANOCKPHOTOGRAPHY.COM
BRUCE@PANOCKPHOTOGRAPHY.COM 917-287-8589
THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 Time to Rise and Shine and show the world what ya got!
JANE GENNARO Visual Artist / Writer / Performer INTERVIEW BY H. CANDEE ...16 IRWIN FELD Design Coach COVER / INSIDE PHOTOGRAPHY :
MARCY FELD PHOTOGRAPHY ...28
ARTIST UPDATE: KATHLINE CARR Artist / Writer INTERVIEW BY H CANDEE
...38
ASTROLOGY FOR CREATIVES Dee Musgrave - December 2023 ...45 RICHARD BRITELL | FICTION THE PRODIGAL DOG PT. 3: THE LITTLE BALLERINA ...47 Publisher Harryet Candee Copy Editor
Marguerite Bride
Third Eye Jeff Bynack Distribution Ruby Aver Carolyn Kinsolving
FRONT ST. GALLERY
Contributing Writers Richard Britell Deanna Musgrave Contributing Photographers Edward Acker Tasja Keetman Bobby Miller Marcy Feld
On Cover: “Seated in front of an industrial factory remnant that I left outside for four years to achieve the perfect patina. The hand thrown lamp and vase a Mid-Century studio pottery. The lamp was created from a vase.” —Irwin Feld KATE KNAPP, LANDSCAPE
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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
Front Street, Housatonic, MA THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 1
MYSTIC MOUNTAIN Tryptic #1, #2, #3, Acrylics and mixed media, Each painting 24” x 20”
DON LONGO www.donlongoart.com Facebook: Don Longo Instagram: don_longo Email: dljoseph55@yahoo.com
"I am becoming comfortable with my new technique of combining acrylic paint with enamel spay paint and alcohol. This allows me to produce a variety of color values and textures. I love the production process as each composition is unique and cannot be duplicated."
Carolyn Newberger WWW.CAROLYNNEWBERGER.COM CNEWBERGER@ME.COM 617. 877. 5672
MANGROVE, WATERCOLOR, 11” X 15”
2 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
RICHARD CRIDDLE
DETOUR Steel, aluminum, cast iron, copper, Astroturf Made in 2019 at Salem Art Works, Salem NY supported by an Oxygen Fellowship
57” x 25” x 32”
RICHARD CRIDDLE richardcriddle55@gmail.com | mobile (413) 652-5952 richardcriddlesculpture.com | Instagram criddle_richard THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 3
CANDACE EATON
American Toreador (The Actor) | Archetype & Icon Series
American Toreador (The Actor) This is an Archetype painting of the actor and any artist that works to support their calling often as a waitperson; who retains and emanates that essence of personal power and appeal through his belief in his creative calling. www.candaceeaton.com candaceeatonstudio@gmail.com candace@candaceeaton.com (631) 413-5057
4 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
Studio: Sheffield, MA The artist also accepts commissions for portaits
Carolyn M. Abrams
Ruby Aver
Festival of Trees
Lenox, MA
Atmospheric and Inspirational Art www.carolynabrams.com MEMBER GUILD OF BERKSHIRE ARTISTS
e Look for me at the Guild’s Small Works Show weekends in December at the Art on Main Gallery, West Stockbridge, MA
Unveiling Acrylic on canvas 18” x 24”
rdaver2@gmail.com Instagram: rdaver2. Housatonic Studio open by appointment: 413-854-7007
elizabeth cassidy studio works
Little Love Letters: A Peaceful Revolution I believe that when art and words come together, they can make a difference in the world.These little cards have traveled the world spreading love, empathy, compassion, and joy.
elizabeth cassidy Artist, Writer, Peace Lover Learn more at: www.elizabethcassidystudioworks.com elizabethcassidyart@gmail.com THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 5
A Little Magick Goes A Long Way | Mollie Kellogg 6 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
WAKING UP TO A NEW DAY, FROM BREAKAWAY SERIES 36" X 48" MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS
BRUCE LAIRD
CANDELMAS OIL ON CANVAS, 28” X 30, 2020
PAMELA BERKELEY
I make paintings from close and direct observation of nature, and combine still life objects, landscape, portraiture of people and animals. I don’t have backgrounds in my work. My main preoccupation in painting is the tension between the still objects close to the picture plane and the distant imagery that is farthest away. Foreground and what is behind are of equal importance, painted at the same time, side by side, locked into each other. In fact, in a work of lace curtains, sometimes only the holes are made of paint, not the threads. As tightly drawn as my work is, there is an underlying influence of my love of abstract painting, all shown in the love of color, paint and brushwork. I have painted so many things. My works are done in oil on canvas or linen, and range in size from 8 in. x 8 in. to 6 ft. by 8 ft. Besides landscape and interiors of Maine, Massachusetts and New York City, I made a series of portraits of actor and artist friends arranged in odd environments. I have been a professional artist for over 55 years, exhibiting with G.W. Einstein Gallery in SoHo for 20 years, nationally in many venues, including 12 major museums. I lived and worked in New York City and in Montville, Maine from 1975 to 2002, then moved to Sheffield, MA. Grants and awards include National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council for the Arts, Academy of Arts and Letters and Robert Rauschenberg Foundation grant. I exhibit at the Blue Mountain Gallery in New York City, and throughout the Northeast. Pamela Berkeley www.pberkeley.com, therealpamelaberkeley@gmail.com.
I am an abstract artist whose two- and threedimensional works in mixed media reveal a fascination with geometry, color and juxtapositions. For me it is all about the work which provides surprising results, both playful and thought provoking. From BCC to UMASS and later to Vermont College to earn my MFA Degree. I have taken many workshops through Art New England, at Bennington College, Hamilton College and an experimental workshop on cyanotypes recently at MCLA. Two international workshops in France and Italy also. I am pleased to have a studio space with an exciting group of artists at the Clocktower Building in Pittsfield. Bruce LairdClock Tower Business Center, Studio #307 75 South Church Street, Pittsfield, MA
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
elizabeth cassidy studio works Little Love Letters: A Peaceful Revolution
“Simplicity involves unburdening your life, and living more lightly with fewer distractions that interfere with a high quality life, as defined uniquely by each individual.” — Linda Breen Pierce
After the Pulse muders in 2016, I knew that I had to do some‐ thing. My Answer are these small cards: “Little Love Letters: A Peaceful Revolution.” Over 70,000 have traveled the world bringing acceptance and peace to people who receive a card.
elizabeth cassidy Artist, Illustrator, Writer, Peace Lover Learn more at: www.elizabethcassidystudioworks.com elizabethcassidyart@gmail.com THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 7
Richard Nelson
The Blackouts ( A very young Frank Zappa on drums)
The Midway (drawing over photo)
digital art 8 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
nojrevned@hotmail.com
ENGLISH GARDENS, 24” X 30”
DON LONGO
UNVEILING NO. 2 ACRYLIC ON CANVAS 18” X 24” GRACE / BALL GOWN UPCYCLED PING PONG BALLS @ERIC.KORENMAN.PHOTOGRAPHY @SHONDAEVETTE_
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 featured in the Spring 2023 What Women Create magazine. Deborah Carter 413-441-3220, Clock Tower Artists, 75 S. Church St., Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Studio 315, 3rd floor. Instagram: @deborah_h_carter Debhcarter@yahoo.com
RUBY AVER STREET ZEN
Growing up on the Southside 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 that exhibit the rich grit of my youth . Movement, shape and color dominate, spontaneously combining raw as well as delicate impulses. Ruby Aver Housatonic Studio open by appointment: 413-854-7007, rdaver2@gmail.com, Instagram: rdaver2
“I love playing with the fluidity of spray enamel and mineral spirits to create ethereal imagery. The underlying textures are created with thick acrylics that force the fluid movement of the spray enamel mixture. It gives a dreamlike image that cannot be duplicated and puts the viewer in a spiritual mood when looking at it. I choose purples and blues for that uplifting yet calming mood.” Don Longowww.donlongoart.com Facebook: Don Longo Instagram: don_longo Email: dljoseph55@yahoo.com
The world is imperfect. I am imperfect. My art is imperfect.
“What Humidity” from the series called, “The Odd SIsters”
CALL TO ARTISTS IN ALL MEDIUMS
THE APRIL ARTFUL MIND ART EXHIBIT APRIL ART EXHIBIT NOW IN PLANNING STAGES IF INTERESTED SEND E-MAIL WITH BIO AND IMAGES TO:
ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM
elizabeth cassidy studio works “Even if You are A Little Odd, You’ll Always Be a Sister.” This award‐winning watercolor and pen illustration and message are about forgetting about being perfect. Be yourself.
elizabeth cassidy Artist, Writer, Odd Sister, Peace Lover Learn more at: www.elizabethcassidystudioworks.com elizabethcassidyart@gmail.com THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 9
Matt Bernson
NAP Markers on Paper, 5.5” x 8.5”
figurative studies series matthew.bernson@gmail.com • Instagram @MattBernson.Art 10 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
PORTRAIT PHOTOGRAPHY
Jon Isherwood
Bobby Miller 28 Greenwood Circle, Egremont, MA 01230 508 - 237 - 9585 troubleblonde@comcast.net By Appointment Only
MARY DAVIDSON
Chance Enounter at a Parisian Café
“Never give up on yourself”
elizabeth cassidy studio works My New Dress
www.davidsondesigncompany.net Studio appointments, please call 413-528-6945 Keith and Mary original artwork for sale Studio/gallery, South Egremont, MA
This monoprint turned into one of the first Little Love letters: A Peaceful Revolution cards. Our cards are placed in public places for people to find and the messages let people know that they are not alone and that they matter.
elizabeth cassidy Artist, Writer, Odd Sister, Peace Lover Learn more at: www.elizabethcassidystudioworks.com elizabethcassidyart@gmail.com THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 11
MOLLIE KELLOGG
Non-essential musing: I sense that creativity is somehow channeled from the universe and everyone has the ability to tap into it — and I believe if you ignore it, or crimp off your “creative flow” for whatever reasons (personal, work, fear, family, abuse, insecurity, time…), then you may suffer over time in some unexpected way. I hope the artistics and non-creatives alike come to recognize that they can bring creativity into their everyday activities in baby steps — such as spending a little more time coordinating an outfit, putting on makeup or styling one’s hair; humming or singing a song, or tinkering on an instrument; doodling, writing poetry, jotting down dreams, or journaling; arranging the furniture, flowers, or the knick knacks on the shelf; playing, laughing, pretending, visualizing — taking pleasure in these rituals as time permits. It doesn’t need to be a big production to get a little more creative juice flowing in your life. Mollie Kellogg 413-242-4108 artist@molliekellogg.com www.creativesorceress.com www.molliekellogg.com www.vimeo.com/molliekellogg
DUCK AND COVER STEEL, ALUMINUM, BRASS, CINDERBLOCK, WOOD, CERAMIC MADE AT SALEM ART WORKS, SALEM NY. SUPPORTED BY THE OXYGEN FELLOWSHIP 2019 46” X 24” X 24”
RICHARD CRIDDLE
I make mindfully autobiographical compositions, frequently tinged with a whiff of humor. These sculptural statements are the result of extended creative play and experimentation. They end up resembling characters, archetypes and passages from a narrative. For me, there’s always a starting point for making sculptures and telling their stories, whether suggested by materials and found objects, or by a fleeting memory that needs nailing down, or a word that I can’t shake out of my head. That’s when the job of ‘cooking’ or ‘weaving’ them together begins. Gradually more ingredients present themselves to the assemblage, and I am simply there to listen to my internal voices and be involved in the dialogue that ultimately leads to the decisions of making. Richard Criddle413-652-5952 richardcriddle55@gmail.com richardcriddlesculpture.com Instagram criddle_richard
Scents by Skanda creates fragrances using only the rarest and finest ingredients. We offer private olfactory consultations in order to find a fragrance that best suits you. Perfumes Attars Incense Essential Oils and much more!
f Reach us at (413) 717‐2498 Shop at scentsbyskanda.com and etsy.com/shop/scentsbyskanda 12 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
CLASSIC FLORA, WILDFLOWER ENGAGEMENT RING
TW MCCLELLAND & DAUGHTERS CREATIVE FINE JEWELRY Tim McClelland is a fine jeweler in Great Barrington, MA known for his 20+ years as the creative hands and mind behind McTeigue & McClelland Jewelers. He has been practicing the art of jewelry making for more than 50 years. Engagement rings from his Wildflower Collection are worn by editors of Vogue, Vanity Fair, W, Town & Country, Martha Stewart Weddings, and acclaimed by many more. TWM original pieces have graced the red carpets of the Oscars and Cannes. Tim uses ancient and traditional jewelry making techniques to bring to life timeless, inspired jewelry. His work is known the world over by jewelry connoisseurs and those who seek out originality, beauty and quality. In his designs Tim is inspired by nature, humor, light, balance, and the materials themselves. He uses his his work to create a joyful expression in a tiny space. Most importantly Tim hopes to be of service to his community and customers. This Autumn the TWM atelier doors will open to the public, Thurs., Fri, Sat, 11 - 5pm! Please join our mailing list via twmcclelland.com for an invite to the opening. Contact us directly about all things jewelry at info@twmcclelland.com or 413654-3399 Follow along on Instagram and Pinterest at @twmcclelland
Pamela Berkeley
Catskill Bog Oil on Canvas 30 in x 36 in 2022 Price available on request
Current/Upcoming Shows Rhode Island Watercolor Society, 831 Armistice Blvd, Pawtucket, RI 02861 Follow The Light (Virtual) - 10/14/23 to 11/17/23 Falling Into Winter – 11/4/23 to 12/15/23 Opening Reception on 11/18/23 Time TBA Marblehead Arts Association, 8 Hooper Street, Marblehead, MA 01945 Winter Member's Show – 11/11/23 to 12/24/23 Opening Reception on 11/12/23, 2pm to 4pm David M. Hunt Library, 63 Main Street, Falls Village, CT 06031 Annual 12x12 Show – 12/9/23 to 1/12/24 Opening Reception on 12/9/23, 4pm to 6pm
PAMELA BERKELEY therealpamelaberkeley@gmail.com (413) 717-8264 https://www.pberkeley.com/ (Artist videos of exhibitions are attached) Gallery: https://www.bluemountaingallery.org/
THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBERR 2023 • 13
Erika Larskaya
Layers #11 Mixed media on canvas 36” x 36”
"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 14 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
GHETTA HIRSCH Working on nature’s texture using sand and resin with the color pigments. Quite an interesting result! I invite you to view it at Southern Vermont Arts Center in Manchester, Vt. It is exhibited there for the Winter.
30 Church Street, Williamstown, MA Call or text for more information: 413. 597. 1716 Website:
ghetta-hirsch.squarespace.com
Ascending 2023, Oil and Mixed media on canvas, 6” x 6”
ELEANOR LORD
Landscape, Pastel
Please visit—
www.eleanorlord.com To see more of the Artist’s Landscapes, Still-life, Portraiture and more. THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 15
JANE GENNARO
VISUAL ARTIST | WRITER | PERFORMER Interview | Photographs by Harryet Candee and Courtesy of the Artist
“Making art is how I question the meaning of life daily in various disciplines. It's an ongoing inquiry into death and renewal, what can be preserved through an act of the imagination. It's how I process and explore my concerns and curiosity about nature, human nature, politics, culture, and the objectification of women's bodies.” –Jane Gennaro Harryet Candee: Your creative voice was extraordinary at a very young age. You saw odd things, and your curiosity led you on a search to explore. Now you have created artwork that is a result of all that, tell us, what in particular launched your fascination with nature and religion? Jane Gennaro: As little kids, we're closer to the ground. You lie on your stomach with your nose in the grass; pick up a stone with stripes or a rock that looks like it's made out of diamonds! See a pink worm squiggling out of that deep, rich black earth, dare to touch it, and —Surprise! It curls up on itself! Just the rhythm of rain on the roof makes you want to run outside and breathe in the fresh smell as soon as it stops. We'd count dead worms dried out on the sidewalk like fried spaghetti. One time, kicking puddles (while trying to avoid splashing my clothes), I got to this really big puddle with the sky in it! Right at my feet! So I jumped in at 16 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
just the right place: a powder blue patch with white cottony clouds, but instead of being able to fly through the sky, my shoes hit the cement, and my pants got splattered in mud streaks! Nevertheless, art persists to show us a way in. Mom was big on "Go out and play!" I thought I was the first person in the world to discover "Teeny green roses!" Mom told me we were just sedum". My mother was a savvy gardener. She made us pick the Japanese Beetles off her rose bushes and drop them into jars of gasoline. But wait. What about "Thou Shalt Not Kill"? One day, a baby Blue Jay falls out of the nest in the trumpet vine. It's in my hands like a prayer; running into the kitchen. "Mom, look! It's alive!" She finds me a shirt box, and I line it with a paper towel like when I change the parakeet cage. Only this is a more tidy hospital room. I know I can nurse the baby Blue Jay to health and teach it to fly. But there will come a day when the baby Blue Jay shall fly away because it's wild. Nevertheless,
it will come back and visit me. I put a lid of water and a bug beside the baby Blue Jay in the shirt box in case it gets hungry at night. Next day, I wake up at dawn, fly downstairs like Christmas morning, and look in on my patient. Then I turn on my heels, go back upstairs, pull the covers over my head, and go back to sleep so I can wake up again, go back downstairs, and look in the box. Only this time, the baby Blue Jay won't be dead. The resurrection narrative got drummed in early. It bothered me animals couldn't go to heaven because they weren't human and didn't have souls. You had to be a baptized Catholic to get in, and even that was no guarantee. It wasn't fair! How could God leave out birds, cats, and dogs? Goats and sheep! That little lamb draped around the neck of the shepherd boy in the manger under the lights of our Christmas tree? The porcelain oxen and donkey! Joseph and Mary Get Dressed resurrects a tiny
Left: Jane at play Photograph: Harryet Candee Middle: Studio paraphernalia
Photograph: Harryet Candee
Right: Joseph and Mary Get Dressed, Eisenhower-era handkerchief and coloring book illustrations, salamander, wasp nest, goose egg shell, various species of bird feathers, beak, skeleton, cicadas, seashells, vintage lace, chipmunk tail, cheesecloth, paints, on canvas in Lucite box 20 x 20 x 5 in.
salamander. I like the Egyptian vibe of the piece. Talk about exotic afterlife beliefs! But why do we have to believe there's something more, Harryet? Why this relentless quest for immortality? Stephen Cave calls this seeking—this will to immortality, "the foundation of human achievement, the wellspring of religion, the muse of philosophy, the architect of our cities, and the impulse behind the arts." When we met, I mentioned to you that I have been exploring abandoned houses as a hobby. Your collage series, Kinderdraussen, reminds me of the things I found during my explorations. Amidst the cobwebs, broken glass and furniture, old magazines and books, plates, and toy parts, I found remnants of a person's life. The musty air of those old, worn-down homes was filled with the voices of the past. I'm curious to know what inspired the name Kinderdraussen and what this series means to you personally. JG: I'd love to explore among the cobwebs with you, Harryet! The remnants of a person’s life fascinate me as well. I made up the word Kinderdraussen. It means "children outside". After my
mother-in-law died, Stephen excavated a champagne colored quilted satin box from her bureau drawer. It contained a collection of handkerchiefs, some from the 1950s, and 60s. My mother had mailed a large envelope of coloring books with stereotyped depictions of cherubic children doing things. I fused handkerchief ground and coloring book figures on canvas and painted in keeping with the color palette of the hankies. I started adding organic elements to the lovely designs of those unsung illustrators whose craftsmanship celebrates fauna and flora. I like watching people being attracted to the innocent storybook quality of the Kinderdraussen come closer and go, "Wait a minute! Is that a claw? A real bee? What a tiny skull! Wow, a deer rib! I see a wasp nest!” Not only were you interested in visual arts, but also in being seen and heard through stage performances and writing. Did your interests overlap and how did you balance them? JG: They overlap and converse—like siblings who get along. They've gone hand in hand since I moved into the city at twenty. My idea was to become a famous actress and use my art to "fall
Photograph: Sam Freed
back" on. Fortunately, I got a receptionist job at Famous Music, a record company whose clients included Melanie and Billy Joel. You stepped off the elevator onto the twenty-third floor of The Gulf & Western Building at Columbus Circle to be greeted by a jukebox and me behind the front desk in a floppy hat and mini skirt. I answered phones, disconnected dozens of people daily, and drew line drawings of connected people in a large blank book lest people miss the next Picasso in their midst. Mr. Tibor, aka "The Candy Man," a little old Hungarian, would get off the elevator and limp toward the front desk, towing a shopping bag on wheels, selling delectable homemade chocolates. Legendary in offices around the city, when I told Mr. Tibor I was an actor and an artist, he connected me to a Broadway producer who chased me around his desk and an art director at Chappell Music Publishing who hired me to illustrate several children's music books. At the same time, an A&R guy who liked my voice let me do my first voiceover for, I forget what—maybe an in-house promo recorded in a closet-sized studio across the hall. A Want Ad in the NY Times led to full-time Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 17
Left: Jane holding up and hiding behind Flag, Snapping turtle eggs, garters, cotton, cheesecloth, gesso on wood frame Photograph: Harryet Candee Right: School, 9 x 12 in., Hen eggs, cotton mattress cover, gesso on cork board Photograph: Jane Gennaro
illustration work with the cartoonist, graphic novelist, comic book creator, and writer Barbara-Jo Slate, who was then creating Ms. Liz, a line of feminist greeting cards "for the woman who speaks her mind." We became fast friends. Barbie introduced me to my husband, Stephen, but before that, she fixed me up on a date with this guy, Jack, who took me to The Comic Strip. The 80s were a golden age of stand-up in New York City comedy clubs. Regulars included Jimmy Brogan, Paul Reiser, Gilbert Gottfried, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry Miller, and Larry David. Seeing Carol Leifer's act and Nancy Parker's impressions made me think, "I can do that!" I passed my audition on open mike night and played the comedy clubs for seven years. Eventually, I worked with the band at Catch A Rising Star, doing singing impressions of MTV's hottest rock stars. Before that, my sisters Ellen, Mary Jo, and I had had a cabaret act, "Those Gennaro Sisters." Our little sister, Martha, was our manager. Andy Warhol came to see us at one of our first gigs at The Horn of Plenty! I drew our flyers until my brother Mark (a fine painter and, at the time, an art director) took over. I've illustrated promotional materials for my performances, demo tapes, etc., throughout my career. It was a fun way to catch the eye of casting 18 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
directors and agents. When The American Place Theatre produced my first solo play, The Boob Story, my cartoon of the boobs, Chuck and Lefty was on the cover. With Reality Ranch, the Artistic Director, Wynn Handman, invited me to exhibit my "notes"—large pastels on newsprint in the lobby of The First Floor Theatre. On opening night of my recent exhibit, Storytales, at the Claverack Free Library, I performed selections from my new solo play, Coloring In Circles. Your first employment in the art world was after high school when artwork was submitted to Mad magazine, and your cartoons made it in. Thanks to your rapidograph pen, this was the beginning of a perfect start. What was it about that pen that unleashed your artistic abilities? JG: Bill Dehn, my high school art teacher, introduced me to the Rapidograph, a steel nibbed technical pen used by draughtsmen to make lines of constant width. I used it to illustrate a series of two-page spreads in our yearbook, The Colonnade. The ink flowed into organisms populated by the student body, faculty, and custodial staff. Mr. Dehn encouraged me to continue in this style. When did you move to using color in your art? JG: I've always colored. The miracle of red, blue,
and yellow combining in myriad ways to create a gazillion colors blows my mind. But some work wants something else. I try to respect that. During your mid-career in art in 2002, you transitioned to three-dimensional work after a confrontation with a pair of wild geese on the peninsular of a pond upstate New York. Can you tell me more about what took place during that confrontation? JG: Stephen and I love the city, but noise makes me crazy, so buying our house in the country had much to do with this idea of tranquility in nature. On our first spring weekend, we wake up to cacophony. I mean loud honking! We throw off the covers, run outside, and behold! A couple of geese flying overhead come swooshing down to land splash! in the middle of our pond. This is how we imagined country life. It's very picturesque. And they stay. They build a nest, which is so perfectly like a storybook. And we're the "Gentle Folk in the Cottage". Then, on Passover, Stephen's Uncle Dan makes it sound more like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. "Geese multiply like Catholics. Those birds will ruin your property. "Apparently, Geese took over his golf course. So I call the EPA, and the guy on the phone confirms our property sounds like the kind of environment Geese appreciate. "Oh no!"
VISUAL ARTIST | WRITER | PERFORMER JANE GENNARO I probably sounded like I was about to cry, so he said, "Listen. Off the record. If you break their eggs, they'll lay more, but if you shake their eggs, they'll go away. We need to be prepared to move really fast the second we see them away from the nest. Sure enough, one Sunday morning, they're not around!—probably off having Sunday brunch on somebody else's pond with other geese couples. Suddenly, Stephen's standing before me wearing the camouflage pants he wore in Vietnam. Holding a ridiculously huge Black Umbrella "To use as a shield," he tells me and hands me the kitchen broom, which I'm supposed to use to "run interference." "What the f---?"— "Janie, nothing’s gonna happen. It is just a precaution."Fine. So we set out on our mission. We sneak around the peninsula to the nest. A goose nest is basically a depression in the ground lined with feathers, leaves, and down like a comforter. Stephen stands over the nest. Opens out his big black umbrella and holds it over his head against this postcard-blue sky. He kneels down on one knee. Carefully picks up the first egg and holds it to his ear. It’s like we're in a surrealist painting. All that's missing is a melting clock and his bowler hat. Goose eggs are big. Really big. Three times the size of a chicken egg. And there's five of them. So he holds the first one to his ear and listens before he shakes it. I'm getting a rapid heartbeat. What if
goslings still hatch, and they're deformed? Flapping webbed feet where the tail belongs? Beaks for wings! “Maybe we should shake them twice,” I say when suddenly the geese shoot out from around the reeds like enraged deities! Geese are big birds. I never realized just how big, until they were about to kill me! These giant pterodactyls honing into peck out my eyeballs like Suzanne Pleshette in "The Birds." So I raise my broom and start swinging it around my head in circles—while jogging around Stephen—Who keeps shaking the eggs! The gander whacks into his umbrella! Breaks a spoke! The goose attacks my broom, and I drop it. "Stop! I surrender! Don't eat me!" She flicks out her lizard tongue. Hissing. Like Satan in my face. Hiss! Hiss! Hissssss!" I scream “Stephen, run!”, but he keeps shaking the eggs! Forget "running interference” I run for my life!You know how when you're running so fast, your heart's in your throat, your legs are burning, your eyebrows melting, but you keep going? A blood-pumping ocean pounding your eardrums! We return to the house on the brink of collapse, dare to look behind us, and see—the goose settled back on her nest. Like nothing happened. The gander swimming back and forth in front of her like a sentinel, guarding their would-be, rather never-will-be-thanks-to-us goslings, now nothing but egg drop soup. This incubation ritual goes on for weeks. Day after day.
One morning, the gander tosses his head and honks. The goose throws her head back and honks. They spread their wings and fly up into the sky, away from the two humans who destroyed their progeny. I run to the nest. Ironically, the eggs have been broken into overnight. Cracked open and eaten by a raccoon or coyote. I gather the shells and paste them on a paint brochure under the words "Eggshell Finish." I stick on a couple of Band-Aids, draw a nun, float the works on cheesecloth, and stretch it over a wooden frame. I call it "Penance". In 2003, Dove was created as part of your Hair series. You used hair as a medium for linear structures, inspired by automatic drawing. Please tell us more about this. JG: In fifth grade, I woke up one morning and didn't want to go to school, so I lied, said I felt sick, and Mom let me stay home, but I had to stay in bed and pretend to cough, which got boring fast. I started playing with my eyelashes, actually pulling them out. Surprising little black apostrophes appeared on my fingertips, leaving a bald patch in the middle of my eyelid. Then I started pulling out the hair on my head. This is called Trichotillomania. It's a hair-pulling disorder. One shrink suggested I save the hair and play with it instead of pulling out more. I had some blank Continued on next page...
Left: Sampling, Hair, acrylic, gesso on canvas paper Photograph: Harryet Candee Right: Dove, Hair, gouache, on paper, 8 x 10 in. Photograph: Jane Gennaro
THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 19
What About Korea? Glass, bone, metal, newspaper, cheesecloth, with gesso
Deadline 2, (Work in progress) Plastic, cotton, insect wings, organza,
on canvas Photograph: Jane Gennaro
wire, bones, on marble pedestal Photograph: Harryet Candee
cards I got on sale at Kate's paper I brushed with gel medium. I started fiddling with strands of hair I kept in an envelope. Line drawings formed often suggesting animals or people I sometimes enhanced out of the abstract into a literal portrait. DOVE is one of those. After your experience, you started creating the Eggs and Bones series where you incorporated natural objects into your reliefs and sculptures. I would like to know which objects you used and how they helped you explore your curiosity about the delicate nature of organic life, mortality and the potential for rejuvenation. JG: To attentively handle an egg is to hold life's potential dear. Working with materials that contain DNA heightens the experience of making art with profound energy. Touching evidence of individual animal’s lives epitomizes an exquisite balance of life and death. Attaching my clothing and bedding is an offering of comfort and protection. And cheesecloth! It's simply beautiful, endlessly musical, and surprisingly sturdy. During all this, what other kind of work were you doing? JG: Writing and drawing in my journals. Standup comedy. Writing and performing plays. 20 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
Recording voiceovers. Acting in commercials (I've played a lot of perky moms in my day!) Infrastructure series is beautiful. What is Cencus, 2016, all about? JG: Sensus is composed of bits of visual information that form a pattern, like letters and words on a page. Broken glass and beads have a language all their own. Counting the population of trinkets or feathers beneath the grid is impossible. Lamb of God, 2020. You use unconventional materials, such as preserved animals, glass domes, and various bases made of stone, metal, and wood. Where do you find these creatures? JG: Our cat, Faccia, was an excellent hunter/collaborator. I miss her. These days I come across dead mice in the cellar and garage of the country house, but New York City is Rodent Central! I once picked a dead rat off the curb with a paper napkin and popped it in a super-size Duncan Donuts Latte Cup that was lying on the street. Ray, my super would text me “Janie, I got something for you!” A dead rat caught in the fence behind our building. I preserved it alongside the mice, voles, and chipmunks I keep in jars of alcohol which bleaches their coats. Many of these wet specimens enliven an installation called “Tom
Cruise Chooses A Wife”. I’ve been working on for years. I’m dying to exhibit it. But where? Hm. I recently exhibited Lee Miller’s Vogue a miniature staging with an interesting back story. In 1986, Art Spiegelman’s Holocaust memoir Maus was published. The Jewish characters in the book are portrayed as mice. The image stayed with me. In 1995 my husband Stephen and I moved into our house in Claverack. I found a black tin box in a corner of the garage – a humane mouse trap designed for live catch and release. Sadly, it contained the remains of many mice. I cleaned and reanimated what skeletons I could, then painted them with liquid chrome. In 2015 I attended the Lee Miller exhibition at the Albertina Museum in Vienna. Formerly a fashion model and fine art photographer, Miller was the muse and unsung collaborator of Man Ray. She later became a war correspondent and photojournalist who documented the horror of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Dachau for Vogue Magazine. Vintage camera lenses and a canceled postage stamp of Hitler complete the narrative, which is housed in a black wooden box on a pedestal. In 2023, we live in a cultural climate where many books, including Maus, have been banned in libraries, and antisemitic incidents are on the rise
VISUAL ARTIST | WRITER | PERFORMER JANE GENNARO
Sensus, Infrastructure seres, Glass, string, beads, acrylic, 18K gold marker, gel medium on canvas,10 x 10 in.
Lamb of God, Brass crucifix, honey jars, alcohol, chipmunk, mice, vole under glass dome on wooden base. Photographs by Jane Gennaro
across America. I completed this work expressly for exhibit at the Claverack Free Library. I want it to travel. Where do you hunt for all of these parts and pieces? JG: I come across stuff while walking around the property, but the bulk of my collection comes from friends. Honestly, when my friends see roadkill, they think of me. Bring me specimens: Skulls, bones, snakeskins. A hoof. A dragonfly. Pods! Tiny pink crabs speckled with red freckles. A bullfrog carcass from Hawaii. The exoskeleton of a tarantula One of my husband Stephen's clients (he's a shrink) gave Stephen to give to me. I don't want to know what they talk about. It kills me how they're wrapped: A salamander in a matchbox, a foil lasagna pan stuffed with cockroaches stuck on glue traps. One friend sent me her kid's dead pet goldfish in a baggie filled with water through the US Mail. By the time I got it, it wasn't exactly gold or even a fish, but I harvested a gill the size of a speck of angel dandruff— Sheen of Mother of Pearl! What do you find most popular with art collectors nowadays regarding your art? JG: Reliquaries recently exhibited at TSL sold
well. On the other end of the spectrum, a new series of colorful paper cut-outs I call scissor painting is quite popular. It's exciting having them made into prints! Now tell us about your present life, family, spare time activities, favorite places to travel, and most entertaining films and theatre you have seen. JG: It feels good to be getting older and wiser but I’m only seventy, so there’s still plenty to learn. Stephen and I married in 1980. He’s a great fun husband—relentlessly curious and loving. Keeps me on my toes. Also, he’s a wonderful cook! My friends and family are the bomb. Loving, smart, kind, funny people committed to trying and learning new things. Several sibs are ex-pats who’ve moved around quite a lot. From Rome to the Sinai Peninsula to Frankfurt to London. We’ve visited my brother in Prague, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Amsterdam, and Paris. We rent villas and vacation together in the States and abroad. Stephen and I recently flew across the sky over the ocean to attend our friends’ wedding on Milos. Then visited Sifnos and Athens. I swam in aqua and cerulean waters for miles and miles surrounded by golden mountains. The ancient female figurines at the Museum of Cycladic Art give me hope. I’m a fan
of cinema. Film Forum is a favorite haunt. Their curations span the canon offering up surprises from Elaine May and Lee Grant Festivals to their recent “50 from the 50s”. It’s where I first saw the most powerful anti-war movie ever—René Clément’s Forbidden Games. Theatre! Thank you for asking Harryet. I’ll go see anything written by Beth Wohl, Lucas Hnath, Annie Baker, or Amy Herzog. Hansol Jung's Wolf Play had me howling at the moon. I went twice. I just bought my ticket to her new play, Merry Me at the New York Theatre Workshop. Tonight we’re off to see Aristophanes The Frogs with music by Stephen Sondheim at Lincoln Center. Some playwrights just never get old! Your performance monologue, Feed the Models, explores society's obsession with thinness and beauty standards imposed on females. Tell us about the monologue and the series of cut-outs from fashion magazine ads. JG: So one day I’m boppin’ down the street when something changes. I suddenly feel bad about my self, but I don't know why. So I trace my steps and realize I just passed a newsstand! I've been assaulted by gaudy candy wrappers and magazine covers! Photographs of models my subconscious Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 21
My City, Momento Mori series, photograph drawn over with Ipad tools
Detail of Tom Cruise Chooses A Wife installation. Snake preserved in alcohol in glass jar
Jane experimenting with a snapping turtle carapace. Photographs with the exception of My City, by Harryet Candee Stage set in progress, coqui frogs, chrome marker Ukranian and Russian made syringes, goose egg shell, cheesecloth, plastic cosmetic gift box, test tubes and miniature domes, plastic astronaut figures.
22 • DECEMBER 2023
THE ARTFUL MIND
VISUAL ARTIST | WRITER | PERFORMER JANE GENNARO
Startrek, 11” x 11 in., cut up magazine page on paper
Blush Paris Magazine by Alexander Zouari. Photograph: Ron Contarsy
tells me I'm supposed to look like. How and why a concentration camp-like body weight got to be a standard of beauty, I don't know, Harryet. Something to do with Capitalism, ya think? All I know is distorted images of women are a tool to sell products that hook into the primal fear of not being desirable. This has nothing to do with the models themselves, who happen to be hard-working professional young women who are, on some level being dehumanized, so now I'm thinking— I want to love models. I want to feed them and take care of them and make them better I want to gather them up in all their scary gauntness with no cushion of protection and put them in a cage and fatten them up. I want to slide homemade lasagna with clumps of Italian sausage and chopped chuck through the bars until the models grow hips and thighs as plump as their lips until their boobs pop like made-up eyes. That's the opening of my poem, Models, which aired as a commentary on NPR's All Things Con-
sidered, retitled "Feed the Models." I wanted to know if there was a book here. I love Henry's Walk to Paris, illustrated by Saul Bass. So I started cutting colored paper into various body shapes, then changed direction. If this was about models, they needed to come from actual magazine pages. So, I started cutting photos of models in magazines into extremely thin lines that could pass as pen and ink drawings. I have portfolios full of them! I selected a few to blow up into large-scale prints on aluminum dibonds. This series has been exhibited at several venues, including The Fashion Institute of Technology. Ironically, a fashion photographer asked to stage and shoot real models with the art! I agreed. Once the photos were published, I cut the magazine pages of models posing with my art models into new scissor drawings which brought the process full circle in a way I had never imagined happening. Memento Mori. Pigeons of The Endicott Hotel, 2014, and Portfolios, 2019, what can you tell us about these works of art? JG: Pigeons of The Endicott Hotel Sounds like a tuxedoed steward announcing upper-crust guests at a Royal Ball! Makes me laugh. The Endicott Hotel is a former luxury hotel on Columbus Avenue diagonal from The American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Made of Roman
Full Circle, 11 x 11 in., cut up magazine page on paper
brick and terra cotta. Lovely. It was built in the late 1880s—New York's "Gilded Age". (as Mark Twain named it) And man, if walls could talk! Being a curious artist who explores old houses to discover remnants of lives once lived among the mothballs, you'd love the stories Harryet: A lovesick chamber maid committing suicide, a gentleman inventor's science experiment exploding, two fires; organized crime, murder! Now, it's a co-op. My friend Rob bought an apartment and started renovating it. I told him, "If you find anything in the walls, I want it." One day, he shows up at my door holding a plastic bag full of stinky pigeon remains. "Only for you, Jane." I was so excited but also grossed out. Matted feathers, dried maggot shells. PU. Nevertheless, I persisted! Dissected the skulls and bones, soaked them in water, and let them dry in the sun until it bleached them white.Meanwhile, I'd been holding onto a major thrift shop find; a mid-twentieth-century jewelry/music box with a ballerina that twirls when you wind the key. The tune is kind of eery. Like in a horror movie with a demon ghost child lurking in the nursery. It's also pretty and calming in a weird way. So I'm organizing my studio (a never-ending process!), pop the bones into the jewelry box to get them out of the way, and bingo! It's art! Of course, I need to arrange them just so Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 23
JANE GENNARO VISUAL ARTIST | WRITER | PERFORMER
Top: Ancestors of Calder 1, Tree parts, bone, wire, wood stain Photograph: John Isaacs Right top: Members, Tree parts, wood stain
Photographs: Harryet Candee
Bottom right: Pigeons of The Endicott Hotel, 6 x 14 x 6 in., Mixed Media Photograph: Jane Gennaro
and rearrange them just so, and this goes on for months until a pleasing pattern emerges. Only now, the Ballerina (who, by the way, does not know she's made of plastic, like the rest of us who ingest it daily) tells me the bones must be gold, so I paint them with nail polish, and she twirls happily ever after. The real magic comes from setting a stage that frees the imagination to create a story. A pigeon's sternum resembles a frog. Metacarpals might be magic barrettes, but for all I know or think I see, I will never know what it's like to be a pigeon, and that's humbling. Their bones fly. Bird bones are pneumatic—hollow yet full of wonder! Portfolios similarly frames its world. The structure is a chrome portfolio rack. It's magnetic, which enables me to vary the arrangement of teeny bones strung on invisible thread and play with shadows. Nothing is permanent. Momento Mori.When COVID started, I knew we might be leaving the city, so I started photographing the streets I’d miss walking on. I looked down and started shooting the pavement, crosswalks, and bike lanes.
24 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
I drew over the photos with the iPad tools, mapping lines with geometric shapes, playing with color and changing the direction things were taking. When we met at the TSL Warehouse in Hudson, NY, in the bookstore a few months ago, we had a conversation about our shared interest in collecting shells, bones, and feathers and using them to create beautiful pieces of art, much like your hanging mobile sculptures. We find joy and reflection in displaying them in imaginative ways, whether randomly or with a plan. Can you discuss the process of selecting and physically assembling the artifacts for your mobiles, as well as what they represent? JG: The mobile series is called The Ancestors of Calder. They're composed of galvanized steel tomato cages hung with deer bones, fish bones, and tree parts —driftwood, firewood, and limbs from the forest floor. I pick up suggestive shapes that attract me and refine and or enhance their natural growth pattern by sculpting and sanding with a Dremel drill. I stain some pieces white. Balance
happens in the intermingling of organic elements. I'm a big fan of Alexander Calder, who changed the course of modern art with his three-dimensional kinetic sculptures. Marcel Duchamp named them "mobiles." Calder's colored abstract shapes are made from industrial materials hung in lyrical balance. The innate lyricism of our own skeletal structure is a balance of bones in various shapes: long and thin, squat, cubed, and flattened. Bones change in size, shape, and position throughout our lives. Mother Nature's art is forever modern. Can you find a few words in your journals about your life's summary, future hopes, and reflections on life and beyond? JG: "I am here now."
Z JANE@JANEGENNARO.COM JANE GENNARO.COM
THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 25
READING THE TEA LEAVES MIXED MEDIA, 10” X 10”
RED STATE, BLUE STATE MIXED MEDIA ON PAPER
MARION H. GRANT
Artist Marion H. Grant is a member of Clock Tower Artists, and can be found most days working in her studio (no. 305) at Clock Tower Business Park, 75 South Church Street, Pittsfield, MA Her current work in mixed media on paper and canvas combines textural materials, hand-painted papers, acrylic paint, and fabric in abstract compositions that that explore colors, patterns, and shapes. About the work, Grant says, “My recent pieces reflect my ongoing interest in the interplay of geometric shapes, color relationships, and embellishments such as texture and drawing. Viewed as a whole, the paintings have unity; viewed up close, every element stands on its own as a unique passage.” Grant’s studio at the Clock Tower is open to the public the first Friday and Saturday of each month, April through December. Public hours on first Fridays are 5-8 and first Saturdays 11-4. Private visits to the studio can also be arranged by contacting the artist directly. Marion H. Grant 413-446-7979 www.mariongrantart, insta: @marionh.grant Email: grants3@earthlink.net,
26 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
ARTIST MARY ANN YARMOSKY 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 Yarmoskymaryannyarmoskyart.com maryannyarmosky.shop
“There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted.” —Henri Matisse
MATT BERNSON FIGURATIVE ARTIST AND PROVOCATEUR
Born and raised just north of Boston, Matt Bernson is a dynamic and provocative figurative artist known for his bold and playful take on the human form. A graduate of Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), Bernson boasts a BFA in Animation & Painting, a duality that is evident in the fluidity and vibrancy of his work. After a decade of honing his craft, Bernson made a significant move to the Berkshires in 2020. This transition marked a new chapter in his artistic journey, offering fresh inspirations and opportunities. Matt’s passion for community and collaborative creativity led him to join the Future Labs Gallery Co-op in 2023, a platform that has hosted his art since 2022. Bernson’s artistry reached new heights in September 2023, when he shared the spotlight in a two-person show at Future Labs Gallery. Known for his wit and irreverence, his artist bio for the show was a cheeky one-liner: “Wanna see some butts?” This encapsulates Bernson’s ethos perfectly, a fearless artist who invites his audience to share in his delight and fascination with the human form. Bernson’s work is far from conventional, and it’s this daring and distinctive approach that sets him apart. With every piece he creates, Bernson continues to push boundaries, challenge perceptions, and infuse a sense of fun and freedom into the world of figurative art. Additionally, in October 2023, he started a figure drawing group at Future Labs Gallery, fostering a supportive community for artists. Matt has worked as both a caricature artist and as a tattoo artist. And completed an artist residency in May 2023 where he completed two 20”x24” paintings within a week and showed them at Dacia Gallery in New York City. Matthew Bernsonmatthew.bernson@gmail.com Instagram @MattBernson.Art
TIGER LILLIES
CANDACE EATON
SALLY TISKA RICE Born and raised in the captivating Berkshires, Sally Tiska Rice possesses artistic prowess that breathes life into her canvases. As a versatile multi-media artist, Sally seamlessly employs a tapestry of techniques, working in acrylics, watercolors, oil paints, pastels, collages containing botanicals and mixed media elements. Her creative spirit draws inspiration from the idyllic surroundings of her rural hometown, where she resides with her husband Mark and cherished pets. Sally’s artistic process is a dance of spontaneity and intention. With each stroke of her brush, she composes artwork that reflects her unique perspective. Beyond her personal creations, Sally also welcomes commissioned projects, turning heartfelt visions into tangible realities. Whether it’s capturing the essence of individuals, beloved pets, cherished homes, or sacred churches, she pours her soul into each personalized masterpiece. Sally’s talent has garnered recognition both nationally and internationally. Her career includes a remarkable 25-year tenure at Crane Co., where she lent her hand-painted finesse to crafting exquisite stationery. Sally is a member of the Clock Tower Artists of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the Guild of Berkshire Artists, the Berkshire Art Association, and the Becket Arts Center. Sally’s work is on the gallery walls of the Clock Tower, Open Monday-Friday 9:00-5:00pm for self-guided tours. 75 South Church Street, 3rd floor, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Open Studio Friday, first Friday, 5pm-8pm and Saturday, 11am-4pm or call to set up a studio appointment at the Clocktower Business Center, 75 South Church St., third floor, studio #302, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, 413-446-8469. Sally Tiska Ricehttps://sallytiskarice.com
“Each gesture is its own psychological statement...” The unfolding of the life force within me as it comes in contact with the given world about me motivates me creatively. The heart of the human experience, when it enters the numinous is beyond any style or “brand” of art and does not belong to any movement. American Archetype and Icon Series - I am dedicated to presenting the complexities and dualities inherent in our human nature. Because my paintings function on multiple levels – social, psychological and spiritual, I have reduced the image to its most sparse. I consciously work in a fairly traditional technique, which allows me to manipulate the figure with any subtle augmentations needed to enhance a gesture. I delete all but the essential props, so the gesture dominates the often poster- like format: This frees me to delve into our human condition both psychological and spiritual, even when I use a particular current or social issue to highlight this. These Archetypes and Icons stimulate an awareness that arises when the multiple layers of reality are allowed to exist in one frozen moment, in one human being. Jazz Horse Series - my Jazz/Horse series spring onto the canvas, where I basically control only the composition. They are muse-driven from the primal life force within each of us that can be sterilized out of us. Eros has its opposite in Thanatos. Despite the perceived erotic overtones of many of these Jazz/Horse paintings, this very merging with the other brings us out of the illusion of isolation and time and gives us a glimpse of the eternal pulse of life outside of our temporal perception of time. They are a door to a more spirited and spiritual life; a celebration of the joining of duality and joy of being totally present when the “I” and “Thou” merge with the creative pulse of being. Candace Eaton631-413-5057 www.candaceeaton.com candaceeatonstudio@gmail.com candace@candaceeaton.com
DAVID LYNCH
RICHARD NELSON DIGITAL ARTIST
I’m very much inspired and motivated by music. Anything from Louis Armstrong to Frank Zappa. Though my love of music far exceeds my ability to create it, it is a very important part of my drawing process. Once I’ve started on a piece, I am in the zone; totally absorbed. I soak the music in and basically draw along with it. Consequently, when I create an audio piece (I hesitate to call them songs) it’s a similar process to what I use in my drawing. Improvised, with each sound or shape or color being a reaction to the note/shape/color which proceeded it. Like many people, I need instant gratification, which is why I am so fond of improvising. If I have a preconceived idea for a piece, it goes through many changes in the process. This is true for audio and visual. Total spontaneity. This is where the more disciplined portrait type stuff adds balance to the process. The portraits, etc. are the learning process and, for me the abstract is recess. Richard Nelson nojrevned@hotmail.com
ITS TIME TO SHOW YOUR ART
ARTFULMIND@YAHOO.COM 413.645.4114 THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 27
IRWIN FELD DESIGN COACH Interview by Harryet Candee
Photographs by MARCY FELD PHOTOGRAPHY
“Design creates culture. Culture creates values. Values determine the future.” —Robert L. Peters Harryet Candee: What is your title and goal as a designer? Irwin Feld: I like to refer to myself as a Design Coach rather than an Interior Designer. I like that term because it implies collaboration. My goal as a designer is to help the client realize their dreams by utilizing my expertise and my resources to achieve a mutually satisfactory result. I want the client involved as much as possible and bring as much to the table as they can. Sometimes, people know what they don't like but don't know what they do like. I have found that in being a coach, there is so much sociology involved, and that is why I subscribe to the "one size doesn't fit all" philosophy. We are all unique and have different needs. I want your home to look different from your neighbors. I want it to reflect who you are. How would you describe IRWIN FELD DESIGN? Also, I'm curious how your work style and approach differ and correspond to living in a rural community compared to your previous stomping ground, mainly in New York 28 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
City, where you gained most of your life's work experience. IF: IRWIN FELD DESIGN is a comprehensive design firm. The scope of work ranges from residential and commercial design work to home decor and fine art. What I am presenting in my design studio in Hillsdale is a refined collective, blending all of my design aesthetics. I am a modernist, but many simple and pure lines and forms can be found in antique pieces and achieve a beautiful balance within the studio. My work has evolved, but I have committed to what I love best. When I bought my house in Hillsdale in 2000, I embarked on a life and career-changing project. I had never worked on a historical project and quickly realized there was a lot I needed to learn. This project introduced and helped cultivate the design perspective I represent today. How and why did you set up Irwin Feld Design in Hillsdale, New York? IF: I had no intention of opening a shop here, although I yearned for a place close to home. When
we moved here permanently a few years ago, the commute back and forth to New York City became much. Most of my bespoke furniture brand, CF MODERN, was in the Metro area of the city, and I was traveling constantly. The space in the Hamlet happened quite serendipitously. I had heard about an available space, then it wasn't, and then it was. When I walked in the door, I knew it was mine. It had a modern sensibility yet maintained the integrity of an 1845 structure. It is a light-filled space that feels warm and inviting. The size was ideal, and I knew many of my Mid-Century items would look incredible there. What inspired you to become a designer? IF: I was born a designer. I remember being very young and drawing on my Etch-a-Sketch. I was always drawing houses. Between that and my Erector Set, I was always building. Growing up, I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. We would watch black-and-white movies and TV shows, where my love of fashion and interiors began.
1970's Impasto painting by Etta Benjamin Cien. I purchased this expressly for the Studio right after I took possession of the space. I knew exactly where it would hang and I love it because it's the first thing I see when I walk in the front door.
Mid-Century Modernist painting by Marcel Cardinale.
Two French canvas lithographs by Pierre Fix Masseau @1990 add to the energetic vibe
This is my favorite piece of art in the Studio. It is simple,
found in the studio. On the lower shelf, Industrial Age powder coated letters spelling BEST
yet extremely elegant. It is a wonderful stand alone
sends the message Irwin always conveys; Don’t just be good at something.
piece of art equally as impressive in a collection.
My mom also loved to decorate and was very hands-on in our house. I grew up surrounded by creativity, which encouraged me to become a designer. It all goes back to the cinema. Watching a film in black and white is like having a blank canvas in front of you. I can imagine it in so many different ways. What color was that dress, or what does that painting look like? A few years ago, I created a wallcovering collection before the pandemic called IRWIN FELD STUDIO. The entire collection was based on patterns of neckties, especially gangsters who always dressed so natty. I admit it was the most fun I ever had designing anything. It expanded me creatively, and the results were astounding. I spent dozens of hours researching, including going through my closet, where I have collected neckties for years, finding one small detail, and expanding on it to create something fresh and unique. The patterns were given names like Clyde and Kent, kind of dark and sinister. It was around that time that I discovered Film Noir. "B" pictures made up in style and decor what they may
have lacked in storyline or content. What is your background in interior design and other work-related fields such as fashion, antiques, and vintage furniture? IF: After I graduated from college in the late '70s, I decided to pursue a career in fashion. I do not have a formal art background, but I have good taste and style. Much to my father's chagrin, I worked at Garment Century and became a salesperson for a shirt company. I found the job and the product I was selling dull, and one day, I conveyed that to my employer. He answered, "Well, what would you make?" I showed him some pictures, and he agreed to sample some shirts based on those ideas. The shirts were an immediate success, and my design career took off. In the five years I was with them, I became head designer for the men's line, created a women's line, co-designed a blouse line with a designer in Paris, and became Vice President of the company. When I decided to leave that position, my wife Marcy and I created a women's accessory company, and sud-
Strive to be the best!
denly I was designing jewelry. I had no idea how to design jewelry, but I knew about design and returned to my roots for inspiration. At that time, we also began collecting vintage furniture and art for our apartment, and I became addicted to collecting. As a designer, how important is fine art in today's market? IF: When I began my career in home design, which led to my Gallery in Connecticut, I started collecting art. I made a friend who was an art dealer focusing on Modern Expressionism. I learned a lot from him, and he helped me fill the walls of my gallery with paintings, lithographs, etchings, and mixed media. It was then that I developed a philosophy. START WITH THE ART. When most designers begin a project, they begin with a carpet as a jumping-off point. Being surrounded by fantastic art, I chose a different path and used art as my point of departure in a project. While we look at a rug looking down, we see art at eye level. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 29
IRWIN FELD DESIGN COACH
This shot was taken in my showroom at 200 Lex. The bespoke "Finn" credenza by Irwin Feld for CF MODERN is made to order in New York and is offered in many custom wood species and finishes. The painting is by George Ratkai, the last piece I have available from an extensive portfolio I had purchased.
We walk by it, and we sit opposite it. We view it from so many vantage points. Good art always stays in style. I am currently working on a project where the homeowners have no art at all, and my search has led me to look for art in so many different places. I found a great artist online, and I am so excited to introduce his work into my projects. In today's market, and with current design trends, anything can be art. We aren't just limited to paintings and photographs. It is an exhilarating time to be in the art world. Does your work involve much travel? IF: I haven't traveled since the pandemic, but I have connections that I have made through social media whose work I applaud. For the past twenty years, I have made incredible connections and friendships in the design industry and often see something in their posts, which opens up new resources for me. And if I am looking for something out of my scope, I have so many people I can call on to refer me to an entire world of creatives. I am also fortunate to be present in NYC at The Gallery at 200 Lex. It is a special place where inspiration and unique products abound. Design buildings 30 • DECEMBER THE ARTFUL MIND
and antique and art fairs hold many new and exciting products. Are there any new technologies you are following that would be news to those outside your field? IF: The world of digitization has changed everything. An artist no longer needs the traditional tools to create a masterpiece. A photographer can see their results in real-time and have the ability to take hundreds or thousands of photos instead of a few dozen. I have several etchings in the Studio by Vincent John Longo done in the '60s and '70s, all done by hand. The work had to be painstaking. Now, an image can be scanned and then manipulated quickly. A designer can now create mood boards for presentations to their clients and show them computer renderings of their space with multiple options for the design, which can be viewed from numerous vantage points. The ability to source items globally has completely changed the way people shop. When I first went online in 2005, I could never have imagined the impact of the internet and that customers bought every category of home decor from a few photos. And, of
course, the ability to text or Facetime with a client when you've found the perfect piece of accessory and bring that one-of-a-kind item into their world. Please share a coming-of-age story that shaped your passion for design. IF: I would have one door close and another open. In 1983, when I was just 27, having already built a few businesses for my employers, I knew it was time for a change. Women's accessories were coming into their own, so Marcy and I decided to take a shot and start a costume jewelry company. The day after I left the shirt business, we opened our firm. I remember being terrified to tell my father I was no longer employed. I was expecting the worst. I gave up a solid career, salary, and expense account, plus a title. When I told him, his response blew me away. He said, "Good, you're like me. You are supposed to work for yourself, not for anyone else." He gave us $2000, and we started a company. What did I know about designing jewelry? Nothing. But I knew what I liked. We hit the streets and started knocking on doors. We purchased some metal findings, stones and chains, and I created a mini collection of earrings,
The airyness and a singular architectural element are what sold me on this space. I knew when I walked in the door, where certain pieces were going to go. The black and white photograph I call "Archer" is a giclee print taken by an amateur award winning photographer Lu Jarvis in the 1950's.
necklaces and bracelets. Marcy did the legwork and sourced the fabricators. There was no internet; just the Yellow Pages and some directories for buyers in the country. For both of us, it was a laborious task, but we worked very hard and very well together and really presented the market with our distinctive take on fashion accessories. We printed mailers. We were met with a good response. I designed more pieces. We sold more. We eventually opened a beautiful showroom on 36th Street in Manhattan, started doing trade shows, and became a recognized brand. We had accounts in the US and abroad. So the moral is, and it is cliche but true: Don't let the closed door in front of you deter you. See what's behind it. Embrace it. Sometimes, you are rewarded. What aspects of the design and creation process do you enjoy? What do you find to be the most challenging? IF: I love the interaction with the client. Getting to know them, how they live, and introducing them to concepts they never thought of. I am good at thinking on my feet, and I rely on my first impressions to guide me through the process. I like
to visit a potential project several times at different points in the day. You have to do that to understand what kind of space you are dealing with. Long ago, I had a living room painted a yellowy white. The client called me late that night, frantic, saying how putrid the paint looked in the dark. I couldn't imagine until I visited the following day and agreed with her. I never made that mistake again, and I always look at paint in every form of light. Sometimes, the most challenging part of a project is telling myself, "I don't live here, and because I am so passionate, I tend to get very emotionally involved. It becomes difficult when you know a particular vision is correct, yet the client disagrees. I recently had a case where I had suggested a taupe mohair for a sofa in a client's living room. They thought the color was dull, and we went with charcoal. As it ended up, the sofa came in with damages due to the manufacturer, and we needed to have it recovered. I brought my original choice back, and the clients loved it. They asked why I hadn't shown them that sample before, and I did get a kick out of saying that it was my first choice on the very first day I put the scheme together.
What are some of your favorite decor, design, or architectural elements that you have created for clients? IF: Through my bespoke brand, CF MODERN, I have created all home furnishings categories for clients. I began that end of my business when I showed a vintage credenza to a designer only to find out it was one inch too large! I don't take losing a sale lightly, so I thought, well if one inch makes the difference in a project, I will build items to spec. I knew little about how furniture was constructed, except for knowing quality, so I went to professional builders for fabrication and learned how to design furniture. I have worked with top-tier design firms and architects over the last dozen or so years and have expanded my custom offerings. Much of that business is centered around occasional seating (benches and ottomans), which is also fun to design. You can do much with a small item and still make a significant impact. We offer customers our fabric, standard and custom finishes, and choices in metalwork. I also produce case pieces, tables, and chairs, each reflecting my style. Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 31
1940's still life by French artist Carlos Cardella. The Asian chairs are 1960's Baker from their Tradewinds Collection. The 1930's Rattan chairs are French.
How do you find unique textiles, furniture, and art for clients who want their space to reflect their personality? IF: I start with what is in my head, conceptually, and then I begin to fill in the blanks with styles and patterns I may have used, ones in my library, or things I have saved just scouting around. My photo library contains pictures of every conceivable type of item imaginable. If I know I want to use a solid, a stripe, and a floral, I do have my goto's, but in this, I am so lucky that every day, there is a new product drop. I also collect vintage fabrics, and right now, I will use a 60-year-old Scalamdre silk for a custom pillow. I have fabricated several pillows in the studio using vintage textiles from my collection meant to be shown in this space. I am always on the hunt for things, and even if I do not have a use for something, I will buy it because I may never see it again. That is how IRWIN FELD DESIGN came to be. My history is a huge factor in finding resources. I have libraries of ideas, books, and screenshots of all ideas and products. I have industry friends who lend a hand when I haven't found the perfect something. And just being able to go online, where the entire world of design is in front of me, is incredible. I have my favorite sources for shopping, and reliability is the key. I need to work with 32 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
a vendor I can trust, who can deliver (which has been tough since 2020), and with whom I have developed a relationship. Because I've worn so many hats during my career, I have developed a keen sense of quality, and I am always learning. So many businesses have popped up over the past few years. I will ask a design peer, "Where did you get that piece of pottery?" on Etsy. And then I look at that artist and see what they are making, and I have a new vendor to work with. I used to shop at Brimfield Flea Market, a place where anything can be found, and I connected with so many dealers. I can contact someone and say, "Hey, I am looking for such and such. Keep an eye out for me". The people in this industry are amazing. An interdisciplinary arts venue, like a theater or school, can be an exciting project to rehaul. Have you undertaken such a project before? IF: I need to go back to my pro bono work at the school. Right after Marcy and I closed the accessories company in 1997, I was still determining what I wanted to pursue. Ironically, I was asked to work with another parent on renovating a kitchen area that the children in this Nursery School used and help freshen it up. I thought, why not? I had the time. Honestly, the school needed more than a kitchen, and I quickly put together a
paint and lighting concept, new flooring, etc. We got some donations to fund a more extensive renovation, and I spent the next three months immersing myself entirely in this project. One idea a parent had was to put a window from the hall into the kitchen. I told Marcy about the idea, and she said, "Well, if you're going to put in a window, you might as well put in a fish tank. Well, 200 gallons later and a lot of fish, along with new paint, cubbies, signage, a library and conference room, the "kitchen" project was done. On the first day of school, I hid in a corner and watched the 3-5year-olds enter the school. I saw wonder and amazement in their eyes. They naturally gravitated to the aquarium, mesmerized by the assortment of fish. I don't know that I have ever felt that level of satisfaction. Do you like exploring for objects that have the potential to be turned into beautiful pieces of art? IF: I am fortunate to have an amazing eye. I can spot a treasure in a heap of nothing and create something magical. I have frequented many flea and design fairs over the years. When I ran out of personal space or needed some of it, I decided to try and sell them in an antique mall in Stamford, CT. I had about ten pieces that I had reupholstered
IRWIN FELD DESIGN COACH
A collection of Raku pottery are displayed on the shelves along a set of three vintage wallpaper rolls. The hair on hide bench is by Irwin Feld for CF MODERN.
and refinished. I took a booth space in Stamford, where the owner said, "Expect to fail miserably" because I was doing modern in the land of brown furniture. Nevertheless, I pursued this, and much to his surprise, I sold 5 out of 10 pieces in the first month. I brought in more and continued selling. Within three years, I had eight booths in 3 different antique centers. At the time, I was living in New York City and was commuting seven days a week. I needed a home base there and asked around for some office space. I was presented with a sizable space in a former turn-of-the-century straw hat factory with 16-foot ceilings and exposed brick walls. That was in 2007. By 2009, I had taken on two adjacent spaces and had grown to a 5000square-foot freestanding gallery that had become a destination for Mid-century furniture. To say it was a magical space is an understatement, as I had birthed it. Beyond every classification of furniture, lighting, and art, I also had references to my beginnings. You could find hats, neckties, handbags, and jewelry, all from the same period. The vibe was infectious. I was there for nine years until market conditions changed, and then I relocated to New York City. I always buy what I love because if it doesn't sell, I end up with it. Some of my favorite items cost $10 from a flea
market, but it is the art that I treasure. Is there a difference between commercial and residential design, and are the two merging? IF: The lines are blurred. So much of home design comes from outside experiences. People want bedrooms that are serene and zen-like hotel bedrooms. Homes are now our oasis, and we spend more time at home than ever. We are immersed in a culture that uses retail spaces, restaurants, and office towers as inspiration for how we want to live at home. How we live and the way we live used to be predictable. The world has been invited into people's homes, and so many people want to have what celebrities have. I can appreciate all that, but I extract what I can and meld it into my existing design style. Where is your favorite place to travel? IF: My favorite place to travel is back in time. I am so deeply rooted in the past; I feel like I am living in my own reality sometimes. The twentieth century held so much design innovation, and the styles evolved quickly. If there is one place I could go back and visit, it would be Paris in 1925. That exhibition brought modernity to the forefront of design. When I moved to New York, it was the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building
I wanted to be surrounded by. Those monuments, along with buildings like Lever House and Radio City, make me smile every time I walk by. New York City will always be in my heart, and I pray that society continues to preserve and not destroy magnificent representations of architecture and design. Life has its twists and turns. What can you tell us about yours? IF: No life goes on without struggles, but I am so fortunate to have had this life. I could have never imagined when I was growing up, I would be here today. I have been married for over 40 years, have three incredible sons, and, although not a billionaire, I feel wealthy. I have lived as a free spirit, more or less, and the universe has presented me with excellent opportunities. I have allowed my destiny to be fluid and completely trusted the process. I have never lived by "the rules" and have used my gut instinct to guide me, even in the toughest situations. I have found that surrounding myself with beauty has made me a happier person. I realized that in Connecticut when I was excited about going to my gallery every day and sitting as a prop of sorts among so many beautiful items. I am not one to fish for compliments, but I wouldn't Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 33
IRWIN FELD DESIGN COACH
I am sitting on a turn of the century industrial bench and surrounded by custom pillows I had fabricated using vintage textiles I have collected over the years. The design I am holding is a 1960's Moygashel "Rondo" fabric designed by Carola and Daniel Olsen. The pair of pillows flanking me are from a pattern is called "Solistice" by David Whitehead. Above are etchings by Vincent John Longo.
be where I am today without the support and recognition of my friends, family, and industry. Now, having over forty years of work experience to reflect on, I realize what a fantastic journey this has been. And, like my career, ending up in Hillsdale has played an integral part in it. We ended up here by the luck of the draw, not knowing when we bought our house; we were buying a home and community. We know we were destined to be here, to become the stewards of a historic home, to create beauty in beautiful surroundings. All roads have led to today and the studio, a culmination of everything. Have you ever felt like the world was ending? I have some funny stories about that. Would you like to share yours? IF: You have to live each day as if it's your last. Go to bed feeling accomplished. Go to bed feeling loved. When my father passed, it was just before midnight. He had taken the most out of his last day and stood up and then died. We always say God kissed him. So much of my life, and the life of my sons, revolve around his experiences during the war. We have all learned how to be survivors and appreciate things too many of us take for granted. 34 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
Is there a separation between work and free time for you? IF: Nope. It's all woven together. My mind never stops. Discovering and living by a personal mantra can be a powerful tool for achieving success and fulfillment. So, what's yours? How do you distill your values and goals into a guiding principle that motivates and inspires you daily? It has taken me too many years to realize that worrying doesn't change anything. We have control over so much of our lives, and if we keep "sweating the small stuff," we will get trapped in a web of anxiety and neuroses. I used to lay awake at night worrying about things out of my control. I used to be unable to fall asleep at night, stressing that the Yankees would lose. Most of us think that life is ascension and then we descend as we get older. Then, one day, I overheard a clip from a TED talk Jane Fonda had done. She said that life was always ascending. And it may be harder to keep climbing upward, but you can't reach your maximum until you do. I have known people who have retired, and their lives went downward. That is why I have chosen
to reinvent, yet again, and do things out of my comfort zone. I decided last Spring to run for Hillsdale Town Board, then a month later, to lease a space and set up shop here. I tell myself every day, "You're just getting started." What would you contribute to the world to make it a better place? IF: Peace. Harmony. Love and acceptance for all. Unity. I would end the divisiveness that separates us and embraces what we all have in common. I have three wonderful sons who will carry on the legacy of our family. My hope is whoever inhabits my home will be surrounded by the love and warmth that we have created. I hope the trees and the gardens we planted continue to thrive. I hope to leave a lasting impression on our town, and my work on the Town Board helps make Hillsdale the best possible version of itself.
Z IRWINFELDDESIGN.COM
BRUCE MURPHY
Brucemurphy17@gmail.com | Represented by Carrie Haddad Gallery Prices and sizes upon request | BruceMurphy/Art on instagram | Bruce Murphy on Facebook
THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 35
MARY ANN YARMOSKY
2
Acrylic on canvas 16” X 20”
SIlent Auction When they called it a Silent Auction, didn’t they know they created an impossible situation?
2
Acrylic on Canvas 16” X 20”
Bad Hair Day Her solution to a bad hair day was to wear a low cut blouse.
2 Bewitched Her voice is smoky and sweet, and whatever her intentions, you know something is coming.
“Each person I meet intrigues me with their different stories and life experiences. My paintings are a dance of spontaneity and intention based on observation. With each stroke of my brush, I try to create a feeling, a story, a challenge to the imagination of the viewer.”
maryannyarmoskyart.com | maryannyarmoskyart.shop 36 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
ELIZABETH CASSIDY
MY NEW HAT SERIES #10 ACRYLIC, 42” X 34”
SUNFLOWER STILL LIFE, KATE KNAPP
MARY DAVIDSON
FRONT ST. GALLERY
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 413-528-6945 / 413-717-2332, PO Box 697, South Egremont, MA mdavidsongio@aol.com marydavidson83155@gmail.com www.davidsondesigncompany.net
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. 413-528-9546 at home or 413-429-7141 (cell) www.kateknappartist.com
I am an award winning former New Yorker who is a contemporary mixed media artist, illustrator, writer, and a peace lover. I started Little Love Letters: A Peaceful Revolution after the murders at the Pulse Nightclubs in 2016. I wanted my art and words to bring comfort and hope to people who feel marginalized by our society. Thankfully, over 70,000 people have received these cards from all over the world and I have read that the cards really make a difference, that they show up at the exact right time and that they feel “magical.” The pandemic put our work on pause. We just moved up to the Berkshires in June 2023 and it is my hope that people would like to join in and became part of the Peaceful Revolution. Elizabeth Cassidy www.elizabethcassidyart@gmail.com, elizabethcassidyart@gmail.com
THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 37
ARTIST UPDATE KATHLINE CARR ARTIST | WRITER
Interview by Harryet Candee
Photographs Courtesy of the Artist
There has to be this conversation between the painting and myself, and like any conversation, if you keep having to walk away, it takes a lot longer for any resolution to happen. —Kathline Carr Harryet Candee: Please tell us what's new! What have you been up to these days? Kathline Carr: I traveled to Idaho earlier this summer with my husband Jim, to visit some dear old friends. We spent time at Craters of the Moon, and the Tetons, just over the border in Wyoming, and was profoundly moved by the landscape there. I would love to spend more time out west, because the landforms affect and inspire me so much. I’ve been working a lot, not just in my studio. I’m the print shop technician at the Studios at MASS MoCA Residency Program, instructing, giving equipment tutorials, keeping the shop in order. It is truly a joy to work with so many artists passing through North Adams and seeing the amazing work they are making. A couple of years ago, I completed a certificate program in Green Intaglio Printmaking at Zea Mays (in Florence MA), so that’s influenced the materials and methods at the MOCA residency, and given me some good information to pass on. I’m also a studio assistant at Freia Handpaint 38 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
Yarns, where the most gorgeous yarn is dyed and distributed to retailers everywhere. Working with the Freia colors has shifted my palette toward increased color awareness and curiosity. When I’m not working elsewhere, I’m in my studio. A decade ago, we bought an old Victorian house that we adapted into (mostly) studio space, and we have a barn we use three seasons out of the year to paint in. I have an etching press in a former dining room, many thanks to Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and I’m working on installing a sink and ferric tank for etching there as well. I’m hoping to teach small group intensive etching courses when I get the facility up and running. Is the importance of writing and creating visual art that goes hand in hand still a current running theme with your work? KC: Yes and no. Yes, because they are both part of me and my practices of them are entwined in many ways. Sometimes they fit together more obviously, as in the case of my book, Miraculum
Monstrum. Other times, the connection is not obvious, but there are many connective threads. So, no, as far as whether or not writing/art making are happening together, overlapping, currently. But that’s not to say that a project won’t emerge that contains both! I’m always hopeful that the two practices will collide and collaborate. Please tell us about your two new works, Crevasse and Drift. KC: Crevasse and Drift are both oil paintings, my primary medium, and were shown at exhibits at Fountain Street Gallery in Boston, Crevasse in 2022’s LAND/FORM exhibit, and Drift in 2020, in an exhibit called Geographies of a Shifting World. Both are derived from observing landforms in the world, and thinking about imaginary forms that relate to the actual. Or imagining being in real places that I will probably never be able to go, like Antarctica, or Nepal, and allowing some of the pictures and scenes from those places to filter in to my drawings and plannings of the forms that eventually emerge on the picture plane.
Kathline’s print studio
Crevasse, Kathline Carr
I’m obsessed with rocks, and rock surfaces. I used to play on them more, when I used to climb them—now I’m more inclined to hike around and by them. Exploring Monotype is a class you are conducting at the new print studio at Berkshire Art Center. Tell us about this. KC: Monotype is a wonderfully fun and diverse way to make printed images. Sometimes called painterly prints, they can be made using additive (painting directly on the “plate”) or subtractive processes (wiping away or making marks into the ink), or both; stencils, pochoir (adding images via stencil to your prints), chine-colle, all or any of these methods together, and more. The possibilities are endless, adaptive, expandable, and accessible at almost any stage in an artist’s development. I love teaching monotype because it encompasses so much, and can do so much. I’m so thrilled for BAC that they have received a press from a generous donor, and so many creative folks will have access to the processes and equipment.
My class begins January 10th, and I’m hoping the placement of the class at the start of a new year will inspire people to jump in and try something new, or renew an old love. It would be a lovely gift to give someone, or a gift to oneself, postholiday season. How did being in the DNA ARTISTS' RESIDENCY come about for you, and when it was finished, what new and lasting thoughts did you leave with? What art did you create? KC: Jim and I were invited to be part of the residency after he had an exhibit this summer at Readymade Gallery in Orleans, MA. The two are connected through their director, Nick Lawrence. It was a marvelous experience, not only because of the beautiful work space or great residency mates, but for the time to work all day, day after day, on drawing and painting. Provincetown has the most incredible light—and I love the contours and shifts in tonality of the dunes. We walked on the beach every day. The ocean is so powerful and alive, one can’t help being moved in its presence.
I made a lot of drawings and gouache studies, but I worked mostly on one large painting, 6 feet by 3 feet, and I’m still working on it, came home with a good start. Having the freedom to concentrate on it for that time, I found myself more willing to make broad revisions, lots of scraping and sanding, while searching for the image. There has to be this conversation between the painting and myself, and like any conversation, if you keep having to walk away, it takes a lot longer for any resolution to happen. I’m very excited to have a residency coming up at In Cahoots Residency in Petaluma, CA for which I’ve been awarded a Holly Jordan Fellowship to attend. I’ll be making some large prints there, and exploring a different landscape and flora environment, and I can’t wait! I feel very fortunate for these opportunities, and the Massachusetts Cultural Council finalist grant in painting I received last year. They allow me the resources to keep going as an artist, and I appreciate it so much. For every opportunity that comes my way, Continued on next page... THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 39
ARTIST UPDATE KATHLINE CARR ARTIST | WRITER
Falling into the Sea Work-in-progress, DNA Residency drawings
Drift, Kathline Carr
there are dozens of rejections, sometimes long stretches of rejections; and although it’s disappointing, I try not to pay it much attention, because I believe in what I’m doing, and I must believe, or else there is little reason to continue. From a personal perspective, how do you see your artmaking ideas and concepts affected by the events our world is now in? There are so many causes for concern right now. I’m more inclined to address ethical and societal issues in my writing, but I am consistently thinking about the environment when I’m working in visual media, or out in the field, researching landscape and form. Because it’s impossible not to notice the effect of human presence in wild places, how we are encroaching on or disrupting habitats, altering ecosystems. I would like to address human activity in my painting at some point, but that’s not usually evident in my images. That’s a future goal though. Sometimes I need the specificity of language to express an idea. I’d love to do some installation projects in the future, because that’s one way I could combine text and images that I’ve not fully investigated yet. 40 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
If you had more time to do anything these days, what would it be? KC: I would spend more time in my studio of course. I’d also like to spend more time in the woods. I never made it to New Hampshire this year, and it’s so close. More time would also allow me to do a bit more research for grants and exhibitions, which would be most helpful. The business end of being an artist is very important, the promotion and exhibition of work, grant writing and so on, not only the making of work. Though it’s consuming enough to be engaged with the materiality of studio work.
It’s a beautiful space for books and art, both very thoughtfully curated. I read mostly from a new piece I’ve been working on, which is barely in manuscript form yet, and it was good to hear it out loud in the presence of other people. Its title right now is Mother I Call Home, and it’s a hybrid poetic telling of my mother’s early onset dementia and death, told through or by recollection of the houses where we once lived. I’m hoping to finish it by mid 2024. That’s the goal. Thank you, Kathline! Z
Mindfulness goes unmatched when we read your poetry and excerpts from your writings. Please share with us something and tell us what you are thinking. KC: I had a reading at Familiar Trees Books in Great Barrington on October 14th, with Jan Conn, a dear friend who was launching her tenth book, Peony Vertigo (Brick Books 2023). Jan is also a visual artist and writer, as well as a scientist, a brilliant and lovely person. We read in the gallery.
KATHLINECARR.COM
BERKSHIRE LANDSCAPES
LONNY JARRETT FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY
Berkshirescenicphotography.com 413-298-4221 |
Lonny@berkshirescenicphotography.com THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 41
Escaping The Box
Disrupting the Grid
The Shape I’m In
We All Wait
BRUCE LAIRD Clock Tower Artists Business Center Studio #307 75 South Church Street, Pittsfield, MA 42 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
Marion H. Grant
Hunter’s Moon, mixed media, 10” x 10”
Join me and other Clock Tower Artists for Open Studios December 1, 5-8 and December 2, 11-4 or by appointment. Marion H. Grant Studio 305, 75 South Church Street, Pittsfield, MA grants3@earthlink.net insta: @marionh.grant
Sally Tiska Rice BERKSHIRE ROLLING HILLS ART CLOCK TOWER ARTISTS Studio 302, 3rd floor 75 South Church St, Pittsfield, MA (413)-446-8469 www.sallytiskarice.com sallytiskarice@gmail.com
MARK MELLINGER Paintings - Collage - Constructions
CLOCK TOWER ARTISTS 3rd Floor 75 South Church St Pittsfield MA 914. 260. 7413 instagram.com/mellinger3301 markmellinger680@gmail.com
THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 43
ON WEST ROAD ENTERING THE VILLAGE, ALFORD, MA INK DRAWING
STEPHAN MARC KLEIN
SUNGAZER, WELDED SCRAP STEEL, 2023, 38"
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.914-260-7413, 75 S Church St, Pittsfield MA, instagram.com/mellinger3301
I have been sketching and making art on and off since my undergraduate education as an architect in the late 1950s. What interests me at present about creating art, besides the shear visceral pleasure of making things, of putting pencil or pen or brush or all of them to paper, of manipulating images on the computer, and of making models, is the aesthetic tension generated in the borderlands between the abstract and the representational, between uniqueness and reproduction, and between analog and digital processes. I am also interested in art that engages the social, the political and the visual. Since my wife, artist Anna Oliver, and I made our home in the Berkshires six years ago, I have been entranced by its beauty. My work is, in part, a visual rhapsody to the area. Stephan Marc Klein stephanmarcklein.com, smk8378@gmail.com
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chocolatesprings.com 44 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
THE YOUNG TREE, 2023, OIL ON CANVAS, 16”X 20”
This is the underpainting of “The Young Tree”, the painting that was done last summer en plein air. Each artist has his own way to work on the underpaintings of oil paintings. I usually use warm colors in summer and cool colors in winter. However, for “The Young Tree” I started with a new coat of gesso on the canvas and you can see some of it in the lines I kept to guide me. Then I played with a blue and red mix of pigments to get the values of dark and light where I wanted. I guess I was attracted by the pink and purple flowers of the scene and focused entirely on that color. The interesting part was that I loved the underpainting and never used it as a base for the final painting. The final painting is pleasing but the first underpainting was mysterious and nocturne. It was attractive in its own way and will certainly become an interesting interpretation of a summer evening scene. I plan to work on it this winter. Visit my home studio anytime by calling or texting. Exhibits this month are at SVAC in Manchester, Vermont and Spencertown Academy of Arts, N.Y. I wish you Happy Holidays and remind you that a gift of art for a loved one is something unique. I have many small paintings if you are looking for a special gift. Ghetta Hirsch 413-597 1716, Ghetta-hirsch.squarespace.com
ASTROLOGY FOR CREATORS the heart or your wallet. We finish off the month with Jupiter going direct on the 30th which might bring forward opportunities for growth and abundance that have felt stuck since early September. Rising Sign Analysis for November—
Astrology for Creators December 2023
Listen for the Sweetness Western Tropical Astrology. Time Zone EST/EDT Dee Musgrave Overview: In December my attention is directed towards the movements of Venus which is often the first planet people consider when looking to creation and the arts. Venus also rules money, abundance, the sweetness of life, beauty, harmony, the feminine and relationships so, I anticipate seeing a focus on these elements too within the month of December. On the 4th Venus enters Scorpio which gives a deepening emotional and transformative quality to all that is Venusian for most of the month. This same day Venus in Scorpio will Trine Saturn in Pisces until December 6th. A Trine is a positive aspect which some consider an offering. Whatever your Saturn in Pisces theme has been since March 2023 you may find that Venus is offering something sweet to soften the strict boundaries of Saturn. Collectively this might be around the arts, the sea, pharmacy or the mysterious. On December 5th Neptune will turn direct which may bring clarity in the Pisces area of your chart or the previously mentioned themes. On December 12th we will have a New Moon in Sagittarius bringing fresh beginnings and the exuberant energy of the centaur but, be aware that Mercury will go retrograde the day after in Capricorn making for the possibility for misunderstandings, technology blunders or car trouble. Practice patience from December 20th – 21st as Venus in Scorpio will oppose Uranus in Taurus which might ignite frustrations in relationships or present sudden money issues. This is happening amidst a Mercury Retrograde that adds to the potential for miscommunications. To get through this focus on the sextile that Mercury is making with Saturn in Pisces on this same date. This will give beneficial energy to any structures you wish to create or boundaries you wish to initiate. For those who celebrate the Christmas season the dates of December 24th – 26th are providing some positive astrological alignments. Venus in Scorpio will trine Neptune in Pisces again bringing positive offerings between deep emotions and something that you have been feeling confused about. On the 26th we will have a Full Moon in Cancer which is a lovely energy for the holiday season given that it is associated with the family, home, and nurturance. On the 28th – 29th Venus in Scorpio will make a sextile to Pluto in Capricorn just before it makes a shift of signs into Sagittarius. This could bring up transformative passion or a positive revelation in relationships, money, or the arts. When Venus shifts on the 29th into Sagittarius you might feel more lightness and less intensity when it comes to matters of
Aries There is a lot of activity for you going on around shared resources and intimacy this month. The first part of the month will bring blessings but, there may be some bumps around the 9th – 10th and 20th – 21st. The Full Moon in Cancer on the 26th will bring you an ending and beginning in the area of your home life and family. Taurus This month is going to bring you a lot of focus on relationships and partnerships. There will be many blessings at the beginning of the month but, watch out for the 9th – 10th and 20th – 21st. The Full Moon in Cancer on the 26th will bring you an ending and beginning in the area of life having to do with local community, communication or siblings. Gemini This month has the potential to bring you into focus around coworkers and your values. You will receive blessings at the beginning of the month having to do with work, daily routine, health or pets but, watch out for the 9th – 10th and 20th – 21st. The Full Moon in Cancer on the 26th might enlighten something around finances, your values or self-worth. Cancer This month brings a Full Moon on the 26th in your sign which might highlight themes around identity, your body or how others perceive you. Pay attention to any blessings that come your way early in the month having to do with children, romance, or creativity. There may be some strong emotions to process in this area as well. Leo Take care of your mental health this month, especially as we approach the 26th Full Moon in Cancer. Try to instead focus on any spiritual revelations that come to you or retreats to solitude you may discover. There is positive energy blessing your home and family at the beginning of the month however, there may also be some intense emotions or transformations. Virgo There will be a lot of activities that will bring you to focus on how you communicate and learn. You may also find blessings and struggles when taking short trips or dealing with your local community. If you have siblings pay attention to any intense emotions or transformations with them. The Full Moon in Cancer will bring an ending and beginning in your area of networks, friendships, goals, and dreams. Libra This month you may find your attention drawn to your career or public image and how this relates to your self-worth, possessions and means to make money. There is a possibility of blessings coming at the beginning of the month in the areas of possessions and money or it may simply be something that highlights how worthy you are. Be aware there
could also be some shocks around money or possessions, but overall, it is positive energy. Scorpio Soak in the Venusian energy this month! You may find that you feel the desire to beautify or have luck finding fine fashion items. You will also have an extra glitter this month which attracts kindness and adoration. There may be one or two bumps along the way but, overall, it will be wonderful. Soak it in! The Full Moon in Cancer on the 26th might bring a new awareness to your beliefs, life philosophy or something having to do with long-distance travel. Sagittarius This could be a mysterious or spiritual month for you. There are many blessings coming at the beginning of the month having to do with spiritual events or retreats however, there may also be some challenges that impact your mental health. Focus on moments of healing retreats if you can. There will also be some sort of death and rebirth having to do with shared spiritual experiences, intimacy, or shared resources. Capricorn This month might bring closure to a relationship or partnership on the 26th. The beginning of the month will bring positive energy into your larger public community and networks. These connections could help with your future dreams and goals. If the 26th brings an ending that is heartbreaking, focus on the positives that come with the new connections you were making at the beginning of the month. Aquarius There is a lot of energy around your workplace, career, and public image this month. You may find both showers of praise, as well as some shocking surprises at the beginning of the month having to do with your public image or legacy. The full moon in Cancer will bring some closure to a relationship with coworkers, your job, daily routine, health, or a pet. Pisces There is a potential here to receive blessings for long-distance travel however, it could also be around expanding your mind, philosophy, or beliefs. The full moon on the 26th could bring an ending and beginning having to do with the joy of life, creativity, children, or romance. I would love to hear how these predictions manifested for you or what you noticed in the world that aligned with the planet’s transits. Please share them on the Facebook group “Astrology for Creators” (URL: www.facebook.com/groups/astrologyforcreators/). It helps me to know what you would like to receive in my column. Do you prefer it when I focus on world predictions, horoscopes for the rising sign, or both? If you would like to offer feedback, please email me at: astro_dee@yahoo.com Please join the discussion at: www.facebook.com/groups/astrologyforcreators/ Dee Musgrave is an artist, energy worker and hypnotherapist. You can contact her through her email and websites at: astrodee@yahoo.com / www.artisthehealer.com
Z THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 45
PLEASANT VALLEY BEAVER POND, MONOPRINT
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 cnewberger@me.com www.carolynnewberger.com
Perfect gifts to show friendship and love! Find charms that delight and fascinate. Hand‐made beaded jewelry, plus there’s so much more to see on Laura’s online site!
— Custom pieces welcome! —
LoopeyLaLa’s Please visit:
www.LoopeyLaLa.Etsy.com 46 DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
LONNY JARRETT BERKSHIRE SCENIC PHOTOGRAPHY 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
CHRISTMAS HOUSE PORTRAIT, WATERCOLOR
WATERCOLOR LANDSCAPE
MARGUERITE BRIDE WATERCOLORIST
Wherever I go I cannot help but see the colors and scenes around me as a painting. Watercolor always provides a fun surprise….no matter how I may initially visualize the finished painting, the medium always tells me who is really the boss here. Often those little unplanned-for happenings are the most interesting part of the painting. When that happens, I just let the water do its thing. Recently I have also been using acrylics in some of my paintings. That provides a new and different kind of challenge for me. Creating painterly architectural images is most intriguing for me regardless of the medium… ..what stories lay behind those walls? I always try to imagine that when I am painting them. I especially love painting the old buildings and the lovely town centers here in New England. I’ve waited many years before permitting myself to become immersed in art. The time spent in other professions (RN, then a software engineer) has made this one even more precious. For so long, it was on my “back burner” waiting; and now the wait is over. May I paint something special for you? Visit my website to experience my full on-line portfolio. And be in touch. Marguerite Bride – Home Studio at 46 Glory Drive, Pittsfield, Massachusetts by appointment only. Call 413-8411659; margebride-paintings.com; margebride@aol.com; Facebook: Marguerite Bride Watercolors.
The Prodigal Dog Part 3
The Little Ballerina After Otis almost lost his life in the dog fighting ring, it was a sad walk home through the woods to the circus encampment. Raymond and the rooster soon caught up to Otis who was walking along slowly. He had recovered from the fight, but he walked slowly because he was plunged in thought. Or rather, he was plunged into a state of mind, antithetical to thought. He was considering his entire life, and he was thinking, or rather feeling, that everything he ever believed was no longer true. He was asking himself absurd questions like this, ‘Is water really wet? Are things that are big, really big, or only big because we think they are big.’ These are the kinds of thoughts dogs think, and even people consider, when something terrible happens to them that they never thought possible. Meanwhile, as the three of them walked along slowly, the clown kept up a continuous monologue, in the form of an apology to his pets, explaining his idea of what had happened to Otis. “It is entirely my fault, I know,” he was saying,”it was never my intention, and I would not have even considered the possibility of Otis being in a dog fight. Why, even if the ring master had offered me a hundred kroner, I would never have risked, never have allowed a hair of his fir to be pulled out.” But his apologetic chatter elicited not one word from his friends, neither of whom granted him even a grunt, to indicate that they were even listening. “Not for a thousand, not for even ten thousand, would I consider…” but then he fell silent, because as stupid as he was, he could see the conclusion such a line of reasoning might lead to, and so changing his tone altogether he said, “It's not about money, we are family, you are like my children, I would never let…I would no more pit Otis against a bulldog, than I would cook up Rooster for dinner.” Finally Raymond fell silent, feeling that he was making a bad situation worse. They arrived home to their tent. It was almost morning. If you had been watching the scene from a distance, you probably would have thought that everything had returned to normal. You would have seen the three of them sleeping on the ground a few feet from their tent, under a tree, the clown using Otis as a pillow, and Otis with his head on the rooster.
In the morning Otis woke up and at first, and for a long while that morning, everything was the same as it had always been. Like every other day, he trotted around the entire circuit of tents and waggons that made up their little village, and then he went up a nearby hill from which he could see the village. It was at that moment, about 9:37 in the morning, that he suddenly remembered the revolting events of the previous evening, and shortly thereafter, at approximately 9:40 he decided to run away from home.
with the silhouettes of her arms and legs which appeared as white shapes against the dark red background, made it possible for her to use her body to spell out words and phrases. Madge was not mute, but she acted as if she did not have the gift of speech, and so all her life, when in public she would answer questions with her body, her fingers and her gestures. Often, like in pantomime, it took a long time, and much shouting from her attentive audience to figure out what it was she might be trying to say.
I have said above that he decided specifically to run away ‘from home,’ because those two words give his decision an important meaning. He was propelled into this momentous decision because of a sudden revulsion for his owner, it was the clown he intended to abandon, but it was his entire life and all the people in it he would be severed from forever, and it would all be replaced with what? It is one thing to abandon a person, but what is it like to abandon your entire life?
One day a member of the audience shouted out, “How old are you,” and The Madge answered the question with her movements and gestures. That question was followed by another. A pregnant woman wanted to know if she would have a boy or a girl. After this question The Madge seemed to be confused, as if she did not understand the question. Then, using her body and gestures she spelled out her answer, but someone in the audience shouted out the word, “Neither!” This remark caused loud laughter from some rude persons in the audience.
He was sufficiently troubled by this consideration, that he decided to visit his favorite friend, the daughter of the diminutive ballerina, who was one of the most important stars of the circus. The daughter of the tiny ballerina was indeed one of those freaks of the natural world, and since she has an important part to play in this fable we will have to delay the departure of Otis for a few hours and discuss this young lady, the little ballerina’s daughter. It is my intention to introduce her to you in exactly the same way she was always introduced to the audience at the circus. But first I have to say a few words about her mother. Her mother, or “Madge,” as she was affectionately called by everyone who knew her, was an important performer. Sometimes she appeared as a bearded woman, or as the tattooed lady, but regardless of the temporary beards, or the disappearing tattoos, she most often appeared as a ballerina, walking out from behind a crimson curtain, a curtain faded and blackened with age. She would come out from behind this curtain on the tips of her toes, with rapid little steps, and at the very edge of her stage begin to rapidly spin around on one toe, with the other leg very nearly pointing straight up and her knee pressed against her cheek. Then, from one side of the stage to the other she went through a series of movements almost too rapid to follow, ending with a double somersault. But Madge was so small and so rotund, that none of those various movements seemed to be possible for her awkward body to execute. Her pink and white outfit of a bodysuit and tutu looked like it was created for a person even smaller than she was, and was pulled in at the crotch and the armpits so tightly as to give her stubby arms and legs the appearance of pork sausages. This pink and white costume was cut crosswise diagonally with a crimson sash, made from the same cloth as the crimson curtain behind her. When she stood still in the center of the stage, the color of her sash tended to combine with the color of the curtain behind her, and gave her the appearance of a little round person cut in half diagonally. One of her great skills was to move in such a way that the sash acted as a kind of semaphore flag, spelling out various letters and numbers. Those movements, combined
Because of this peculiar accident The Madge very nearly lost her position with the circus, and for a while was relegated to cleaning up. Even so, the owner of the circus, who was an inordinately practical sort of person, realized that, regardless of the misunderstanding concerning the sex of some unknown child, fortune telling was an appropriate, and an even necessary feature of any traveling circus. The fortune telling that evolved from this misadventure was very novel. Answers to questions were acted out in pantomime, and the audience would shout out various interpretations. Madge would then simply select the reply that she wanted to use for an answer. No person in the audience, or for that matter Miss Madge herself, took any of the fortune telling seriously, but then, The Madge’s daughter began to interpret the clues, and select the correct replies. It turned out that this daughter was truly clairvoyant. She was so clairvoyant in fact, that she found it necessary to firmly deny having such an important skill. Being clairvoyant is not as simple as everyone thinks it is. People say, “Well, if she was clairvoyant, she could just go to the race track, and win a million kroner, but since she can’t, that proves her predictions and prognostications are false.” No! The truth is that prophets are correct in predictions only when it truly matters, and to exercise such an important skill on a whim, or for self aggrandizement will often be found to produce the opposite result. The chosen horse comes in, not first, but lame. Saying it must rain, can produce floods. It is as if there was some actual power that bestows on a person the ability to predict, and this power is somehow conscious, and has some kind of moral convictions. Valeria was only twelve years old when she accidentally established her reputation as a seer. She had a vivid dream, one of those dreams that appear to be more real than life itself. She had a dream that she was… But now is not the time to introduce you to this remarkable person whose name was Valeria. We will get to that next month. Richard Britell, December 2023
THE ARTFUL MIND DECEMBER 2023 • 47
EDWARD ACKER PHOTOGRAPHER
Time Flies • Get Pictures EdwardAckerPhotographer.com 413-446-8348
48 • DECEMBER 2023 THE ARTFUL MIND
Deborah H Carter Upcycled Wearable Art @deborah_h_carter @eric.korenman.photography @brooke.e.roy Represented by the WIT Gallery Clock Tower Artists, Pittsfield MA