Tam jan 2015

THE ARTFUL MIND JANUARY 2015 MONTHLY BERKSHIRE ARTZINE

Artist Kris Galli

Photographed by Edward Acker

THE SOURCE FOR PROMOTING ART SINCE 1994

Happy New Year!

‘Miss Mary Mac’ Glovelettes

Hand-crocheted Wrist warmers and boot cuffs

All colors, beads & buttons, soft & stylish Scarfs & Shawls, too! ...affordable seamstress work available

413. 854. 4400 shoshanacandee@gmail.com

RUSSIAN WINTER SERIES Russian Art: Then and Now

January 17 - March 1, 2015

Andrei Filippov: New Works March 7 - April 26, 2015 Vitaly Komar: Symbols May 1 - 31, 2015

ober gallery 6 North Main Street, Kent, CT 06757 860. 927. 5030 obergallery@yahoo.com www.obergallery.com

THE ARTFUL MIND ARTZINE JANUARY 2015 In print for 21 years!

Kris Galli, Artist Photographs by Edward Acker ...10 Photographer Julie McCarthy Karen Lewis...9 Artist Kris Galli Harryet Candee.....10

Planet Waves for JANUARY 2015 Eric Francis.....12 Marie Antoinette Eats Cake Richard Britell ... 18

Fiction Sampler from The Virgin of Hopeless Causes Amy Tanner ...11 Simply Sasha Recipe for January Sasha Seymour...19

Contributing Writers and Monthly Columnists Eunice Agar, Richard Britell, Eric Francis, Karen Lewis, Sasha Seymour, Amy Tanner

Photographers Edward Acker, Cassandra Sohn, Jane Feldman Sabine Vollmer von Falken Publisher Harryet Candee

Copy Editor

Marguerite Bride

Advertising and Graphic Design Harryet Candee

Box 985, Great Barrington, MA 01230 artfulmind@yahoo.com

413 854 4400

ALL MATERIAL due the 10th of the month prior to publication

FYI: ©Copyright laws in effect throughout The Artful Mind for logo & all graphics including text material. Copyright laws for photographers and writers throughout The Artful Mind. Permission to reprint is required in all instances. In any case the issue does not appear on the stands as planned due to unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, advertisers will be compensated on a one to one basis. Disclaimer rights available upon request.

Serving the Art community with the intention of enhancing communication and sharing positive creativity in all aspects of our lives.

2 • JAnuARY 2015 THE ARTFuL mInD

THE MUSIC STORE

Ring in the new Year with the gift of music, to those you love and to yourself!

The music store has begun its fifteenth year in business in Great Barrington. Helping the community, near and far, make music has been an enjoyable and productive enterprise for us.

And we look forward to continuing this mission into the second half of our second decade. some of the fun . . .

• Composite Acoustic guitars (the forever guitar!) and their peerless travel guitar, the Cargo, made of carbon graphite and impervious to most changes of temperature and humidity • Guild Guitars - Light, powerful, affordable, TERRIFIC! • uKuLELEs! 50+ DIFFEREnT models: soprano, Concert, Tenor and Baritone, acoustic and acoustic/electric, six string, resonator and the remarkable u-Bass!

• How about a Cordoba Cuatro?

• Or a West African Djembe with a smAsHInG carry bag?

• Try Takamine for a guitar to suit almost any budget (Limited Editions and GREAT sALEs, too)! And so many more brands and types from $150-$5000 . . . .

• Ever heard of Dr. Easy’s Drunk Bay Cigar Boxes?

Acoustic/electric cigar box guitars, exquisitely made, which bring the past into the present with a delightful punch, acoustically AnD plugged in!

• Harmonicas, in (almost) every key (try a suzuki Hammond ‘mouth Organ’).

• Picks (exotic, too!), strings (!!), sticks and reeds • Violins, mandolins, Dulcimers, Banjos, even Banjo ukes!

• Handmade and international percussion instruments!

• Dreamy native American and locally made bamboo and wooden flutes and walking stick flutes!

And there is more to delight the eyes, intrigue the ears and bring warm joy to the heart!

We remain your neighborhood music store, where advice and help are free and music is the universal language. Working with local luthiers and repairmen we offer stringed and band instrument repair. And we just may have something you haven’t seen before (an acoustic/electric Kalimba, perhaps?). We match (or BEAT) most on-line prices for the merchandise that we sell, and do so In PERsOn, for the most part cheerfully (though we reserve the right to glower a little when asked if we can ‘do better’ on the price of a pick!)!

Come and see us soon and help us celebrate our 15th year.

Your patronage helps the community and makes it a more tuneful and happy place.

The Music Store, located at 87 Railroad Street in Great Barrington, is open Wednesdays through Sundays and by appointment. Call us at 413-528-2460, or visit us on line at www.themusicstoreplus.com

MORRISON GALLERY Insun KIm

The morrison Gallery is exhibiting a winter group show during December and January. The exhibition introduces works by new gallery artists - Leah Durner, Vincent Inconiglios, and Insun Kim. Leah Durner’s work occupies the critical space between modernism and postmodernism—between postwar abstraction and post-Duchampian conceptualism and post-Warholian pop. Durner’s practice includes paintings in oil, acrylic, and gouache on canvas and on paper, as well as works in poured enamel. Her work in poured enamel references psychedelia and process art with deeper roots in the exuberance of the Baroque and Rococo as well as in the modernist tradition of abstraction.

The exhibit will include Vincent Inconiglios’ “Donut series” which began in 2004 as an exploration of color, shape and space – a theme that has been present throughout his career. The “Donuts” are brightly colored circular forms painted with acrylic on paper and float on white backgrounds or work within a complex abstract grid. The title “Donut series” came from Inconiglios as a reference to the shapes within his work and to add lightness and humor to his study of the circular form. This series elaborates on his earlier studies of shape and space and the important juxtaposition of these elements within an abstract painting. The sense of play is evident in each piece.

The show will also include new sculpture by Insun Kim, a self-taught sculptor with a studio in Beacon, nY. Kim fabricates tree sculptures made of stainless steel nails, ranging from about 3 feet to 10 feet high. she finds inspiration in nature, and states “from time to time I will find natural objects that seem to radiate beauty in their own way. It is my hope and my aim to merge this natural beauty with my personal experiences to produce an art, my art, which can channel and display both influences together.”

Morrison Gallery - 8 Old Barn Road, Kent, Connecticut.

Gallery viewing hours are Wednesday through Saturday 11 AM - 5 PM and Sunday 1 PM - 4 PM. 860-927-4501; www.themorrisongallery.com

Happy Anniversary... To the writers and photographers and contributers: Thank you for all your work and inspiring thoughts. Have a great 2015!

-Harryet Candee

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January 2015

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Things to do & People to see...

museums & galleries

workshops

CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY 622 Warren st., Hudson, nY • 518-828-1915 carriehaddadgallery.com PHOTOGRAPHY: Opening Wed, Dec 17, Carrie Haddad new work on view til sun, Jan 25.

BERKSHIRE FESTIVAL OF WOMEN WRITERS Berkshirewomenwriters.org / info@berkshirewomenwriters.org January 31, 11am – 5 pm at Embody Healing Arts in Great Barrington, playwright Winter miller will offer a “saturday Writing Warrior Intensive” writing workshop

SIX DEPOT 6 Depot st, West stockbridge, mA • 413-232-0205 In the Gallery: stephanie Anderson, drawings and watercolors; In the Cafe: Richard Patterson, boxes and moho Designs

FRONT STREET GALLERY 129 Front st., Housatonic, mA • 413-274-6607 / 413-5289546, or cell at 413-429-7141 Housatonic Gallery for students and artists. Featuring watercolors by Kate Knapp (saturday and sunday 12-5pm or by appointment)

LAUREN CLARK FINE ART 25 Railroad street, Great Barrington, mA • 413-528-0432 / www.LaurenClarkFineArt.com; Lauren@LaurenClarkFineArt.com “small Works in several Dimensions, 2014”, more than 20 artists, nov 22 - Jan 11.

LAWRENCE FINE ART 37 newtown Lane, East Hapton, nY www/lawrence-fine-arts.com new at the Gallery: A still Life by Jankel Adler

LICHTENSTEIN CENTER FOR THE ARTS Pittsfield, mA TEn sPOT, exhibit, Feb 6-28, Wed-sat, 11am-4pm. Reception Feb 12, 5-7pm. Included in this show is marguerite Bride.

MARGUERITE BRIDE nuarts studios, studio #9, 311 north st., Pittsfield, mA margebride-paintings.com • 413-841-1659 Original Watercolors, house portraits, commissions, lessons OBER GALLERY

6 north main st, Kent, CT • 860-927-5030 obergallery@yahoo.com / www.obergallery.com Russian Winter series

McDARIS FINE ART Vilma mare Fashion Designer 623 Warren street, Hudson, new York mcdarisfineart.com or vilmamare.com.

Exhibition featuring Lithuanian born, regionally based fashion designer Vilma mare of Baltic style. In “Queen of serpents' : myth Interfaces Routine -- Fashion Designer Vilma mare Explores Contemporary meanings Through a Lens of Baltic mythology” MORRISON GALLERY 208 Old Barn Road near the inters. Rts 7 & 341 in Kent, CT. • 860-927-4501 / wm@morrisongallery.com / www.morrisongallery.com Winter group show thru January. Leah Durner, Vincent Inconiglios, and Insun Kim.

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ARROWHEAD (HERMAN MELVILLE) Pittsfield, mA Author Jana Laiz, writer-in-residence will host special writers workshop program on saturday January 17 for a maximum of 10 authors. Applications are being accepted now for the workshop which will be an all-day event with a provided lunch and will result in a second event on saturday, April 11 when the workshop members will be giving a public reading of works created as a result of the January work session.

510 WARREN STREET GALLERY Hudson, nY • 518-822-0510 “Frigid Fractals”, new photography by H. David stein, thru Jan 25.

GOOD PURPOSE GALLERY 40 main st., Lee, mA new Works by Rebecca Weinman and multimedia by michael Vincent Bushy will open on Friday, January 9 and will run through February 16. Opening reception January 9, 5 - 7pm.

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IS183 ART SCHOOL OF THE BERKSHIRES 13 Willard Hill Rd.,stockbridge, mA • 413-298-5252 Full schedule of workshops and classes available on the website is183.org

One of Irmari Nacht's recycled books "books99Rashid" which will be shown at the Brooklyn Public LIbrary, Feb 12 through April 5. Pages from this 4" book are sliced, cut, and explode to more than 25", while being firmly attached to the spine. Irmari Nacht resides in Englewood, NJ and South Egremont, MA, USA. The public is invited to view the exhibition on the 2nd floor balcony during library hours and to the opening reception on Thursday, February 12, from 6-8pm at the Dweck Center Lobby, Brooklyn Public Library, 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY 11238, USA. www.bklynlibrary.org

NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUM Rte 183, stockbridge, mA • 413-298-4100 mort Künstler: The Art of Adventure: nov 8 - march 8, 2015.

SCHANTZ GALLERIES 3 Elm st, stockbridge, mA • 413-298-3044 www.schantzgalleries.com A destination for those seeking premier artists working in glass. (11 - 5 daily)

THE EMPORIUM ANTIQUE & ART CENTER 319 main st., Gt. Barringtton, mA • 413-528-1660 / www.EmporiumG.com COnTRAsTs:Kelly Young , margaret Buchte, Local Landscapes, sue macVeety, American Landscapes THE HARRISON GALLERY 39 spring st., WIllimastown, mA Tracy Helgeson, Jan 3-31

music/theatre

MAHAIWE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 14 Castle st., Gt. Barrington, mA • 413-528-0100 www.mahaiwe.org met Opera Live in HD: Lehar’s The merry Widow, scott Eyerly Opera Talk, 11am, sat. Jan 17, 1pm. Reserved seating

10TH ANNUAL 10X10 UPSTREET ARTS FESTIVAL Throughout Pittsfield, mA Feb 12 - 22

SABINE VOLLMER VON FALKEN PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKsHOPs • 413-298-4933 www.sabinephotoart.com, info@sabinephotoart.com Photographic one on one workshops, scheduled throughout the winter months: BEHInD THE CAmERA - sabine’s eye for detail provides the students with everlasting creative tools.

Explore the beauty of patterns, textures, layers, depth of detail in the real. Participants learn how natural light can create dramatic or lyrical images. Designed for the serious learner who is interested in improving her/his skills. The hope is to concentrate on the artistic and critical eye. You are asked to bring a digital sLR camera. December 1, 2014 – may 31, 2015

A friend of Paul Klee, Adler's (1895-1949) work was heavily influenced

by Leger and Picasso. He studied with Stanley Hayter at the famed Atelier 17. Born in Poland, he spent his early career in Germany. Many of his works were seized by the Nazis and displayed as "Entartete Kunst," or Degenerate Art, and then destroyed, so his work is relatively rare. His work is in the collection of the Tate, among others. Not our normal thing, but good work is good work and worth showing, especially since the Nazis intended it for oblivion.

LAWRENCE FINE ART 37 newtown Lane, East Hapton, nY www/lawrence-fine-arts.com new at the Gallery: A still Life by Jankel Adler

Please send us your calendar listings no later than the 10th of the month prior to publication.

see us on ISSUU.COM

http://issuu.com/theartfulmindartzine/docs/tam_dec/0 THE ARTFUL MIND JANUARY 2015 •3

Eunice Agar Congratulations to Harryet Candee

For 21 Years of orchestrating

THE ARTFUL MIND

With many more to come

www.euniceagar.com

“Thank you, Harryet, for all you do for all of us!”

Roselle

Chartock

roselle.chartock@gmail.com 413. 528. 4199

“THEY saw another butterfly” Roselle Chartock, collage

ANN M. SCOTT s tion a l atu ngr nd o !

C a you k n Tha

w w w. a n n s c o t t p a i n t i n g. c o m

Paul Graubard Congratulations to The Artful Mind on your 21st year!

Paul Graubard, Jewish Cowboy International Folk Art Museum, Sante Fe, New Mexico, Permanent Collection

www.paulgraubard.com

THE ARTFUL MIND

JANUARY 2015

•5

REBECCA WEInmAn

I think I always thought of myself as an artist, someone delighted in understanding the world by making things. What sort of artist I would become was the question. As a very little girl I so wanted to be a dancer. I also wanted to play the piano. I dreamt of these things as I drew, painted and helped cook and bake in my mother's kitchen. With little money for dance or piano lessons my art was directed to the visual.Then in grade school I was called the class artist because I could draw as well as the boy class artist!

Jennifer Pazienza’s work is held in Public and Corporate Collections of the Provinces of new Brunswick and nova scotia and in numerous private collections throughout Canada, the us and Italy. Her work is represented by the Ingrid mueller Art+Concepts Gallery in Fredericton, new Brunswick Canada, http://www.artcontact.info/?page_id=1292\ and the Jonathan Bancroft-Snell Gallery in London, Ontario, Canada, http://www.jonathons.ca/. Locally is represented by the St. Francis Gallery in South Lee, Massachusetts, http://www.saintfrancisgallery.com/ and he has exhibited with Good Purpose Gallery, Lee, Massachusetts, http://goodpurpose.org/artist-showcase/. For in an depth Artful Mind interview please see, http://issuu.com/theartfulmindartzine/docs/tam_nov_issuu_2014/1

nEW BOOK On THE HIsTORY OF WInDsOR mOunTAIn (1939- 1975), A LEnOx BOARDInG sCHOOL AHEAD OF ITs TImE

ROSELLE CHARTOCK

Note from Roselle Chartock about why she wrote this book...

From the outset, I considered the history of the Bondy family and their school, Windsor mountain, to be a compelling human interest saga. What’s more, I discovered close personal connections. For example, their story combined the three major areas of my professional research and writing during 45 years as an educator, those topics being: the nazi Holocaust, local history and education, particularly humanistic education, all of which are referenced in the blurb located on the back cover of my recently-published book, Windsor mountain school, A Beloved Berkshire Institution (The History Press): “When their Jewish heritage and progressive philosophy made the Bondy family a target of the nazi regime, they were forced to sell their school (in Germany) and start anew in America. max and Gertrud Bondy first opened their innovative school in Windsor, Vermont, and (after four years in manchester, Vermont,) moved the campus to Lenox, massachusetts in 1944.

Windsor mountain school was ahead of its time – the faculty honored diversity, and it became the first co-ed integrated boarding school in Berkshire County. Families like the Belafontes, Poitiers and Campanellas were attracted to the school for its (arts-related) and multicultural, international curriculum. From its golden age to the rock-and-roll era, Windsor mountain strived to stay true to its mission until hard financial times forced the school to close in 1975. Roselle Kline Chartock captures the spirit of this Berkshire boarding school that still lives on in the hearts of its alumni.”

I am most grateful for the participation of dozens of Windsor alumni and faculty – some of whom live locally – for their contributions to this book, and to Governor Deval Patrick for his sincere and beautifully written Foreward.

“What is my identity? This question produces a kind of crisis in my thinking about my painting and myself.”

-Gunther Gerzso

GOOD PURPOSE GALLERY mICHAEL VInCEnT BusHY

REBECCA WEInmAn AnD mICHAEL VInCEnT BusHY

The Good Purpose Gallery will exhibit the works of local artists, Rebecca Weinman and michael Vincent Bushy. new Works by Rebecca Weinman and multimedia by michael Vincent Bushy will open on Friday, January 9 and will run through February 16. The opening reception will take place on January 9, from 5pm - 7pm.

Greatly influenced by 19th Century French painters ranging from Corot and Courbet to Vuillard and Bonnard, as well as contemporary painters such as Cecily Brown, Lucian Freud, and Paula Rego, Weinman’s figurative works in oil, watercolor, and acrylic are both elusive and engaging. since graduating cum laude with her BFA from the university of massachusetts Dartmouth, and studying at the Pont-Aven school of Contemporary Art in the northwest of France, Weinman has traveled extensively throughout the us and Western Europe. When not traveling, Rebecca maintains a work space in stockbridge, mA. michael Vincent Bushy is a printmaker, bookbinder and figure artist, living and working in Pittsfield with his wife Rebecca and their two dogs. Rather than fighting against the natural properties of each individual medium (such as largescale drawings or copper etchings), michael Bushy tries to use them as a means of evoking the image that he searches for. He is also an art teacher with Hillcrest Educational Centers.

Good Purpose Gallery and spectrum Playhouse are professional venues that exist to offer students real-life training, experience and integration with the community. Both venues host professional artists and events on a regular basis throughout the year, including student events such as plays, performances, art exhibits, and more.

Good Purpose Gallery, 40 Main Street in Lee, Massachusetts. The gallery is open 9am - 4pm, Sunday Saturday. For more information, visit www.goodpurpose.org

A most wonderful place to meet, eat and drink!

6 • JAnuARY 2015 THE ARTFuL mInD

RTE 20, NEW LEBANON, NEW YORK

Photo: Jane Feldman

JENNIFER PAZIENZA

Join The Artful Mind.

Be seen. artfulmind@yahoo.com ISSUU.COM

COnGRATuLATIOns ARTFuL mInD

st. Francis Gallery supports and applauds Artful mind and Harryet Candee in its all encompassing ad-venture to support the spirit of Arts and Culture in our wonderful Berkshires.

Highlighting many things that are special to all of us and capturing our imagination it proves that art is about who we really are at our best as a community, a nation, and individual. It illuminates this in a way that often cannot be expressed by any other means.

We celebrate our artists and thank them for their dedication to exploring their souls and providing all of us with a unique experience whereby the products of their energy and work illuminate our lives. We cannot see our culture without art. It enables a wonderful experience that celebrates our humanity, spirituality, and our connection to one another. It is the best of us, our totality and our inspired creativity, as beings in this world today and for the future to see.

We thank all of those who nourish this work in so many ways as patrons and celebrators and viewers. The Arts are one way to celebrate the purpose of our existence, to create from the very fabric of our being and become a part of something much larger than ourselves——the fabric of our universe and the meaning of existence itself. Celebrating the arts and creativity allows us to value one another for the contributions we make to our own evolution.

The Artful mind has always honored these traditions and accomplishments. It has understood the importance of art to shake us from preconceived perceptions, to challenge our generalizations, categorizations, and polarizations, blocking the level of thinking we are at and shifting it to a “higher order”. st. Francis Gallery is proud to be a part of this process and proud of all the people who join us to make this adventure possible. But, actually our business is all about creating positive and uplifting outcomes for all who come thru our doors. It’s about human relationships and how we make people feel. It’s about all those we touch. It’s that simple...and that hard.

St. Francis Gallery - Rt 102, South Lee just 2 miles east from the Red Lion Inn.

REPERTORY COMPANY 845 721-2493

Loralee@Bluehorserep.com

Check out this website gallery...

ArtworkForKidsRooms.com

Prints and Originals make perfect gifts!

Announcing the launching of a new, vibrant, creative online art gallery, ARTWORKFORKIDsROOms.COm, featuring the colorful, whimsical, imaginative creations of artist, margie Biener. margie, a Great neck, nY and Great Barrington, mA artist started her career at an early age painting murals in homes, hospitals and various businesses. Her creative imagination, artistic skills and interest in advertising led her to jobs at several prestigious advertising agencies, such as Ogilvy & mather, Young & Rubicam, and Deutsch Inc. Her love for art and children led her to be the Art Director for commercials for Disney and Jell-O. margie’s printed textile designs can also be found on newborn and infant’s clothing. Botticelli, Rocky & Bullwinkle as well as mother nature influenced her designs. margie’s medium for her creations is acrylic paints and ink on both canvas and paper.

Be sure to “walk” through margie’s Gallery, ARTWORKFORKIDsROOms.COm, enjoy her ingenious artistic style of mixing colors, imagination and childhood. Her artwork inspires us to smile, and remember the child within all of us.

Margie Biener - ARTWORKFORKIDSROOMS.COM

ƬȷȻȳΎȴȺȷȳɁ˷ΎƟȳɂΎȾȷȱɂɃɀȳɁ˷

800-508-8373

BLUE HORSE

VILmA mARE FAsHIOn DEsIGnER

mcDaris Fine Art in collaboration with 2440 Design studio presents an innovative exhibition featuring Lithuanian born, regionally based fashion designer Vilma mare of Baltic Style. In “Queen of serpents’ : myth Interfaces Routine — Fashion Designer Vilma mare Explores Contemporary meanings Through a Lens of Baltic mythology” mare will be exploring contemporary culture through an installation involving a symbolic ceremony that recreates a time of connection and cleansing.

The exhibition will be comprised of large tapestries, flags and artisnal clothing styles including coats, skirts and other vestments. Besides the usual body protection and adornment aspects of the apparel, Vilma also maintains its spiritual content - protection against harm and the attraction of fertility and happiness.

Opening day for the exhibit is saturday, January 3, 2015 from 6:00 - 9:00 Pm. A closing reception on sunday, February 22 from 2:00 to 4:00 Pm will feature an artist talk in which Vilma will discuss the importance of portraying the studious cultural history of ethnic minorities who observed and valued above all the powers of nature.

A pop up store will feature garments for purchase.

McDaris Fine Art - 623 Warren Street, Hudson, New York.

Gallery Hours : Monday 10:00 to 5:00 PM Thursday and Friday 11:00 to 7:00 PM, Saturday and Sunday and Holidays 11:00 to 6:00 PM. For info: mcdarisfineart.com or vilmamare.com

MARGIE BIENER

EdwardAckerPhotographer.com

ST. FRANCIS GALLERY PHIL PRYJmA

McDARIS FINE ART

mARGIE BIEnER, DREssED uP FOR BREAKFAsT, ACRYLIC AnD InK CROPPED VERsIOn, COLOR VERsIOn On WEBsITE

Edward Acker

Photographer

THE ARTFuL mInD JAnuARY 2015 • 7

FRONT STREET GALLERY KATE KnAPP

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

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

Classes at Front street are for those wishing to learn, those who just want to be involved in the pure enjoyment of art, and/or those who have some experience under their belt.

A teacher for many years, Kate Knapp has a keen sense of each student’s artistic needs to take a step beyond. Perfect setting for setting up still lifes; lighting and space are excellent.

Kate Knapp’s paintings are also on display at 510 Warren st. Gallery in Hudson, nY. Please stop by to see all the many works of art by exceptional artists.

Front Street Gallery – Front Street, Housatonic, MA. Gallery open by appointment or chance. 413-528-9546 or 413-429-7141 (cell).

“Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment.” ~Claude Monet

BERKSHIRE FESTIVAL OF WOMEN WRITERS

Responding to popular demand, the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers is now offering monthly events fulfilling our mission of nourishing women’s creative voices and visions, and providing more opportunities for women of all ages and from many walks of life to share their perspectives in the public sphere.

On January 11, from 3 – 5 p.m. at the Shaker Dam Coffeehouse and Stanmeyer Gallery in West Stockbridge, the Lean In with the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers circle will gather to celebrate the New Year with the theme “Starting Anew.” Women are welcome to bring short pieces of writing to share (500 words max); there will also be an opportunity to write together on the afternoon’s theme. The free, drop-in monthly Lean In gatherings are hosted by Festival Director Jennifer Browdy and Berkshire Magazine Editor Anastasia Stanmeyer.

On January 31, from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. at Embody Healing Arts in Great Barrington, playwright Winter Miller will offer a “Saturday Writing Warrior Intensive” writing workshop.

Not just for playwrights, and not just for women, this workshop is open to all writers looking for an inspiring, high-energy writing workout. Winter Miller is the creative genius behind the play IN DARFUR, which was produced to rave reviews by WAM Theatre this past fall. The workshop is cosponsored by WAM Theatre, the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers, Barbara Newman and Jan Seward. See the Festival website for registration information.

The Berkshire Festival of Women Writers will be celebrating its Fifth Anniversary Season in March 2015. There’s still time to reserve your table at the March 29 Book Expo at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Pittsfield; businesses can also sponsor events or place ads on our lively Festival website.

Berkshire Festival of Women Writers Berkshirewomenwriters.org for more information or email info@berkshirewomenwriters.org

COLLINS/EDITIONS formerly BERKSHIRE DIGITAL

After seven years of working for artists and photographers as Berkshire Digital, we have changed our name to collins|editions. We are a fine art reproduction service that offers the highest quality digital photography & reproduction of paintings as well as Giclée printing on archival papers and canvas with sizes up to 42” x 90”. Artists & photographers use us to create limited editions of their images. Private collectors and galleries use us to document their collections.

Whether the reproduction needs are for archiving, printing, books, magazines, postcards or internet use, BD adheres to very strict color controls along with delivering stunning detail by using either a large format camera with a Better Light™ digital scanning back for making giclee prints as well as the best DsLR cameras for publication & internet uses.

In addition to the photography and printing services, collins|editions also offers graphic design, enabling clients to create show announcements, post cards and brochures.

The website, www.CollinsEditions.com has a complete overview, lots of information and pricing.

The owner, Fred Collins, has been a commercial photographer for over 30 years having had studios in Boston and stamford. He offers 20 years of experience with Photoshop™ enabling retouching, restoration and enhancement.

The studio is located in mt Washington but dropoff and Pu can be arranged at other locations.

Collins|editions studio, 220 East St, Mt Washington, Massachusetts; 413-644-9663, www.CollinsEditions.com

JANE FELDMAN PHOTOGRAPHY JANEFELDMAN.COM

JANEFELDMANPHOTO@GMAIL.COM

8• JAnuARY 2015 THE ARTFuL mInD

PHOTOGRAPHER JULIE MCCARTHY

by Karen Lewis

Photographer Julie mcCarthy, currently working on a series entitled “I Am More Than You Think I Am,” portrays homeless women in Berkshire County, massachusetts. The close to lifesized, black and white photographs were on display this past October through november in Great Barrington’s Berkshire south Community Center. At the ending of the show, Julie helped pull together a panel that convened in the Robbins Room where her exhibit of portraits were displayed and a discussion was held on issues surrounding women and homelessness. since I have been working with homeless people at Construct, Inc., since 1999, I was invited to be one of the panelists.

The panel, inspired by Julie’s exhibit of many honest and confronting photos, touched the lives and condition of homeless women in hopes of making their struggles more visible and known to the public and community. It was the first step forward in finding solutions to this challenging dilemma many women have been facing for a long time. Being female, and totally supportive of wanting to help, it is my desire to explore and unravel the artistically rendered series of homeless women Julie has created and set forth.

During the panel discussion, Julie quietly remained seated in the front row allowing her work to speak for itself. When asked to explain this body of work, she answered, “In creating work there are a number of decisions that an artist has to make beyond the subject matter. Each decision impacts the viewer’s experience; size, color, and material the photograph is printed on. My images are graphic and beautiful in their black and white starkness, and are printed on soft fabric implying fragility and strength. The portraits are large enough to demand to be seen from a distance. They invite the viewer to move close and read what these women have to say.” many comments were made by the audience confirming sincere interest in the need to spread further awareness in our community and beyond the Berkshires about women and their plight. While all of Berkshire county was represented on the panel by various organizations such as the Christian Center and Elizabeth Freeman Center, Julie asked that the event take place and the show be hung in south County because of the invisibility of homeless individuals living here in comparison to Pittsfield, mA, just north of Great Barrington.

Wearing my social worker’s cap on that day of the panel discussion, I had an unexpected experience directly related to viewing these photographs. One of the women whose portrait was in this exhibit had been a client of mine in the past month. I was surprised at my reaction. I felt a sudden overwhelming wave of emotion coming over me. now, being a social worker it’s important to keep emotions at bay when working with clients in order to efficiently help them and to prevent getting drained at the same time. While absorbing these portraits and my guard being down, I was jolted by a tide of emotions, not totally ready for, certainly unexpected—feelings of all these women’s struggles, challenges and untold stories that were unraveling before me from every angle in the room. Their narratives transcended loud and clear, straight at me, full force. It felt bigger than life for me at that moment. I did not allow myself at that point to suppress anything or keep anything at bay— it was all there for the taking. Julie’s proficiency in her photography skills had an enormous amount to do with the overall success of these portraits and her message. I’m sure now that these women having had the chance of being exposed to the public in this artistic way, their plight of homelessness will hopefully be properly addressed.

Julie’s inspirational series of work, “I Am More Than You Think I Am” grew out of an article she read at one point and was followed by a discussion with the Director of Co-act, an organization in Pittsfield devoted to the homeless. In addition, Julie was further exposed to the multitude of problems facing the homelessness when she spoke with the staff at the Christian Center in Pittsfield, mA. she has found most of her subjects for this portrait series in Pittsfield, and is currently working on portraits of south County women. she has great aspirations for this project. she would like for it to be an installation; to be on billboards and building murals, in conjunction with a website containing a resource guide. In the near future, sheis planning on putting together an exhibit of photographs from the local soup kitchens. (Yes- they do exist in the Berkshires!).

During her career as a photographer, Julie has been drawn to issues that affect women. This is not the first time Julie has worked on portraits in a series. Her previous series of photographs rendered was “The Hair Project,” and focused on female cancer patients and the loss of hair due to chemotherapy. That led to a self-published book of the same name. Another one of Julie’s series explored the idea of what home means to women today, as they are no longer bound by traditional roles of wife and family. Julie traveled across the country interviewing and photographing women who have created their own definition of “home”.

Julie was mostly comfortable talking about her work more than about herself. “Coming from a family of storytellers, I am more of an observer and listener. As a Bereavement Counselor at HospiceCare in the Berkshires for many years I honed those skills. When I left Hospice and decided to turn to photography I realized I had found a perfect medium in which to express myself.”

If I had the choice of subjects I would want to capture through the lens it would be Albert Einstein. (Lucien Aigner was lucky enough to have that opportunity!) For Julie mcCarthy, her prime choice for subjects would be mother Theresa, maya Angelou, and surprisingly, mick Jagger. It is character that she likes to photograph most, and believes faces are like maps of people’s lives.

I met Julie for the first time at this panel discussion. Prior to meeting her, I knew about her through the photography work she did for The Artful mind artzine. Julie has certainly stretched her artistic wings over the past years and I am grateful to her for giving a voice to women who may not have had one, and also for her willingness to be in-part the subject of these written words. V

Kim

Aida and Juana

Ritza and Yahriliz

Toni

“In creating work there are a number of decisions that an artist has to make beyond the subject matter. Each decision impact’s the viewer’s experience; size, color, material the photograph is printed on.

My images are graphic and beautiful in their black and white starkness, but they are printed on a soft fabric implying fragility and strength. The portraits are large enough to demand to be seen from a distance, but invite the viewer to move close and read what the women have to say.”

-Julie McCarthy

Julie

THE ARTFuL mInD JAnuARY 2015 • 9

KRIS GALLI

ARTIsT

Interview by Harryet Candee

Photographs of Kris by Edward Acker

Harryet Candee: I get the impression, and following that impression, that you truly believe a picture tells a thousand words.

I also feel that you create using all your senses. And – you become more empowered and grounded to the earth and to yourself every single time you pick up a paintbrush – oh! Even if you do throw it a thousand feet in front of you from some kind of frustration, or finale to a chant– its all part of the process you have touched upon since a teenager.

What I find interesting is that we’ve communicated in many ways, for a few years, except we’ve never met for one single cup of coffee yet! So, I need to ask you, Kris… where did you come from? Ok….tell me about your childhood in words- but via the way and means you would paint.

Kris Galli: Harryet, it’s so true. Where is this elusive cup of coffee we’re always saying we’re going to have? And the broader question is, why can’t we allow ourselves two cups? That way, we’d each have our own? Don’t we deserve that?

Anyway, to get on with it, yes I think one has to be entirely present - senses, cells, memories, baggage, all of it. I also think this is why a life in the arts is so arduous, and can sometimes be too much for the artist to handle in a healthy way. Being fully engaged with the practice of art-making, not leaving any spare parts outside the door when you come into the studio, that requires a commitment and selfacceptance that can take its toll. But when it happens, when you’re in communion, and all systems, senses and power are involved in what you’re doing, it’s a beautiful thing. Being in “the zone” asks that you leave everything behind that isn’t you; it’s a tough place to get to, but well worth the trip. my childhood… okay, let’s see. I was born in Pittsfield to working class parents, the youngest of three kids. I always hesitate to say I grew up there, because I don’t think I really grew up until I was in my thirties, and by that time I was somewhere else. But I think I can honestly say the career path I’ve chosen is a direct result of the… well there’s no other word for it, the darkness of my childhood.

There’s a pretty deep vein of depression that runs through my family, and as a result, my formative years were spent watching one or some-

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times two members of my family fall apart. Our home was not the happiest place to be. The result of all this was that I wound up spending a whole lot of my time alone, reading, sitting in trees, thinking way more than a kid should be allowed to think. Through all of this, my father was my saving grace. He sold insurance for a living, and I would wait until he got home late in the evening. Then we’d share those Italian staples, pepperoni and provolone, me sitting on the kitchen counter, swinging my legs and and listening to his tales of being raised in a house with twelve aunts and uncles. He provided me with the conversation and affection I was craving, and I’m forever grateful for that. still, things weren’t stellar, and due to these problems at home I became withdrawn, and didn’t play well with others. By the time I was through with grammar school, I had been bullied to the point of bloodshed. A defining moment was when I walked into my sixth grade class to find all the kids lined up there waiting for me. Then they all watched on while the class bully slammed my head into a desk. Ah, the joys of childhood… my school experience didn’t get any better after that, and in the end I dropped out at fifteen, and ran away from home. I rode Greyhounds and eighteen-wheelers across the country, ended up living in Colorado with an abusive, drug-addled boyfriend (more monsters to conquer), came home, left again, on and on… but long story short, I survived.

I began to paint in my late teens, doing mainly color fields, as a way to express the beautiful mess that was roiling around inside me.

I found that when I gave that mess a color and a form of some sort, it became an ally. I don’t think I myself was ever in danger of falling onto that bottomless pit of despair that was feeding on my mother, for one, but seeing that struggle at such an early age created in me an extreme sort of sensitivity. There was nowhere for me to go but into the embrace of the arts. I found solace in books, music, and painting, in that order.

Kris Galli, Danse Noir, Oil on canvas, 24x36

Kris, now knowing this, let’s move into another direction to settle my curiosity. When you paint, from the get-go of a painting, it’s FOR YOU. You never think about who will buy it, where you can show it, none of that… that’s what is so amazing about your art. Not to mention it’s a private world, a unique trip how you cleverly unravel each painting you create. Am I on the right track, or what?

Kris: Well, you are and you aren’t. First, I think any working artist who says she’s painting only for herself is a bit delusional. Ask yourself: if I were the last remaining person on the planet, and I had a very limited amount of time before some sort of flesh-eating demise, what would I do with my time? Personally, I’d probably search the rubble for some baked goods, see if I couldn’t fire up a CD player with some Bill Evans, then sit tight and watch it all go down. I certainly wouldn’t want to paint, not without another living soul around to bounce it off of.

Granted, when one first picks up a paintbrush, or a pen or a piano for that matter (although picking up a piano is not advised), one is probably in the purest stage of work that they’ll ever be in. That’s when it’s all you, all real. After that, the conflict of expression vs. commerce enters in. Throw in the pursuit of proficiency or even mastery, and you’ve got the basis for some serious soul searching. For me, once my work started selling, it became a real challenge to remain authentic with my painting. The question of making a name for one’s self, of gaining the respect of peers, and of course money; all of these things can’t help but affect one’s work. The questions are

always with me: Am I making this picture because it will look great in a gallery? Is it something I would hang on my own wall? Am I still telling my own story, or have I co-opted someone else’s? Is there any love in this endeavor? For me these questions are a constant part of my process.

In some ways, I also use my art-making to visualize a desire or need and a path to problem-solving. Do you, too, share this aspect of being an artist?

Kris: Definitely, although maybe not in exactly the same way. my art does function as a problem-solving tool for me, but in a very indirect way. It happens in the form of how the act of painting has mothered me throughout my adult life. Painting has become the friend I go to when I feel unjustly treated, or angry, or sad. It can do anything, take on any problem - through color, gesture, texture… it’s all there. Anything I need to say can be said on the canvas. And it’s a really good thing, because in many ways I’m a very isolated person. I go a thousand miles deep, and I have a lot to say. But really, how many people would be willing to sit and drink coffee for hours on end, listening to me babble on? I do have my wonderful guy, who’s incredibly supportive and my salvation in so many ways, but he has a life to live too. That’s where art comes in. my buddy, Art.

shoulders and I was here to bring light to everyone I knew (late twenties), to becoming a card-carrying atheist (somewhere in my forties) to where I’m at now, which could be called Who Knows & That’s not Really the Point Anyway.

The second view concerns my own personal journey. Honestly I think my purpose is to yank myself up by my own bootstraps and overcome, to overcome fear, to overcome illusion (that’s a big one), to overcome inertia, anger, all of it. To learn to love in a sane way.

And not to sound too grandiose, but I truly think I was born to teach myself to paint. somewhere, at some point, I started this thing and was waylaid. And I’ve always felt I came here to finish it, or at least to advance to some degree, and to do it largely by myself. Although I’ve gotten some wonderful advice from various people through the years, anything I’ve learned at the easel, I’ve had to learn through sweat and tears. This has been the theme in almost every area of my life, and where art is concerned, it’s given the whole thing the feel of a mission. I’m just bound and determined to do it.

Do you paint from imagination?

Yes, I do. But I also use photographs to guide the process. The images I paint appear to me out of the blue, which is why I think they’re so closely related to my subconscious and my past. Anyway, as I said, I don’t carry a sketchbook, but I do carry a notebook at all times, and as I have these ideas, I write them down. Girl untangling string. Girl in a storm of hats. Like that. Pages and pages of these ideas. Then I’ll choose a model or two to photograph. This is where it’s convenient to have a photographer for a husband. Edward is always willing to photograph my models, and he does a great job with it, as he does with all of his work.

When I have a stack of photos, I work from a few at a time, sometimes using elements from different ones. I might use an expression from one photo, with a pose from another. It works best when everything I want is captured in one image, obviously. not just any model will do. I need to see a depth of emotion and character in a woman or girl in order for the piece to convey what I

If you were to step into another form of art, say performing arts, and were the director, with an unlimited budget to put on a theatre performance, what would you want to create?

What a great question! Let’s see… well, it would most definitely be a comedy, and with an ensemble cast. I think the whole thing would have to take place in the kitchen, where all of life’s great questions are posed. There would be a great pot of stew bubbling on the stove (a steaming metaphor for the theme), and massive arguments and dysfunction. It would need to address everything, everything that vexes us as soft-hearted, vulnerable creatures, everything in the world would need to be addressed in this kitchen. The play would be twelve hours long, and no one would come, but they’d be missing a great deal.

Kris Galli, The Sock Monkey’s Version, oil on canvas, 36x36

Kris Galli, Onion, Oil on canvas, 30x30

I hope my questions aren’t annoying – I just feel your art work is sacred in a way. I don’t want to impose upon you in any way, so with saying that, can you answer this question: What do you feel your purpose on earth is?

Annoy me? Are you kidding? This is so much fun for me! But listen… remember when I told you I used to sit in trees when I was a kid? Well, that’s what I was thinking about: What in God’s name am I doing here? It dogs me, every moment. And of course it leads directly to the question of an afterlife, a deity… what a can of worms.

Basically I think there are two ways to look at this question. First, what’s our collective purpose in life? To this I say, I have no clue.

I’ve run the gamut from feeling like there were angels riding on my

Do you ever find working with a sharpened pencil fulfilling enough or do you always veer towards the fault-line of needing to paint and make a palette of color?

I’ve never been one to sketch, which I find odd, actually. As an artist, sometimes I feel like I should be out there with my sketchbook, scrawling out everything around me. But it’s just not who I am. Oil paint, on the other hand, I find to be the most sensual, gorgeous thing in the world. I have tubes of paint that are thirty-five years old, and I can’t bear to throw them away.

They seem to me a connection to something ancient and very sacred. When I squeeze oil paint out of a tube and smell that lovely smell, I’m connected to all the masters that came before me. And the smooth texture of oils on canvas brings out any speck of talent I might have. I need that buttery feel and those rich colors to create. Pencils don’t do that for me.

Where do you like to paint the most?

I paint in one place only, in a room in our apartment that looks out over the Lenox Library. I suppose if I had my druthers, I’d have a studio out in the country somewhere, with a bird feeder by the window and happy little squirrels watching me through the glass. Perhaps they’d be singing… But one never has their druthers, does one?

Where can one get druthers, anyway?

want it to. You can look at ten people staring into space, and yet only a few will be saying something very special with their eyes, or their mouth, or their stance. some of our greatest paintings couldn’t be what they are without that particular model’s depth of character.

Think of Picasso’s picture of Gertrude stein, or sargeant’s Portrait of madame x. Or Balthus’s paintings of his niece, Frederique. not everyone has that degree of impact in their bearing.

Your husband Edward Acker, is a photographer, and a great one at that! What’s it like having a partner who also has great passion for art? And, what are your similarities and differences of how you both interpret a subject through art?

Edward and I have very different ways of approaching our art, and I don’t think it could be otherwise. His images are stunningly soulful, and I think this is largely because he absolutely loves people. He loves people, dogs… he even saves worms on the putting green. You name it, he loves it. And his love for all of creation is what shows in his work. It’s that mystery element that no one can put a name to.

Another thing about him - I’ve been with Edward for twenty-one years, and I never cease to be amazed at how fearless he is. And over time I’ve come to realize that this is what makes his work so compelling. When you haven’t got an ounce of social anxiety in your system, you’re not going to be afraid to dig into your subject with a sort of relentless grace, bringing them into the light without their even knowing it.

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KRIS GALLI

and now it can sass back at me.

On subsequent days, I try to really bring the piece up to where it should be, and after that it’s just a matter, as I said, of listening to the painting itself. I go into the studio and stand as far away from it as I can, and it will yell across the room to me and tell me what to do. Of course I’m speaking figuratively, but this has never failed to happen. Once a painting reaches a certain stage of near-completion, it takes on a life of its own, and my job is only to listen to it, and give it what it asks for.

Also, I always paint with a full length mirror leaning against the wall behind me. I’m constantly turning around to look at the painting in that mirror. If something is “off,” it will be very obvious in the reflection. I don’t know why this is, but it’s a great tool.

Do you listen to music while painting? What venue of music do you prefer?

Ah, music is my joy and my muse. music healed me as a kid, and it heals me still. When I walk into my studio, the very first thing I ask myself is, “What do you need to hear right now?” I’m a closet DJ, and I think I just might have missed my calling. Too late now. my tastes are very specific and also very broad. I listen to many different styles - classical, jazz, rock - I once spent an entire week listening to nothing but ocean waves. But whatever it is, it needs to speak to me and it needs to be good. I love Cassandra Wilson, Bill Evans, Brahms, and Beck. Favorite songs range from J.J. Cale’s The sensitive Kind to Tchaikovsky’s Andante Cantabile for Cello and strings. Tom Waits’ Drunk On the moon gets heavy play, and I’ve just fallen back in love with Led Zeppelin, who held my hand throughout my wild childhood. The Beatles’ Abbey Road is a masterpiece… I could go on and on. music is everything. sometimes I just need silence, for days at a time. The absence of sound is in itself is a great form of medicine, although on this subject I have to stop and complain for a moment. I suffer from Tinnitus. my ears ring very loudly, constantly. It’s a very annoying problem, apparently with no cure. Anyone who knows of any miracle remedies, please contact me. If it works, I’ll paint your dog, your grandmother, anything you want.

Kris Galli, Red, 36x36

I, on the other hand, would still be sitting in trees if I could get myself up there. I love to be alone, to work alone, to shut out everything else and lose myself in what I’m doing. When I’m painting, hours go by and I don’t even notice. I don’t come up for air at all.

Pretty soon the sun’s going down, the room is growing darker and I realize I can’t see what I’m doing. It often makes me laugh to myself, the fact that I’ve been so “gone.”

Where we come together is in the way we see the world. When we walk down a new York street together, surrounded by all those people going about their business, both of us are seeing paintings, photographs, everywhere. We’ll be having lunch, and it’s a constant, “Look at that woman; that’s a painting!” or “I have to photograph that guy leaning against the wall with the cigarette!” We both see the world with a sense of awe and novelty, as if we both just landed here from the planet xenon and it’s all strange to us. And I think that’s a huge part of our relationship. It’s a way in which we’ve always been alike, and it binds us together.

As an artist, can you name a few things that are lessons you have learned about art that you feel are utterly true and would be good to share as a gift of knowledge with readers?

I’ve always been a big fan of the quote by Emerson: “Do the thing and you will have the power.” Or Picasso’s version: “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” This advice is key for me. In my mind, I cannot do a thing. This is the mindset my family has always struggled with, and it’s in my very blood. And that little voice can rattle on and on and wear itself out, but when I pick up a paintbrush and go at it for a couple of hours, things start to take shape that I never thought possible. It’s all in the Doing. The voice in your head is a nobody; don’t give it the time of day. It’s what happens when you lose yourself in your work that matters.

I’ve also learned that the arts are an area where one never, ever stops learning. I recently read something amazing about the 19th century artist Hokusai. I have it here with me because I wanted to share it with you. Hokusai is quoted as saying, “… all that I have produced before the age of 70 is not worth being counted. It is at the age of 73 that I have somewhat begun to understand the structure of true nature… consequently at 80 years of age I shall have made still more progress; at 90 I hope to have penetrated into the mystery of 12 •JAnuARY 2015 THE ARTFuL mInD

things; at 100 years of age I should have reached decidedly a marvelous degree, and when I shall be 110, all that I do, every point and every line, shall be instinct with life…” Wow, huh? How’s that for perspective?

Let’s go technique… Can you explain how you developed your rendering style in painting, whether its figurative or landscape or still-life oriented? I know I am asking you, in other words, to translate how you blend and what is involved in creating a color palette? my methods for painting landscapes or abstracts are very different from what I do when I paint a figure or a still life. my non-figurative work is largely a release from the tightness of painting in such detail. so here I’ll focus on the figure.

I work in the classical style of first laying down an imprimatura, a thin wash of color, usually raw umber mixed with a little titanium white. I do the initial form with this mixture, wiping out with a soft cloth areas that will be highlights, and laying in the umber in varying degrees of value in the mid tones and shadow areas. This will dry in a day, and on the second day I add another pass, going over everything again, this time beginning to add color, bringing out flesh tones, working on shadows and highlights. my flesh palette has changed a lot over the years. For many years I would work on figures only to look at them the next day and see that they were much too hot or cool. Then I’d need to go in and correct things, which ran the risk of total ruination of the piece. In the past few years, I’ve hit on a combination of raw sienna, Venetian red and ultramarine, along with titanium white, mixed in various combinations for different areas.

These three together seem to solve that temperature problem, and after that, the fine tuning with other colors is much easier than it used to be.

I mix colors entirely on the palette while I’m working, a practice for which I’d probably be thrown out of art school. I’ve never been able to mix colors ahead of time, and the gray scale method of mixing is not part of my language. Being self-taught, I’ve picked up every bad habit there is, but it’s way too late to change horses now.

In any case, that second day should serve to create a nearly fullyformed picture. It may still need a lot of work, but it will be able to now tell me what it needs. It’s as if I’ve raised it to be a teenager,

I love asking this question…. Tell me all about a day in the life of Kris.

I get up, make a very strong cup of green tea and an Ezekiel English muffin with almond butter - did you want this much detail?! Okay, let me skip forward a bit. most mornings I work for Edward for a few hours, putting together clients’ orders, putting up websites of wedding and family photos, answering e-mails, things like that. Then I shower and go straight into my studio, normally around eleven o’clock. In the summer, I’ll work for a good five to seven hours, taking a break to go to the coffee shop around four. These short winter days mess everything up… by the time I get to painting, I have only three or four hours of good daylight. The coffee break ends up coming too late, and then I lie awake all night in a caffeine frenzy. Anyway, late afternoon or evening, Edward comes in from his day of taking pictures and making people smile, and we decide what to do about dinner. Will it be in, or out? It’s out way too often. Or we may just stay home and get more photo work done. One thing about Edward and I, we both have this crazy work ethic; it just never seems to end, and there’s always something to catch up on.

Later, before bed, we like to get in an episode of Frasier on netflix. We’ve never owned a TV, but we both have heavy seinfeld and Frasier addictions. Yes, I know, time has moved on, people are watching other things now. But not in this house. Entertainmentwise, we’re living in the nineties, children of Larry David.

Weekends, as anyone who knows us knows, you can usually find us eating at the bar of one of Berkshire County’s fine dining establishments. It’s something we love to do, and it’s a real stress reliever for both of us.

Well, I do hope our paths cross soon, the Berkshires has just so many cafes where you can spend an hour or two and get away from the creative space we spend endless time in. Is there any other place you would consider living? If so, where and why?

Incase you don’t have an answer for this kind of questioning, how about – if there was any place in the world you would want to live, where would that be? Would there be a a time period related to that?

Having lived in southern CA and Colorado, and having traveled the country a bit, I do know that I’m a northeasterner through and through. I love new York, and martha’s Vineyard, and northampton is one of my favorite places. Edward and I talk often about getting a place on the Vineyard, but these long cold winters are getting old.

The problem lies in finding a place that resonates with who we are, and that’s also warm, sunny, cheerful and otherwise antidotal for the winter blues.

Your art is peaceful and yet quiet but active; keeping the viewer pondering the riddles you plant. I love that aspect of your work. Many times I am asking myself – who is this female Kris has painted? Is it another side of Kris? Or is it a living model you have chosen to weave a story around.

Can you explain the psyche behind the scenes?

I’m often reminded of The Picture of Dorian Gray, and how having that painting up there in the attic kept Dorian from aging. For me, it’s sort of the opposite… painting has raised me, and feeds my growth as the years pass. I paint women, and yes, those women are myself. It actually took me a while to figure this out.

But yes, they’re telling the viewer about what’s it’s been like for me. The image of the woman, not ecstatically happy, but determined and looking for something undefinable, this is all about my life. In the last few years, I’ve noticed my women becoming a bit stronger. They don’t care quite as much if you’re watching them as they try to figure things out. And of course, this is me in my middle age, more stable and much more comfortable with who I am. I see that as a magical function of art. Without my knowing it, I seem to be painting myself from a weepy child into a strong woman.

You have interpreted art in a beautiful way, empowering the female as a tangible force of energy and life. Why have you not painted the male figure…or do you, but keep it a secret?

I’ve been asked this many times, and I wish I had a better answer. I’ve never had a desire to paint the male figure. my figures are the archetypes of my own personal journey. When I want to depict pensiveness or challenge or self inquiry, I automatically see it as being embodied in a female figure. Whether this is because I see women as being the vessel for these things in a more perfect way than men, or whether I’m just telling a female-oriented story, I don’t know the answer to that. But, although I’m heterosexual, I think women are extremely beautiful, in a way that men can’t even approach. There are worlds of emotion in the female face and body, and I’m drawn to that in the same way I’m drawn to a box of paints. It’s a treasure trove of opportunity for expression. It’s a means of conveyance for my mind-stuff.

Having said that, I’ve painted Edward a number of times. I’ve sold only one of these pictures, and I’ll probably never sell another. They seem too personal to let go of.

Kris Galli, Then She Became Very Quiet, Oil on canvas, 48x36

As for the fantasy relocation, I often escape in my mind to a beach somewhere in Brazil. I’m not sure why - I’ve never been to Brazil. But I see myself sitting at a little outdoor bar near the water, listening to someone singing gorgeous Brazilian songs. You know the kind. I think I want to be the Girl From Ipanema, provided that I could wear a one-piece bathing suit, and maybe a cover-up…

Laughing at that one, Kris....Are you also involved in any other kinds of art? Do you write? Are you a chef? Nature lover?

Acrobatist? Alligator wrestler? Farmer?

I’m a frustrated writer, and have been ever since I was a teen.

There was a time when I thought that was what I would do with my life, and I have dozens of notebooks from years ago, chockfull of short stories with no endings. If I’d been able to end those stories, who knows what I would’ve done? Pulitzer? Penthouse overlooking the Hudson? most likely, I’d still be starving, but with an apartment cluttered with manuscripts instead of canvas stretchers.

Our world is so complex, with millions of people doing their best at whatever that may be. I am wondering, in today’s age with technology being the leader in many ways, what are your thoughts on how it works with or against the art of creating and being original?

When you think about it, art itself is something of an anachronism.

Think of how far we’ve advanced. These things of the heart: literature, music, visual art, the theater - they aren’t necessary in a practical way, but they’re very sacred to us. We’ve hung on to these things because they’re still, after all of our advancement, the best way to convey our experience to one other. People will always create; it’s the very essence of being human. The only thing that changes is the medium.

Tens of thousands of years ago, it was discovered that a good drawing of a bison could be made on a cave wall, using natural pigments or charcoal. These materials were what was available at the time, and through them, early man discovered his ability to communicate and express himself using images. Five thousand years ago, Egyptians found they could depict their gods on papyrus or stone. In fifteenth century Italy, artists discovered they could suspend pigment in linseed oil, and an artistic revolution ensued. The point is that humans have always been creators, and we always will be; it’s only the means that change. Whether computer art and digital

Kris Galli, Yellow, Oil on canvas, 30x40

photography is a form of devolution or an advancement isn’t the question. This is just the way it is. Humans evolve, new media emerge, art changes. But the heart remains the same. It’s in our nature to create and that will never die. so no, I don’t think technology is the enemy of art. It might just be the downfall of mankind, but not of art…

Have you ever interpreted fairy tales through painting? Using words, right at this point, Kris, what are your words of wisdom you can share and we can probably learn from? no on the fairy tales, although I feel a kinship with the use of archetypal figures to tell a story. I don’t know that I’m qualified to offer words of wisdom I’d love it if you’d check back with me in thirty years!

I’m sure I’ll have a few nuggets for you then! Here’s something I’ve learned though. If you’re doing something you feel called to do, you need to allow yourself the luxury of quitting. Gestation and rest are as valid a part of the process as the actual act of creating. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve quit painting “for good.” now, I let myself do that, but I do it as a friend who knows me. I say under my breath (so I can’t hear me) “Oh, that’s just Kris. she does this.” I know that if I let myself get angry at it and give it up, I’ll go off and grow a bit, whether that takes days or months, and eventually I’ll be back. so I say, take a rest. Go have a cry, take a look at the help wanted ads. If it’s really in your DnA to do this thing, it will come back to you like a lover, once it sees you walking away.

Also - and this is very important - when all else fails, have a snack. Remember to wash your hands first. now Harryet, how about that coffee?

Ready! -h. h

THE ARTFuL mInD JAnuARY 2015 • 13

SABINE PHOTO ART

EUNICE AGAR EunICE AGAR, summER FuRnITuRE

www.euniceagar.com

I am a native of Great Barrington and attended the local public schools, Bryant school and searles High school. For twelve years I had the same art teacher, Doris Whittaker.

Once in the eighth grade, for the first and only time, she had us take turns posing on the teacher’s desk and drawing each other. It was as if I had been hit by a ton of bricks. I knew at once that that was what I wanted to do. In the high school classes we had oil paint. Two friends and I won the Halloween window painting contest for three years, starting with the very first contest in l949! Then it was art history and studio and college and the Art students League of new York - and I have been painting ever since.

Photographic one on one workshops, scheduled throughout the winter months: BEHInD THE CAmERA - sabine’s eye for detail provides the students with everlasting creative tools.

Explore the beauty of patterns, textures, layers, depth of detail in the real. Participants learn how natural light can create dramatic or lyrical images. Designed for the serious learner who is interested in improving her/his skills. The hope is to concentrate on the artistic and critical eye. You are asked to bring a digital sLR camera. December 1, 2014 – may 31, 2015.

A published and collected fine art photographer, she has a number of specialties. One of these is a focus on commercial and editorial portraiture, collaborating with professionals to provide their publishers / labels with an image portfolio. sabine’s talent lies in both choosing the location and working with the subtleties of lighting. Her eye for the “Yes moment” results in timeless imagery. she has the talent to bring introspection to the art of life style photography. she is the interviewer, catalyst and image-maker.

Her InsIDE and OuT studio is located in stockbridge, mA. signed books: “WOODLAnD sTYLE” and “sHELL CHIC “, m. H. marshall, published by storey, all photography by sabine. she is a member of AsmP, The International Center of Photography ICP, and the Wedding Photojournalist Association, WPJA. Sabine Photo Art - for more detailed info please contact Sabine Vollmer von Falken Photography at tel. 413298-4933, info@sabinephotoart.com

MARGUERITE BRIDE mARGuERITE BRIDE, CAsTLE ROCK, WATERCOLOR

WATERCOLORS

As one of 10 artists selected for Pittsfield’s “TEn sPOT” exhibit at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, marguerite Bride will be featuring some favorites from her lighthouse/seascape series in this invitational exhibit. One of her paintings will be displayed on a billboard in somewhere in Berkshire County leading up to the 10x10 exhibit.

TEn sPOT will be on display February 6-28, 2015. Gallery hours are Wed-sat. 11am-4pm with an opening reception on Thursday, February 12, 5-7pm. spearheaded by Barrington stage Company and the City of Pittsfield, the 4th Annual 10×10 upstreet Arts Festival is which will be held throughout the city’s upstreet Cultural District from February 12-22, 2015. Berkshire Gas will be once again be the lead sponsor of the 10×10 upstreet Arts Festival.

Visit Bride’s website “What’s new” page or her Facebook “marguerite Bride Watercolors” for the latest exhibit and show schedules.

Commissions for vacation and house portraits are welcome at any time. It’s not too soon to think about 2015 holiday gift giving…take photos now if you want a winter scene in the Berkshires.

Visit Brides studio by appointment.

Marguerite Bride, NUarts Studios, Studio 9, 311 North Street, Pittsfield, by appointment. Call 413-442-7718, or 413-841-1659 (cell); website: margebride-paintings.com / email: margebride@aol.com

Wool Cap with Ear Band

14 • JAnuARY 2015 THE ARTFuL mInD

Planet Waves

Eric Francis

ARIES (March 20-April 19)

You are ahead of yourself, although you have this crazy idea you're lagging behind. Like any inventor, you have more ideas than you can put into practical use. One sticking point though is the idea that nothing worthwhile is accomplished unless someone is exploited. It's time to question that. Cooperation is voluntary. so don't feel bad about asking people to collaborate with you. Remind them it's a privilege to work toward goals that benefit the community. some of the more unusual psychology will be focused on your early environment. What, exactly, happened as a child when you tried to get people to cooperate with you, or with one another? That set up negative expectations, and it's time to let them go. If you can, so can everyone else. That is leadership.

TAURUS (April 19-May 20) This month, several planets make their way across your midheaven -- the angle of your solar chart that describes your highest goals, achievements and reputation. This calls on you to take on a leadership role you might think is not in your nature; however, at least astrologically, it's the essence of your nature. You lead by example, and with the quality of your ideas. so start with being bolder, more vocal and more articulate about your priorities. Follow that with careful observation of the people around you, and several rounds of listening.

Chances are whatever you're doing will require two revisions, taking you to mid-February. Till then, hang loose and allow your ideas to evolve. Look at things from different perspectives. Your tree-like stability sometimes resists this, though trees are exceptionally responsive to their environments.

Among the people offering ideas, there will be a few gems.

GEMINI (May 20-June 21)

This year your relationship life settles down enough for you to actually keep track of what is happening. Relationships are extensions of yourself; what they 'extend' into your environment is your process of making contact with your deeper self.

You have experiences with others that seem impossible to have alone. That's not strictly true; but it's easier to see certain things projected outside of yourself. One of those is how people grow and transform. You have seen people address the darkest elements of themselves, and emerge in a different place. In some ways you're less confident about being able to do this yourself, though the fact that you know others have is proof of what is possible. Events early in the month in one especially important partnership will enable you to get beneath the surface layers of personality, ideas and opinions. On this deeper level, you can access authentic change at your emotional core.

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

It's not true that others are stronger or more persistent than you. They may, however, be more inclined to use force, and you are sensitive to that. You also expect people to be connected to their feelings, though that rarely turns out to be true.

If you find yourself provoked into a confrontation, wait a few days before responding. Pause, listen and observe. most of all, feel. The situation is not what it seems, and anyone acting up or dramatizing is likely feeling powerless. For you, the message can be an affirmation of your own strength, and your power of faith. Cancer is famous for its cycles, owing to its close connection to the moon. now you get a chance to hold steady. someone has a debt to you, and once that becomes obvious, some form of payment, or at least acknowledgement, is due. In the end, however, that transaction must be voluntary.

LEO (July 22-Aug. 23) Get a handle on group dynamics, an important theme of your

JANUARY 2015

life right now. There is a larger entity involved, and within that everyone must be clear and open. unlike bees and ants, who must adopt a hive mentality centered around one leader, humans have the capacity to live in mutual community, where individuals are consciously aspects of one another. A number of factors indicate this is a 'get serious' moment around anything related to creativity, children and sex. You could say it's a time to understand the role of pleasure in your life, and how that influences your ability to be productive. Take full responsibility for your creative power and its results, remembering that pleasure and productivity are no longer solo activities, or contained in one-on-one partnerships. The learning challenge is seeing (and experiencing) yourself as fully integrated into a group process. It needs you, and you need it.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) Your ability to focus is a gift and a privilege. Your intelligence is also a gift, and a key to the universe. There have been times when you've perceived yourself as the victim of these things; that is no longer the case. Brains and beauty are coming back into style. Your environment is populated by people who value their connection to others, and recognize you for who you are. The sticking point is self-criticism, often taken to excess. You may perceive this as weakness and lack of selfawareness. You're probably correct, though remember to be gentle on yourself, and on others. Do everything you can to keep your point of view wide and inclusive of all perspectives.

Tap into how others receive information and intuition -- you have a lot to learn from them, and what you learn will greatly benefit your worldly goals and your inner growth agenda.

LIBRA (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)

Events this month will contribute to the sensation that you're at a tipping point. The theme is independence from the structures of the past, including your concepts of family and relationship. I would include every structure you've taken for granted, including your notion of what makes you safe. The confidence you're feeling is real, and it's associated with making the choice not to hold yourself accountable for the actions of others. If you're feeling better about yourself, that's about making up your mind that you are the assessor of your worth.

It looks like you're taking an idea or creative vision more seriously. From another point of view, you may be observing that something you've long dreamed of is now possible. It always was, though your perception makes all the difference.

Devote yourself fully to it, and check in on how much progress you've made by mid-June. You'll be impressed.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-nov. 22)

saturn has left your sign, offering you newfound freedom and flexibility. The thing about these kinds of developments is that the effects tend to be short-lived. The way to maintain the feeling of lightness is to remember how much you had to do in order to get there -- and keep doing whatever that was. If people need to put you under less pressure, that's because you've stepped up to your agreed-to commitments willingly.

It may have taken your entire ancestral lineage to produce you, who have figured out that you are responsible for what you say, think, do and feel. You are responsible for what happens in your environment. But this only becomes a burden if you pretend it's not true -- then suddenly you're under everyone's thumb. To really be free, you don't have to live up to others’ expectations. Rather, you must set high standards for yourself and exceed your own expectations on a regular basis.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) Attend to your responsibilities in the order they come due, and while you're at it, get ahead on longterm projects. You may feel like people are suddenly noticing your presence, tal-

PlanetWaves.net

ent and wisdom. Invest some energy into social affairs, but keep your focus on what you know needs to happen. The beauty of this moment is that your best ideas will translate easily into something tangible. It's not merely your imagination telling you that your long-range objectives are within reach if you concentrate your efforts. You have seen the power of negative thinking waste your energy and derail your peace of mind. That is becoming a thing of the past, though you may have one last run-in with a point of view you're done with.

The key to the puzzle that seems to vex the human race: take absolute responsibility for your own thoughts, and move on fast.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) If you've been putting off decisions about money, you will soon know exactly what to do. There will be some matters you can attend to during the first week of the year. However, should there be any additional preparations necessary, I suggest waiting until after mercury stations direct on Feb. 11.

The more money is involved, the more important it is to wait out mercury retrograde to allow additional information to emerge. meanwhile, the recent sign change of saturn is encouraging you to tune into yourself for all of the information you need, on nearly any subject. In the end, the final check on any decision is your intuition. In the next few months, you may lose interest in what anyone thinks on any topic of importance to you. Pry yourself out of that every now and then and reality-check with one or two people you trust. The final call is always yours.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) You are entering The Year of the Peak Experience. A number of factors describe this; one is letting go of an obsession with consequences that have stalked you for a while. This has been an excellent exercise in accountability. You have learned how to think things through. You've figured out that what you do now influences what happens later. Even as you experiment with more daring people, places and experiences, you have a diversity of safety devices in place -- and at times you may need to override them. For example, you may be more conservative than usual in financial and sexual matters. You may check your intuition regularly, seeking facts to support your hunches. In order to succeed at anything, you will need to take some risks. The good thing is that those can be conscious choices rather than involuntary reflexes. That and a modicum of intelligence is all anyone needs, and you have plenty more than that.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) no need to wonder what has become of your insecurities: the mighty saturn has taken its place at the top of your solar chart.

This is your moment to take command of your life. Pisces has big dreams, though few know the extent to which you are driven to achieve something real. However, in recent years it hasn't been easy to concentrate your efforts; there has been too much going on. mainly there has been a confidence issue, part of which involves being accused of the profit motive. I realize not every Pisces aspires to be Jesus or Buddha, but most people born under your sign put service first, pleasure second and profits last. Your current phase of enhanced leadership directly involves focusing the drive to make money at what you do. Whatever their theoretical philosophy, everyone likes to have money in their pocket. Even better if it's earned with a clear conscience, as yours most surely is. ~ Read Eric Francis daily at PlanetWaves.net

THE ARTFuL mInD JAnuARY 2015 • 12

Happy Anniversary to Harryet and The Artful Mind!

Jennifer Pazienza Happy Anniversary and Congratulations Artful Mind!

From

Matt Bialer

WATERCOLORS

Jennifer Pazienza, Scuro, 96x72, Oil on canvas

Happy 21st Anniversary!

Artist

Eleanor Lord One of many at...

510 WARREn sTREET, HuDsOn, nY

WWW.510WARRENSTREETGALLERY.COM

518-822-0510

https://www.flickr.com/photos/99845620@N03/ Mattbialer@gmail.com

Supporting the spirit, soul and wonder of the arts as well as the connection between all of us.

Gallery will be re-opening in the spring fri-sat sun-mon 10-5

Saint Francis Gallery LEE

Lakey Bazzano

1370 Pleasant street. route 102 . MA 413. 717. 5199 www.saintfrancisgallery.com

ARTWORKFORKIDSROOMS.COM

Country Sheep, acrylic and ink

Visit the website gallery of-

Another year and we are 21!! 16 • THE ARTFuL mInD JAnuARY 2015

Artist Margie Biener

MARIE ANTOINETTE EATS CAKE

From: No Cure For The Medieval Mind Richard Britell

Part II I have to digress and say something about the Empress. The Empress did not like Bach's music. she had distinct memories of her own music teacher from when she was a child, back in the days when Bach and his fugues were all the rage. “Look at this music,” she said, “All of the voices are exactly equal. It is as if Bach had no respect for aristocracy, to him a simple peasant’s bass voice is as important as a king’s tenor. All the voices are exactly equal.” she suspected that Bach was a subversive.

When the Empress was a child, attitudes toward the formal, intricate music of Bach were changing and his works were becoming outdated. As a young woman she remembered distinctly the introduction of a new style of music in which light melodious pretty fare took the place of the older turgid works.

But among the old music teachers, the mastery of Bach’s music continued to be the bar all students had to measure up to. This expectation still exists today. How many modern cellists have given up in despair shipwrecked on the unaccompanied cello suites, how many pianists today have nervous breakdowns over “The Well-tempered Clavier.”

Everyone knows that Yo-yo ma can play the hardest Bach cello suites while joking with friends and also balancing his checkbook, and we are told that Glenn Gould could play those Bach fugues, even the ones with six flats, while at the same time filing his fingernails and doing tricks with a yo-yo. marie Antoinette and her mother the Empress were among those lesser mortals, whose teachers — purple in the face and groaning in exasperation — hammer the edge of the piano with their batons in tempo to the music screaming out “one, two, three,” all the while.

This was why the Empress hated the music of Bach, and it is the self-same reason she wanted little marie to master his works, so that the child would succeed where she had failed. Her little girl was going to be perfect, a royal angel, a little Goddess, primed and perfected and polished to be sent off to rule the French with an enlightened mind and heart. But little marie was just an

ordinary child with no special skills, destined for tragedy, and this Bach fugue was just the beginning of her trials.

What was the poor music tutor to do? He could not bear the thought that his failure would lead to his being fired, and worse yet, that marie would be severely punished. He thought about his own teacher of years ago, whose theories he had adopted as his own. His old teacher had this to say: “A child never makes a mistake, and should never be punished for anything.”

Why did he say that a child never makes a mistake? Because every supposed mistake is simply the correct answer to some other question the child understands. so then, if a child is playing a piece on the keyboard and they make a mistake, one can ask this question, does that mistake sound good? If the mistake sounds good, scratch out the original notes, and write in the mistakes, and give the child a guilder. Reward all mistakes and encourage accidents, give your blessing to struggling incompetence. Remember this, a branch from a tree grows down to the ground, even so, it only seeks the light.

The only way the music tutor found to deal with the Empress was to stall and put her off from day to day; meanwhile he made no progress with little marie. He accepted her insistence about not playing Bach, but was confused by her obvious antagonism to the lesson itself. The tutor always had great luck with his young charges.

His success with his students was not so much that he was a good teacher but rather because in the company of children he became a child himself, often forgetting all about music and spending the entire music session playing jacks, knuckle-bones, or even hopscotch.

You may think it is just great to be born a princess, or in the case of marie Antoinette an Archduchess, but you would be entirely wrong. As marie said herself, “I am just an ordinary child with ordinary looks and this business of having to be a princess is like being forced into a little gilded footlocker to be sent off to a foreign land to be the wife of a ‘smockmordermonten.’” smockmordermonten was not a peasant word, it was a very rare word used only by young female aristocratic girls to describe their future royal husbands. Roughly translated it meant a young man who is fat, smelly, talks with a fake lisp, is awkward and incapable of any sort of sexual activity.

You will remember that marie was one of 15 children so she had often seen how one of her sisters had been packaged up and set to another country to be a queen, only months later to write home pathetic letters full of euphemisms hinting at a wretched court life full of desperation.

How did these terrible matches come about? It was just that photography had not been invented yet, and so the introduction of the future husbands was done with portraits painted by hacks, accompanied with love letters written according to strict court formulas. so it was that these young future queens were fed romantic nonsense constructed by court matchmaking professionals. marie Antoinette at that time was being considered as the match for the French Dauphin, the future King Louis xVI; she had to have her portrait painted and it had to be perfect. This was a big problem for the court painters employed by the Empress and, like with the music tutors, had led to some terrible scenes

Another year and we are 21!! 18 • THE ARTFuL mInD JAnuARY 2015

and arguments. For over a year pictures had been painted of her and none had been satisfactory.

The court artists could have substituted a generic pretty face for marie's ordinary face, but this was very verboten. (Verboten is a German word, and everyone knows what it means.) When a family has half a dozen princesses to marry off to foreign courts one did not want to get a reputation for pictorial fraud. The portrait had to be idealized, but at the same time had to possess those oddities that make a painting both charming and yet idiosyncratic.

All day long marie’s life was a series of meetings with professionals who's job it was to perfect her intellect and improve her appearance. As it was, she had to start her day at half past five in the morning because it took two and a half hours just to get her dressed and do her hair, 14 court ladies had this task as their permanent occupation. marie had an hour after lunch when she was free to do whatever she wanted. This time was spent with her best and only friend, a girl named Angela. Angela was the same age as marie Antoinette, and the daughter of one of her ladies in waiting.

After eating lunch, marie and Angela would race down the long hallways of the palace, down several flights of stairs and into the kitchens where every day food was prepared for thousand of people by a staff of hundreds of cooks and attendants.

It is impossible to imagine or describe a royal kitchen at the time of marie Antoinette's childhood in Austria. It was a room the size of a football field, alive with activity. At the far end its huge doors were open to the outside world all year round, and outside long lines of carts were lined up waiting to deliver their goods.

This was the only time that marie and Angela were able to see with their own eyes the real world, the world of farmers, servants, cooks and every other sort of commoner. This complex world was a source of continual fascination for the two royal girls, who nevertheless would never venture to cross the barrier that separated them from the outside world. marie's music lesson was right after this hour marie spent with her friend Angela in the palace kitchens. The music tutor noticed right away that he was tearing his young charge away from a favorite activity, and he turned over in his mind how he could utilize marie Antoinette's attachment to Angela to his advantage.

“Look marie,” the music tutor said, “why don't we have Angela come with you for your music lesson, we could have the two of you learn to sing some duets.” marie was all in favor of this idea.

“All right then,” said the tutor, “Angela can come to the music lesson, but in return you must promise me that you will learn a Bach prelude to perfection, that way you can make your mother happy, and keep me from getting fired from my job.” ~Richard Britell

“The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.”

-Francis Bacon

The Unquiet Grave

When Kaspar woke a few hours later, still dressed and lying on a motel bed, he was panicked, his heart racing. He didn’t know where he was, only that—he had to— Joaquin heard the door slam from a great distance. He was far away, having a picnic in an abandoned old mine high up a mountain. There were bats in the cave, but the bats didn’t bother Joaquin and his girl. They had flashlights, and they had fun making designs with light on the cave walls, designs that transformed into, well—things he couldn’t translate into any language his mind knew, but the cells of his body, his molecules and atoms knew what they were. They knew.

It took him a long time to come back from that place to where his body lay sleeping. It took him even longer to remember how to move the different parts of that body. He was just with—what was it that brought him back? It was something—jarring. All at once he remembered: the door slammed.

“Kaspar?” The room was silent. “Kaspar?” He reached

over and turned on a light. Kaspar’s bed was empty. “shit.”

“Jesus, boy, you require more babysitting than any kid I met yet.” He pulled on jeans, a t-shirt, and his boots, and opened the door.

The glare from the street light flooded into the room. He shaded his eyes and looked around. Where had that crazy boy gone? They were in a corner teepee belonging to the sort of kitschy motel built in the late 1920’s, right on the street.

Joaquin walked further out, goosebumps forming on his arms from the cold, looking up and down the road. no sign. He glanced over at the cemetery across the street, and saw something that made him look twice. Adrenaline shot through his veins, chilling his blood even more. A man. A man almost fallen out of the light shed by the streetlamp. Crouched over a grave. Digging. With his hands.

In horrified wonder Joaquin observed the handfuls of grassy sod piling up next to Kaspar as he dug with alarming determination. The hunched, bestial quality of Kaspar’s body made him resemble nothing so much as a wolf. Joaquin had to fight the urge to run for his life and pretend he’d never even met the cursed wretch. “Goddamn,” Joaquin whispered.

“Ayudame.” He didn’t know exactly who he was asking for help, but he sure knew he needed it right then. With some strength, wherever it came from, he stumbled across the street until he stood just a few feet away from Kaspar.

But was it still Kaspar? His face had mutated into something that looked—what was the word he’d used? Possessed.

He looked possessed as he dug mechanically into the earth near an old headstone. Incredibly, Kaspar had cleared almost a foot of the hard packed dirt. showed no sign of slowing down.

Consigning his soul to someone’s protection, Joaquin moved closer. “Kaspar? son?” silence. He squatted down beside the man, spoke to him again.

Kaspar kept digging. Dusty spit ran down his chin.

Joaquin forced himself to take Kaspar’s face in his hands.

The digging stopped. ¡santos del cielo! Rabid, burning eyes

FIC

TI glared back.

On Well, Joaquin considered, there were sa certainly more mundane ways to die. mp ler Kaspar’s gaze dropped. He could not process this interruption.

“Kaspar? son?” nothing. “What are you doing? Talk to me, Kaspar!”

After a moment, a response came from far away. “I have to—she—doesn’t belong here. I have to get her out.”

Ah, thought Joaquin. This is it. He was as gentle as he could be with the devil in his hands. “Get who out, son?”

A howl emerged from Kaspar to wake the sleeping dead.

He jerked away. “Alenka! Alenka is here and I must get her out!” His chest began to heave as if he were trying to cry but couldn’t.

Jesus, thought Joaquin. He’s gonna bring the cops down on us. Kneeling, he took Kaspar’s face in his hands again.

“It’s all right, son,” he crooned. “It’s all right.”

Excerpted from The Virgin of Hopeless Causes by Amy Tanner, available in softcover and electronic versions on Amazon.com. Visit www.amytanner.net for news and unfounded rumors.

Simply Sasha

by Sasha Seymour

Food Babe's Homemade Mac & Cheese Happy New Year art lovers!

Have any of you artful minded folks ever hear of the Food Babe? Her name is Vani, and she is awesome! She is on a quest to discover what's really in the food that we eat. Not only does she tackle some big name food companies, she also comes up with some killer organic recipes of her own!

I thought I'd share one with you, and I chose this one because Mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food to enjoy on a wintery January evening! She even hides a vegetable in there and your kids won't even know it! How fantastic is that? Enjoy!

Ingredients: ~ 2 Tbsp organic butter ~ 12oz raw goat milk mild cheddar ~ 1 head of cauliflower ~ 16oz package organic sprouted whole wheat pasta ~ Sea salt and black pepper to taste ~ Dash of nutmeg (optional)

1. Cook pasta according to package directions 2. steam cauliflower 3. shred cheese and cauliflower 4. mix cheese, cauliflower, butter and spices in with the cooked pasta 5. You're done!

THE ARTFuL mInD JAnuARY 2015 • 19

FRONt StReet GALLeRY

LAuReN CLARk FiNe ARt

kris Galli Representing

Kate Knapp

Painting Classes on Monday and Wednesday mornings 10 - 1pm at the Studio and Thursday mornings 10am - 1pm out in the field. Open to all

413-274-6607 413-429-7141 (cell) 413-528-9546 Gallery Hours: Saturday and Sunday 12-5 or by appointment

FRONT STREET, downtown HOUSATONIC, MA

20 • THE ARTFuL mInD JAnuARY 2015

Lauren Clark Fine Art

25 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, MA 413.528.0432 LaurenClarkFineArt.com