The Artful Mind November 2019 issue ART in the BERKSHIRES

PROMOTING THE ARTS IN THE BERKSHIRES SINCE 1994

THE ARTFUL MIND November 2019

YEHUDA HANANI Photograph by Edward Acker

CAROLYN NEWBERGER Drawing Dance in Images and Words Please join us for Discussion and Demonstration 129 Front St. in Housatonic MA November 23, 2019 at 3pm

www.carolynnewberger.com 617. 877. 5672

Please join us at THE STEWART HOUSE Friday, November 8, 2019 5:00 - 9:00pm for the opening of ROSEMARY BARRETT'S art show Rosemary Barrett

Before or after be sure to stop into our ca 1883 Tavern for dinner

by Chef Bob Turner

2 North Water Street Athens, NY 12015 (518) 444-8317 info@stewarthouse.com THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 1

fABSTRACT A group exhibition featuring abstract art in a variety of mediums October 3 - December 1, 2019

THE ARTFUL MIND ARTZINE

NOVEMBER 2019

“The mind loves the unknown. It loves images whose meaning is unknown, since the meaning of the mind itself is unknown.” ~ Rene Magritte

CATCHING UP WITH CLAUDIA d’ALESSANDRO PHOTOGRAPHY BY LEE EVERETT INTERVIEW BY H. CANDEE ... 10

YEHUDA HANANI, CELLIST PHOTOGRAPHY BY EDWARD ACKER INTERVIEW BY H. CANDEE ... 18

ROSEMARY BARRETT VISUAL ARTIST INTERVIEW BY H. CANDEE ... 26

Earthworks: Bales by Laurie Miles

Participating artists: Catherine Hall, Holly Hughes, Laurie Miles, Bruce Panock, Charles Schweigert, Bettina Van De Water

FICTION: SPELLBOUND PADME LAKE... 31

aMuse Gallery 7 Railroad Avenue ~ Chatham NY 12037 ~ 518-392-1060 Hours:Thursday thru Saturday 11am - 5pm, Sunday 12pm - 4pm amusechatham.com

RICHARD BRITELL JASON AND HIS GRANDMOTHER

CH

5. / FICTION ...32

Contributing Writer: Richard Britell Photographers: Edward Acker, Tasja Keetman Publisher Harryet Candee Copy Editor

Marguerite Bride

Advertising and Graphic Design

Harryet Candee

CALENDAR LISTINGS and ADVERTISING RATES, please call 413 - 854 - 4400

artfulmind@yahoo.com issuu.com instagram FB SELECTED PAINTINGS by Joe Goodwin THE ART WALL AT NORTH ELM HOME 5939 N. Elm Ave, Millerton, NY 12546 November 02 - December 29, 2019 northelmhome.com 2 • NOVEMBER 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND

www.jgoodwinstudio.com

FYI: ©Copyright laws in effect throughout The Artful Mind for logo & all graphics including text material. Copyright laws for photographers and writers throughout The Artful Mind. Permission to reprint is required in all instances. In any case the issue does not appear on the stands as planned due to unforeseeable circumstances beyond our control, advertisers will be compensated on a one to one basis. All commentaries by writers are not necessarily the opinion of the publisher and take no responsibility for their facts and opinions.

THE ARTFUL MIND @ FRONT STREET GALLERY HOUSATONIC, MASSACHUSETTS PRESENTS

Eleven Berkshire Artists Moments Beyond The Usual Reception for Artists Mark your calendars!

Saturday, November 9th 5 - 8pm Nov 2 - Nov 29, 2019 KEITH EMERLING SUSAN GELLER GHETTA HIRSCH

11

SEAN MCCUSKER MARK MELLINGER CAROLYN NEWBERGER ANNA OLIVER JENNIFER PAZIENZA JANET PUMPHREY

You know and love these artists.

Find art work that speaks to you

MARY CAROL RUDIN

and feeds the imagination.

Give ART as a gift this year.

BRUCE SHICKMANTER

Gallery Hours: Thurs -Sun, 12 - 5 129 Front St, Housatonic MA artfulmindgallery@yahoo.com Appointments are encouraged for private viewing

CALENDAR OF EVENTS AUTUMN 2019 ART

SIENNA PATTI CONTEMPORARY 80 MAIN ST LENOX, MA Jamie Bennett: Perephery - In Aerem As Yale University Art Gallery's John Stuart Gordon writes, "Bennett’s enamels are allegories presented in a lyrical mode, containing hidden narratives of history, of science, of mark making, and of their own process of creation."

510 WARREN STREET GALLERY 510 WARREN STREET, HUDSON, NY 518-822-0510 510warrenstreetgallery@gmail.com /510warrenstreetgallery.com Nov 1 - Dec 1: H. David Stein: Spotlight Fri & Sat 12 - 6, Sun 12 - 5 or by app aMUSE GALLERY 7 RAILROAD AVE, CHATHAM, NY • 518-392-1060 / WWW.AMUSECHATHAM.COM “fABSTRACT”, Oct 3 - Dec 1

SIMON’S ROCK 84 ALFORD RD, GT BARRINGTON MA • 413-6446400 Exhibition: F-BOMB On View: Daily through Wed., Dec. 18, 2019, Daniel Arts Center; Poetry & Fiction Reading Series: Javier Zamora Thurs., Nov. 14, 2019, 7:00 p.m., Blodgett House; Exhibition: Yellow Bowl Project Gallery Talk: Sat., Nov. 2, 2019, 1:00 p.m., Daniel Arts CenterOn View: Sat., Nov. 2, 2019 – Sat., Nov. 23, 2019, Daniel Arts Center

BERKSHIRE SCHOOL 245 N. UNERMOUNTAIN RD, SHEFFIELD, MA • 413-229-8511 berkshireschool.org Nov 1 - Dec 21: Redacted Elements: The Paintings of Charles Thomas O’Neil BRONWEN HODGKINSON HOPE & FEATHERS FRAMING AND GALLERY 319 MAIN STREET, AMHERST, MA • 413-8350197 HOPEANDFEATHERSFRAMING.COM Nov 6 - 29: Embodied Landscape, Paintings by Laura Radwell; Opening Reception: Thursday, November 7th, 5-8pm CLARK ART INSTITUTE 225 SOUTH ST, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA WWW.CLARKART.EDU NOV 16 - FEB 9, 2020: TRAVELS ON PAPER FRONT STREET GALLERY 129 FRONT ST, HOUSATONIC, MA • 413-274-6607 Kate Knapp oils and watercolors and classes open to all.

Oct - Nov: The Artful Mind artists showcase of fine art. Eleven Berkshire artists on display.

Next reception for artists is slated for Nov 9, 2019.

HANCOCK SHAKER VILLAGE 1843 W. HOUSATONIC ST, PITTSFIELD, MA BLACKBAUDHOSTING.COM Thru Nov 11, 2019: Exhibition Opening: Borrowed Light: Barbara Ernst Prey.

THE HOTCHKISS SCHOOl 11 INTERLAKEN RD., LAKEVILLE, CT • 860 435-2591 |http://www.hotchkiss.org Thru Jan 12: Flat File: Works on Paper by Cleve Gray MARGUERITE BRIDE MARGEBRIDE-PAINTINGS.COM Marguerite Bride will be exhibiting new small works at the weekend Hand-Made Holiday Festival at the Stationary Factory in Dalton on Dec 7-8.

MASS MoCA 1040 MASSMOCA WAY, NORTH ADAMS, MA • 413-662-2111 Thru 2019: Laurie Anderson; Louise Bourgeois; so many exhibitions at one time! James Turrell: Into the Light; Tom Slaughrer: Icon Alphabet...check out their website MORGAN LEHMAN GALLERY 526 WEST 26TH STREET, 4TH FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY Nov 7 - Dec 14: Carolanna Parlato: Catch and Release 4 • NOVEMBER 2019

THE ARTFUL MIND

THE ARTSALON 33 HAWLEY ST, NORTHAMPTON, MA • 413-5865553 NOV 22, 5:30-8PM: SECOND ANNUAL RED DOT DASH Benefit Exhibition THE BEYOND GALLERY 437 MAIN ST, BENNINGTON, VT 19 artists participating in this group show.

PEGGY REEVES, A CROSSING #1 26 X 30, PIGMENT PRINT, 2019 ARTISTS OF THE MOHAWK HUDSON REGION ON VIEW OCT 11 THROUGH DECEMBER 4, 2019 THE HYDE COLLECTION ART MUSEUM & HISTORIC HOUSE 161 WARREN ST, GLENS FALLS, NY HYDECOLLECTION.ORG

PLATFORM PROJECT SPACE 20 JAY ST. 319, BROOKLYN, NY PLATFORMPROJECTSPACE.COM STRANGE TRUTH: Thru Nov 23. True story: Giordano Bruno was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and poet who, way ahead of his time, believed in the Copernican idea that the sun was the center of our solar system. That did not jibe with the Church teaching of an earth-centered universe. In 1593 he was tried for heresy and burned at the stake. Bruno was known for a few great aphorisms and quotes including: Se non è vero, è molto ben trovato. Translated: Even if it is not true, it is a good story.

RIVER ART PROJECT 3 STOCKBRIDGE STATION GALLERY 2 DEPOT STREET, STOCKBRIDGE, MA • 413-298-5163 / 413 563-4934 cell www.riverartproject.com SCHANTZ GALLERIES CONTEMPORARY GLASS 3 ELM STREET, STOCKBRIDGE, MA • 413-298-3044 / schantzgalleries.com Glass artists through the year on display

THREE STONES GALLERY 10C MAIN ST, ROCKPORT MA THREESTONESGALLERY.COM Ghetta Hirsch now showing her outstanding art along with Betsy Silverman, Jonathan MacAdam and Emily Passman, Jewelry by Lyca Blume and Emily Rose Maultsby WILLIAMS COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ART 15 LAWRENCE HALL DR #2, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA • 413-597-2429 Thru April 19, 2020: The invisable Enemy Should Not Exist (Room Z, Northwest Palace of Nimrud)

MUSIC CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC POST OFFICE BOX 34, GREAT BARRINGTON, MA 01230.

MAHAIWE BOX OFFICE: 413-528-0100; WWW.MAHAWIE.ORG. CEWM: 800-843-0778; WEB: WWW.CEWM.ORG, CEWM E-MAIL: CEWMUSIC@AOL.COM DEC 14: 6PM: GREAT STRINGS: THE BORROMEO QUARTET

EVENTS CLARK ART INSTITUTE 225 SOUTH ST, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA WWW.CLARKART.EDU / BERKSHIRECC.EDU/BNHC Nov 16: 9am-4pm: Fifth Annual Berkshire Natural History Conference: Birds, Bogs, Little Snakes, Trout, and Slime Mold Highlight This Year’s Conference. Registration info please call 413-236-4502, Tom Tyning

WORKSHOPS

WANTED!

DEB KOFFMAN’S ARTSPACE 137 FRONT ST, HOUSATONIC, MA • 413-274-1201 Sat: 10:30-12:45 class meets. No experience in drawing necessary, just a willingness to look deeply and watch your mind. This class is conducted in silence. Adult class. $10, please & call to register. First Tuesday of every month

60- second scripts for

the radio series “Third Act Minutes”

HOLIDAY PAPERCRAFTING CLASSES THE NORFOLK HUB, STATION PLACE, NORFOLK, CT LESLIEWATKINSDESIGN.COM Nov 23, Dec 14, 10-1pm: 11/23: Christmas Boxes and Tags, 12/14: Fancy Gift Boxes

THEATER THE FOUNDRY 2 HARRIS ST, WEST STOCKBRIDGE, MA • 413-232-5222 Nov 8 - 9, 8pm: The Failure Cabaret, written and performed by the Fremonts

The Third Act Project is seeking short scripts for a radio series about experiences in later life. All scripts must be limited to one minute, or about 100 words. They can be informative, entertaining, irreverent, inspiring or anything else except dull.

COLONIAL THEATRE 111 SOUTH ST., PITTSFIELD, MA • 413-997-4444 thecolonialtheatre.org/ | Pittsfield NOV 15, 7:30pm: Russian Ballet Theater: Swan Lake

Selected scripts will be recorded by professional actors, posted to the Third Act Project website (www.thirdactproject.com) and promoted to public radio stations throughout the United States.

SANDISFIELD ARTS CENTER 5 HAMMERTOWN RD, SANDISFOELD, MA • 413-258-4100 SANDISFIELDARTSCENTER.ORG Nov 9 : Celebration of the Comedy of Neil Simon

Please send in your calendar listing the 10th of the month prior to publication

Topics might include love, loss, mortality, sports, the arts, travel, humor, and third act surprises and accomplishments.

So if you’re in the third of act of life, and have an experience to share, send it to sam@thirdactproject.com.

TAP LOGO !

artfulmind@yahoo.com

ISSUU.COM

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 5

JENNIFER PAZIENZA The juried 2019 Marion McCain Exhibition of Contemporary Atlantic Canadian Art, Materiality and Perception in Contemporary Atlantic Art, curated by Tom Smart opened 19 October at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada during the 60th anniversary gala celebration. Dalí’s, Santiago El Grande, centrepiece of the gallery’s collection, is pictured here with Sorella 1 handsomely hung on the left wall to its entrance. Jennifer Stead’s, Forest adorns the right wall and Wasted, by Canada’s premiere metal artist, Brigitte Clavette ties the tableau together and this corner of the exhibition pavilion.

There are about 40 artists in the show representing all the Atlantic Canadian provinces. What an honour it is to have been included in this exhibition and to rub elbows with the best Atlantic Canada has to offer and of course, Dalí and the many other treasures in the gallery’s permanent and rotating exhibitions.

On behalf of my co-exhibitors and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, should you find yourself nearby, stop in.

You won’t be disappointed. Here are some informative links: http://beaverbrookartgallery.org/en/about/bag-history http://beaverbrookartgallery.org/en/visit/exhibitions/materiality-and-perception-in-contemporaryatlantic-art/ http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=11 7721#.Xa4wJSV7l0s My work is held in public and corporate collections in Canada and in numerous private collections throughout the US, Canada, the UK and Italy. I have, since 2014, exhibited my work in the Berkshires and have been a constant contributor to The Artful Mind.

Jennifer Pazienza - To learn more about my paintings, or for inquiries please email me: jennpazienza@gmail.com, visit my website, http://jenniferpazienza.com/ and Instagram @jenniferpazienza Be sure to check out my artist video too at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xb9WOTpLfI4

JAANE DOE Jaane Doe announces the release of her new music single PAWNS...

The embryonic journey for this musical creation began in the Fall of 2017 and has now come to fruition! The theme of the piece is metamorphosis, transcendence and success through positive energy and hard work.

As chess players know, the PAWN can become a Queen if the strategy of the game is just right. This anthemic song begins with a beautiful piano prelude and builds into a compelling musical statement in the Folk Rock Genre. Written and produced by Jaane Doe, this is her first official release since BURNS LIKE FIRE in 2007.

“The work of an artist, whether visual or musical is a snapshot of where they are in time, and shares the perception of what is inside, and their vision of the world around them.” their vision of the world around them.”

Accompanying the music single is an enchanting music video captured in celluloid right here in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts currently being screened at various locations in the Tri-State area. Most recent showings have been August 4th, at the Historic Round Lake Auditorium in Round Lake NY and a also a screening event on Sunday, October 27 at Berkshire South Regional Community Center in Great Barrington. from 2 - 4 pm Free to the public.

Jaane Doe - for more information, and updates visit: www.jaanedoe.com, www.facebook.com/JaaneDoeMusic, https//issuu.com/theartfulmindartzine/docs/artful_mind_august_2019.

To hear the new music single: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/pawnssingle/1470816179 Or www.jaanedoe.hearnow.com To hear the Album BURNS LIKE FIRE:https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/jaane

And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name.

– William Shakespeare (from A Midsummer Night’s Dream)

6 • NOVEMBER 2019

THE ARTFUL MIND

DESIGNS BY JENNIFER Awarded Best Of Houzz 2019 Designs by Jennifer Owen of Great Barrington, MA has won “Best Of Service Award” on Houzz®, the leading platform for home renovation and design. The boutique interior design studio was chosen by the more than 40 million monthly unique users that comprise the Houzz community from among more than 2.1 million active home building, remodeling and design industry professionals.

Congrats!

Recognized as a fabric guru with an eye for color, Jennifer has achieved accolades for her unique sense of style and vision. She has been featured on the cover of House to Home, Lifestyle Magazine of Fairfield County, featuring a home in Westport; East Coast Home Design Magazine; Shippan Designer Show House, (benefiting Stamford Museum and Nature Center); Weston Designer Show House benefiting Connecticut Humane Society. They feature her definitive style of design, transforming spaces to uplifting, functional environments, “simple elegance” at its best!

A native of the West Midlands England, Jennifer grew up with a mother who was a passionate knitter and a talented seamstress, with a love to decorate and a relish for fabrics and yarns. This led to many inspiring visits with her to the fabric market.

Hence Jennifer’s passion!

Her client base extends to Fairfield County, CT, Westchester County, New York City, Long Island, and Berkshire County. Jennifer has a showroom and office based on Railroad Street in Great Barrington, MA. Jennifer is a member of IDS (Interior Design Society), with extensive training in interior design, IDPC (Interior Design Protection Council), member of Better Business Bureau, Metropolitan Museum, NYC, Museum of Natural History, NYC, Museum of Modern Art, NYC, member of Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, member of Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, and a member of A Women’s Creation Circle in Berkshire County.

Designs by Jennifer, LLC - 6 Railroad Street, STE 17, Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Office: 413-528-5200; Cell: 203-253-3647; www.designsbyjenniferowen.com

MARK MELLINGER

ELEANOR LORD

PASTEL

"Fraction" 12" x 12" 2019 collage and acrylic on canvas

Artist

The Artful Mind Gallery: NOV 2019

Eleanor Lord

Reception for Artists: Nov 9 5-8pm Front St Gallery Housatonic, MA

100 North St Pittsfield Painting - Collage - Construction 914. 260. 7413 markmellingerart.com markmellinger680@gmail.com

SEE MORE:

WWW. ELEANORLORD.COM

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 7

aMUSE GALLERY Now in its second year, aMuse Gallery continues to receive high praise for its eye-catching exhibitions, lovely gallery space, and for being “just a little bit different”. Housed in a beautiful Greek revival building just across the tracks from Chatham’s historic clocktower, the warm and welcoming atmosphere allows visitors to view artwork in a relaxed, home-like setting.

The gallery features fine art, wearable art (artisan made jewelry, scarves, etc.) and one-of-a-kind objects d’art…all in an affordable price range. aMuse is the perfect destination for an artful escape.

Columbia County’s expanding art scene is drawing more and more folks over from the Berkshires and beyond. In addition to the three art galleries now located in Chatham, there are wonderful specialty shops and restaurants in the village to enjoy as well…so come visit soon! fABSTRACT will continue to be on view through December 1, 2019. This popular exhibition, showcases abstract works in a variety of mediums. Participating artists include Catherine Hall, Holly Hughes, Laurie Miles, Bruce Panock, Charles Schweigert and Bettina Van De Water. This is a really a beautiful show…not to be missed.

The holiday exhibition, ARTsMART, will run from December 5, 2019 through January 5, 2020. The artist reception will be held Saturday, December 7 from 47pm. Please come by to meet the artists… and to celebrate their wonderful artwork and the holiday season.

And if you are looking for unique gift ideas… affordable art and eccentricities will abound! aMuse Gallery - 7 Railroad Avenue, Chatham, New York; 518-392-1060; Hours: Thursday thru Saturday 11-5 and Sunday 12-4; amusechatham@gmail.com, amusechatham.com

SEAN MCCUSKER, VIEW, 10 X 8”, 22011

SEAN MCCUSKER (TOP) PEARLS AND PEARLIES (BELOW) ABOUT TO SPEAK ACRYLIC ON BOARD, 18 X 18”

MARY CAROL RUDIN As a painter I know I am a product of the time in which I live, my surroundings, my travels, and my life experiences.

I am influenced by many artists from around the world. I love the work of figurative painter, George Tooker, the more abstract work of Georgia O'Keefe, the 19th century work of Gustave Caillebotte, the distinct work of Sculptor, Alberto Giacometti and many others. The differences between them energizes me to explore my own external and internal experiences.

I have an insatiable curiosity and that propels me to try different things in art as well as life.

Travel plays a large role for me; each place offers me something to learn and to reflect on. I know my art will reflects my discoveries.

I move between oil paint and acrylic paint, canvas and panel and now aluminum composite panels; each one presents different challenges as well as pleasures.

I grew up in Southern California and now live and work in New York City and the Southern Berkshires; I am grateful for the experience of both.

Mary Carol Rudin - www.mcrudin .com

Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as writer.

– Ray Bradbury

8 • NOVEMBER 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND

Living in the quiet town of Becket, Massachusetts, Sean McCusker has developed a kinship with the solitude of the hilly landscape around him. Focusing this in his artwork he develops striking surreal landscapes full of color and mystery. The subjects of his paintings, although abstract, are reminiscent of the lone hero from film; confidently standing against the world yet yearning for the security of a home just over the horizon.

Sean’s paintings are made up of roughly thirty thin, transparent layers, each one adding complexity.

As the layers are carefully worked up the composition's forms and colors become more contrasted, more dramatic. The translucent layers create a glowing composition of dark shadows suspended in light.

The landscapes he creates are surreal constructs -- a stage, rather than representations of a specific place. Like the masked actors in a Greek drama, the characters and objects in his work are emotional archetypes. Using intense oil colors in a layered technique suitable for objective realism, he has developed a painting style that attempts to depict emotion as a solid object.

Many of Sean’s paintings center around a single figure set against a vast empty space. The light illuminating the darkness is always just out of the figure's reach. Sometimes the light source is the sun or moon, though most of the time it is ambiguous.

The meaning of each element depends on the placement and interaction it has with the rest of the landscape. The sun and moon often stand as sentinels against the darkness. The figures sit, silently contemplating their situation. These meanings change from painting to painting. It is left to the viewer, if they choose, to imagine themselves sitting with the figure, determining what situation it finds itself in.

Sean’s work can be seen in exhibits throughout Berkshire County. For more information about his work, and upcoming exhibits, visit his website.

Sean McCusker - www.sean-mccusker.com

ANNA CYPRA OLIVER BERKSHIRE BLACK-EYED SUSAN’S,” OIL ON CANVAS, 36 X48

ANNA CYPRA OLIVER

GHETTA HIRSCH, ROCK BY THE RIVER 2019, OIL ON PANEL, 6X6”

GHETTA HIRSCH The simple beauty of water, rocks, and sand surrounds me this fall on the French Atlantic Coast. Atlantic pines, beach grasses and wild heather welcome lizards and protect the few visitors of the Bay of Arcachon in France.

This is a very different landscape from the Berkshires but I welcome the midday temperature of 62 to 67 degrees with a brilliant sunshine.

I tell myself that I am getting my dose of vitamin D while painting in these different surroundings and I explore colors under this new light. You will not be getting maple tree autumn foliage from me this year! I revel in the ochres and greens of the forest that reach the golden beach.

I watch washed up seaweeds turn from a watery green to a shriveled brown and my brushes are welcoming this new challenge. I am not meditating by the Green River in Williamstown and looking at the multicolor leaves going by, instead I get lost in the meandering reflections on the water surface by the piers. I compare the flat horizon in front of me to the Mount Greylock skyline that usually surrounds me with a different kind of peace; I learn to appreciate the blue shades of the ocean that remind me of our magical Berkshires sky.

I thought I would miss my New England trees but find another beautiful nature surrounding me.

I love rubbing laurel leaves in my hands from a nine feet high laurel on my way to the forest or picking fallen chestnuts still in their spiky shells.

The shimmering green of the rubbery laurel leaves would transport you as would the different chocolate browns of the fresh chestnuts!

You are getting different paintings from me this fall. It is a different landscape but still as serene and beautiful to me. Enjoy but still visit my work at the Front Street Gallery in Housatonic (Opening Reception November 9), The Three Stones Gallery as well as the Concord Outfitters in Concord, MA, and if you go to Rockport, MA, small paintings are exhibited there at The Three Stones Gallery until December.

Ghetta Hirsch - ghettahirsch.squarespace.com, Ghettagh@aol.com, (413) 884-6049 or (413) 281-0626, Instagram @ghettahirschpaintings

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPH

JANET PUMPHREY Janet Pumphrey began her photography explorations after college with a dark room in her closet and a short-lived plan to sell photographs from a kiosk in the French Quarter in New Orleans. For the next thirty years, she continued to photograph as she practiced law and raised her two daughters in Lenox, Massachusetts. Her hobby became serious with her first digital camera and first early version of Photoshop in 2004. Her photographs have been shown at The Artful Mind Gallery in Lenox, L’Atelier Berkshires in Great Barrington, the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Sohn Fine Arts in Lenox, the St. Francis Gallery in Lee, and other galleries and venues.

Pumphrey has studied with such esteemed photographers as Fran Forman (Photoshop), Valda Bailey (in-camera multiple exposure), Sebastian Michaels (Photoshop), Hazel Meredith (textures and overlays), and Mollie Isaacs.

Pumphrey photographs have been published in the British Nikon publication, Nphoto, The Artful Mind, the New York Times, and the Berkshire Eagle. Many of her photographs appear in the book Come Photograph: the Berkshires.

While photography is a representational medium, Pumphrey moves beyond the inherent realism in traditional photography to see the world in a new and more creative way. She appreciates the ability to manipulate photographs through the artistic imagery available both in-camera and post-processing, turning what was a realistic photograph into a creative, often abstract work of art. Her favorite subjects have always been people, street photography, cityscapes, and landscapes. The impressionist photographs in the two Welles Gallery shows are of flower and trees.

I interpret my environment by starting with a realistic photograph. Then, by using in-camera and post-processing techniques, I alter that realistic image to transform it into a creative work of fine art. My work is painterly, sometimes abstract, sometimes impressionistic. Each piece explores the realities beyond the surface as well as the moments beyond the usual because each piece is a unique, creative interpretation of a realistic image.

Janet Pumphrey - www.JanetPumphrey.com

Anna Cypra Oliver is a painter and writer, most notably of the critically acclaimed memoir Assembling My Father (Houghton Mifflin, Mariner Books). She is a member of 510 Warren Street Gallery in Hudson, N.Y., and her paintings have appeared on the cover of The Best American Poetry 2017 and alongside her essays in various literary journals. She lives with her husband Stephan in Great Barrington, MA. Though Anna’s paintings are representational, often depicting flowers, pools, beach towels and the like, her true subject is color—vivid, intense color—and the effects of light, whether in the form of shadows, reflections or the tangles of form created by shifts of value or tone.

The Artful Mind Gallery at Front St. Gallery, Housatonic MA

11 “Music is a proud, temperamental mistress.

Give her the time and attention she deserves, and she is yours.

Slight her and there will come a day when you call and she will not answer.

So I began sleeping less to give her the time she needed.”

-Patrick Rothfuss

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 9

Catching up with

Claudia d’Alessandro Interviewed by Harryet Candee

Photograph by Lee Everett

Since we last talked, I am sure much news is to be reported! So, I would like to ask you, how has your year been, and what have you been doing?

Claudia d’Alessandro: (Laughs) Every year I think that as I age life will get simpler; every year I am SO wrong. For the most part, this last year has been an enjoyable blur. I was able to work with the absolutely terrific Berkshire Opera Festival as their Interim Executive Director, to replace a failing arthritic knee with a new one, enjoy a terrific solo art show at the Sandisfield Arts Center and to plan to set up a condominium in St. Augustine that David and I bought in June. (It turns our that the new knee comes in handy while hauling boxes!)

Getting a little more specific, I know you have had the great opportunity to work with Brian Garman and Jonathan Loy of Berkshire Opera Festival and have put in much time promoting 10 • NOVEMBER 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND

their successful opera, Don Pasquale this past summer at the Mahaiwe Theatre in Gt. Barrington, MA. What was it like working with these two talented men, and what work did you do for them and the company?

Claudia: It WAS a great opportunity; they are amazing men! I took the position of BOF’s Interim Executive Director entirely because of Brian and Jonathon, who impressed me from our very first meeting. Their intelligence, unwavering commitment to excellence, and obvious talent blew me away. My respect and admiration for them both has only grown in the year in which we worked together.

Actually, though, I didn’t promote the opera per se. My job was to solidify and oversee the function of the administration and expand development. I think that I am most happy that, together with our team, I was able to almost triple the size of BOF’s

Board of Directors, to raise enough money for the festival to finish comfortably in the black for the 2019 season thus setting the stage nicely (as it were) for the entrance of the new, permanent, Executive Director. We also created the upcoming Fifth Anniversary year for BOF, which includes next summer's BOF Gala and a fully staged Don Giovanni!

Brian is one of the most intelligent people that I know - and highly skilled in so many ways. His abilities at ‘direction’ go way beyond the podium; he was invaluable to me, especially in those times when my spirits sank. His newly released recording, “Forty Four Ambitions for Soprano and Piano” has been nominated for a Grammy. He just ran a half marathon. And, he is also a gourmet cook! (His salted caramel ice cream is to die for (laughs)!

Jonathon is simply a dynamo. He is direct and

Photograph by Lee Everett

forceful. His staging talents - at the BOF, the Met and beyond - are undeniable. He is innovative and creative and he, too, is more multi-faceted and talented than I could adequately describe. I really don’t know where he gets his energy! He and his husband, Chris, are buying a home in the Berkshires this year; I’m so glad!

Together, these guys are a force to be reckoned with. They inspired, pushed, helped, supported and collaborated with me in the best possible ways. I am honored to know them both.

Your mother, Phyllis Curtin, who was an opera singer, has left behind a great legacy. Can you tell us little about her? What has she left you in terms of living a life around music, art and culture?

Claudia: She really was amazing. I think that I had the best mother imaginable.

Where to begin . . . She was born in West Virginia in 1921. Her Mom was a church organist and her Dad was what we would now call an executive secretary. Growing up, music was a key part of her life, hearing her Mom play, singing in church and

later teaching music in elementary school. Mom also danced and was quite a talented visual artist, though she didn’t draw much beyond her teenage years; I don’t think she had time! (Laughs) She was also awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, but the start of WWII kept her at home in the US. She set an incredible example of human grace and kindness, and left me the belief that music is everywhere: it’s a universal language which is integral to the cosmos in its entirety. To help her students learn to project their voices, she would tell them to “sing to the universe.” I guess that idea has reminded me to look outward and beyond without sacrificing what surrounds me most closely.

Mom had a degree in political science from Wellesley She left me with her belief that PEOPLE matter, that lifetime learning is vital, and that anyone - woman or man - can lead a powerful, effective, enjoyable life if they are doing something that they truly love and are willing to work hard at it.

Mostly, it was clear to me that she LOVED making music, and spent her life living that love, which made the biggest impression on me.

BSO Concertmaster Joey Silverstein once said that she was one of the finest musicians - singers are often disparaged as not being musicians in the 'classical realm' - that he had ever known. And she was lovingly nick-named “The Iron Curtin,” not only for being pretty unflappable, but also for her ability to step into an operatic role with almost no rehearsal.

She sang in all of the world’s greatest opera houses, championed new works - especially North, Central and South American works. She became a master of Branford College at Yale and the Dean for the Schools for the Arts - all of the fine arts - at Boston University, where she founded their Opera Institute. She taught at Tanglewood every year beginning in 1953, and retired at ninety-two years old in 2014. And, she taught for the last three of those years while on Hospice care! She died at ninetyfour years old. I can’t imagine a better life; she lived it living her passions.

For all of her many talents, though, she was kind, gracious, humble and giving until the day she died.

She was a remarkable woman in every way, and I Continued on next page...

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 11

CLAUDIA d’ALESSANDRO September Vermont Misty Pond Photograph

am grateful for everything she left me. I miss her every day.

And David, your beloved, is very into playing music, you must feel blessed to be surrounded by such talented musicians your whole life. I love is hand made cigar box guitars. Is he still making them?

Claudia: He is! And oh my heavens, I DO feel blessed!

David has always loved to be creative. His sister, Marcia, is a painter, and their father could build and fix just about anything; David got that from him.

David, himself, is a talented writer and was a psychotherapist for more than twenty-five years. He was, however, first and foremost a musician for most of his life, trained first as a classical trumpeter at Hartt College of Music, and then was a founding member of the jam band Max Creek when he was 21. The rest, as they say, is history (chuckles).

Though semi-retired, he continues to perform his music across the country.

I think that, like my mother did, David has incorporated music into his being. It isn’t just what 12 • NOVEMBER 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND

he does, it’s who he is. Whether he is re-purposing antique cigar boxes or tins, or making almost anything, including license plates and ancient automobile hubcaps into an instrument (with which he performs, by the way!), practicing guitar or performing, he makes his life musical. And I love it!

What else is David up to these days?

Claudia: David came out with a new album of eclectic musical tidbits this spring - “Gypsy Davy”.

You can get it everywhere music is sold (winks and laughs). I actually sang with him on a few tracks which was an awful lot of fun.

This winter, he is looking forward to getting to know the musical scene in St. Augustine and, of course, continuing to perform at his Berkshires haunts when we are back.

Ultimately, he’s going to keep on keeping on doing what he loves: making music, making instruments, and making my life rich and wonderful every day! (Laughs) So, now, being inspired my music, and also, art, you have focused on photography. I have been

following your work for a few years now, and believe you have captured nature at its finest. At this time, what might you be working on that's related?

Claudia: Aw, thank you! That is very kind.

Everything is related, I think. I’m fortunate to be in a place where Nature can shine so beautifully - the Berkshires are gorgeous in every season. And as my photographer Dad, Eugene Cook, always told me that having a camera with you when you want it is the way to do it!

That having been said, photographing Nature has shown me far more than I could ever capture with simply a lens. There is an interplay between what I do, and what is all around me that is an ever-unfolding education for me. As I grow older, I suppose, I see more complicated ‘scenery’ than I ever have.

The coolest thing about Nature is that dark and light, beautiful and ugly, old and new exist in synergy to make a whole. None of it is “wrong,” or “bad.” It just IS. I find myself interested in showing the interplay between what most of us think of as opposites. And in the end, it is comforting to me.

I had my first knee replacement this summer, and

CLAUDIA d’ALESSANDRO Leaves In Grate Photograph

am definitely feeling - ahem - a LOT less youthful.

But entering into this later part of my life makes it easier to appreciate the time that I have lived, and the time that I am living now. Besides photography, I LOVE to make jam, knit, read, listen to David play, and count the many blessings that I have every day. Did I answer your question?

Can you describe how you feel about the art life here in the Berkshires, and how it has been for you along your way, leaving the novice and heading into a higher level with your photography work?

Claudia: I can’t imagine a more artistically rich area than the Berkshires. Of course, it was 1946 when my Mom came to Tanglewood as a student. These hills have been alive with music for an awfully long time! Still, the theaters, galleries and festivals keep coming, and growing. And that encourages people like me to want to be part of it all. As for the "leaving the novice" part: I hope that I will always maintain the novice's mind of wonder and curiosity as I move forward.

The artistic community has been kind to me here,

and a whole lot of folks - including you and The Artful Mind - have been especially encouraging and supportive. I have an awful lot to be grateful for.

What are you specifically studying and training your eye in seeing, and technically trying to achieve with your camera now?

Claudia: Digital photography has been a Godsend, as I can click away at an image which changes by the second - like a dawn, sunset, or light reflecting in water - and see dozens of images almost immediately without the cost of film or the time taken for film development. More than a specific goal, I think, I just want to see as much as I can, and be better at catching it. Like so many other things, I am a work in progress as I continue to climb that digital learning curve.

As we reflect back in time, and look at where you are now, what can you say you've been the most happiest with that you have done?

Claudia: Aging is amazing. While it heads me straight into major death anxiety, it also adds depth and meaning to everything I experience. I hope that

I am a little wiser, and a little better at what I do.

But as to happiness . . . .

The happiest days of my lives have been with those I love - my children, my family and David.

And I have been blessed with a lot of them.

Would you do anything differently? with anything? At any time? Something you can perhaps revisit?

Claudia: Oh boy! There are many things that I wish I could do over because they caused pain, to me and to those I love. However, I wouldn’t be who I am now without all of those experiences. So, as to your question, no, I would never want to go backward. I just want to keep moving forward, to keep growing, learning, and to try to leave the world a little bit better for my place in it.

It's interesting how our tastes mature, and we find roads to different interests. Some of them are just dreams, but others, we can actually bite our teeth into and explore. Anything you can relate to that answers this question?

Continued on next page...

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 13

CLAUDIA d’ALESSANDRO Autumn Corn Mists Photograph

((Do you still like peanut butter and jelly with chocolate milk? Staying up wayyy too late? I'd ask myself that and answer with a yes.))

Claudia: (Laughs) I hope my tastes are still evolving! I still like PB&J - and I like making jam! - but I hate staying up late. I’m such a deadhead; I’m happy going to bed by nine! I guess I’m pretty content with my life as it is. I was incredibly fortunate in that because of my Mom’s career I was able to travel all over the world as a child. I saw opulence as well as third world poverty. And if I have a dream at this point in my life, it’s to try to make the most of every day.

Now we always are making plans for next week, but try to stay in the moment... How do you tend to being mindful these days?

Claudia: I think just touched on that a little . . . I think that gratitude helps ground me in mindfulness.

By this time in my life, I have seen people that I care about suffer and die, even people much younger than I. I have seen great good fortune and terrible bad luck effect those around me. And my heart breaks for the earth as conservation efforts are undone, animals die out, and pristine lands are de14 •THE ARFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019

stroyed to make way for people’s interests. Selling my home of more than fifty years was a heartbreak as well. But all of this reminds me of what a great gift each day is. It is all humbling, and a very good reminder.

Do you appreciate the change in season in the Berkshires? Is there a season that you particularly love more than the other three?

Claudia: (Laughs) All of them? At any given time?

There are parts of each season that I LOVE, and those I definitely do NOT appreciate! Spring makes me feel electric - alive and excited for new life; I can’t wait to plan stuff! But March snow, ice and sleet is NOT fun … at ALL! I love the colors of summer - all the different greens, and and flowers… But I hate heat! AND mosquitoes!

Fall is gorgeous. And as I enter that time of life, myself, I appreciate the maturity and depth of colors all around me. But November is always hard for me; I struggle with feelings of grief and loss as so much dies. . .

And finally, winter. David is NOT a fan, but I love the deep cold if it comes with snow. I love the

idea that under the cold, stark dead exterior or the earth, life persists, and waits . . . Sleet and ice, however, I can do without.

In the end, the seasons have always inspired and comforted me. The endless circle of life and death reminds me that I am part of a mighty whole in which matter is neither created or destroyed; just recycled. And I like that.

Of all your favorite museums in the Berkshires and around, is there one you love to revisit? Why would that be? IF not a museum, perhaps a locale?

Claudia: I don’t think I have a favorite. I love the Clark and MassMoCA . . . . As to one specific place, the answer is YES! (smiles) If I had more time, I would go more often to the Clark in Williamstown.. Have you found a secret way of balancing what you need to get done, and what you want to do? How does that work for you?

Claudia: There is never enough time to do everything that I want to (song cue?). I want to see more theater, more exhibits, and hear more music. I want

CLAUDIA d’ALESSANDRO Painted Clouds and Fire Sunset Photograph

to walk more, see more of Nature, more environments, more of life. But most important to me is to love what I am doing at any given time, whatever that is, and to try to prioritize the people that I love.

Sometimes it’s a stretch, but overall it works for me. (smiles) The political arena I will not touch on, but I know you are active for the cause of fairness by all means. Has the politics these days personally affected your life? And what would a good outcome be for you, and everyone you think? They really gotta ban Trophy Killing, to start.

Claudia: I am deeply concerned about the country and our world. It seems to me that people have taken leave of their senses and minds. So much hard-earned progress in social justice seems to be rendered undone …

More than anything, I wish more people would look beyond their own noses and learn how absolutely essential the good of ALL people is to our own. I find a great deal to be very upsetting. But I think that the advice given by Mr. Rogers - to “look for the helpers” - when one feels despair is very good advice. I try to focus on those who are pas-

sionately trying to work for the good of people, the planet and for all the creatures that live on it.

As for Trophy Killing, it makes me sick.

Have you found a great venue to publicly promote your work these days? It gets very crazy with all that is offered on social media... Where do you go that you feel works? How has the gallery scene been for you?

Claudia: I’m still very new to the gallery scene, so I’m not sure that I can give you a very complete answer. I have loved showing at Kimball Farms, the Artful Mind Gallery, and Gallery 37 in Delaware (David’s sister owns and operates it, and it has been voted the best gallery in Delaware for several years running!). But the most lucrative show for me has been at The Sandisfield Arts Center. I am always amazed and delighted at ALL the artistry, talent and appreciation for art that exists in this small community; BIG shout-out to Sandisfield!

Whats coming up for you next? I know your wheels are turning!

Claudia: (Laughs) I remember seeing a movie in which a character is described as a duck on a pond:

Above the surface all is quiet and serene as it glides along, but under the water, those little legs are churning away! That’s what it feels like in my world: LOTS of churning. I wish things felt as smooth as wheels turning . . .

David and I are feverishly packing and stacking boxes from my storage to move into our place in St, Augustine, and man, the old back can feel it!

(Laughs) I’m really excited. St. Augustine is the oldest continuous settlement in the US, and its history is international, diverse and eclectic. More than that, though, I can’t wait to ‘sink my teeth’ into a whole new environment. In a visit there last year, I was able to take pictures right inside colonies of nesting flamingoes, herons, egrets and roseate spoonbills. It blew my mind! They were not the least bit perturbed by our presence. And I must say that I’m looking forward to walking on the beach!

Then again, I look forward to being back in the Berkshires in the spring as life begins anew in our backyard here. I believe that it will look all the more beautiful for having been away.

Thank you Claudia!

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 15

FRONT ST. GALLERY

PAINTING BY KATE KNAPP Painting classes on Monday and Wednesday mornings 10-1pm at the studio in Housatonic and Thursday mornings 10am - 1pm out in the field.

Also available for private critiques. Open to all. Please come paint with us!

Gallery hours: Open by chance and by appointment anytime 413. 274. 6607 (gallery) 413. 429. 7141 (cell) 413. 528. 9546 (home) www.kateknappartist.com

Front Street, Housatonic, MA

Ghetta Hirsch Mixed Media on Wood Panel

website: ghetta-hirsch.squarespace.com instagram: @ghettahirschpaintings Text or call for STUDIO visits: 413. 281. 0626

Snow Dusting 2019 8 x 8” Mixed Media on wood Panel

16 •THE ARFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019

On display November 1 - 19 Artful Mind Gallery 129 Front St, Housatonic MA

Jennifer Pazienza

Sorella 1, 54 x 54 inches, oil on canvas 2019 Marion McCain Exhibition of Contemporary Altantic Canadian Materiality and Perception Beaverbrook Art Gallery, 19 October ‐ 26 January 2020 Fredericton, NB Canada http://www.jenniferpazienza.com/

www.instagram.com/jenniferpazienza/ THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 17

YEHUDA HANANI CELLIST Interviewed by Harryet Candee

I love your TEDxFultonStreet talk on “How Music Conveys Messages.” It’s so interesting to learn about how the Taliban, Mao and other dictators and societies banned most forms of music and feel so differently from the way we do about music. Can you tell me a little bit about the research process that you went through in preparation for this public talk?

Yehuda Hanani: The fact that the Taliban confiscates music recordings in all areas under their control and the Cultural Revolution burnt violins is obvious proof that music carries meaning and messages and is considered subversive and dangerous to totalitarian agendas. All great works in Western culture (not only music) tell a story; and it doesn’t take an expert to recognize that every folk song con18 • NOVEMBER 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND

Photography by Edward Acker

veys longing, yearning, joy, as well as anger, fear and dissent--even when unaided by words. I’ve always maintained that jazz played a crucial role in bringing down the Berlin Wall.

Can you tell us about some of the major highlights that mark the history and development of your concert series?

Yehuda: A lot has changed over the last few decades not only in my personal activities, but also in the world of music at large. When I left Juilliard after winning a few prizes, I was signed up by Columbia Artists Management and embarked on a solo career, with additional managers in England, Germany, Holland, Israel, the former Yugoslavia, Argentina, etc. The world was more splintered, and chamber

music was discouraged for anyone who wanted to maintain a solo career. I played mostly cello concertos as the guest of orchestras as well as recitals with various pianists. It was an exciting life, with composers writing concertos for me, experiencing international flavors (before the world became homogenized!) and with friendships, cuisines, and music-making across borders. And plenty of jet lag.

The flip side of this was that for every first-rate orchestra you get to play with (Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Israel Philharmonic), you get booked to play with mediocre groups and with conductors with whom you don’t see eye-to eye. And this is where the magic of chamber music started looking more and more rewarding. The repertoire is sublime and you play with kindred artists of the highest caliber.

World Premier Performance at Tanglewood's Ozawa Hall with Sigourney Weaver,Yehuda Hanani, and Chris Vatalaro.

Kenji Bunch - Sonnet No. 128 - When thou, my music, music play'st (For voice, cello, and percussion). 2014 (Photo Courtesy of Close Encounters with Music)

Another direction that evolved with the years was teaching and inspiring young musicians. It happens that I come from a family of writers and educators, and the wish to weave music into a larger context was my goal both with my cello students, audience members and listeners to the radio show “Classical Music According to Yehuda” hosted by Alan Chartock. The founding of Close Encounters With Music came from an irrepressible impulse to communicate and teach.

What is the connection between being a solo recitalist and Close Encounters with Music Series?

Yehuda: It’s all about music, communication and reaching your listeners on multiple levels. Of course, with Close Encounters, I do the research for the topic, consulting with experts, colleagues, and thinking beyond just the cello. The singularity of Close Encounters is its thematic concept—grouping pieces to illuminate a compelling topic, that isn’t necessarily related strictly to music. We have developed over 150 intriguing programs, along the way introducing new works, uncovering lost repertoire and composers, and shedding new light on familiar pieces. This approach to presenting musical material was so appealing that we have taken our programs to cities across the U.S. and Canada, with a

Yehuda, it seems overwhelming to me how busy you must be. And, playing the cello, I wonder, with everything else you do, how much time do you dedicate to practicing?

Yehuda: After my wife, the cello is my best friend, and I spend as much time as possible staying in shape, learning new pieces as needed, and practicing for what’s ahead. It varies a great deal because of trips, teaching schedule, master classes and lectures.

But I’m very disciplined and always drawn back to the cello.

nied Bach suites, which have been part of my musical life since a very early age and are a never-ending source of wonder, beauty and intellectual challenge for me. I have directed international festivals dedicated to these works, and always go overtime when a student brings one of them for a lesson. My last teacher, Pablo Casals, said that Bach is a miracle, and it is apparent in every page of the suites.

I actually started playing the violin, from the ages of 5 to 8, and then switched to cello. My first teacher was Thelma Yellin in Jerusalem. There is now a Thelma Yellin High School for the Arts named after her in Tel Aviv. So I began studying with a legend, then at the Jerusalam Academy and on to Juilliard, when Isaac Stern and Leonard Bernstein were on one of their visits to Israel, heard me play and arranged me to come to the U. S. on a full 4-year scholarship.

Tell me, when you dedicate time to playing music for yourself, what do you play? Is there anything you have been playing consistently since your early years of study in music school? Where did you study?

Yehuda: As a rule, every piece you study becomes the central, most engrossing one – your favorite child. There’s one exception: the six unaccompa-

Is there anyone, or group, who you recall as being the most memorable that you have played alongside? Maybe there’s one, or too many to name, I’d love to hear about one time with someone, and what made it memorable for you?

Yehuda: There are some strange memories that stand out and also wonderful memories: I was invited to Continued on next page...

few seasons at the Frick Museum in NYC, The Clark, Norman Rockwell, Center for the Fine Arts in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Kansas City, Omaha, Detroit Museum of Art, Calgary, Phoenix Art Museum, Scottsdale Center for the Arts, colleges and universities, etc.

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 19

Pianist James Tocco,Yehuda Hanani, violinist Vadim Gluzman, violist Richard O'Neill, cellist Diego Fainguersch, harpist Sivan Magen (Photo Courtesy of Close Encounters with Music)

play the Dvorak Concerto with the Chautauqua Festival Orchestra and wanted to meet the conductor before we convened with the orchestra. I phoned him and he said he could see me at 6 o’clock, and when I asked, wouldn’t this be too close to the concert time, he responded “No, I mean 6 o’clock in the morning.” It was a very pleasant, if groggy, visit.

He scrambled a few eggs for breakfast and we reviewed the piece. What I didn’t know was that the only time he was fully sober was early in the day.

By the time the rehearsal and performance rolled around, every time he leaned towards me, it felt like a wine-tasting visit to the Napa Valley. Tragically, after this, he continued to work his way down from some of the finest orchestras in the country to directing a regional one. He shall remain nameless.

A glorious experience was had with Aaron Copland, who was my conductor with the San Antonio Orchestra in one of his last public appearances. He knew that his place in history was assured and could allow himself to be kind, tender and humble. We spent the better part of a week rehearsing Bloch’s Schelomo rhapsody for cello and orchestra, and spent many hours together chatting. He told me about his grandmother’s blintzes when he was still 20 • NOVEMBER 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND

Aaron Kaplan, and questioned why orchestras engaged him to conduct his own works when “Lenny does it so much better”! A few weeks later he came to our West Side apartment for dinner, which included a group of younger admiring composers.

The contrast between his legendary status in American history and his unassuming, disarming and sweet demeanor was a lasting lesson.

How do you organize working with different groups of musicians, like the Haydn “Kaiser” Quartet?

Yehuda: The invitations are based on past joint experience and friendship, which is an important component in the interaction of music making. Chamber music, by definition, is music among like-minded friends, where individuality and cohesiveness are combined in a delicate balance. When you’ve been in the music world for a long time, you encounter the international chamber music set at festivals, conservatories, other series, etc. And it’s always a great pleasure when past students transition into chamber music partners and colleagues. It is very satisfying when you turn from “Professor Hanani” to “Yehuda” over a Schubert Quintet.

You have compared musical artists to visual artists for Close Encounters With Music. Tell us about your favorite theme, and what was it that enchanted you enough to study and learn and teach your audience your findings. (The French Impressionists Meet Chopin?)

Yehuda: It’s essentially the same—what composers do with sound, painters do with line and pigment.

We share a vocabulary (“loud” color in painting or “lyrical line” in music). There are dissonances and harmonies in both, rhythm in painting, and landscapes and portraits in music, and on and on.

Yehuda, Israeli-born, I wonder, what is your relationship with this beautiful country and your kin-folk at this time?

Yehuda: I return to play from time to time—with the orchestras of Jerusalem, Haifa, Beer Sheva, Israel Chamber; visit with past students who now hold important positions; and also just to enjoy the atmosphere, the energy, the creativity, ethnic and religious diversity, the marvelous new chefs, the open society, optimism despite the existential threats. Having grown up with the state, I marvel at its accomplishments and contributions to world art,

Yehuda Hanani Photograph by Edward Acker

medicine, engineering, science, technology, and of course, music. You truly have to visit to experience it fully.

What was your life like growing up in Israel?

Yehuda: I still remember spending months sleeping on a mattress on the floor during shelling in Jerusalem at the declaration of the state, and during the siege, six months of eating chocolate pudding that my mother had managed to hoard. But it was a joyful childhood, surrounded by extended family, trips to visit Biblical and archeological sites around the country. There were immigrants arriving—survivors with numbers on their arms, Jewish refugees from the Arab countries from which they had to flee.

My classroom was a veritable United Nations, everyone bringing their own heritage, artistic sensibilities and songs. The newspaper stands had daily papers in every conceivable language. Some family members were farmers, others were architects, authors, and it was altogether stimulating and enriching.

What is it that you remember being taught about music from a teacher or mentor that you can

share with us? How has that lesson still proove to be helpful to you today?

Yehuda: I’m a permanent student and gathered influences over the years like an eager bee gathering pollen, to make my own honey. From my teachers, I learned how to teach and also how not to teach. I encourage my students to seek artistic solutions and ideas from artists who are NOT cellists, so you go past the digital challenge and absorb artistic possibilities, interpretations, styles, traditions, approaches.

“Classical Music According to Yehuda” on WAMC, with Alan Chartock must be a lot of fun to do. What exploration was your focus on the Child Prodigies discussion? When speaking over the radio, do you have to speak in a way that everyone can understand, including those who don’t know much about classical music?

Yehuda: In all my public appearances, TED talks, and lectures, the challenge is always how to popularize and not vulgarize. It was Alan’s idea, to have a brief weekly segment, covering the myriad angles of classical music from the point of view of a performer. I think we have about 240 segments, and

we’re still finding new topics to explore. They are all available on podcast and I get feedback from European countries as well as the U. S. It’s wonderful the WAMC is contributing to the perpetuation of classical music.

What musical piece and composers, in your opinion, is extremely controversial, and why?

Yehuda: Singing “La Marseillaise” in Vichy France was very risky; composers could lose their lives in the Stalinst Soviet Union writing “bourgeois” music.

Klinghoffer, the opera by John Adams, tells the story of a group of PLO terrorists who hijacked a cruise ship in 1985, singling out a Jewish invalid in a wheelchair, shooting him in the forehead and throwing him overboard. It’s a patently anti-Semitic work and was bound to create controversy and thus lend the composer a lot of attention. It’s execrable that it was performed at the Met. This is a case where politics were hijacked into pseudo-art.

Something that I personally have performed is a piano piece by John Cage titled “4.33” where a pia nist sits at the piano with a stopwatch, opens the lid, and waits silently for the duration of the “piece.”

Continued on next page...

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 21

The Acronym Baroque String Band with Yehuda Hanani, cello 2018.

You can very well see why it was easy for me to perform it though I’m hardly a pianist. Actually, I took a faster tempo and played it in three minutes…..This is harmless controversy, and fun as audiences get the message of the piece and the silence is broken by giggles.

Is there a way you can explain how a piece of music that you can name, is actually a parallel with Abstract art?

Yehuda: Back to the Cage piece, painting takes place on a canvas. The canvas for music is silence. By removing the other elements of music—melody, rhythm, harmony—Cage is presenting us with an empty canvas, which some painters have done, calling it “white on white.” By doing so, he crossed over from the world of music into the realm of philosophy and conceptualism.

Yehuda, how is it possible that music can change our mood? Or heal us, or give us hope? What is it about sound?

Yehuda: Oliver Sacks has written a great deal about the healing powers of music. It can stir us to action, agitate into violence, and at the same time, “soothe 22 •THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019

(Photo Courtesy of Close Encounters with Music)

the savage breast.’ We have two speakers this season who will explore this very topic, including Concetta Tomaino, who was a close associate of Dr. Sacks for many years. This is taking place on March 29 at The Mount in Lenox.

Do you believe that in order to play anything on any instrument, with or without substance, but well, you need to have a solid background in classical training and theory?

Yehuda: Excellence in any genre of music requires a great deal of discipline, practice and mastering the rules. And with more knowledge come more freedom and more chance for innovation and originality.

In order to break the rules, you need to have a thorough knowledge of what they are.

They say the Asian languages are the hardest to learn, and I wonder, what do you think is the most difficult musical instrument to learn, or, to master?

Yehuda: I’ve been to China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan many times, and believe it or not, children four years old speak their languages fluently….Your question comes from a Westerner’s perspective. As far as in-

struments go, each instrument has its own challenges to overcome. The piano is essentially a percussive instrument, and it’s difficult to make it sing. The horn player is prone to hitting wrong notes because you have to control all the action with lip technique.

The cello is harder than the violin. You have to traverse longer distances on the strings. And the challenge we all face is to make the listener unaware of the technical hoops we have to go through and just enjoy the music—like the illusion of ease ballet dancers display after years of arduous practice.

What do you want to be remembered for?

Yehuda: There were great performers just a few decades ago whom nobody remembers. My students don’t recognize the cellistic heroes of my generation—Paul Tortelier, Pierre Fournier, Maurice Gendron, Andre Navarra, even Leonard Rose. It is very humbling. Since we are in the throes of preparing for the American premiere of Kohelet, or Ecclesiastes, with music by Israeli composer Andre Hajdu and narrated by Sam Waterston, I’m in an autumnal, philosophical frame of mind now. And to quote the book, “There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of thing that are

Yehuda Hanani plays cello Photograph by Edward Acker

to come by those that will come after.” But all this aside, the most important thing is not to erect a monument to myself but to pass on a magnificent heritage—the magic that classical music has wrought out of a mere twelve notes; the mystery of Bach; the intoxication of the Impressionist composers, etc.

Who is your present-day mentor?

Yehuda: Inspiration is ubiquitous. You get it from friends, from students, from a walk in Nature, from an art exhibit, from reading a great novel. It’s an alchemical process of turning everything and anything into music.

Have you come up with what your next project will be?

Yehuda: I’m working on collecting some of the many talks I’ve given into a volume, which will be illustrated by renowned artist R. O. Blechman.

There are a few favorite works I’ve never gotten around to recording that I plan to do. We’re commissioning a sensational cross-over piece from composer Tamar Muskal that fuses raga, rap and classical with Indian tabla, a rapper, rhythm vocalist

and two cellos. And already starting to think about the next commission. I’m going to be teaching at the Mannes School in New York City after 30 years at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music., planning our international festival Berkshire High Peaks, traveling for concerts and masterclasses, and spending time with my 300-yearold cello.

How is your family these days?

Yehuda: We’re blessed with two adorable grandchildren, who have an amazing amount of energy, joie de vivre, whom we try to see as often as possible.

I was hoping you can tell us a short story?

Yehuda: Since I don’t draw a distinction between the various artistic disciplines, I’ll tell you a story about a sculptor, the Romanesque artist Gislebertus who lived and worked in Autun, in the Burgundy regions of France, 12th century. For forty years he carved biblical stories—Old and New Testament—on the columns of the Cathedras of Saint Lazare. And when he finished, he did something that no one else had done at that time: he carved his name at the bot-

tom of the large depiction of the Day of Judgment, “Gilesbertus fecit” (Gilesbertus made this). For years I admired his work, spoke about him, about the naïve beauty, the discipline of the man, and the difference between pride and arrogance expressed in his signature identifying himself as the “creator,” which was unheard of at the time. On a big birthday, my wife and our son surprised me by taking me to the airport, practically blindfolding me, and leading me to Autun to meet my thousand-year-old friend, whom I knew only from the art album. It was a Close Encounter with an unsung master.

Thank you, Yehuda!

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 23

MONET'S POND. GIVERNY PHOTOGRAPH, 10 X 10”

SUSAN GELLER MUSHROOM FAIRY VEIL,WATERCOLOR 51/2 X 8”

CAROLYN NEWBERGER CHAIRS, PASTEL ON CARDBOARD, 4 X 5” AND 3 X 5”

MARK MELLINGER I live in two separate worlds. One verbal and one visual. What they have in common is an attitude of pushing into the unknown; of allowing unconscious elements to take form within consciousness. I couldn’t live without both.

Art came first, but after a while I began to feel self-indulgent and isolated. I wanted to address problems of mans’ impact on the environment. I went through careers in art, photography, carpentry, ecology and microbiology before landing in psychology at 30. 10 years ago, when we found a loft in Pittsfield, I returned to my first love, art.

It’s not like riding a bicycle. I had to start from scratch. I feel I’m just now catching up to where I left off 50 years ago.

I’m not satisfied with a piece for a long time.

I’ll put it away and work on something else. I’ll look at it upside down and in a mirror, trying to get a handle on what’s wrong. It’s a very solitary meditation. I might gesso over everything except some small bits that are working; then start over from those. The viewer completes the process. It’s a collaboration. It’s a thrill when someone “gets” a piece, but I’m OK when they don’t. The connection with the viewer should be as rare and special as marriage. www.markmellingerart.com markmellinger680@gmail.com

11 24 • NOVEMBER 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND

I came to art after a long career in psychology, dedicated to the wellbeing of children and families.

Two years in the Peace Corps in Africa from 19671969, the diversity of my extended family, the preciousness of the people I has served in my career, and a life in music have all found their ways into my art.

Watercolor painting, mixed media and collage, and a practice of drawing from life form the body of my work. I draw in real time, in the natural world and as well in darkened performance halls. There the challenge is to keep a receptive ear and a loose hand in order to capture both performer and sound, with their rhythm, flow, and intensity. These works illustrate essays and music and dance reviews, some written in collaboration with my husband, Eli Newberger, in The Berkshire Edge, a publication of news, arts and ideas in Western Massachusetts.

More recently, my work has focused on the life and beauty of the forest, a place filled with unexpected discoveries. Living on the edge of a deep forest, my dog, Lily and I have been exploring it together. While Lily leaps and sniffs out rodents under decaying logs, I, with folding stool, notebook and art supplies on my back, records in words and images the forest’s revelations.

My artwork has received numerous awards, including Watercolor Artist Magazine, the Danforth Museum of Art, the Cambridge Art Association, and the New England Watercolor Society. I have widely exhibited in solo and group shows in New England and beyond. A signature member of the New England Watercolor Society, my work is represented by Galatea Fine Art in Boston, MA. To see more of my work as well as professional and personal publications please visit my website.

Carolyn Newbergerwww.carolynnewberger.com

The four 2018 photos in ELEVEN, The Artful Mind exhibit are beautiful iconic images of Paris, and autumn reflections of water lilies in Monet’s Gardens in Giverny.

Susan Geller has always followed her heart and her dreams: photography, writing and adventure. In 1971, during a journey to Japan, she bought a Nikkormat. She worked in Boston during the 1960’s, and returned to the Berkshires, where she originated the weekly children’s column, “Suzy,” for The Sunday Sampler, a supplement to the Berkshire Eagle.

From 1974-78, she wrote her column and illustrated it with her own photographs. During this time, she published three children’s books—I Live In Stockbridge, a history of the town, illustrated by the late Susan Leroy Merrill. In collaboration with artist, Nan Bookless she wrote, The All About Apples Coloring Book for Bartlett’s Apple Orchard, Richmond, MA, and, My Tanglewood Summer for Tanglewood's Glass House.

In the 1980’s, she worked as a Department of Defense Dependent School teacher in West Berlin, Germany.

Ms. Geller graduated from Lesley College, Cambridge, MA with a BS in Education, a MA in Urban Education from Simmons College, and a MSW from the University of Maryland. She worked for 30 years as a teacher and guidance counselor.

From 2009-2013, Ms. Geller was a freelance writer and photographer for “Berkshires Week,” the Thursday calendar section of The Berkshire Eagle. Her work has appeared in many group shows, magazines, websites, brochures, and two CD covers. She is a contributor to BTWBerkshires.com, and OLLI at Berkshire Community College.

For 2019: Highlighted publications: *TEN SPOT Photography Show / Pittsfield’s Annual 8th 10x10 Upstreet Winter Arts Festival at the Lichtenstein Center For The Arts; * Cover of the spring OLLI catalog; * One of 15 photos: United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism Calendar. 66,000 households; * Far, Far Away exhibit. Colonial Theater; * Let’s Go Pink exhibit. Colonial Theater.

’s Ghetta Pallette SAT NOV 24 1 - 4 pm

ART

Demonstration with

GHETTA HIRSCH Painting with the Pallette Knife SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 1 - 4PM Watch.

Learn.

See how it’s done.

THE ARTFUL MIND @ FRONT STREET GALLERY 129 FRONT ST., HOUSATONIC, MA • Refreshments will be served •

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 25

Rosemary Barrett, Floating in Warmth

ROSEMARY BARRETT VISUAL ARTIST Interviewed by Harryet Candee

Rosemary, what have you discovered fascinating to you about painting boats? What is the significant meaning for you?

Rosemary Barrett: Actually the boat is a metaphor and a means to the practise of painting. The metaphor is an important aspect which leads into my ideas of life and death and expression. As we move along experiencing all kinds of life, love and loss these feelings might be seen in my paintings. I have been delighted with this experience, every new painting is different in expression. I am not anxious about the outcome. Enjoying the process and looking forward to what is next, maybe a boat maybe not, which keeps me painting and the mysteries unfolding.

When did you first begin this series on wooden boats, and how did it all begin for you to do so?

It started last Fall. They came one after another, I was working every free minute I could. Once I started I found it difficult to stop. Sometimes I only 26 • NOVEMBER 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND

Photographs Courtesy of Artist

having a short time to paint, and I chip away at it.

This seems to work for me when necessary.

What mediums do you work in? Do you also work in 3d venues as well?

Rosemary: I am working in acrylic, oil, colored pencil and pen right now. I have been a sculptor for many years working in bronze, concrete and plaster.

With this I became an accomplished mold maker. I worked in pastel for many years, a medium that I love. Early on I started making assemblages out of found objects placed in boxes. The play of color, texture and scale created a sense of poetry. I have also muraled for years traveling abroad and working on both coasts. The Trompe L’Oile aspect of my career has been very satisfying, nothing like fooling the eye to see the magic that can be made with paint.

What is your life all about being a full time artist?

Rosemary: I am so fortunate to have a life that is full of art. The study and exploration that it brings to me illuminates my life in which I revel in and am awed by on a daily basis. My partner, Kevin MacDonald, brings art to me every day in some form or another, I am so grateful for his encouragement, faith in me, and the creative spirit that he is. My family, sisters, daughter and friends have all added to this very rich life that I have.

Rosemary, you are also an art teacher, please tell us about your work in the educational field?

Rosemary: I have taught for many years young students and old alike. I taught art to dyslexic students at The Kildonan School for a few years. It was incredibly valuable as a person with dyslexia myself.

I found a new value to myself, which didn’t really change the way I make art but did let me see myself in a new light that I am forever grateful. Teaching children has been an aspect that I will never forget, there fearlessness and approach to art making is

Rosemary Barrett, New Boat

joyous, clear and inspiring.

Can you tell us a little about your family background?Since your family has been engaged in the arts for generations, you must feel gifted.

Rosemary: I am not sure that gifted is the effect of generations, but the support is. Art making is something that has been expected of me, although I have always heard that I have a gift that I must use, as it is not given to everyone and it would be senseless not to use it. On my mother’s side of the family it can be traced back many generations. Shem Drown made the grasshopper on Faneuil Hall and the rooster on the Old North Church in Boston, MA. There have been many craftsmen, boat builders, tin smiths, and painters and musicians that are a part of my lineage. My mother and two sisters have all made a living in the arts. My sister, Pat, from NH has been a sci-fi and fantasy painter for many years, Pat Lewis, formally Pat Morrissey, has had a great career painting and designing in the arts. My sister

Janice Cormier is involved in the Decorative Arts, and has many students, and a business that has spanned many years. I know that it is unusual for more than one artist in a family, and here we are all making a living in the arts!

You recently had a show at aMuse Gallery, located in Chatham, NY in a group show entitled, Eye of The Beholder. And now, you will be showing at The Stewart House the boat series. How did this materialize for you to show at this historic, beautiful restaurant and B & B in Athens, NY? Rosemary: I have been showing my paintings in Hudson, NY at TKHome on Warren St. I have shown with her for a few years and trust her. Tessy encouraged me to take a look, and get involved with Lois Ballenger, the owner, as she has a venue that might behoove me.

Was the selecting of art work process easy? Did

Lois have her say in what she liked to show?

Rosemary: Lois loved everything so it was very easy!

What’s your opinion of showing art in restaurants, as apposed to galleries?

Rosemary: In showing at a restaurant there has always been an attitude that your work is a means of decorating for the restaurant and the clientele is not really interested in your art, they are going to enjoy the atmosphere that is there no doubt, but to invest in an artist is highly unlikely. It is a lot of work to transport, hang and advertise with the restaurant. A gallery has there clientele and buyers. The promotion that they do is usually effective and results in sales for the artist keeping us afloat and working, which is something that I respect and have had very good experiences with.

Another one of your artistic venues, as well as Continued on next page...

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 27

Rosemary Barrett, Red Boat

painting, is assemblage, and you often visit flea markets and antique fairs picking and choosing objects that inspire you to do sculptural pieces.

This is a fun kind of art, I imagine. Also, you have had your share in showing your art in museums, galleries and selected group shows throughout the Northeast. What is it that you enjoy about making art?

Rosemary: I enjoy the creative exploration into the unknown, always looking for that resounding feeling of discovery and from there it is a wonderful ride.

With an array of venues you choose to work in, I am wondering, how might you explain your painterly process?

Rosemary: I find it difficult to talk about this as it is so spontaneous and full of surprises for myself, but I have made a big leap this year from a very tight realistic format to a looser oil infused delicious 28 • NOVEMBER 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND

movement of paint that has such a satisfaction for me. I am riding high on the achievements of it thus far.

Who have been your solid mentors and, can you tell us the institutions you found learning art beneficial in your lifetime?

Rosemary: The School of the Worcester Art Museum was the most catapulting experience of my life, being exposed to many new mediums, teachers and fellow artist it shaped my life to come. I apprenticed at St. John the Divine in New York, sculpting and learning the process of bronze casting. Can’t say I was lucky enough to have had a mentor but the people around me inspired and infused me with a great desire to create.

What has been one of the most valuable, well used lesson you use, and share as a teacher?

Rosemary: That we are all unique and creative be-

ings that express in many unique ways there are no right or wrong way to express yourself. I am only here to give you some tools to make your journey quicker, smoother and encourage your creative expression.

Can you say, you would never have done things differently in your lifetime? What would fulfill your life completely?

Rosemary: Of course hindsight is always 20/20. I must say that I am of the mind that I am in the exact place that I should be in and without all the experiences that I have had, I wouldn’t be here and here is a wonderful place to be within my artistic life and all that clings to how and why I am here.

What other interests do you partake in when not painting, or sculpting, or teaching?

Rosemary: I love to cook, garden, knit, sew, read, walk and entertain friends for dinner. I love to ar-

Rosemary Barrett, I Can Still See

range flowers from my garden for our house or to give as gifts. I am a bit of a Renaissance Woman, so I do many things!

What are your future plans that you have lined up? Art-wise, travel, books to read? Films to see?

Rosemary: I plan to keep exploring and teaching and painting in my studio. I get so much out of teaching in so many subtle ways. My partner and I have just about finished refurbishing a 1870’s brick row house in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It is a project that was greatly satisfying. So much thought and planning went into this endeavour. Kevin is an architectural designer/ woodworker and builder. What I have learned from him and the input that came from me was exciting and valuable. We are a great

team, and can’t believe I am about to say this, after all the work that we did, but I could look forward to doing this again, for ourselves and others.

I am interested in artists that have things to say about their work and the inspiration that it brings to me, so I am always looking for a book or film that continues that quest.

few. Can’t leave without mentioning Franz Klien, a painting of his was the first time that I was moved in a way that I had never experienced and it has stayed with me all these years. It just sent me into a precious space and left me wanting to explore and feel my own painting in a way I didn’t know was possible.

Who are your favorite artists, and why?

Rosemary: I have so many favorites! I love Rene Magritte for his thought provoking images, Gerhard Richter for his approach to art making. Louise Nevelson for her shapes that unite through color. Martin Puryear for his forms and use of materials, Richard Serra for his strength in simplicity. Color inspiration comes from Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Renoir, Gustav Klint and Francis Bacon, to name a

What do you have in common with these artists, you think?

I have in common a passion to create, a love of the form, color and ideas and a respect for the subtleties that can make or break a painting.

Thank you Rosemary!

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 29

MARGUERITE BRIDE, NO TRESPASSING IN LENOX, WATERCOLOR

A SUNNY KNOLL, GOUACHE / WATERCOLOR 20 X 28”

BRUCE SHICKMANTER Bruce Shickmanter retired in 2012 from his work as a physician in Berkshire County. After retirement he decided to pursue a long-term interest in watercolor painting.

In his paintings Bruce develops his use of pleasing shapes along with light and color to convey a sense of magic, mystery and movement. He uses the texture and matte finish of gouache to create a contrast with the transparent and ephemeral qualities of watercolors. The scenes he paints are often places he has come across while hiking or biking or are inspired by a photo that stimulates his creativity.

Bruce’s paintings have been shown at St. Francis Gallery in Lee, MA, The Artful Mind Gallery in Lenox, MA, Chocolate Springs Café in Lenox, MA and in multiple group shows in various locations with the Guild of Berkshire Artists.

Bruce Shickmanter- 413-446-3721, ontrails13@gmail.com

Not that the story need be long, but it will take a long while to make it short.

– Henry David Thoreau

KEITH EMERLING, POMEGRANATES WATERCOLOR, 11 X 15, FRAMED 17.5X21”

MARGUERITE BRIDE

KEITH EMERLING

SMALL WORKS

Observation is the greatest teacher; I paint and draw from life.

The first painting I can remember doing was when I was in grade school, my family still has it and I still like it. The next time I picked up a brush was in college. I painted all the time, starting with abstract work, some being diptychs that were 5x7 and 8x10 feet in size. Later I began painting smaller and becoming more representational, eventually painting mostly still life.

I painted into my 30's and then stopped entirely.

It took me too long to complete a painting, the last one taking six months. At the time, I was already a private chef and continued to work in that profession for a total of ten years. Then I became a commercial and fine art photographer for almost another decade. I came back to cooking for another five years as a recipe creator and author. When I finally returned to painting, I did so with a passion.

I now paint rather quickly, which is very helpful in painting from life, especially when working En Plein Air or with flowers and people. The connection is more than just with the subject matter. The process of creating results in personal growth and captures evidence of beauty in the world. Painting is full of discovery and is a puzzle of interlocking pieces that eventually reveals a finished piece.

This process maps the growth of me as an artist as well as a person. It is living connection that keeps me making and remaking myself. In that remaking I hope to discover an aliveness and sense of who I am.

Degrees include a B.A. in Fine Arts from University at Albany (State University of New York at Albany, SUNYA) and undergraduate work at U.C. Santa Barbara, Cleveland State University and Berkshire Community College. I also completed one year of non-degree graduate work in painting and photography at SUNYA. I continue to take classes and workshops Keith Emerling kse@keithemerlingfineart.com; 413-442-2483; www.keithemerlingfineart.com

Marguerite Bride will be exhibiting new small works at the weekend Hand-Made Holiday Festival at the Stationary Factory in Dalton on Dec 78. Painting small and fast has not been one of Bride’s characteristics; she is usually slow, deliberate and very detailed. This new venture has resulted in many looser and fun paintings. Most are matted to 11x14 and are very reasonably priced for the holidays.

Where else can you catch Bride’s work? A brand-new selection of small matted originals (village scenes – all seasons), cards and fine art reproductions are available in the gift shop at Hancock Shaker Village.

Also, LOCAL, a lovely high-end craft and art gallery in Lenox (across from Chocolate Springs) carries framed originals, and matted reproductions and cards by the artist. Fine art repros and note cards of Berkshire images and others by the artist are also available at the Red Lion Inn Gift Shop (Stockbridge), Lenox Print & Mercantile (Lenox), Good Purpose Gallery (Lee) and also directly from the artist.

Are you thinking of an “artful” gift for that special someone for the holidays? A gift certificate for a commissioned painting is always delightful… especially when the recipient gets to work directly with the artist. Most popular…siblings getting together and providing their parents with a house portraitg. That is always a treasured gift and fun as well.

Small group lessons in watercolor technique will resume in January. Email the artist for more information. Limited openings.

Marguerite Bride – 413-841-1659 or 413-4427718; margebride-paintings.com; margebride@aol.com; Facebook: Marguerite Bride Watercolors.

A word is dead When it is said, Some say.

I say it just begins to live that day.

– Emily Dickinson

30 • NOVEMBER 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND

FICTION

Spellbound Padme Lake

KATE KNAPP’S STILL LIFE

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

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

Private critiques available.

Classes at Front Street are for those wishing to learn, those who just want to be involved in the pure enjoyment of art, and/or those who have some experience under their belt. Perfect if you are seeking fresh insight into watercolors, and other mediums.

Front Street Gallery – Front Street, Housatonic, MA. Gallery open by appointment or chance anytime. 413-528-9546 at home or 413429-7141 (cell) www.kateknappartist.com

People on the outside think there’s something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn’t like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that’s all there is to it.

– Harlan Ellison

Was he hallucinating? Kaspar, panting as he reached the edge of a high cliff overlooking a wild sea, waves crashing upon the jagged rocks below, wasn’t sure. It felt terribly real. The cutting wind blowing his silvery brown hair into his grey eyes, cold against his pale skin. The smell of seaweed and brine. And sulfur. The clinic finally seemed to have blended the perfect cocktail of antipsychotics, which had the not entirely unwelcome effect of blurring the psychic Maginot line between real life and dream.

But he felt reasonably sure that if he was in his right mind, the Beast of the Apocalypse, fresh from a Durer woodcut and stinking of hellfire and lightning, would not be climbing up the cliffside after him. There was nowhere to run; he could only stand in a haze of confusion and paralysis as the creature shambled up the stony path, roaring, all of its seven heads with fangs bared, foam dripping from slavering mouths.

“—I said, can I have a cigarette?!” it roared intelligibly.

Kaspar, who had been edging closer and closer to the edge of the cliff, so close that a tiny trickle of gravel displaced by his heel spilled down the rock face, blinked.

“What?” he said.

The Beast came to a halt several feet away from Kaspar, which unfortunately did not keep its sulfurous odor from wafting over him. “Man!” it wheezed. “You make me run all this way. I think I’m gonna have a heart attack.

Now, you gotta cigarette?”

Kaspar had stopped smoking a few years earlier, but there seemed to be a pack of Sobieskis in his jacket pocket. With a lighter. Mutely he pulled out a cigarette and lit it for the Beast. Ah yes. It had seven heads. “Er, how many did you want?”

“One is plenty,” it answered. “You trying to kill me or something?”

Suddenly all seven of the Beast’s heads turned to look down the path. “Shit. Here he comes. Well, nice talking to you Kaspar. Gotta go.”

“Who?” Kaspar asked. “Who’s coming?”

“John,” the Beast sneered. “The old necromancer.” It shivered, then looked at Kaspar with all of its heads. “If I was you I would run.”

The Beast shuffled past Kaspar, nearly knocking him over, and clumsily launched itself into the air. Kaspar watched it fly off on red leather wings, until he remembered its warning and quickly turned around.

A man was approaching. An elderly man. But the nearer he drew, the less elderly and the more sinuous he seemed. It was very strange.

At last he had climbed the final steep pass, and stood before Kaspar. “Hello, Kaspar,” he said. He was almost as tall as Kaspar, with stringy yellowish white hair and a sharp hooked nose.

“Who are you?” Kaspar asked him.

“As I’m sure the Beast told you, I’m called John. Did you have a nice chat?”

“It was brief. Would you like a cigarette?” He wasn’t sure why he asked. But John graciously accepted, and it was then that Kaspar noticed how hauntingly beautiful John’s eyes were. Green and gold, like a cat’s.

Kaspar lit a Sobieski and handed it to John.

John gazed deep into Kaspar’s eyes as he breathed in the smoke, then exhaled it in a silver stream. “Durer was a beautiful boy,” he said. “Too brilliant for his own good.

A snot. But genius will have its way.” He smiled. “And it did.

“I planted the seeds of the Apocalypse in his head. I

showed him the Beast and made him draw his nightmares. He made them so very beautiful.”

The cigarette was half-smoked. John handed it to Kaspar, who, from force of old habit, took it and put it to his lips. He inhaled. His mouth, his lungs were filled with a rich, musky, sweetness. Kaspar closed his eyes. He inhaled again. “What is this?” he asked John.

“Do you like it?” John asked.

“Yes. I do.”

“Then what does it matter what it is? Think of it as a special blend I made just for you.”

Kaspar’s head was starting to swim. He was beginning to feel frightened. “Who are you?”

“I told you,” John replied. “Have you forgotten already?”

“Am I dreaming?”

“Partly.”

“Then what is the part that is not a dream?”

John leaned close, plucked the cigarette from Kaspar’s lips, and kissed him softly on the mouth. John’s breath smelled of fermented honey and wildflowers and something Kaspar could not name.

A low moan escaped from Kaspar’s lips. “Please,” he whispered, not certain at all what he begged for. His head was beginning to spin. He reeled as a thousand things revealed themselves to him. Whispered to him. The beat of wings. The hiss of serpents. The moan of wind through reeds. And John, ringed in undulating rainbows, tracing shapes in the air with his fingers.

“There are things I can teach you,” murmured John.

“But not with words. You’re going to have to go with me.”

“But,” Kaspar wanted to say, “I don’t understand.”

The old man was scaring him. The old man with stringy hair like dirty snow and a nose like a hawk was transforming, his features melting and reshaping into that of a much younger man, an impossibly beautiful man with skin of sienna porcelain, his hair a soft tangle of auburn curls, lips like a ripe plum. He had the golden eyes of a predator.

“Who are you?” Kaspar breathed in the instant before his lips, his mouth were opened, entered. A bolt of lightning shuddered Kaspar’s body. Is this what I want? he wondered as this metamorphosed John drew his head back and studied him. With all the strength he possessed Kaspar reached out to John, took his face in his hands and drank in his mouth. Want it or no, it feels exquisite. I kiss a serpent with the eyes of a lion. Being so close to his death made Kaspar feel that now, in this instant, he truly lived.

Things happened. An earthquake in a drop of water.

John’s mouth on him. His mouth filled with John. All the while John spoke in silence of the secrets of living and dying, of things hidden and lost to memory. Treasures that lay buried, waiting, beneath the sands of Time. And when John entered him Kaspar’s mind exploded into fragments of crystalline music; his spirit shattered into raging star fire.

Oh, he sobbed, waking and finding himself in his room at the clinic, alone, his sheets damp and fragrant with the scent of rue. He stared at the ceiling. What had just happened? His whole being throbbed with an ache and a want that seemed carved into the bedrock of his soul. Witchcraft, he whispered. More.

“Spellbound” is excerpted from the upcoming novel Immortal Monkeys, the sequel to the fantastical novel The Virgin of Hopeless Causes, available at amazon.com.

Padme Lake is a Berkshire writer, actor, master energy practitioner, and creator of the Universal Heart Akashic Method. She originally hails from the Detroit suburbs and adores being multipassionate. She loves hearing from readers, and can be found at padmelake.com

THE ARTFUL MIND NOVEMBER 2019 • 31

Jason And His Grandmother CHAPTER 5

The Paper Route That morning, as soon as I saw Jason in the distance it seemed that he had something important on his mind. He was silent and distracted. On any other morning he would have started talking about cars, but when I asked him what he was worried about, he got very angry, as if I was attacking him.

Jason was not the sort of person that could explain anything personal, and so over the next several days I pieced together a picture of what might have happened. There were certain obvious facts that could not be overlooked, especially the absence of the big Mayflower moving van, but by the end of the week Bluto had a new truck and a new job. The truck was not exactly new and the job was not exactly a job. The truck was an old 1947 panel van that had been a bread delivery truck. Bluto’s new job was hauling junk to the dump from people’s attics and basements; he was self-employed. He had placed an advertisement in the classifieds.

I was going to be spending a lot of time in the coming months in that old truck working as Bluto’s assistant,

32 • NOVEMBER 2019 THE ARTFUL MIND

cleaning out attics and basements. It was a part time job that couldn’t have come at a more opportune time, as I was about to be fired from my regular job, which was a paper route.

I had been delivering papers for over a year, having taken over an evening route of one hundred and twenty customers. At first I was very excited about it. It took me about two hours each day and all day Saturday to collect the money.

Gradually, I can’t say why, I began to lose interest in my business enterprise. I set out with my bag of papers later and later each day, finding some new distraction to take up my time until I was hours late delivering the last customers. The boys with routes bordering mine began to convert my customers to their routes, and so I began to lose two or three customers a week.

Since I was never around when the papers were delivered, I was never able to tell the route manager to give me fewer papers. When my route got down to one hundred customers, I was losing over half my income.

Somehow I didn’t care about the money. My twenty dollars at the end of the week dwindled to ten, but my biggest problem was what to do with the extra papers. I had to throw them away, but didn’t want anyone to notice.

At the end of January I found a solution for what to do with the extra papers. There was an old apartment house at the end of my route. It had once been a farmhouse, and behind it there was a large old barn. Behind this barn was the driveway for an adjacent apartment house. When the driveways were plowed after a storm the snow was pushed into a gigantic heap up against the back of the barn. There was a space between the snow pile and the barn, and if you were cutting through the backyards you came to a place where you couldn’t be seen from any direction.

Every day I would take all my extra newspapers and throw them in the space between the snow pile and the barn. There was no way anyone could have seen me doing such a stupid thing, and there was no way anyone could see the papers either. You might ask me, why didn’t I just cancel three or four papers at a time, or even ten all at once? But the number got up to thirty-five. How do you tell that to your route manager? He would have thought I was crazy.

No, it was better to just go on with the route, so long as I was able to manage to pay the weekly bill. It didn’t matter to me that I wasn’t making any money, that I had to deliver the entire route for nothing.

But then came the point where there were forty extra papers a day, and if I collected every house I was still five dollars short every week. I got to forty extra papers a day on April 15. I remember that day very distinctly because there was a sudden spell of warm weather that lasted for a week. It started on April 8th, and by the 15th all the snow in the entire city was gone.

Behind the barn, there was the most gigantic pile of wet soggy newspapers that you might ever come across in your entire life, piled all in one place. If you were cutting through those yards between Sunset and Rose Place and you saw those papers, at first you would have had no idea how they could have got there. You would have thought to yourself, “Who would have so many newspapers to throw away?”

There could be only one answer to that question: “Some paperboy.” And why would a paperboy have so many papers to throw away, you would immediately wonder. Because he is losing his customers and not telling his route manager about it, that's why. It would be perfectly obvious. And who delivers the papers on

Sunset Avenue in that block next to Rose Place? That kid, Albert. Albert what’s-his-name. He must be the one who has been creating this pile of wet papers. So there it was, April 15th, and a big pile of newspapers about six feet deep was crying out to everyone that I was a failure at business.

Then, on that very day, Jason asked me if I would work for Bluto on Saturday. Bluto wanted me to help him to unload some junk from a house in the town of Clinton. It wasn’t exactly a part time job, but I made it sound like it was a permanent part-time job, so I would have to quit my paper route. My father didn’t like it, but I had no choice.

Early on Saturday morning I rode my bicycle over to Gilmore Village and knocked on the door of Jason’s apartment. Bluto opened the door, and at first he had no idea who I was or what I wanted. I explained that Jason told me that I was supposed to help him load his truck with stuff from an attic. Finally he remembered, and told me to go and wait for him in his truck for a minute.

I went and waited for him in his panel van and it was almost an hour before he finally came out, so I had a long time to look at the truck. It wasn’t like any vehicle I had ever seen before. In every respect it was the opposite of my father’s vehicle.

What was most peculiar was that there weren’t any seats in the truck. There was only the driver’s seat that looked, from the side, like an L-shaped bundle of rags and springs on top of a steel post. For the passenger there was a wooden box, the type used to transport 24 soda bottles.

This wooden box was set up where the passenger seat would have been. The passenger had to sit on the box. In the back there were a number of packing blankets, some spread out and some folded up, all gray and dirty looking.

The inside of the truck was simply metal walls with ribs all scraped and rusted. The truck did not have any carpeting or mats like you see in a normal vehicle; just a metal floor all rusted and flaked.

The truck was a standard shift. It had one windshield wiper instead of two. The windshield was divided into two sections and my side had a crack in it. On the floor in front of the driver’s seat, sticking out from the floor was the clutch, the brake and the accelerator, all shiny metal posts with no rubber covers over them.

There was a big crooked shift lever ending on the floor in a lump of grease. There was something peculiar about those pedals and the shifter; it was all very dumb and makeshift looking, dirty and crooked, and it was impossible to imagine that any of it would actually work.

Bluto got into the truck. He didn’t say anything to me, as if I wasn’t even there. He stuck a little key in a hole in the dash over by my knees. Then he pushed the clutch down to the floor, turned the key, and the engine came on like a shaking box of rocks covered in grease. The next sixty seconds are forever etched in my memory. I was wondering where Jason was and if we were leaving without him. I started to ask about it but I only said the word, “Why...” when Bluto let out the clutch.

The truck lurched up the hill in spurts and I fell over backwards so fast that I didn’t realize that I was falling. I was looking out the window, and the next second I was on my back, looking at the ceiling of the truck. After seeing the roof of the truck, I was puzzled to see my feet pass by over my head. A second later I was pressed against the back door of the truck. The soda box I had been sitting on was not attached to the floor. I crawled to the front of the truck, set up the soda box and sat back down. Bluto turned to me with a look of concern and said, “That’s the laws of inertia is what that was.”

The truck rounded the corner of Auburn Ave. without slowing down and so I fell off the crate again, into the door, and on to the floor. “That’s the centrifugal force,” he said.

So began my strange new education.

RICHARD BRITELL: FROM THE BLOG NO CURE FOR THE MEDIEVAL MIND

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