Tam september 2015

THE ARTFUL MIND

MONTHLY BERKSHIRE ARTZINE

THE SOURCE FOR PROMOTING ART SINCE 1994

Actor DAVID JOSEPH Photography by Sabine von Falken

SEPTEMBER 2015

MISSING

A bronze quarter-life size sculpture of a male dancer leaning at a ballet bar, entitled “Let’s Dance” by sculptor Paula Stern has been stolen from the internationally renowned dance festival and National Historical Site Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival.

Paula Stern’s work is widely displayed in this country and overseas, including at the internationally known Shakeseare & Co., where the sculptures of Othello and Desdemona are on display in the Bernstein Theatre lobby.

This sculpture was part of a limited edition that was cast at Pittsfield’s Berkshire Fine Arts Foundry. It was presented to Jacob’s Pillow and has been on display every season on site at the Pillow in Becket, MA. St. Francis Gallery in Lee, MA, is offering another cast in the edition.

If anyone has seen the artwork, or has any information that will help lead to its return, please report to:

“Let’s Dance”, Paula Stern, bronze Missing from Jacob’s Pillow, Becket, MA

sculpture@sterngroup.biz www.paulastern.com

primary Barn

20 x 20

oil on canvas

BARnS ReDuX

pAintinGS / DRAwinGS LAUREN CLARK FINE ART

25 Railroad St. Great Barrington, MA 413. 528. 0432 Lauren@LaurenClarkFineArt.com www.LaurenClarkFineArt.com

JENNIFER PAZIENZA

Saint Francis Gallery Becket Porch Floor, 44 x 44in, Oil on Canvas

1370 Pleasant Street, Route 102, Lee, MA (next to fire dept.)

413.717.5199 Open Friday - Monday 10 - 5pm www.saintfrancisgallery.com

jennpazienza@gmail.com

http://jenniferpazienza.com/

Stephen Filmus

Commissions

Commission a painting of your favorite scene by well-known Berkshire artist Stephen Filmus Contact: art.sfilmus@verizon.net, 413-528-1253

Photograph by: Eileen Lawlor

GEOFFREY MOSS

www.StephenFilmuS.Com

Denise B Chandler Fine Art Photography

Stripes © Denise B Chandler 2015

eXhiBitinG At:

Sohn Fine Art Gallery 69 Church St., lenox, mA 510 warren Street Gallery 510 warren St., hudson, nY Denise B Chandler Fine Art photography is represented

by Sohn Fine Art Gallery

www.denisebchandler.com

info@denisebchandler.com

The ArTful Mind sepTeMber 2015 • 1

The ArTful Mind ArTzine september 2015

The Berkshires is the greatest place to live

The MusiC sTOre

david Joseph, Actor Photography by Sabine von Falken Interview by Harryet Candee ...

10

fiCTiOn: The duck explains freud’s Theory of dreams Richard Britell ... 14

Margaret buchte, Artist Interview by Harryet Candee ... 11

heather fisch Interview by Harryet Candee ... 15 TV JD King...18

planet Waves Astrology Eric Francis ... 19

simply sasha Sasha Seymour...19

Contributing Writers and Monthly Columnists Eunice Agar, Richard Britell, Eric Francis, Kris Galli, Sasha Seymour, Amy Tanner Photographers Edward Acker, Lee Everett, Jane Feldman Sabine von Falken, Alison Wedd Publisher Harryet Candee

Copy Editor

Marguerite Bride

Editorial proofreading Kris Galli Advertising and Graphic Design Harryet Candee

Mailing Address: 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. We at The Artful Mind are not responsible for any copyrights of the artists, we only interview them about the art they create.

2 • september 2015 THE ARTFUL MiND

What better way to celebrate summer than to gift yourself and those you love with music?

The Music Store’s fifteenth year in business in Great Barrington has proven many things. We enjoy helping the community, near and far to make music which 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. We offer wonderful musical instruments and accessories at competitive pricing.

We have a good time serving our community, her musicians and music lovers. Come see some of the fun . . .

Composite Acoustic guitars (the forever guitar!) and their peerless travel guitar, the Cargo, a favorite of our own Dr. Easy, David Reed, made of carbon graphite and impervious to most changes of temperature and humidity. You can see it often in his hands in performance locally and abroad.

Guild Guitars - Light, powerful, affordable.

Terrific ukuleles! 60+ different models: Soprano, Concert,

Tenor and Baritone, acoustic and acoustic/electric, six string, resonator, the Maccaferri-like Makala Waterman Uke (made all of plastic for easy portability almost anywhere), the remarkable UBass, and the new solid body Uke Bass by the Magic Fluke Co. You might even hear Dr. Easy play a banuke!

How about a Cordoba Cuatro?

Or a West African Djembe with a smashing carry bag? Or another Dr. Easy favorite, the Klong Yaw! Try Takamine for a guitar to suit almost any budget (the Pro Series at deep unpublished discounts). Dr. Easy can tell you about his.

Alvarez guitars - celebrating their 50th year with beautiful Limited Editions!

Breedlove - beautiful, American, sustainable. And so many more brands and types, including luthier handmade instruments from $150-$5000.

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

Acoustic/electric cigar box guitars, exquisitely made, which bring the past into the present with a delightful punch, acoustically AND plugged in! You can even hear them on the patio and in action Saturday nights at GB’s own Aegean Breeze restaurant!

Harmonicas, in (almost) every key (try a Suzuki Hammond ‘Mouth Organ’).

Picks (exotic, too), strings, sticks and reeds.

Violins, Mandolins, Dulcimers, Banjos, and Banjo Ukes.

Handmade and international percussion instruments.

Dreamy 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 (have you heard the Electric Cigar Box Guitars?). We match (or beat) many on-line prices for the merchandise that we sell, and do so in person, for the most part cheerfully (though we reserve the right to glower a little when asked if we can ‘do better’ on the price of a pick!)!

Come and see us soon and help us celebrate the very end of our 15th year. Your patronage helps the community and makes it a more tuneful, healthy and happy place!

Happy music making in the end of the Berkshire summer and the beginning of autumn!

The Music Store, located at 87 Railroad Street in Great Barrington, is open Wednesdays through Saturdays and by appointment. We will, however, be CLOSED AUGUST 31 THROUGH SEPTEMBER 4. Call us at 413-528-2460, visit us on line at www.themusicstoreplus.com , on Facebook as The Music Store Plus, or see our listings on Reverb.com

Artists can color the sky red because they know it’s blue. Those of us who aren’t artists must color things the way they really are or people might think we’re stupid. ~Jules Feiffer

ARTFUL CALENDAR SEPTEMBER 2015

VAulT GAllerY 322 MAiN ST, GREAT BARRiNGTON, MA • 413-644-0221 Marilyn Kalish art work and process on view

visual art

510 WArren sTreeT GAllerY HUDSON, NY • 518-822-0510 / 510WARRENSTREETGALLERY.COM Doris Simon, landscapes, Sept 4 - 27. Reception Sat Sept 5, 36pm.

zeA MAYs prinTMAKinG 320 RiVERSiDE DRiVE, FLORENCE, MA • 413-230-1041 Print Fair North: A print festival under a big tent. Original fine art prints, printed wearables, zines, and more for sale by area artists and studios. Printmaking demonstrations throughout the day. Sat. Sept 26, 10am-5pm.

berKshire MuseuM 39 SOUTH ST., PiTTSFiELD, MA • 413-443-7171 HU RENYi, immortal Present: Art and East Asia. Represented

by Brill Gallery, North Adams, MA. Thru Sept, 2015

music/theatre/ workshops

ferrin COnTeMpOrArY 1315 MASS MOCA WAY, NORTH ADAMS, MA Roberto Lugo, Getto Garniture: Wu Tang Worcester in this solo installation, Lugo explores eclecticism and culture by juxtaposing street griffiti, European decorative patterning, and rich symbolism drawn from his Puerto Rican heritage

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)

GAllerY AT r&f eXhibiT 84 TEN BROECK AVE, KiNGSTON, NY • 800-206-8088 Lynette Haggard, solo exhibition, Frames of Reference, through October 17 GOOd purpOse GAllerY 40 MAiN ST., LEE, MA • 413-394-5045 gallery@cipberkshire.org / goodpurpose.org Annual Exhibition of artwork from College internship Program’s students featuring Neri Avraham and Howard Rood, thru Oct 6, 2015 hArrisOn GAllerY 39 SPRiNG ST, WiLLiAMSTOWN, MA • 413-458-1700 A large array of artists work on view, please stop in to see.

JOhn dAVis GAllerY 362 1/2 WARREN ST, HUDSON, NY • 518-828-5907 Thru Sept 13: William Ranson, Bruce Gagnier, Laetitia Hussain, Benjamin Pritchard, Farrell Brickhouse

lAuren ClArK fine ArT 25 RAiLROAD STREET, GREAT BARRiNGTON, MA • 413-528-0432 / www.LaurenClarkFineArt.com; Lauren@LaurenClarkFineArt.com Paintings and prints by gallery artists, Richard Britell, Peter Dellert, Abby DuBow, Ann Getsinger, Julio Granda, Geoffrey Moss and Franco Pellegrino. Fine art frames, jewelry, a luscious gallery filled with art and objects of art

MArGueriTe bride HOME STUDiO AT 46 GLORY DRiVE, PiTTSFiELD, MA • 413-8411659; MARGEBRiDE-PAiNTiNGS.COM; FB: MARGUERiTE BRiDE WATERCOLORS Original Watercolors, Specializing in custom house and building portraits. Lessons in watercolor technique. . Now on exhibit, irish Watercolors on Canvas at the Underground Salon, Christine's Home Furnishings, Bridge Street, Great Barrington, MA Mid hudsOn heriTAGe CenTer POUGHKEEPSiE, NY • WWW.CHEETAH.ORG Oct 24, authentic African experience: african arts and cultural events and activities in connection with the importance of the endangered wildlife MOrGAn lehMAn GAllerY 535 WEST 22ND ST, NY, NY Kysa Johnson, The Long Goodbye: sept 10-Oct 17, opening reception Sept 10, 6-8pm; Johnson's new body of work uses notated

Marlene Rye, Alive, pastel on paper, 25 x 17” The OXbOW GAllerY 273 Pleasant St., Northampton, MA oxbowgallery.org / 413 586-6300 Gallery hours: Thur.-Sun., 12-5 by appointment: (413) 628-9937 Front Room: "From the Caves" September 3 - October 2 Opening reception Friday September 11 5 - 8 Paintings in oil and fresco by Kamini Avril - recent work inspired by a trip to the caves of Ellora and Ajanta, India.

Back Room: Marlene Rye paints the landscape through the eyes of a child, capturing the magical and revealing that secret space where trees are dancers, magicians, and all things fantastical.

subatomic decay patterns to represent the birth, life, and death, or "long goodbye," of celestial entities. The processes of the universe have long sparked Johnson's interest; and in this series she draws inspiration from the formation of stars in nebulae and their eventual demise in supernova. These stellar nurseries are filled with particles where a disturbance in the balance between gravity and pressure can trigger a collapse and eventual transformation into a star. One day this star will become too heavy to hold itself and explode, starting the cycle again.

MOrrisOn GAllerY 8 OLD BARN RD., KENT, CT • 860-927-4501 Don Gummer on Broadway, NYC, thru October 2015

r&f enCAusTiCs 84 TEN BROECK AVE, KiNGSTON, NY • 800-206-8088 Frames of Reference: Works by Lynette Haggard. Opening Reception Saturday, August 1st from 5-7pm sChAnTz GAlleries 3 ELM ST, STOCKBRiDGE, MA • 413-298-3044 schantzgalleries.com A destination for those seeking premier artists working in glass. sCOTT bArrOW phOTOGrAphY & GAllerY 17 HOUSATONiC ST, LENOx, MA • 413-637-2299 Photography by Scott Barrow on view

siennA pATTi COnTeMpOrArY 80 MAiN ST, LENOx, MA Helen Britton, devils & their Friends; special project thru July 23: Jonathan Wahl, Works on Paper, Simon Cottrell, jewelry sOhn fine ArT GAllerY 69 CHURCH ST, LENOx, MA Denise B Chandler will be in “abstrakt”, June 30-Oct 4

sT. frAnCis GAllerY RTE. 102, SOUTH LEE, JUST 2 Mi FROM THE RED LiON iNN “The Berkshire Collection”, Aug 28 - Oct 26. Reception Sept 12, 3-6pm. Don’t miss this!

berKshire fesTiVAl Of WOMen WriTers BERKSHiREWOMENWRiTERS.ORG EMAiL iNFO@BERKSHiREWOMENWRiTERS.ORG. Author and activist Letty Cottin Pogrebin will read from her new book, Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate, on September 20 at 3 p.m. at the West Stockbridge Historical Society

MAhAiWe perfOrMinG ArTs CneTer 14 CASTLE ST., GT. BARRiNGTON, MA • 413-528-0100 NASA Astronaut Stephanie Wilson, Oct 2, 7pm

TAnner pOnd COnCerTs 888.820-9441 / Tix: info@tannerypondconcerts.org Aleksey Semenenko, violin, inna Firsova, piano, 6pm

The fOur nATiOns enseMble MERKiN HALL, 129 WEST 67TH ST, NYC 2016 concert Series: Feb 1, Mar 14, April 17: Tales of Two Cities is183 ART SCHOOL OF THE BERKSHiRES 13 WiLLARD HiLL RD, STOCKBRiDGE, MA • 413-298-5252 Sept 11 try your hand at Quick Draw! with Adam Gudeon.

sAbine 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.

Workshops: Behind the Camera: September 8 - October 20.

hisTOriC nOrThAMpTOn, MA FAST FORWARD FiLM SERiES, SUNDAY SEPT 20, 3PM. The Fall 2015 Fast Forward film series, Artifacts of Fixation, explores discarded objects and transforms them into stimulating, moving image media.

WAM TheATre WWW.WAM.THEATRE.COM / 518-243-9627 Fresh Takes play Reading Series by Lucy Prebble, directed by Kristen van Ginhoven, Sunday Sept 13, 3pm at No. 6 Depot Roastery and Cafe, 6 Depot St in West Stockbridge, MA

issuu.COM ArTfulMind@YAhOO.COM

The ArTful Mind sepTeMber 2015 •3

ARTiST

eleAnOr lOrd

510 WARREN STREET, HUDSON, NY

WWW.510WArrensTreeTGAllerY.COM

518-822-0510

The berkshire Collection

DAviD lAnG, i CoulDA’ hAD A v8

August 28 - October 26

Opening Reception for Artists: Saturday, September 12 • 3-6pm

Saint Francis Gallery 1370 Pleasant street. route 102

LEE. MA

(next to fire dept.)

complete schedule: www.saintfrancisgallery.com 413.717. 5199 Open Fri, Sat., Sun., & Mon. 10-5 pm 4 • september 2015 The ArTful Mind

Gallery supports creative humanitarian work in Kenya

GeOffreY MOss BARNS REDUx LAUREN CLARK FiNE ART

GEOFFREY MOSS, 2 BARNS, 12 x 12”, OiL ON CANVAS

Perplexed, a collector of Geoffrey Moss’s work, and a friend, — as so often that kind of relationship fosters —-challenged the artist for not remaining with one subject, the subjects he owned.

Moss, not one to relinquish influences of his Vermont undergraduate liberal arts roots and Yale’s instructional intensity, quipped….”impossible… there’s so much out there to examine and rearrange…”

Certainly Moss’s works on paper and paintings are stylistically recognizable if only for their off centered themes; resolutely “American,” a compulsively -centered awareness of New England isolation, always a reverence for drawing to demonstrate to us the process, adjustments, the moving of paint over paint, color interaction, intricate virtuosity avoided whenever possible.

Now gallery goers particularly curious to connect with Moss’s perpetual re-engagement with the “anatomy of everything” can see works dedicated to local barns; a series in progress for more than 20 years documenting our disappearing architecture; welcomed back by his long-time dealer, Lauren Clark.

Lauren Clark Fine Art - 25 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, 413-528-0432.

MArGie biener

ARTWORKFORKiDSROOMS.COM

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

frOnT sT. GAllerY ART WORK BY KATE KNAPP

hOusATOniC….The Mill TOWn & riVer ThrOuGh sepTeMber 7.

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.

Front Street Gallery – Front Street, Housatonic, MA. Gallery open by appointment or chance. 413-528-9546 or 413-4297141 (cell).

KATe KnApp

OCTOBER 2 - NOVEMBER 1 AT 510 WARREN STREET GALLERY

under WATer

6 • september 2015 The ArTful Mind

The paintings in this exhibit represent the time Kate Knapp has spent for many years in the West indies. Her favorite place to be is in the water. Here, where the turquoise Caribbean Sea surrounds the islands, the fish and coral reefs abound. in these underwater landscapes painted mostly in oil, Knapp has tried and succeeded to show us what lives beneath the surface. With vivid colors, a result of her impressionist training, and lush brush strokes an example of her Expressionistic approach, Knapp takes us on an underwater adventure. We are surrounded by brilliant coral formations and schools of unusual fish swimming all around us. Shells and strange sea forms fill these canvases with abstract and yet identifiable creatures in their native habitat. in one painting, unique plant and coral life of all colors grows on abandoned wharf pilings as bright yellow fish swim around them. Knapp focuses on and captures the movement of the multi colored fish and sea fans as they come and go and bend and sway in the currents of the clear blue water as if they are all part of a silent symphony. Besides the mostly large oils there are also several gouache and watercolor studies which have a very different feeling as only a watercolor medium painting water can give. All of the paintings make us very aware of the love that Knapp has for this uncommon landscape.

Opening reception is Saturday, October 3, 3-6pm. 510 Warren Street Gallery, Hudson, NY. www.510warrenstreetgallery.com / 518-822-0510

berKshire fesTiVAl Of WOMen WriTers LETTY COTTiN POGREBiN

Author and activist Letty Cottin Pogrebin will read from her new book, Single Jewish Male Seeking Soul Mate, on September 20 at 3 p.m. at the West Stockbridge Historical Society, as a special guest of the on-going Lean in with the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers series hosted by Berkshire Magazine Editor Anastasia Stanmeyer and BFWW Founding Director Jennifer Browdy. A reception at the Shaker Dam Coffeehouse and Stanmeyer Gallery will follow the reading, with books available for signing and purchase.

Tickets $15.

A founding editor and writer for Ms. Magazine, Pogrebin is also the author of eleven books and co-creator of Free to Be... You and Me and Free to Be… A Family. She has published frequently in magazines and publications such as the New York Times, Harpers Bazaar, and the Ladies Home Journal.

Also in September, Jennifer Browdy, a professor of literature at Bard College at Simon’s Rock with many years of experience in teaching writing, will lead two writing workshops for women. On Sunday, September 13 from 3 – 6 p.m. at Bascom Lodge at the summit of Mount Greylock, Dr. Browdy will offer “Gaia Calling: Writing in Nature, Writing for Nature,” an opportunity to spend time in nature, quiet our busy minds and become aware of all the ways that Gaia is speaking to us through the wind, water and rocks, and through the myriad other living beings who also call her home. Thoughtful writing prompts will stimulate questions and new directions for anyone interested in connecting more deeply with Nature through writing. Rain is no obstacle, we can meet inside the historic Bascom Lodge, with its magnificent views out over the mountain. Registration $30.

September 25 – 27, Dr. Browdy will lead a Rookwood Memoir Writing Retreat for Women, “Writing the Journey of Your Life: Focus on Place.” The retreat will take place at the historic Rookwood inn, Lenox, with accommodations at the inn offered at a special discount. The tuition of $425 includes 10 hours of guided workshop, plus breakfast, lunch and snacks at the inn. Limited to 10 participants.

To register for these events, please use the links available through the Events calendar at Berkshirewomenwriters.org Questions? Email info@berkshirewomenwriters.org

beCKeT pOrCh flOOr JENNiFER PAziENzA

Becket Porch Floor celebrates Jennifer Pazienza’s life and work in the Berkshires. Overflowing with vitality, her still life painting honors the past and the miracle of memory.

Her dear friend and colleague, critical theorist Dr. Lissa Paul, writes, Jennifer Pazienza’s “still life” oil paintings of flowers seem anything but still. The blossoms, glimpsed from unexpected angles, are caught in motion, in the midst of changing shape or position. The paintings articulate Jennifer’s wish for “the viewer to pause, look deeply and consider the transformative power of the beautiful in art and in ordinary experience.” The flowers are simultaneously still and moving.

Glimpsed through the glass vase, the entangled stems arrest and magnify the complexity of human being—human arrangements. if we do indeed look deeply, in these simple, unassuming flowers, and their stubborn sense of stillnessin-motion, we delight in Jennifer’s ability to re-create the joy of being alive while the tenuous perspectives hint at its inevitable impermanence.

Jennifer Pazienza’s work is held in public, private and corporate collections in the US, Canada and italy. Becket Porch Floor and others are part of The Berkshire Collection, a group show @ the St. Francis Gallery, South Lee, MA (Next to the Fire Station) 28 August – 26 October. Artist reception September 12, from 3-6pm. 413717-5199.

Jennifer Pazienza - website: jenniferpazienza.com; email: jennpazienza@gmail.com

sTephen filMus COMMiSSiONS

Several times recently, i have been asked to make a real and personal contribution to someone’s life and home by creating a painting of their favorite natural setting.

The commission process is a collaboration between artist and client. Whenever possible we visit the site together and discuss the elements of subject, color, form and the “feeling” of the scene. The next step for me is to create a detailed color sketch that reflects the client’s vision and gives them a good sense of how the finished artwork will look. At this point the commissioner can give input and suggestions as i work toward the final design. Lastly, i simply do what i know how to do – i sit at my easel and paint.

For me, it is joyous to feel that i have captured the essence of a special time and place through my art and have given new life to a memory that will give pleasure for years to come.

Stephen Filmus is represented by J. Todd Gallery in Wellesley, Ma. He is presently exhibiting several landscapes at the Bennington Center for the Arts and his work can also be seen at his studio in Great Barrington by appointment.

Contact art.sfilmus@verizon.net, 413-528-1253, www.stephenfilmus.com

The ArTful Mind sepTeMber 2015 • 7

denise b ChAndler FiNE ART LiMiTED EDiTiON PHOTOGRAPHY

DENiSE B. CHANDLER, ROADSiDE PATRiOTiSM, PHOTOGRAPH, 2014

Denise B Chandler is a fine art photographer who has had her work exhibited at The Berkshire Museum, Sohn Fine Art Gallery, Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, iS -183 Art School of the Berkshires, St. Francis Gallery, Chesterwood, The Hudson Opera House, Spencertown Academy Arts Center, and Tivoli Artists Gallery. in 2012, Chandler completed the Photography Residency Program at Maine Media Workshops & College. While in Maine, she was guided, encouraged and her work critiqued by renowned photographers: Michael Wilson, Andrea Monica, Peter Ralston, Arthur Meyerson, David Turner, Brenton Hamilton, David Wells, and Syl Arena. Chandler has continued her formal workshop training with master photographers, Seth Resnick, Greg Gorman, and John Paul Caponigro. Later this month she will once more train with Seth Resnick, John Paul Caponigro and Jay Maisel.

Denise B Chandler is represented by Sohn Fine Art Gallery at 69 Church St. in Lenox, Massachusetts where various selections of her work can be seen throughout the year. Chandler will be one of the featured artists in the upcoming exhibition "abstrakt" from July 30th through October 4th.

Chandler offers private gallery visits at her personal studio/gallery by appointment only...please call either number listed below.

Denise B Chandler, Studio & Gallery visits by appointment only. 415 New Lenox Rd, Lenox, MA. Please call 413-6372344 or 413-281-8461 (cell). Website: denisebchandler.com email: info@denisebchandler.com

The berKshire COlleCTiOn

MArGueriTe bride BACKSTREET GALWAY CiTY, MARGUERiTE BRiDE

BOB PLANT

ST. FRANCiS GALLERY

St. Francis Gallery’s next show, The Berkshire Collection, is an intensive look at the combined and varied works of a wide range of Berkshire artists. Why we have so many talented individuals in this area is up for speculation. Perhaps it is the magic of the region combined with a special population of gifted and connected individuals who give to each other and cycle their creativity in ways that multiply their talent and energy. The Artist’s reception is Saturday September 12, 3-6pm.

Always with such a large and varied selection the question of what is “good” art and what is its purpose becomes a serious consideration. Perhaps, there is the view that art needs no explanation, that it is self evident or its value implicit when placed in a stylistic or historical perspective. Art has a wonderful ability and potential that these characterizations and conclusions rob us of.

Art can also be put into the realm of a process or play that is inherently ambiguous paradoxical and “defying gravity”... so no explanation is possible. However, it is hoped that you will find something that “speaks to you”, that “stirs your soul”, that dazzles with mastery, and many that leap out of the boundary of what those in elite circles might exclude or include. Collections of art should not only be those rare items destined for museums but spread more widely to include much more in this exploration. Finding what moves you in the gallery, for whatever reason, unites the active spectator and the committed creator in the same search for expression.

Surrounding yourself with objects you have selected, find inspiring, or sometimes revered is a way of creating a home that has the power to bridge the gap to that often unspoken area that defines and expands who you are.

Please come and enjoy our new collection beginning August 28 and ending October 26.

St. Francis Gallery - Rte. 102, South Lee just 2 miles east from the Red Lion Inn. Gallery hours: Friday thru Monday 10-5pm.

ORiGiNAL WATERCOLORS

Thinking that “change is good”, Marguerite Bride felt it was about time to shake things up and make some changes.

After 6 years, she left her studio at NUarts on North Street, Pittsfield to return to work out of her home studio. Planning to experiment in some new and different artistic techniques, Bride will also be formulating a plan for teaching some lessons and workshops in watercolor technique during the fall and winter as well creating a significant body of work for a major show scheduled for August 2016. interested? Be in touch. in August, Bride held a “home art show and sale” which was a wonderful success. Stay tuned for news of another “home event” sometime before the holidays. The very best way to find out about these events, sales, and special offers, is to visit and “like” her facebook page, Marguerite Bride Watercolors. Or if you cannot wait, just contact the artist for a visit to the studio. in the meantime….to see her work…fine art reproductions and note cards of her Berkshire images and others are available at the Red Lion inn Gift Shop (Stockbridge), Lenox Print and Mercantile (Lenox), St. Francis Gallery (South Lee), and Hancock Shaker Village (Hancock). Seasonal scenes of Bride’s paintings are always on display in the public areas of the Crowne Plaza and also at Mary’s Carrot Cake Shop, both in Pittsfield. Additionally, her newer originals of ireland plus assorted matted reproductions are available at the Underground Salon at Christine’s Home Furnishings on Bridge Street in Great Barrington.

Now is a good time to “think art” for holiday gift giving, such as a house or business portrait, or just your favorite scene. And don’t forget, art is always a lovely gift for wedding, anniversary, retirement….virtually any occasion. Commissions are always welcome.

Marguerite Bride –home studio at 46 Glory Drive, Pittsfield, Massachusetts by appointment only. Call 413-8411659 or 413-442-7718; margebride-paintings.com margebride@aol.com Facebook: Marguerite Bride Watercolors

Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling. ~G.K. Chesterton

8 • september 2015 THE ARTFUL MiND

ROBERT FORTE, LONG DiSTANCE SWiMMER, 40 x 30”

rOberT fOrTe

“Although my paintings have a realistic context, my passion for painting is, somewhat paradoxically, a passion for the unknown that lies beneath the surface of perception. For me, the starting point is a need to talk through paint, a conversation, if you will, between something seen and something hidden. There is always a sense of the journey’s end, but it ultimately is the light, the color and even the brushstroke that reveals the intangible in the tangible. in effect, the object or scene is abstracted and reassembled as the painting progresses, in hopefully unpredictable ways; the conundrum that i call ‘abstract realism’. “ This is a departure from first-learned principles - observe keenly and paint accurately - but builds on them rather than discards them. This bedrock foundation Robert Forte owes to two wonderful artists, Minerva Durham and Cornelia Foss, under whose tutelage he was lucky enough to find himself from the very start.

“So often artists, or writers about artists, limn a body of work in ways that are recondite and ultimately unsatisfying.

For me, art is an explosion of feeling expressed in an infinite variety of different ways to reflect divergent views of the world around us. Even a painting of a wedge of apple pie can contain a subtext that probes beneath a flaky crust. Ultimately, art should be accessible both visually and verbally.

After all, it is the earliest extant form of communication.”

Robert Forte’s paintings are in numerous collections throughout the country, and can be seen on a bi-monthly basis at the 510 Warren Street Gallery in Hudson, New York.

ACrOss The speCTruM

GOOD PURPOSE GALLERY

On August 28, Across the Spectrum opened at the Good Purpose Gallery. The show is an annual exhibition of artwork from College internship Program’s (CiP) students, as well as CiP founder, Dr. Michael McManmon. This year the show includes artists Neri Avraham and Howard Rood and will be on view until October 6, 2015.

The show features selected artwork in various mediums created by the students from our CiP schools across the country, as well as from CiP Berkshire in Lee, MA. The Gallery’s mission is to help integrate young adults on the Autism Spectrum (and with other learning differences) into the community and enrich their lives through arts and creativity. Good Purpose provides opportunities for professional artists to share their skills and their passion with exhibits, workshops, and lectures.

Dr. Michael McManmon is a painter, a photographer, and is also the founder of the College internship Program. “The College internship Program is the result of strategies i have developed over the many years that i have spent working with hundreds of young people on the spectrum” says Dr. McManmon. “Helping them master basic life skills in order to succeed in college or career training and then helping them prepare to start working in the world has been a privilege.”

The Good Purpose Gallery works closely with students at CiP, and proceeds from gallery sales benefit CiP’s creative arts development efforts.

Neri Avraham is a gifted poet and artist on the spectrum who has created unique works of art using various mediums.

He is a two time recipient of the Transitional Scholars Program award at MassBay Community College and has had artwork featured in various venues in the Boston area. He lives in Newton, MA where he creates beautiful large-scale paintings. in this exhibition he presents a very personal side of his work using poetry and paintings to express what “Home” means to him.

Howard Rood grew up in the Berkshires and is well trained in fine and commercial arts. Combining both his artistic and engineering skills, he has created beautiful wood cut art that is both decorative and functional. Each piece is handcrafted using top-grade, hand-selected pieces of domestic wood rather than inlaying. All of his hand-made pieces are designed and produced to ensure a long-lasting life.

Good Purpose Gallery - 40 Main Street, Lee, Massachusetts. 413-394-5045; gallery@cipberkshire.org / goodpurpose.org

sAbine phOTO ArT

Photographic one on one workshops, scheduled throughout the Fall: BEHiND THE CAMERA - September 8 - October 20, 2015 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.

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.

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. For more detailed info please contact Sabine von Falken Photography at: info@sabinephotoart.com 413298- 4933. Her INSIDE and OUT studio is located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

“The universe is real but you can’t see it.

You have to imagine it. Once you imagine it, you can be realistic about reproducing it.” ~Alexander Calder

THE ARTFUL MiND SEPTEMBER 2015 • 9

dAVid JOseph Photo: Kevin Sprague

Photo: Sabine von Falken David Joseph

interview by Harryet Candee Photographs by Sabine von Falken

Harryet Candee: david, i went to see henry V at shakespeare & Co. and enjoyed it very much. The bernstein Theatre is a wonderful space and i was thrilled to be able to see you in this play, and playing quite a few different roles!

David Joseph: Thank you so much for coming to see the show! i really enjoyed playing such a wide variety of characters. i got to play five! The Dauphin, The Archbishop of Canterbury, Nym, York and English Soldier. i worked very hard at making each of them as clear and as different from the other as i could. i wanted a distinct vocal change for each character, in range and meter, as well as clear shifts of physical postures. i was hoping to serve Shakespeare’s text and tell the clearest possible story. My hope is that the audience forgot who the actor was altogether and just followed the story of these individuals in the play.

I was very busy following your change in roles! You must have had an awful lot of training to do acting like that! i have been a working actor since i was about thirteen, and have had the good fortune of working with and learning from

10 • september 2015

The ArTful Mind

so many wonderful actors and directors. i am proud to say that most of my formal acting training was done at Shakespeare & Company.

What is the training like at shakespeare & Co.? i thoroughly enjoy the approach to the work and the esthetic at Shakespeare & Company. i find the most open and truthful work comes out of me when i’m there, surrounded by so many huge minds and huge hearts. it’s always a very collaborative process, focused on language and the truth of the moment. i trained there in voice, text, fight and movement.

so many different areas of study, for sure. What sort of acting have you enjoyed doing in addition to that at shakespeare & Co.?

Before i found Shakespeare & Company, or they found me, i was performing in NYC, doing mostly musicals and commercial work. There was a larger concentration of work as an actor if you could sing and dance, so i did much of both. i also enjoy

The Real Inspector, David Joseph

Actor

film work very much. it’s a very different form of acting and expression, smaller and more delicate than stage work. i enjoy the medium of film especially now, with the use of digital cameras. i’ve done a few films actually ON FiLM which is very expensive and doesn’t allow for as many “takes.” The quality of film equipment and of digital cameras now allow processing to be less expensive, giving the actors and directors the ability to shoot on a much smaller budget. i really enjoy it, and it’s quite a shift from stage acting, where your energy and thought must fill an entire theatre full of people. i worked with Kale Brown recently on a feature film and he was telling me about one of the approaches he uses when teaching his newer film students… “Just think it… it’s amazing what the camera picks up on.” i’ve done a few horror shorts, in one of which i get stabbed in the back with a tripod! My audition for that film involved about thirty on-camera takes of different ways i could die or be killed… i may have had nightmares for a few days after.

Photo: Kevin Sprague

The Liar, 2012, David Joseph as Durante (The Liar)

i can believe that, david. do you travel away from shakespeare & Co. during the off-season months and find acting work elsewhere?

The nature of the business requires travel and bit of a “wolflike” mentality, meaning you need to be secure with being on your own as well as willing to hunt, work, play and live in a pack. i work where they hire me! That said, i hope to always call Shakespeare & Company my theatrical home and wolf pack. i feel very lucky and grateful to have just closed my 10th season there. AAOOOOO!

Just wondering, what famous actors have you worked with, and whom would you dream of acting alongside of? i had a wonderful summer working with Olympia Dukakis and her brother Apollo in The Tempest. She taught me something every day about being a good actor, both on and off stage. She was always so grounded and approachable about her process, and never took herself too seriously. in fact, she once told me that she doesn’t even consider herself an “artist.” She would say that the writer and the creators around her were the artists, and she was just an interpreter. She, with her Academy Award, her Golden Globe and her Emmy… not an artist?! i think i’d like to do an action movie with her, Robert Downey Jr. and Jessica Biel… the makings of a very odd Avengers sequel…

Does Stan Lee have a subscription to The Artful Mind?

hmmm. he might! Gimme his phone number and i will ask him about that...What do you think would be a com-

Photo: Sabine von Falken David Joseph

mon goal for an actor at shakespeare & Co. to work towards? i had the wonderful opportunity to take the Month-long intensive at Shakespeare & Company and have Tina Packer as my Basics teacher. She was the most supportive and thoughtful person to have guiding us through deep waters of emotions.

She’s like Mother Earth: strong, wise, supportive from below and never oppressive from above. The founders of Shakespeare & Company are incredible humans with huge hearts and huge minds. i think the common goal is to tell the truth and honor the language. When i say “tell the truth onstage,” i mean really live it and really feel it, allowing the moment-tomoment resonate through you and the audience as a human collective.

That makes total sense. What are some of actors’ blocks that you might have encountered along the way?

Something that i come up against in the bigger areas like NYC is the issue of “type” - typecasting, or casting directors wanting you to “fit” into a very specific niche. i once had a casting director tell me that he “loved my work but couldn’t figure out what to do with me” because i was “ethnic without the edge.”

What does that even mean? After that my manager would send me out labeled as “exotic.” What does that even mean? i’ve done so many shows where i play a huge range within one show, so it’s difficult to only be sent out for the boy next door, when i want to dive deeper.

do you have an agent to help you find work? it must be twice the work doing it all by yourself. i don’t have an agent or a manager at present, and that’s a huge goal of mine for the rest of 2015. it really helps to have someone to not only get you in doors but also to watch your back while negotiating contracts. i had an agent and a manager when i lived in NY, and it was a great symbiotic support system. When we book work, everyone wins! i get to do a show or a commercial, and they get paid! david, tell me, do you have any other career, or interest beside the wonderful and exciting world of theatre?

Well, i was on the three-school, five-year plan for my undergrad in Business Administration and Communications, and i

Continued on next page...

The ArTful Mind sepTeMber 2015 • 11

dAVid JOseph

as possible. Time never seems to be my friend, but fortunately my house is on the north side of Pontoosuc Lake, so i can just dive in or paddle board at a moment’s notice. i find this physical outlet to be the best for emotional cleansing as well, a kind of physical/mental therapy. When working on difficult roles that require the dredging of emotions and the analyzation of some dark human emotions, a good run is the thing that keeps me sane…ish. i approach my work as an actor based on language first, but soon after on how the character might operate physically through space. i was in 39 Steps a few years ago, where i played thirteen different people. it also helped immensely to be sharing the stage with the brilliant actor Josh Aaron McCabe, and to be lead by the incredible direction of Jonathan Croy.

39 steps, was that also at shakespeare & Co. in lenox, MA? Yes.

Photo: Kevin Sprague

“It’s A Wonderful Life”, 2014, Sara Taylor as Mary Baily, David Joseph as George Bailey

have my MBA as well in Business Management. i also own a real estate development company here in the Berkshires, with my sisters and my brother, called Cedar Tree investment Group LLC. i currently own ten multifamily properties in Pittsfield, which keeps me pretty busy too. i renovate the spaces when they turn over, plow the snow, mow the lawns and even take on the late-night disasters. i really enjoy this physical work. it’s very different from my acting career, and seems to keep me balanced financially and energetically. i find it very satisfying to mow a lawn and be able to see the completed project. it’s the instant gratification, i guess. i also design custom motorcycles.

A-Ha! i should of guessed!

Kevin Boyle, owner of Motorcycle Medic in Pittsfield and i have done five custom motorcycles together now, two of which were featured in national magazines (American Iron Magazine and Barnetts). Both bikes received a front-page photo and a five-page inside spread on the specifics of the build. i enjoy art that really blows my hair back.

12 • september 2015 The ArTful Mind

Photo: Sabine von Falken David Joseph

Yes, I can tell... david, making a uturn, here, i want to ask you what are some of the techniques you work with when studying for a theatre production you have been cast in? i see you combining physical and mental energies together as a way of getting things accomplished. i am a very physical person. i think my acting is also tuned into that part of my personality. i try to find time to mountain bike, hike or swim as much

Tell me what the experience was like, being thirteen different characters. in Henry V, i thought that five different roles would have been difficult to manage for most actors. now i am thinking—this kind of multi-character acting is in your nature to do really easily and very well! We’re talking thirteen characters now, and i heard about this play very high reviews. Tell us how you made it work with all it’s challenges.

One of the goals or challenges i gave myself for this show was to not repeat anything of any characters i had done in any past show… not a whisper of any character i had done in the past. i’ve done many shows where i play multiple characters. This is was a real workout for my imagination.

A great workout i am sure. You know, audiences don’t know half of the work that is put into making a theatre production!

The amazing designers behind the scenes be praised! The amount of manpower it takes to put on a show is amazing! We have incredible props artisans who make the oddest things we actors come up with—things we need. The costume shop and costume designers, the lighting people and designers, the sound engineers and sound designers… the stage management keeping us ALL on track… Govane Lohbauer is one of my dear friends and one of the most incredible designers i have ever met. Not only does she head up the costume design work at Shakespeare & Company, but she runs that entire department all year as well.

Are you working on a project with a fellow berkshire actor now out of the area? i’m in three projects in NYC right now, one of which is a new musical directed by Jane Atkinson, the Berkshire bombshell and star of House of Cards! This is the second project i’ve done with her, and she is just incredible… the way she holds the rehearsal room with strength and joy really allows her actors to create and stretch imaginatively.

Would you ever consider becoming a director, or work in some other venue in theatre or film, or performance art? i always have so many ideas while acting in a show, from costume ideas to fight choreography… i’ve done directing, design and tech work many times in the past, but my true love is acting.

it never stops... and it shouldn’t - all those magical ideas we come up with. david, what about your childhood and your family? i am a Berkshire Boy! i grew up on the Pittsfield side of Hancock, near the Shaker Village. My parents still live there now.

My sisters live locally as well, one in Dalton and one in Richmond, and my brother lives in Boston. i have nine nieces and nephews that i get to see all the time! i am very lucky. We all did a similar life track, where we went to undergrad outside of the area then moved to big cities. i lived in NYC for seven years and did a short burst in LA before i returned here after losing two friends in the World Trade Center. For me this area

is a wonderful place to be an artist. There are so many professional theaters and groups in the Berkshires, and with NYC and Boston easily within 3 hours, the work and culture is so close and of such a high standard. My parents are the most amazing people i know, and i’m blessed to have them. They’re hard-working, kind, and gems of the community.

it’s so great that you talk so highly of your family, it says a lot about you as a person. and yes, 911 was tragic for so many of us, a real turning point. david, what is the difference between being ‘talented’ and being ‘skilled’? is the right balance for being successful in acting? i think talents in many ways are gifts or aptitudes an individual has. i think these aptitudes or talents can be physical or mental, and most of the time some combination of the two. How skilled one is can be related to the amount of time given to a specific talent or aptitude. i don’t really know how to measure any of these things, including what to consider success, but i do believe that diligence is a very important component to success of any level. i believe it’s very important to “show up” as much as possible. if you want to be a skilled musician or a skilled athlete you must show up and spend your time (as currency) on it as much as possible. i want to be as “fit” an actor as i can be, meaning i would like to be as dexterous as i possibly can with my body, my mind and my emotions.

What are some of the challenges you are working on at this time? i’m fascinated with comedy and it’s timing. How certain “bits” work almost like a recipe: a dash of volume and a flick of the head… bam! Or the skill it takes to be able to feel out the audience and where they’re willing to go with you in comic moments. One second too long or one second too short and the humor is gone! This amazes me! i studied the effects of humor and its origins in many of my business classes while getting my MBA. Specifically, cultural codes of communication, literally the codes that are built into us within our specific culture, and how that affects the way we view humanity. The things America finds funny are very different from the things someone from Finland would find funny.

The Liar, 2012, David Joseph as Durante (The Liar) photo: Kevin Sprague

I’m thinking- non-verbal body language can also be used universally as a comedy venue, like that of Charlie Chaplin,Victor Bourge, Buster Keaton....so what is it you think and feel that keeps your interest and joy for acting so strong and alive? i love the anthropology of acting, the study of humanity, the storytelling and the play of it all. i get to meet and play with the most amazing people both in and around the scripts. These characters and the artists around me teach me so much about being human and about living life. i’m so grateful for this blessed curse of being an artist.

The curse! how far in the future, on the calendar, do you know your acting schedule? i know it intersperses with your other kinds of work, so, it is clear, you are also a juggler, too. but just on the acting end, i am asking you about.

This is the trick… i find this one of the most challenging parts of being an actor. it feels like a constant hunt for work. Even while i’m in a show i really need to be taking the time to be auditioning as much as possible. This is a

part of my life work as an actor that i need to get better at… do you know any good agents that would like to help me with this problem?

have you been involved in studying music and/or the visual arts? i wish to study music, art and humanity my whole life. i don’t think my appetite for it could ever be satiated.

One day. Ya’ never know! so, what was the funniest experience you’ve ever encountered in the theatre?

Well, it wasn’t funny at the time, but i love to tell people how one of my cast members broke my nose in the middle of a performance… We had a very specific fight sequence where she was supposed to dive on me over a platform, and one night we mis-timed it and she put her knee right into my face and broke my nose. i had a two-page monologue to perform right after that fight sequence on the front apron of the stage. That was probably one of my best pieces of work to date, although i don’t really remember it through the haze of blood and tears.

Amazing how we work through such mishaps. You probably remembered to find your sense of humor while seeing stars... i am guessing david, you have a strong imagination. is that a good thing for an actor to be blessed with? i think a strong imagination helps everything! There are many situations i have never been through and need to imagine in order to live out that moment truthfully for the audience. imagination and empathy are two of the tools that are needed most by actors.

What do you think makes theatre an ArTform that cannot be compared to with any other artfOrM? i believe that theatre, more than any other kind of art form, can affect a reverberation in the souls of masses. Going back to it’s use in ancient Greece, it was a form of teaching morals to the entire society. Storytelling is the oldest form of art on the planet for teaching and learning what it means to exist.

Thank you, David!

Photo: Sabine von Falken David Joseph

The ArTful Mind sepTeMber 2015 • 13

The duck explains freud's Theory of dreams FROM:

(The Gold Rush)

PART ii NO CURE FOR THE MEDiEVAL MiND

Just exactly as when you set out to find that old picture of your mother in her black graduation gown, and spend all morning and never find it, so the dream assemblers pore over countless images all of them stored in the brain's equivalent of Mrs. Festini's hat boxes by the millions. Such was Freud's brainstorm, as it occurred to him looking at the photography book on May 16, 1888.

14 • sepTeMber 2015 The ArTful Mind

The concept was not well received in professional circles, and was treated with skepticism in the medical journals of the day. Carl Jung was quick to point out that if the human eye was intended by nature for the production of dreams, then obviously the zoom function would have developed as a necessary corollary. This led to a violent argument in which Freud shouted, "Please name one dream anyone has ever dreamed in which you have the use of the zoom or the panoramic shot."

"Dreams are the epitome of form and function," he insisted, "using only the simplest of means and design. A good dream is like a fine stage play, something of Shakespeare. it is always presented frontally, and without camera angle devices."

That analogy could only be stretched so far however. Freud had no idea at the time of that historic argument that 100 years later the concept of the digital zoom would come along to vindicate his theories.

His arguments were delivered without conviction however, because there were aspects of his dream theory he was not content with, though he kept his reservations to himself. if dreams were assemblages of remembered photographs like images stored in the brain over time, how could he account for the fact of movement and the passage of time so artfully utilized in the dream sequences. He had no idea. The best he could imagine was what one would now refer to as a montage.

As for his comparing a dream to a stage play in that in was presented frontally and without the use of camera angles, even this he was not sure about. Freud shared with our Buboni here an interesting but perplexing question. You will recall that Professor Buboni talked about the problem of not knowing what another person experiences when they see the color "red." We can only know our own experience of red, not another’s.

So too with Freud, he was troubled by two questions, the first was this: "Do others experience their dreams as i experience my own dreams?" And another more subtle and frightening question, "is my memory of my own dream really accurate, or do i distort, exaggerate, and alter the memory of my own dream to either impress or aggrandize my idea of myself?"

He recalled the dream where he was a great composer, and the music he composed moved him to tears as the audience rose to applaud his compositions as if he was another deaf Beethoven. Was all that music really the product of some great composer buried deep in his own unconscious, or just the remembered strains of a Hayden Sonata he heard in a concert hall, or worse yet, just glorified restaurant music he was in a swoon over? How was he to answer this question?

There were no good answers to these questions and after spending many days engrossed in deep reflection on all aspects of dream manufacture, he decided to take a break and goto see a movie. At that time Freud's favorite film star was the Englishman Charlie Chaplin. He had seen all of his films many times. Although he had seen "The Gold Rush," twelve times already he decided to see it yet again.

Perhaps you think that Freud would have been drawn to more serious fare, something like Fritz Lang or Von Sternberg seems like it would suit the tasted of the great man. But in his entertainments Freud liked to put aside all of the serious questions that preoccupied

him, and give himself over to unbridled hysterical laughter.

Wiping tears from his eyes from laughing so hard he often found himself falling out of his seat onto the floor of the theater.

There is a scene in the Gold Rush where the gold-miner's shack has been driven by a storm to the edge of a precipice.

The little tramp's companion Big Jim falls out the door and is hanging by his fingernails from the doorjamb. Charlie falls out also. Hanging on to Big Jim's shoe he dangles over the abyss. Slowly he claws his way up the body of his partner and back into the cabin.

That scene in the Gold Rush is one of utter desperation.

Everything has gone wrong, and only by impossible struggle can the little tramp save his life. That is the most comic episode in the film. When the film first came out it was 1924 and at that time Freud would find himself laughing so hard at this scene his vision was blurred by his tears. Over the years he viewed this film over and over again like a child memorizing a Disney cartoon feature.

Now it was 1938 and Freud was finding that the scene of the struggle to get back in the shack teetering on the precipice was producing in him just a flood of tears, but not any laughter. "Why am i so obsessed with this film; why do i persist in returning to it again and again," he asked himself. in his usual way he subjected this question to analysis. Since it is an important part of his theory of dreams, i will explain his analysis in detail.

From Freud's notes about "The Gold Rush": Big Jim? Who does Big Jim represent in my unconscious? it has to be Carl Jung, who else could it be? And so the shack on the precipice must represent the state of the science of psychoanalyses during my conflict with Jung.

Or the storm that has driven the shack to the edge of the precipice could only be the rise of Hitler and the coming of Nazi Germany in the 30s since we in Austria were poised on the edge of destruction My last minute escape to England, he thought, is completely described in the film, as i was forced to leave Austria without any of my art collection or antique furniture. This is the explanation of why viewing the film years ago moved me to laughter, and now provokes tears.

These two ideas were the beginning of his analysis. He would have produced more variations if time allowed but he died before he finished this work. He died, but not before he completed his theory of the production of dreams. The idea that was missing was creeping around in his unconscious like the coming on of a migraine headache.

Finally if burst into the night of day in his brain. His brain all this time was not storing black and white photographs in hatboxes; it was storing clips of black and white silent films in tin cylinders. if he had lived just a few more years he would have been able to add sound to his theory, and it goes without saying that his followers would later add color.

With this addition his theory of dream production was complete. Details continued to keep him awake at night. He could not reconcile his film clip archival assemblage concept with the idea that forms mutated in dreams from one thing to another. He could not imagine at that time that photo-shop and computer animation would arise to both complete and vindicate all of his theories. i was trying as best i could to pay attention to the Duck's lecture about Freud and the production of dreams, and although i understood the basic ideas and agreed with Freud's concepts, still the very subject was forcing me to continually remember an old faded black and white photograph i saw once, an old photo that i came across by accident and that altered the trajectory of my life forever. ~ Richard Britell

the mount, margaret Buchte

MARGARET BUCHTE A R T i S T

interview by Harryet Candee

free, happy, colorful, naïve, observant, this is what i come up with when i view your work. Margaret, you paint like this; is your personality similar? how so?

When i am painting, Harryet, i do feel very free and happy. i feel as though i have been transported and am in an altered state of mind. Color is my hallmark, and i get a lot of enjoyment from using beautiful, strong color in my artwork. i’m very observant about what i see in the scene, but only choose to paint the essence of the subject, under dramatic light. i give myself permission to leave some things out, as well as using the liberty to add a little more of something that the scene lacks, but always try to stay true to portraying an honest essence. Over the last few years, with my drawing skills improving, i have been adding people to my painting scenes, if it is appropriate for them to be in there.

Looking at a scene with child-like eyes, in my mind i simplify what is in front of me so that nothing is complicated, and i just proceed to paint. Whether it is a curse or a blessing, i am deep down a very happy person, no matter what obstacles have come my way over a lifetime. i have had hardships as well as great joys during my life. i feel quite free when i am around other people who have a positive outlook on life. i usually avoid people who are extremely negative in their thinking, if i can't help them see things differently.

As far a being a colorful character, no, i can't say that i am that extroverted. i tend to hang back a little and do more observing and listening, and then will join in. i am very drawn to other people who are full of life with positive energy.

At this time of my life, being 62 years of age, i don't feel i am naive at all. i’ve lived a long time and have seen the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful. i feel i possess high sensitivity and also a sixth sense, to a certain degree.

seems to me you’ve traveled to far away places. Am i right? i have not traveled outside of the USA, with the exception of Canada. My husband Joe and i love to travel on our vacations, and traveling has definitely been an influence on my art making. i have found much inspiration in many different places and could be very happy as an artist painting plein air in many different places in the USA. i’ve actually created several paintings from some of our trips, namely a Grand Central streetscape in Manhattan; a good number of oil paintings of scenes in the Litchfield Hills, CT; a scene of the MiT Stata Center in Cambridge; a scene of the zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge in Boston; and a seascape of Brandt Point in Nantucket, Cape Cod.

What is your creative art method?

My creative art method is to begin by painting in very large color shapes, which will fill the entire canvas. i squint my eyes, which eliminates much of the detail, and i see a dominate color. That is where i come up with those large color shapes. Then, just as you create a collage, i create a painting from what i see. Smaller shapes get painted over the larger shapes and its like putting a puzzle together, but so much more absorbing and fun. i use this technique

no matter what medium i work in, be it oil, pastels, watercolors, charcoal or pencil.

Achieving an accurate match of color in oils requires much practice. i practiced with using photographs and trying to mix colors that achieved a matching color shape shown in the photo. After three months of doing this, mixing colors became second nature.

Are you marketing-savvy?

With marketing, i have just been feeling my way over the last five years, and my goal was always to get my work out there in front of the public. i did some of that back in the late 1980's and early 1990's by entering my artwork in member and juried shows, and participating in craft fairs. As my family life got very busy, raising our two sons, Joey and Tom, with my husband Joe, my public involvement in marketing my art declined, but i did continue to paint as the years went by. i ended up with a whole lot of paintings that didn’t see the light of day, so i decided the time was right to get back into the circuit by rejoining the Sheffield Art League, (now named Housatonic Valley Art League) and the 14th Colony of Artists in CT. i’ve reconnected with former artists i knew back then, and have connected with artists i’ve met recently. i’ve also entered different juried shows and have had some success with sales, and was represented by Jerry Connoy of the Lenox Fine Art Gallery on Church Street in Lenox for five years until they closed. Currently i am represented by John Wood of the Berkshire Art Gallery on Railroad Street in Great Barrington. i’ve done two CTSB TV interviews, with Leo Mahoney filming, one at the Berkshire South Community Center on the opening of my solo art show there and on another occasion at the Lee Library on a Founders Day Weekend group art show i had participated in.

After having done an extensive number of paintings of the Berkshires and the Litchfield Hills, i found Kwik Print in Great Barrington, a wonderful place to have my painting images reproduced as prints, notecards and postcards. With their very high-quality reproductions, i was able to approach gift shop managers all over Berkshire County and some in the Litchfield Hills, and found that they were interested in carrying my product in their shops.

My son Joey had sent me a Dell laptop as a gift, so i learned how to use it and was able to set up my website by myself. i only had difficulty with the Paypal part, and did get assistance with that.

The site is Margaret-Buchte.fineartamerica.com My son Tom set up my webpage on Facebook, www.facebook.com/MargaretsOriginals i’ve been posting my artwork ever since on these sites, and it’s great fun getting “likes," comments and feedback from many Facebook friends, and learning a little bit about their lives through their posts. Sales have come from Facebook as well.

Tell me, what is your favorite painting, and why? i’ve talked about this painting many times when asked. its title is "Misty Sunrise" and it was a 16 x 20 that sold immediately. The experience of painting that scene has been unmatched thus far. i was painting plein air on the Great Barrington side of Lake Buel, before sunrise in vaporous fog. As the sun rose behind the moun-

tains across the lake, beautiful colors appeared in the sky above the mountain and filled the atmosphere all around with floating color reflecting through the fog into the lake. This whole very surreal scene lasted maybe twenty minutes. By that time my canvas had enough on it, and showed some of the beauty that i had witnessed, but lacked all that was there. it remains forever in my memory. i added a dark figure of a fisherman and that addition made this image very popular with everyone.

What can you tell us about your background? i was born in Brooklyn, New York, and lived there until i was five.

After that, i lived in Queens for thirteen years, and then Bellerose for three years until my marriage to Joe, whereupon we moved to the Berkshires. i was the eldest of five siblings, two sisters and three brothers. My father worked in the Post Office in Brooklyn. We were a busy family; none of us were lonely. My mother was a stay-athome mom. i worked as a secretary in Manhattan before my marriage. After leaving New York, Joe and i did make trips every year to catch up with and see our families.

Living in the Berkshires was quite different, and i was very enchanted by the beauty all around here, as i still am. My occupations changed. i helped Joe with his outdoor horticulture, landscaping and mowing business, and worked as a teacher's aide and childcare worker at Avalon School, Great Barrington. i also worked as a cashier in supermarkets, and later became a Certified Nurse Assistant, (CNA) and still work at Fairview Commons Nursing Home. i also do home care work for both Mountain View and Porchlight.

My sons Joey and Tom have grown up and left the Berkshires and are doing well in their chosen careers. how did art become something of interest to you? i always had a mild interest in art during childhood. it became a stronger interest as i entered my teenage years. i found myself sketching, when i was not reading books. The best pencil sketch i created was of my grandfather shortly after he passed away. My mother was very taken with it. i loved admiring art, and often went to art museums in Manhattan on my time off.

After our move to the Berkshires i actively took up sketching again in my 30’s, and then started painting in oils in my 40's. i had joined the Sheffield Art League and went to a few workshops. Otherwise i am pretty much self-taught. i do very extensive reading on the lives of artists and enjoy seeing reproductions of their work. i learned so much from reading "The Art Spirit" by Robert Henri.

What is the most difficult challenge that you face when creating a painting?

The most difficult challenge for me is finding the time to paint.

This has always been the biggest challenge. i’m very busy in my work life, and fatigue is a deterrent. i don’t paint when i feel tired, because i will be non-productive.

When i have my energy there are no difficult challenges. i can

Continued on next page...

The ArTful Mind sepTeMber 2015 • 15

MARGARET BUCHTE

i do garden when i help my husband at Eisner Camp in Great Barrington. He is the horticulturist there. He installs beautiful gardens, and i like being a part of that sometimes. Joe and i love going to the movies and sometimes we enjoy the same film together, or i will slip off and see a different film and then we meet outside and compare.

Museum visiting is something else we love to do together, and traveling. During September we are planning to vacation in Washington D.C., and will have many Smithsonian Museums to explore.

What does the berkshires offer you as an artist and as a neighbor, and what do you think you offer in return?

The Berkshires are an endless panorama of pure beauty, anywhere you go. i am simply charmed all the time. i have met many nice and very interesting people that live right here. Other artists, writers, musicians, actors and dancers make their home here. There is so much culture here, and so many places to go to enjoy the arts.

What i offer in return is, i hope, inspiration for other people to take in the beauty of life, and to enjoy my artwork and the artwork of others, and perhaps to be encouraged to create beautiful projects on their own, whatever they may be. i’ve taught at Berkshire South Community Center’s "Drop in Art,” in the media of oil, pastel, charcoal and pencil, and provided supplies and tutoring with no fee. At times these sessions were heavily attended. The director, John Parker, has asked me to continue these sessions during the fall season, and a nominal fee will be charged.

have you had many mentors? like who? i have paid very close attention to the writings of Robert Henri, author of “The Art Spirit.” This book is just filled with quotations that really touch my core. They go something like this…

Art is for living a life, not so much for making a living. (However, it does help!) The object is not to make art, but to be in that wonderful state that makes art inevitable.

Margaret Buchte, A Place to Talk

What is an average day in the life of Margaret? i will work an 11p.m. to 7a.m. shift at the nursing home or in home care, get my cup of coffee in the morning at 7:00 and then paint for two hours, many times plein air. if i do get that painting time in, i am ecstatic. All is right with my world. Then i will spend a few hours doing what needs to be done, housework, etc. Then it’s serious sleep time from 1p.m. to 7p.m., and then dinner and TV time with Joe. Then i get ready to leave for work. if there are early evening events i want to attend, i will get my serious sleep time much earlier in the day.

And where do you see yourself in five years down the road?

That's an easy one -working less and painting more!

paint any subject i want to. The only thing that prevents me from painting is below-freezing temperatures and snow. i have painted during a pouring rain, provided i had some plastic to cover my paint thinner, linseed oil and paints, and a little to cover the top of my canvas. Water does not destroy wet oils painted on canvas, so some of my paintings were done in the rain. One is titled “Raindrops," a painting of the Corn Crib Shop with all the growing plants and flowers outdoors.

Years ago, i was held under a spell and had no regard for reality while painting. i painted one time during October’s pheasant-hunting time at the Sheffield Covered Bridge. Gunfire was all around me, but i remained oblivious. Another time i painted in the winter during calm weather, but as i was finishing the painting, snow and ice came down. While leaving and climbing up a bit of a cliff to get back up onto Kelsey Road in Sheffield, i slipped, and had debilitating back trouble for many years afterward. Fortunately, with the help of a chiropractor and doing my own therapy by walking frequently, i have enjoyed a pain-free life again with a strong back for the last ten years.

16 • The ArTful Mind sepTeMber 2015

Margaret Buchte, Healthy Snack

i want to say to people who take up painting and are charmed by it to be careful to keep your priorities straight. When there are responsibilities to tend to, it’s best to put painting on a back burner until the times are right. Also, try to keep a hold on reality. i have learned to keep my feet firmly on the ground and my head out of the clouds no matter how charmed i become during the painting process.

When you are not painting, what do you like to do? i love to read, and have belonged to a book club for two years now that my friend Jennifer Owen started. i go out with very interesting women to different restaurants, where we discuss the book we all have been reading, and then we drift off to other subjects as well. i like listening to many, many different types of music. i love much of the music performed during the 60's, 70's and 80’s, as well as classical. i love getting together with some of the close friends i have worked with, or still work with at the nursing home. We will go out to breakfast or lunch sometimes.

Are there any artist groups that you belong to where you feel comfortable to be yourself?

Yes, i belong to Partners in Art, led by Judy Albright, a very talented pastelist from Sharon, CT. Right now we are a small group of artists that get together for potluck at Judy's house, where we talk about our current work and give each other encouragement and support, and also share ideas. There is a group show planned by the members of this group during the month of February at Noble Horizons in CT.

Are you doing any special artwork projects right now?

Yes, i am very happily doing a whole body of oil paintings for John Wood and his Berkshire Art Gallery, of scenes of Main Street and Railroad Street in Great Barrington. There will be people in the scenes, and they’re being done plein air. John has four of my oils right now in his gallery for sale: a Tanglewood scene, a Red Lion inn scene, a Church On The Hill Lenox scene and a carousel scene. do you have any current solo art shows going on now?

Yes, an exhibition at the Great Barrington Bagel Co. in Great Barrington, which will run until the end of September. i also have paintings hanging at 20 Railroad Street Restaurant in Great Barrington; at the Wheeler and Taylor Office in Sheffield; Jennifer Owen's office and interior Design Studio on Railroad Street; Mutability in Motion Gallery in Stockbridge and Lenox Print and Mercantile Gallery and Craft Shop in Lenox.

What keeps you going and in love with life? i have strong religious faith and a strong love for our Creator and people.

G

artworkforkidsrooms.com

Dressed Up for Breakfast, acrylic and ink

by Artist

margie Biener

ROBERT FORTE

"lonG-DiStAnCe SwimmeR", 40" X 30"

Appearing at

510 Warren St. Gallery

510 wARRen StReet, huDSon, nY in July, September and November 2015 WWW.510WARRENSTREETGALLERY.COM WWW.ROBERTFORTE.COM

The ArTful Mind sepTeMber 2015 • 17

TV

by JD King

"Why do you call him Mouse? He's not a mouse! He'd like to eat a mouse!"

Sunlight poured through the picture window, glinted off cut glassware, glazed a coffee-table top, created a square of warmth that Mouse dozed in, one paw stretched, his tail twitching occasionally.

The TV was on, a Western in progress, two cowboy pals riding horses, chasing after outlaws. An old woman and a little curlyhaired boy sat on her sofa, watching. He liked it now, just them. initially, his older sister came along. Wendy's choice of pro-

grams bored him. At eight- years-of-age, she yearned for a sophistication of sorts: Art Linkletter, Virginia Graham, "The Edge of Night."

But her interest waned. Now it was just Mouse, Miss Gardner and her "gentleman caller." That phrase was over his five-yearold head, but he enjoyed being called that. And he enjoyed being doted on. Without Wendy, he got all the oatmeal cookies and his choice of the TV fare, Westerns: "The Cisco Kid" at the top of the list.

Mouse was mouse gray with white paws and a white belly and a white vee on his face. He rose from his patch of sun, arched his back, trotted over for attention, then lazed to the kitchen, stopping half-way to shake a rear leg.

Miss Gardner wore flower print dresses and carried a scent of lilac; her hair was salt and pepper. She lived alone, just Mouse and her. Whatever the boy said, she weighed as if it bore great importance. He liked that. He told her, "When i grow up i'll be the Cisco Kid. And you can be Pancho!" She nodded while looking into his eyes and said, "We'll have six-shooters. You'll ride a golden palomino, and i'll ride a spotted roan. When we see banditos, we'll shoot 'em dead!" She held up her hand like a pistol, index finger pointed, thumb cocked, and said, "Pow! Pow!" Seated on the couch, his feet kicked a little.

No one else ever had time to listen to much of what he had to say. Grown-ups were too busy, Wendy dismissed him as a pest.

When his parents said mm-hm, he knew they weren't really listening. But Miss Gardner listened.

He came over almost every day until one day he didn't.

There was no formal break or good-bye. He was just a little older, too old to spend afternoons with an old woman, even if she offered cookies. Now he had friends his own age, new kids, right across the street. They chased after indians or Germans, then cars and girls. From her living room window, as Mouse slept, she could see them.

He grew taller. His once soft features defined a little, crept to adulthood. His curls lengthened. They'd see each other once in a blue moon at the market or the post office. One summer she hired him to mow the lawn. But they didn't talk very much; their era was of it’s time. Then one morning, getting the paper from her porch, she saw the moving van.

By evening it was packed, and the family, the boy, gone.

He swiped the plastic card through the metal slot, opened the door. Another Marriott room. At 61 he was sick of them; he'd hoped to be done with this. But the best laid plans of mice and early retirement went up in the poof that was 2008. That meant more conferences, more years. So be it. At least they had some money, and their health.

With time, his vitality was replaced with gray and sag, wrinkle and ache. The curls replaced with a thinning business cut. He told himself, "i need to start exercising," but he knew he wouldn't. Before mixing a scotch and soda at the mini-bar, he stripped out of his suit, down to a comfy t-shirt, boxers and socks, set the AC to a gentle cool, thinking, "i'd prefer the option of opening a goddamn window."

Sitting on the edge of the bed, remote in one hand, drink in the other, randomly clicking through the 500 channels, he happened on something that rang a distant bell, an old B&W TV Western featuring a heroic Mexican and his silly sidekick. "Huh," he thought, "i remember this show! i haven't seen it in a million years..." it triggered memories: lilac, oatmeal cookies, a cat napping in sunlight.

The chime grew louder, those afternoons with Miss Gardner.

She'd seemed so ancient back then, older than his parents. But in retrospect she may've only been 50 or so. "Younger than i am today," he thought.

What could've happened to her? She can't be alive. How did she die? i hope it wasn't painful. Was she alone? God, i hope it wasn't painful...

The program played on. Lost in thought, he wasn't conscious of horses galloping in a desert, saloon slugfests, breaking glass, bullets ricocheting off boulders...

Without realizing he'd been drinking, his glass was empty. He got up to mix another, but part way there, stopped. His shoulders sagged, his face contorted. He mourned days that were leafy with promise, afternoons that stretched to a far horizon, a lost time when he was the center of someone's universe.

The show came to it’s close. "Good-bye, amigos!" said Cisco.

"See you, soon! Ha!" said Pancho.

G

"Theatre is a journey which leads to an exploration of the human condition.

The director guides; the actors explore. The audience is both partaker and witness.

The geography is life, death, joy and terror, judgment, mockery, pity and compassion."

- Bruce MacDonald

18 • The ArTful Mind sepTeMber 2015

planet waves september 2015 ERIC FRANCIS

Aries (March 20-April 19) Commitment is not something to push for; it develops naturally and grows with experience. You have no need to get any promises from anyone. Do what you need and what you want, and notice how others respond. Who shows up for you? Who demonstrates sincere interest? To whom do you offer yourself with an open heart? That will tell you all you need to know.

TAurus (April 19-May 20) Your ideas about success differ greatly from those of your mother. Therefore, strive to reach your own goals. Live up to your own standards. Have faith in what makes sense to you.

This is a profound lesson that few people learn, though if you take even small steps in that direction, you will claim your independence and, more than that, your sense of belonging in the world.

GeMini (May 20-June 21) You know it’s time to make long overdue changes designed to improve your mental outlook. Yet the planets are asking whether you really think this is possible. Bring this to full awareness. Ask yourself the question boldly and you will get the answer you like, but it still may surprise you. Remember all you’ve done, and been through. You’re ready to take another step.

CAnCer (June 21-July 22) Be clear with yourself and with others. This may feel like laying down the law when really you’re making simple statements about what you want. Why must this feel so audacious?

That illustrates how restrained we’re conditioned to be; pressured to put other people first. You of all people can afford to focus on your needs. You will always take care of those you love.

leO (July 22-Aug. 23) You are in an excellent position to advance your financial situation. This may seem like a matter of luck, though in truth you will be putting your intelligence to work. You are capable of taking abundant information, editing it down to the most salient facts, and putting it to use making decisions. That’s exactly the path to greater wealth and a touch of fame.

sAGiTTArius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) You are getting a clear sense of what is possible. You’re finally able to see past all the little details that it would take to succeed, and you now know it’s the big picture that matters; the total scenario. it’s true that the details still count, and there are still some things you will need to micromanage. Work from large goals and you will have larger success.

librA (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) Your thoughts and words influence many more people than you may realize. Your connection to the world around you is growing stronger every day, and you may wonder what great things you can accomplish. Don’t just wonder -- dare to step out and try something new. The more adventurous you are, the more cooperative you will discover people are. They need your example.

AquArius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) You are your own best friend. Remember that and you will encounter many people who support your new adventure.

Whether you were planning on it or not, your ambitions are coming to fruition, and you’re being called to stand up and take your place in the world. if there is a challenge, you have a concept to go with it. That is leadership.

VirGO (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) Rare planetary activity this month offers you unusual opportunities to grow the best things in your life. The greatest benefit will be seeing the world from the viewpoint of others. This will help you explore common ground and build trust. You have no need to idealize anyone or anything; follow your basic desires and live close to the Earth that you love so much.

sCOrpiO (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) You’re being born into a major new phase of your life. This you have earned by your willingness to do what so few people do -- honestly address the past. in just a few weeks you will make a major decision. Be conscious about choosing based on what you now know, and who you now are, rather than based on who you were last week or five years ago. Forward is the way.

CApriCOrn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) Be honest with yourself above all else. That’s the theme of this month and of the next two years of your life. We could say there is no room for denial. We could also say that you don’t want to pretend about anything or anyone. Emotional freedom comes not from believing the past does not exist, but from confronting it directly. Then it becomes more obvious what to do now.

pisCes (Feb. 19-March 20) You are about to experience a rare opening in your relationships to others. it’s as if people are finally figuring out who you are and why they want you in their lives. This gives you options. Take them slowly. You don’t need to decide everything right now; in fact, the more gradually you make your choices, the better. Give people a chance to show their true colors. ~ Read Eric Francis daily at planetwaves.net

Simply Sasha

by Sasha Seymour

Butternut Squash Mac & Cheese, if you please!

I love September, not only because it is the month I was born in. In September, it is cool enough to turn the oven on in the evening, while it is still warm enough to enjoy ice cream! It's the best of both worlds all wrapped up in one month! In the spirit of this weather changing time of year, I researched recipes that would celebrate the beginning of autumn and all of it’s comfort, while still embracing the love of summer casseroles. Butternut squash and macaroni and cheese! If you please! enjoy! preheat oven to 425

~ 1 1/2 lbs. peeled and diced butternut squash ~ 2 1/2 cup milk (1/4 more to make the slurry plus 1/4 cup flour) ~ 12 oz. package of rigatoni, cooked al dente ~ 8 oz smoked cheddar or gruyere cheese, shredded ~ A few slices of bacon cooked and crumbled (optional) ~ 1/2 vidalia onion, chopped and carmelized( also optional) ~ 1 small pat of butter, melted ~ 1/2 cup of bread crumbs

1. place squash and milk in a pan, and cook over medium heat, until squash is very tender stirring occasionally 2. once tender, stream in a slurry of 1/2 cup each flour and milk and cook for a few more minutes 3. now the sauce should be thick and velvety!

4. Add smoked cheese of your choice, and stir it off the heat until creamy (remember to leave a little bit of cheese sprinkles for the top of the dish!)

5. place cooked noodles, bacon and onion (if used) and butternut sauce into a bowl and mix 6. Stir it up! the butternut sauce should be so soft that it will melt right in!

7. transfer to a non stick baking dish and top with bread crumbs, melted butter and remaining cheese 8. Bake for fifteen minutes at 425 and you are done! this dish reheats well too! Yummy!

The ArTful Mind sepTeMber 2015 • 19

FRONT ST. GALLERY

laUren ClarK FIne art

Kate Knapp unDeR wAteR

Join us for the Opening reception for the artists of the Berkshire Pottery tour

October 2 - november 1: 510 Warren Street Gallery, Hudson, ny Opening reception: Saturday October 3, 3-6pm painting Classes on monday and wednesday mornings 10 - 1pm at the studio in housatonic and thursday mornings 10am - 1pm out in the field. open to all.

gallery hours Sat & Sun or by appointment 12-5pm 413-274-6607 413-429-7141(cell) 413-528-9546 Front Street, downtown, Housatonic, Ma

20 • The ArTful Mind sepTeMber 2015

Saturday Sept 5 from 4-7pm

the show runs through Sept 27 at the gallery with the tour of artist’s studios on Sept 26 & 27 from 10am-5pm

lAuRen ClARK Fine ARt

25 railroad Street, Great Barrington, Ma laurenClarkFineArt.com

413-528-0432