tam june 2014

ARTIST MATTHEW BIALERPHOTOGRAPHED BY JANE FELDMAN

JUNE 2014 MONTHLY BERKSHIRE ARTZINE THE SOURCE FOR PROMOTING ART SINCE 1994

THE ARTFUL MIND

Saint Francis Gallery1370 Pleasant street. route 102 LEE. MA (next to fire dept.)

complete schedule: www.saintfrancisgallery.com413.717. 5199 open fri-mon 11-5:30pm

Through June 15...The Eyes and Soul of an Artist

selected visions and multiple creationsJune 20 - July 27...

The Complexity of Experience Engaging RealityReception June 28, 3-6pm

CASEY KRAWCZYK, OIL

Vault Gallery413.644.0221

Marilyn Kalishmarilynkalish.com

1 • JUNE 2014 THE ARTFULMIND

2 • JUNE 2014 ThE ArTfUl MiNd

THE ARTFULMIND JUNE 2014 •3

museums & galleriesA.P.E. LTD. GALLERY126 Main Street, Northampton, MAreconfigurations: Cynthia Consentino: A Solo Exhibition June 5-29, 2014. Artists reception, June 13, 5-8pm

510 WARREN STREET GALLERYhudson, NY • 518-822-0510 may 30 - June 30: Guest invitational: Ann-Marie light, EllenMurtagh, Margo Trout and Ken Young

CARRIE HADDAD GALLERY622 Warren Street, hudson, NY • 518-828 1915 / www.carriehaddadgallery.comPhotographer Jerry freedner

LITTLE GALLERY IN HOUSATONIChttp://www.debkoffman.com/events/Michele Beck is showing her drawings at the May 24-June 30th

FRONT STREET GALLERYfront St., housatonic, MA • 413-274-6607 / 413-528-9546, orcell at 413-429-7141housatonic Gallery for students and artists. featuring water-

colors by Kate Knapp (Saturday and Sunday 12-5pm or by ap-pointment)

INNER VISION STUDIOfurnace rd, corner of Cone hill,West Stockbridge, MA413-232-4027 / innerVision-Studio.com"A magical place for art" Watercolor, photography, drawingOpen Sat & Sun 12-4 pm, June 21 thru Aug 31Sunday Paint-ins at the Studio & West Stockbridge VillageCall for details

LAUREN CLARK FINE ART25 railroad Street, Great Barrington, MA• 413-528-0432 / www.laurenClarkfineArt.com; [email protected] exhibit and many artists on display

LAWRENCE FINE ART 37 Newtown lane (in the passageway)East hampton, NY / lawrence-fine-arts.comleon dabo, Jolie fleurs, Opens: June 12, Gallery Talk: June14; Marjorie Strider, Second international Girlie Show,Opens: June 26

MARGUERITE BRIDENUarts Studios, Studio #9311 North St., Pittsfield, MAmargebride-paintings.com • 413-841-1659Original Watercolors, house portraits, commissions, lessons

MEETING HOUSE GALLERYNew Marlborough on rt. 57, close to the inn on the Green The gallery will inaugurate the 2014 season with Wood-Metal-Stone on Saturday, June 14. The opening reception is friday,June 13, 5-7 pm. it will showcase eleven artists working on alarge and small scale who will combine their exper-tise to cre-ate an exciting exhibition using wood, metal and stone

NO. SIX DEPOT ROASTERY AND CAFÉ 6 depot Street in West Stockbridge, MASirarpi heghinian Walzer, exhibit will run May 16 -June 30.An artists’ reception will be held on June 13, 5 -6:30pm

NORMAN ROCKWELL MUSEUMrte 183, Stockbridge, MA .8 413-298-4100highlights from "Norman rockwell: Behind the Camera" ThruMay 31; Baseball, rodeos, and Automobiles: The Art of Mur-ray Tinkelman Thru June 15; Wendell Minor's America; ThruMay 26; Norman rockwell's 323 "Saturday Evening Post"Covers.Open year-round.

POULTRY HOUSE GALLERYHANCOCK SHAKER VILLAGE1843 West housatonic Street, Pittsfield MAEric Korenman"Ye Are God's Building"New Portraits at hancock Shaker Village

SANFORD SMITH FINE ART13 railroad Street, Great Barrington MA • 413-528-6777 Exhibit of new paintings by Karen leSage, August 8 - Septem-ber 14. A reception will be held on Saturday, August 9 from4:00-6:00. (11 – 6, fri.& Sat. until 7)

SCHANTZ GALLERIES3 Elm St, Stockbridge, MA • 413-298-3044 www.schantzgalleries.com A destination for those seeking premier artists working inglass. (11 - 5 daily)

SPENCERTOWN ACADEMY ARTS CENTER 790 route 203 in Spencertown, N.Y518-392-3693 / www.spencertownacademy.org“Off the Beaten Path: Prints by J. Ann Eldridge and Photo-graphs by Bill duffy”, through June 22Kris Gali, one woman show: dreams and digressions, June 28- Aug 10; reception Sat June 28, 4-7pm.

ST. FRANCIS GALLERYrt 102, South lee, MA2 miles east from the red lion innThrough June 15...The Eyes and Soul of an ArtistSelected visions and multiple creations; June 20 - July 27...The Complexity of Experience Engaging realityreception June 28, 3-6pm

THE OXBOW GALLERY273 Pleasant St., Northampton, MA • 413-586-630 front room: ‘Town & Country’ painters

WILLIAM BACZEK FINE ARTS36 Main St., Northampton MA • [email protected] heroes Or Villains, thru June 29

music/theatreASTON MAGNA MUSIC FESTIVALAston Magna Music festival announces its 2014 season of fa-miliar and rarely-heard early music from the 16th-19th cen-turies, on five Saturdays in Great Barrington, June 21-July 19.The programs are also presented Thursdays at Slosberg Audi-torium, Brandeis University, and friday nights at Bard College,Annandale-on-hudson.Saturdays at 6 p.m. in Great Barringtonat the daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s rock, andon July 12 at 8 p.m. at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center

BARRINGTON STAGE CO.Box Office: 58 Union Street, Pittsfield• 413-236-8888 / barringtonstageco.org The Other Place by Sharr White, directed by Christopher innvarMay 21 – June 14. Performances: Tues-Sat 7:30pm; Sat 4pm(excluding May 24); Sun 3pm; Additional matinee Thurs, June12 at 4pm St. Germain Stage, Sydelle and lee Blatt PerformingArts Center 36 linden St, Pittsfield, MA

BERKSHIRE THEATRE GROUPBerkshireTheatreGroup.orgThe Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, MASuessical, The Musical, Aug 7-17;Aug 21, 8pm: iriSh rOVErS, The farewell Tour

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSICMahaiwe Performing Arts Centerwww.cewm.org • 800-843-0778ThE MANY fACES Of ANTONiN dVOrAKSunday, June 15, 2 PM at Ozawa hall, Tanglewood (lenox,MA).

HELSINKI CAFE405 Columbia Street, hudson, New York 12534518.828.4800 / [email protected] out their awesome schedule for summer music!

JACOB’S PILLOW358 George Carter rd, Becket, MA • 413-243-0745The Trey Mcintyer Project: Mercury half Time” set to themusic of QUEEN! June 25-29

MAHAIWE THEATRE14 Castle St., Gt. Barrington, MA • 413-528-0100July 5, 8pm: NATAliE MErChANT and her band

MASS MoCA87 Marshall Street, North Adams, MATo order tickets: 413.662.2111 or www.massmoca.org; BECK in concert, Tuesday, June 24. 413.662.2111 x1 or massmoca.org/Beck

SHAKESPEARE & CO.70 Kemble St, lenox, MA • 413-637-3353June 27, 5:30: The Servant of Two Masters, italian classic and contemporary performance of the outrageous servant Truffaldino.

TANNERY POND CONCERTSdarrow School, New lebanon, NY • 888-820-1696June 21: Axel Strauss, violin, ilya Poletaev, piano; July 12: Jasper String Quartet; Aug 2: Gleb ivanov; Sept 6: Ji, piano. Concerts start at 8pm.

THE EGG CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS1 Empire Plaza, Albany, NY • www.theegg.orgSat. Aug 16, 7:30-9pm: lA fillE MAl GArdÉE, Comedy Ballet

eventsBERKSHIRE ARTS FESTIVALSki Butternut, rte. 23, Gt. Barrington, MA • 843-355-2400 / BerkshiresArtsfestival.comJuly 4, 5 and 6 . 175+ juried artists, 13th year - a knock out ofa festival!

NORFOLK ARTISTS & FRIENDS Battell Stoeckel Gallery, Ellen Battell Stoeckel Estate, rtes. 44and 272 • 860-542-5095 / www.norfolkart.orgAugust Arts Weekend group show sponsored by the NorfolkChamber Music festival featuring 26 area artists who will beavailable to discuss their work. August 8, 5-7:30 p.m. (openingreception); August 9, 12-5 p.m.; August 10, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. free.25% of sales to go to the Music Shed restoration fund

THE OTIS CULTURAL COUNCILThe Seventh Annual Otis Arts festival, on Saturday, July 26,9am-3pm. frEE admission, indoors, at farmington river El-ementary School, 555 No. Main road (rte. 8), Otis. Over 50artisans and craftspeople of pottery, leather, fiber, water and oilpaintings, photography, quilts, jewelry, wood crafts, muchmore. Musical entertainment by Moonshine holler, traditionalAmerican music, 12-2pm. info, call 413 269-4674.

TRiARTS SHARON PLAYHOUSE49 Amenia rd, route 343, Sharon, CT • 860-364-7469June 18-29: Les Miserables; July 3-6: Tuesdays with Morrie;July 24-27: Nine Wives; Aug 1-3: Spring Awakening; Aug 13-24: disney’s The Little Mermaid

workshopsSABINE VOLLMER VON FALKENPhOTOGrAPhiC WOrKShOPS • 413-298-4933 www.sabinephotoart.com, [email protected] light with a Critical Eye - explore the beautiful light ofthe Berkshires by taking a weekend photography workshop.dates: June 28 and 29.

Send in your calendar submissions by 10th of themonth prior to publication ... We feature

ISSUU.COM where all calendar listings are accessiblewith a click on the website address.

Try it now, read page by page!: Cut and paste in your url address box:

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If you’re not here, you aught to [email protected]

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FRONT STREET GALLERY

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

413-274-6607 413-429-7141 (cell) 413-528-9546Gallery Hours: Saturday and Sunday 12-5 or by appointmentFRONT STREET, downtown HOUSATONIC, MA

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nrm.org • 413.298.4100 open year-round

9 Rt. 183, Stockbridge, MA

The Gossips are backin town!


RECENT STUDENT WORK May 30 through June 29

Opening reception June 7, 3-6pm

KRIS GALLI

krisgallifineart.com

Dreams & DigressionsNew Paintings by Kris Galli

Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY

June 28 - August 10

Opening Reception June 28, 4-7 p.m.

“The Pain

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ThE ArTfUl MiNd JUNE 2014 •5

I will be offering one and two day plein air painting and drawing workshops starting May 1st into Autumn.

For more information and to sign up contact [email protected]

These workshops are for everyone beginner and advanced alike. Let’s get outside and paint!

WWW.ANNSCOTTPAINTING.COM

Ann Marie Scott, Wellfleet Moonrise #2, 18 x 24, acrylic

K a r e n L e S a g e

new workAugust 8 - September 14

Reception: Saturday, August 9 4:00-6:00

Sanford Smith Fine Art13 Railroad Street, Great Barrington, MA

413.528.6777 Open 7 Days

MUSIC STOREin the era of superstores, internet and catalog shopping, an

old fashioned, boutique-style music store nonetheless nestlesin the heart of the Berkshires. located at the end of GreatBarrington, Massachusetts’ railroad Street, The Music Storewelcomes the delights of making music in the SPriNG!

Specializing in fine handmade guitars and one of the widestselections of ukuleles in the Northeast, The Music Store offersfine, folk, orchestral and unusual instruments, both new andused, along with a wide array of music motif gifts and musicalaccessories including possibly the widest range of profes-sional level strings, and reeds in the Berkshires.

A large assortment of traditional and international percus-sion, including African djembes, is available. And unusualinstruments including locally made walking stick bambooflutes and dr. Easy’s Sonic Boxes (extraordinary acousticelectric Cigar Box Guitars), the amazing and almost inde-

structible Composite Acoustic Cargo Guitars (made entirelyfrom Carbon Graphite), Catania Cat’s Paws and Kalimbas,Serenity Bamboo and high Spirit hardwood flutes, and thenew Steel Singing drums nestle happily next to their moretraditional cousins.

Student violins from $179 to $2800 share the stage withguitars for all ages and abilities including locally and interna-tionally luthier handmade guitars. Best of all, The MusicStore also offers lifetime service - set-ups, adjustment, string-ing and maintenance on all new stringed instruments we sell!in addition, our workshop provides expert set-up, mainte-nance, repair and restoration on Guitars, Mandolins, Banjosand much, much more.

While many of our prices meet or beat Musician’s friendor Guitar Center and our other super-seller competitors, thepersonal service, expertise, kindness and availability of ourfine family of staff offers priceless service to the already mag-ical musical experience waiting for everyone at The MusicStore.

for musicians and music lovers seeking gift ideas, ourarray of clothing, housewares, stationary, jewelry, mousepads, clocks, key chains and knick-knacks will interest andamuse, as will a full line of harmonicas, tuners, stands, sticksand even an odd Washboard Tie!. Visit our wickedly won-derful ClOSEOUT COrNEr for the best bargains. Experi-ence our 2 for $5.00 guitar strings and name brand guitars.Add some sheet music and the marvelous, magical, musicalexperience of The Music Store awaits.

The Music Store, 87 Railroad Street, Great Barrington,MA, 413-528-2460. Open Wednesday through Sunday.Closed Monday and Tuesday.


Richard Britell: Otis the Wolf Part I.....17

Planet Waves for JUNE Eric Francis.....18

Housatonic Valley Art LeagueTalking with harvey Kimmelman

Harryet Candee ...20

Simply Sasha Sasha Seymour......23

Contributing Writers and Monthly Columnists Eunice Agar

Richard Britell Stephen Gerard Dietemann

Eric Francis Sasha Seymour

Photographers Jane Feldman

Sabine Vollmer von Falken

PublisherHarryet Candee

Copy EditorMarguerite Bride

Advertising and Graphic Design Harryet Candee

Box 985, Great Barrington, MA [email protected]

http://issuu.com/theartfulmindartzine/docs

http://issuu.com/theartfulmindartzine/docs/artfulmind_may_issue2014

413 854 4400ALL MATERIAL due the 10th of the

month prior to publicationFYI: ©Copyright laws in effect throughout The Artful Mind for logo & allgraphics including text material. Copyright laws for photographers and writersthroughout 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 unfore-seeable circumstances beyond our control, advertisers will be compensated ona one to one basis. Disclaimer rights available upon request. Serving the Artcommunity with the intention of enhancing communication and sharing positivecreativity in all aspects of our lives.

JUNE 2014

Artist Matthew BialerUp in the Berkshires & Down in the City

Photography by Jane FeldmanInterview by Harryet ...10

“A Mind Full of Art”

THE ARTFUL MINDARTZINE

"I do not want ART for a few any morethan education for a few,

or freedom for a few."

-William Morris

20 YEARS! ANNIVERSARY ISSuE! ThE ArTfUl MiNd JUNE 2014 • 7

KRIS GALLIDREAMS AND DIGRESSIONS

With only a few breaks now and then to reassess her life,Kris Galli has been painting since she was a teenager. “itwas my way of making sense of the world,” she says. “foryears i would wonder what to do with my life, and then i’dgo paint for a while, then get back to wondering what to dowith my life. it took years for me to figure out i was alreadydoing it!”

Now a woman fully committed to her vocation, Krispaints all day, nearly every day. her work has sold to col-lectors across the country and as far off as london, Australiaand Panama. And if you’re ever having dinner at Altarestaurant in lenox, you’ll find yourself surrounded by herquirky paintings of women - women balancing watermelonson their fingertips, women holding onto their pigtails in whatlooks to be a dream-like trance. her work consists largelyof these women, but there are also landscapes and still lifes,all with that same slightly off-beat feel of her figures.

Kris lives with her husband, the photographer EdwardAcker, in lenox. in June, she will open her one-womanshow, dreams and digressions, at Spencertown Academy inSpencertown, NY. The show will be up from June 28through August 10th, with an opening reception on Saturday,June 28th from four to seven p.m. Wine and snacks will beserved, along with chocolate provided by Chocolate Springs,of lenox. it promises to be a wonderful show!

Kris Galli – krisgallifineart.com

ANN SCOTTAnn Scott just moved to the Berkshires after many years

in Boston. her passion for nature and all the beauty of theBerkshires made for a very easy transition.

Scott has exhibited and has traveled extensively through-out the US and Europe. She is currently represented by thelyman Eyer Gallery in Provincetown and is an exhibitingartist at the Southern Vermont Art Center, Salmagundi inNYC and the Provincetown Art Association Museum.

if you are interested in taking plein air painting workshopsplease contact the artist for more information. Also see moreof her work and on her website read about her adventures onher blog.

Ann Scott – email: [email protected];www.annscottpainting.com and read up on her adventuresat http://annscottpainting.blogspot.com

ANN SCOTT, iriS GArdEN, 34 x 30”, ACrYliC

MEETING HOUSEGALLERY

NEW MARLBOROUGHThe Meeting house Gallery’s summer exhibition sched-

ule includes three vibrant shows featuring work of localartists.

The gallery will inaugurate the 2014 season with Wood-Metal-Stone on Saturday, June 14. The opening reception isfriday, June 13, 5-7 pm. it will showcase eleven artistsworking on a large and small scale who will combine theirexper-tise to create an exciting exhibition using wood, metaland stone. The exhibiting artists include: Patrick Stolfo,Peter Murkett, Peter G. Thorne, Jonathan Cooper, MariaGay, lucinda Schmulsky, Ellen Murtaugh, Sophie Eisner,Michael Thomas, and robin Tost. Peter Barrett’s doorwayof wood and steel bridges this show and the next. Mostpieces will be inside the gallery but some will be shown intheir most congenial setting outside.

Portals, July 26-August 24, is a mixed media theme showmoving between literal images of fascinating doorways andthe depiction of more psychological passages. Works by the29 included artists will showcase a variety of media rangingfrom painting and photography to fabric and even the use ofshrapnel as a sculptural medium. included in this show are:Cynthia Atwood, Teresa Bills, Margaret Buchte, diana fel-ber, Shawn fields, robert forte, Nancy Goldberger, JoanGriswold, Pamela reed hardcastle, Pat hogan, rubin Kier,richard Kimball, Cheryl Ann luft, Natalie Manzino, hollyMcNeely, Brian Mikesell, Elaine radiss, Peggy reeves,Julie Shapiro, honey Sharp, larry Silk, Walter Simons,Abbe Stall Steinglass, lucinda Tavernise, Elizabeth TorsayWilson, Joe Wheaton, Barbara Winters, Terry Wise, and An-drew zdzierski.

The closing exhibition, New Marlborough Artists, willbe on view from August 30-September 28. The perennialfavor-ite, it will feature works of 8 artists who live in NewMarlborough. The participating artists include lee Backer,Eugene Cleary, Cookie Coyne, Ann Getsinger, and Elizabethl. lombardi. Karina fasset and Nikki hayes join the NewMarlbor-ough Artists for the first time this year.

The Meeting house Gallery occupies the lower floor ofa handsome, 1840 church now known as the New Marlbor-ough Meeting house. The well-lit, handsome exhibitionspace is open weekends Mid June through September. Ad-ministered by a voluntary group of local artists, the showsfeature work of Berkshire artists some of whom also hailfrom Boston and New York City.

Meeting House Gallery - New Marlborough on Rt. 57,close to the Inn on the Green. Gallery hours: Fri, Sat andSun, 11-4 through the end of August and Sat and Sun, 11-4during the month of September.

NATAliE MANziNO, MirrOr-MirrOr

ADVERTISE IN THE ARTFULMIND!

CALL FOR DETAILS!

WANT ATTENTION? THIS WILL DO IT.

413 854 [email protected]

8• JUNE 2014 ThE ArTfUl MiNd

NO. SIX DEPOT GALLERY

MAY 16 – JUNE 30Sirarpi heghinian Walzer’s work is in many collections

nationally and internationally and has received awards andexhibited in galleries throughout Europe and the US. She at-tended the Academy for fine Arts “die Etage” andhochschule der Kunste in Berlin, Germany and has workedwith artists Andrej Woron, Timothy harney and Ati Gropius.

“My poetic abstractions spring from meditations on natureand from memories that are distilled into single dramaticmoments. The energetic surfaces imply an ongoing tensionbetween freedom and containment, edging the viewer closerto that place where chaos can erupt into clarity.”

Siri Smedvig is an award-winning professional violinistand fine artist. Graduating from harvard University,Siri won the McCord Prize for Artistic Excellence and“Artist of the Year” by the Cambridge Art Association thisyear. As a violinist, Siri has performed with the Seattle Sym-phony, Boston Pops, Boston Ballet Orchestra, harvardChamber Orchestra, American Symphony Orchestra (NYC)and many more.

“i love the magical world created by the abstracted formof music. My inner source found a new means of expressionby making pictures with paint and collage. When i work giv-ing form to the formless and visibility to the invisible i feelan alchemist’s joy.”

The exhibit will run May 16 through June 30. An artists’reception will be held on June 13, 5 -6:30pm @ Join us foran artists’ reception.

No. Six Depot Gallery is located in historic train stationin West Stockbridge, adjoining No. Six Depot Roastery &Café, serving house-roasted coffee, breakfast, lunch and Fri-day dinners. www.sixdepot.com

COLLINS/EDITIONSformerly

BERKSHIRE DIGITALAfter seven years of working for artists and photographers

as Berkshire digital, we have changed our name tocollins|editions. We are a fine art reproduction service thatoffers the highest quality digital photography & reproductionof paintings as well as Giclée printing on archival papers andcanvas with sizes up to 42” x 90”. Artists & photographersuse us to create limited editions of their images. Private col-lectors and galleries use us to document their collections.Whether the reproduction needs are for archiving, printing,books, magazines, postcards or internet use, Bd adheres tovery strict color controls along with delivering stunning detailby using either a large format camera with a Better light™digital scanning back for making giclee prints as well as thebest dSlr cameras for publication & internet uses.

in addition to the photography and printing services,collins|editions also offers graphic design, enabling clients tocreate show announcements, post cards and brochures. Thewebsite, www.CollinsEditions.com has a complete overview,lots of information and pricing.

The owner, fred Collins, has been a commercial photog-rapher for over 30 years having had studios in Boston andStamford. he offers 20 years of experience with Photoshop™enabling retouching, restoration and enhancement. The studiois located in Mt Washington but dropoff and PU can bearranged at other locations.Collins|editions studio, 220 East St, Mt Washington, Massa-chusetts; 413-644-9663, www.CollinsEditions.com

KAREN LESAGESANFORD SMITH FINE ART

Sanford Smith fine Art will host an exhibit of new paint-ings by Karen leSage, August 8 through September 14. Areception will be held on Saturday, August 9 from 4:00-6:00. her show in 2013 sold out.

Gallery director laura reid comments on the wide ap-peal of leSage’s work: “her glowing canvases reflect theterrain of our region but offer something universal as well.They are wildly well-received. We are excited to be part ofthat. She has been our number-one selling artist for the lastfour years.”

The new exhibit continues leSage’s tradition of large,atmospheric, minimal landscapes in vivid, luminous colors.Of them she says, “This work explores the territory be-tween landscape painting and minimalist color-field paint-ing. The Berkshire Mountains continually inspire. Theyprovide color displays that change by the season, the day,the hour.”

leSage was born in eastern Connecticut and studied atMassachusetts College of Art in Boston. She lived andworked in New York for over a decade then moved to thehills of litchfield, CT to raise her son. She has since becomea noted artist with a growing national following.

When asked about the success of her Sanford Smithshows, leSage said: “Their clientele loves the same regionthat i do.” Then adds with a smile, “it doesn’t hurt that thegallery is open 7 days a week.”

Some preview paintings are currently at the gallery toview on request.

Sanford Smith Fine Art, 13 Railroad Street, Great Bar-rington MA, 413-528-6777; open daily 11 – 6, Fri.& Sat.until 7.

The Otis Cultural Councilpresents

The Seventh Annual

Otis Arts FestivalSaturday, July 26, 9am-3pm.

FREE admission. Indoors.Farmington River Elementary School, 555 No. Main Road (Rte. 8), Otis.

Over 50 artisans and craftspeople of pottery, leather, fiber, water and oil paintings, photography, quilts, jewelry, wood crafts, much more.

Musical entertainment by Moonshine Holler, traditional American music, 12-2pm.

For more information: 413-269-4674.

SirArPi hEGhiNiAN WAlzEr

Siri SMEdViG

"There is no must in art because

art is free."-Wassily Kandinsky

ThE ArTfUl MiNd JUNE 2014 • 9

FRONT STREET GALLERYKATE KNAPP

Student exhibit May 30 - June 29. Recent works by stu-dents of Kate Knapp, opening reception June 7, 3 - 6pm. Pastels, oils, acrylics and watercolors…..abstract and represen-tational…..landscapes, still lifes and portraits….a unique vari-ety of painting technique and styles….you will be transportedto another world and see things in a way you never have be-fore…. join us and experience something different.

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

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

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

Kate Knapp’s paintings are also on display at 510 WarrenSt. Gallery in hudson, NY. Please stop by to see all the manyworks of art by exceptional artists.

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

ASTON MAGNA MUSIC FESTIVAL

The music of Bach and his most illustrious son, CarlPhillip Emanuel Bach, opens Aston Magna’s 42nd seasonin Great Barrington, on Saturday, June 21 at daniel ArtsCenter at Simon’s rock College of Bard, at 6 p.m.

The younger Bach worked for years in Berlin as musicianat the court of King frederick the Great. On a much-storiedvisit to this most musical monarch, the father Bach im-pressed the court with his impromptu improvisations on athorny fugue subject designed by the King (though some sayby Bach’s son!). returning to leipzig, J.S. elaborated on the“royal Theme” and produced his astonishing Musical Of-fering, a tour de force of contrapuntal skill, but blended withthe new gallant style that characterized his son’s music.

On June 28, Aston Magna features masterworks for 19th-century wind instruments: Brahms’ Clarinet Quintet (Erichoeprich on a 19th century clarinet), Crusell’s divertimentofor oboe and strings (Stephen hammer on a classical oboe),and Mendelssohn’s Quartet in A Minor.

Aston Magna festival’s five Saturdays of music – throughJuly 19 – seek to illuminate the historical and cultural con-text of music from 17th through early 19th century Europe.Monteverdi, Scarlatti, Vivaldi, handel and Bach were com-posing their immortal works as political, scientific, human-istic and artistic ideas were flowering into the Age ofEnlightenment. Aston Magna’s performances on period in-struments are accompanied by pre-concert talks andinformative program notes, which transport our au-diences through time.

Aston Magna - information: astonmagna.org

SABINE PHOTO ARTThe Artful Mind has showcased sabine’s work since 1994,

the very beginning of the monthly Berkshire Artzine. Stillyoung at 20 something, sabine’s studio has become a brandfor contemporary, unobtrusive, relaxed photography in theEuropean style. it might be just the time for you to book yourfirst sitting.

A master of the subtleties of lighting and the nuance ofbackground, sabine’s eye for detail provides imagery to betreasured for a lifetime.

Assignments are tailored to meet her client’s needs- a re-membrance for a special occasion or a logo image, whichcreates an authentic professional online presence. it is to nosurprise that she is a sought-after documentary and editorialphotographer with the talent of both: interviewer, provokerand image-maker.Photographic workshops are scheduled for this summer:

View light with a Critical Eye - explore the beautifullight of the Berkshires by taking a weekend photographyworkshop. in this workshop participants learn how naturallight can create drama and fine distinction. designed for se-rious learners who are interested in improving their artisticeye. All participants are asked to bring a digital Slr cam-era. dates: June 28 and 29.

Photo Art and signed books “WOOdlANd STYlE” and“ ShEll ChiC “, published by Storey Publishing, authorMarlene h. Marshall, all photography by sabine can be pur-chased from your nearby book stores. Signed fine art printsare directly available through sabine’s studio.Sabine is a member of The American Society of MediaPhotographers asmp. The international Center of Pho-tography iCP and the Wedding Photojournalist Asso-ciation, WPJA.

Sabine Vollmer von Falken Photography Studio -www.sabinephotoart.com; [email protected]/ 413-298-4933

PhOTOGrAPhYWWW.JANEfEldMAN.COM

[email protected]

JANE fEldMAN

KATE KNAPP

dAN STEPNEr, ArTiSTi C dirECTOr


Harryet Candee: You live in Brooklyn and also in the Berk-shires. How does the diversity of these two locales assist youin your creative process? Matthew Bialer: They are very separate and yet they feed offof each other. The confidence and energy i feel in one getspicked up by the other. Being a photographer definitely preparedme to be a painter. i already knew the notion of composition andcontrast and tone. i had a lot of self-confidence (tempered byhumility) going into painting.

I really enjoy your photos of everyday street scenes in Man-hattan. The city is a very busy place and it’s often a greatchallenge to make it across the street. The shots you take arewonderful because you capture people in the midst of gettingsomewhere— physically and mentally. How did you decidethat you were going to focus on shooting this so much? Whatfascinates you about this work, and what direction is possiblyleading you to? Any ideas? Matthew: Thank you so much. There is no rhyme or reason to it.As a photographer, i feel like i am looking for that soap bubble.i am combing through potential. i see a cool person who strikesme and then i look for someone else or i look for a backdrop. itis not just about taking that one person or it can be if i can placethe person in a context. Of course, i am not “placing” i am“waiting” for that right magic to occur. it comes from instinctand experience. it is editing on the spot. Editing people. Thereis still always plenty of failure. One has to love the process evenif you fail and you will fail more often than not. And yes, it isalso about contrasts. That is why it is like jazz. it is people andthings, lights and darks riffing off of each other to create thatmagic.

What are you communicating with this ongoing documen-tary photo series?Matthew: how great and expressive people are even in their mo-ments of weakness and uncertainty. i try to always look for thehumanity. i feel like i always respect those i photograph. i don’tusually go for the easy shots of, say, sleeping homeless people.The rule of thumb for my self is that one of my photographs canbe used as a short story assignment in a class. Write a story aboutthese people. And i would hope that each story by each studentabout each person would be very different from the other. Thatwould be when i know i have succeeded. i also like to showhow the simple “moment” of the everyday that no one else seesis, in a sense, a miracle. A novelist friend of mine named KrisSaknussemm likens it to catching a soap bubble in your hand. i love that metaphor about capturing the disappearing moment.

Do you ever venture to unsafe places with your work? I meanliterally dangerous locations… I also mean do you play itsafe with your art or at times do you want to mix it all up?Matthew: i don’t venture to really, really dangerous places. i don’t. i have a rule with myself about not risking my life orpersonal safety. i am not macho about this. it is also because iam a husband and father and i want to come home for them inone piece. But certain places i shoot in can become a little roughfor sure. i try not to photograph people who i think can becomea problem. Of course, i have had my moments but that goes withthe territory. People get angry or think you are a spy or a pervert.Sometimes someone gets angry and i wasn’t really even aimingat the camera at him. he was in the background. i am amazedthat people will take the time to tell you that they are pissed thatyou took their picture. i even had a cop in New York tell me ina threatening way to stop shooting which was quite bizarre. he

told me it was illegal. i told him it wasn’t but i wasn’t going toargue with a man with a club and a gun. i just went to some-where else and shot. i never let these bumps in the road determe or force me to stop for the day. it is legal to photograph peo-ple on the streets of New York, at least for now. i had a womanwho sells bus tours on the corner of 42nd Street and 7th Avenueask me why i took her picture. i told her that she was in the back-ground and she is standing on the wrong corner if she doesn’twant to appear in any photographs. in Austria, it is not legal tophotograph people on the street. That makes me angry. On theother hand, so many people now carry cameras that it is a lot lessunusual to people, especially in such a tourist heavy place likeNew York. But even New Yorkers themselves are always takingpictures with their phones and posting them somewhere. Somany photographs everywhere. When i used to go to londondecades ago, i found it a very difficult place to photograph. Peo-ple would notice. People would frown. People would say some-thing. i was back there twice in 2013 and it is like night and day.london is camera heavy like everywhere else now. in italy i canpractically shove the camera in people’s faces and they couldcare less.

Who have been your strongest influences keeping you in-spired to shoot?Matthew: A bunch of key photographers have always inspiredme. Any street photographer knows these names: Garry Wino-grand, robert frank, William Klein, early lee friedlander, JosefKoudelka and many others. i love the classics like diane Arbusand Cartier Bresson but i don’t think i am influenced much bythem. i love lisette Model who was the teacher of Arbus andmany others. i love helen levitt. Nobody photographed chil-dren on the street the way she did. Another photographer i like

ARTISTMATTHEW BIALERUP iN ThE BErKShirES & dOWN iN ThE CiTY

Interview by Harryet Candee Photography of Artist by Jane Feldman


is Saul leiter who just passed away a few months ago. his workis quiet and poetic. he was one of the first really great colorstreet photographers. i had a teacher at the School of Visual Artsnamed Mike levins who was a big influence on my work. Webecame very close friends. in fact, he photographed our weddingat the Seven hills inn in lenox in 1993. it meant a lot that hephotographed it especially since he passed away in 2001. Thatwas not a good year for many. i hope Mike’s work gets discov-ered. Nobody photographed stray dogs on the street like Mike.They were like self-portraits. i guess i personally always go backto Winogrand. he really was an amazing street photographer. iadmire how he could juxtapose so many elements. for instance,he would use animals not native to the streets of New York suchas monkeys and chimps to elucidate how very much like animalsNew Yorkers can be. And he was not manipulating the image.he really did see these animals on the streets. And he could notstay away from zoos. To Winogrand, the animals in a zoo werea reflection of us.

I think you are very interested in documenting people in the“now”. Curiously, it triggers me to wonder, what time periodwould you live in if you had a choice? Matthew: Well, there is really no other time period i would ratherlive as a person. But there are two answers i will give to thisquestion. i would love to have been a photographer in New Yorkin the 1960s. first of all, i would have been out there with myheroes like Garry Winogrand and diane Arbus and i might haveeven known them. The backdrops would have been much betterthan Starbucks signs. We would have had Chock full of Nutsand Nedicks hot dogs. And leo’s franks by herald Square. itwould have been great fun. i would also have like to have had acamera and photographed in a place like 17th century holland.Can you imagine if Vermeer, rembrandt and the hundreds ofartists who thrived in the Netherlands at the time had cameras?it would have been amazing to take pictures in a world like that.And i believe they certainly would have if they had the technol-ogy.

If you were to be anywhere on this planet, and you were ableto be there anytime you desired, where would that be? Anyfantasy-like places?

Matthew: i just said to my wife that i wish i could have a monthin Europe alone with my camera. i would have a ball. i can’teven think about it at this point in my life. The other thing i wishfor is to be invisible for, say, a week. i would love to photographas an invisible person. i would love to see the results i get. iwould not have to worry about getting my head taken off.

Do you find you have a sense of humor when shooting? Ioften react to a shot of yours with an out-loud burst of gig-gles.Matthew: Yes, i definitely have a sense of humor when i shoot.Most of my photos have some sort of humor in them. i don’tlike to hit people over the head with it though. i like the pho-tographer Elliott Erwitt but too many of his followers go for the“visual pun”. i like to go for humor as an undercurrent but notnecessarily as a pun.

As your art work matures, do you find that you have grace-fully developed your artistic skills and met your artisticgoals?Matthew: Street photography is really hard. i think of it as tryingto hit a baseball which Ted Williams once said is the hardestthing to do in sports. Street photography is about moving targetsthat you can’t control. i can go out with my camera and i justdon’t see anything that day. Or i was too late to get the shot iwanted. Or somebody else stepped in front of the scene iwanted to take and ruined the shot. Or the shot is too blurry. Orthe people look great but the sign behind them is too abrasive.There is so much technical failure of all sorts. i have learnedthat failure is just a part of the game and i just keep going. Buti have learned to get more what we street photographers call“Keepers”. it has to do with experience and it has to do with thefact that i switched to a smaller camera and that it also happensto be digital. i just do a lot better with this camera and i save alot of money on film and paper and time in the darkroom. i stilllove film but i am done with it.

Matt, what compells you to do photography work in NewYork City and watercolor paintings in the Berkshires?Matthew: i can’t see it any other way. i was already a street pho-tographer when my wife lenora lapidus and i started to spenda lot of time in the Berkshires. i needed something to do therebut i didn’t want to do photography. i love landscape photogra-phy but i did not want to pursue that in the Berkshires because irespect the genre so much and the equipment daunts me. i justlove the landscape of the Berkshires. Who doesn’t? i love howthe seasons change and how i can hear the geese honking or icecracking in the night. i wanted to do something different, some-thing quieter and more meditative. And i give the photographya break when i am up there. i recharge the batteries…literallyand figuratively. (Continued on next page)

MATThEW BiAlEr, PhOTO SEriES, NYC



I can see how your photography work and watercolorpaintings can work on opposite ends of the spectrum. It’slike salt and pepper, in a way. What is in your life that sep-arates and balances these two art mediums?Matthew: i think they both are complex compositions and havean energy. i don’t think my photos are quiet and neither aremy paintings. There is an energy in them and i hope a soul. ithink in a funny way, my trees are like people standing at thecorner. No tree is the same. Some are lighter, some are darker.i do know that i love to do both and would never want to giveup either.

What camera(s) are you mostly using and liking? Matthew: for years i used a Canon AE1. i must have gonethrough like 15 of them. i would use them until they literallyjust don’t work anymore and then buy another one used at thelate, great Olden or at B and h. i used to bring them in to getfixed but once they start jamming it is over. But two yearsago, my life changed. i have a wonderful photographer friendnamed Jerry Arcieri. he made the leap to digital. i had beenthinking about it. But i am not very technical and i was afraidto switch. i felt like i had to though because the prize of thefilm i often used (Kodak T-Max 3200) was going up and upand it was getting harder to find. Jerry told me i would lovedigital. he knew i did not want to carry around some hugecannon of a camera. he sent me all of the links to the cameraand equipment i should buy. he, in a sense, made the leap forme. i loved it. i used a Panasonic lumix Gx1. it is verysmall and is my secret weapon. To continue a baseballmetaphor, using the lumix is like juicing. i shoot a lot moreand i get more hits. i think that is because it just rejuvenatedme about my passion for street photographers. it has nevergone away. i have been doing it for 29 years without stopping.But it lit me on fire.

When did you first take a liking to photography?Matthew: i first started to appreciate photography when i wasa student at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Vassarhas a great art history department and therefore a great art his-tory library. i used to roam around the basement stacks pro-crastinating from my student work and i would discoverphotographers like Andre Kertesz. i did not know photographycould be so sweet and lyrical like poetry. i already knew thework of Ansel Adams, harry Callahan and Cartier –Bresson.But something clicked for me about Kertesz and got filed away.flash forward. i was depressed after i graduated college. i hadbeen a poet (my first creative love) but i was blocked. i waskind of a head case. i was seeing a shrink and she happenedto have on her walls of these photographs of boulders by thegreat photographer Aaron Siskind. They were photographicabstractions. it was ironic that the key to my future was rightin the front of my face, the key to finding some sort of equilib-rium. The photographs behind the shrink helped me a lot morethan the shrink! i started doing street photography but had noidea what i was doing. i was using telephoto lenses. The pho-tos sucked. i would look at photographs i liked but feel baffledas to how these photographers put a real image together. ilearned that just because you see an interesting person doesn’tmean the photograph of such person will be interesting. Theperson needs a context. A background. An angle. Maybe otherpeople, etc. i took a weekend workshop with a fellow namedharvey Stein. We photographed out at Coney island in Novem-ber. We took pictures of the Polar Bear Club. They wouldswim every Sunday at 1 pm 52 weeks a year. i took my first“Keepers” right there. it was a revelation and a game changerfor me. i also learned to use wide angles lenses so a person 10feet away from me was too far away. i had to be in their face.i couldn’t hide behind a telephoto. Telephoto shots look likethey were taken from far away. That is not for me. And nogreat street photographers do that.

Do you find photographing animals interesting? I thoughtit would be great to compare groups of people together, andcompare the shot to groups of, say, penguins together, ormonkeys…. The humaness of it all would be very interest-ing – as well as entertaining. Matthew: i have not photographed animals much. Winograndused to photograph at the zoo a lot. he would photograph ayoung couple looking forlorn standing in front of a wolf cage.And there in the background would be this scary looking wolf



ArTiST MATTHEW BIALER CONTINUED


trotting towards them. it was as if the wolf was the subtext ofwhat was going on between the two people. And as i mentionedearlier, Mike levins took these wonderful photos of a stray dogs.Mike was a lean, kind of wired man who was very gentle andloved animals, particularly dogs. That certainly was revealed inhis work. i take pictures of our pet parakeets for fun.

You are also a literary agent, Matt. What interests you mostabout this profession?Matthew: By far, it is working with other creative people. i reada ton because of my job and i know it helps me with my owncreative processes. i just also love to be around creative people.i thrive on it. it inspires me. And i am not a literary snob. ilove all kinds of books for varying reasons.

What subject area particularly interests you, and can youplease give me a specific book, it’s title, and a description. Matthew: i was at the then William Morris Agency in New Yorkfor almost 14 years. i started there as an assistant. i had beenan assistant for another agency called Curtis Brown limited be-fore that. i was at a crossroads. i had a job offer from the pho-tography book publisher Aperture but something inside me toldme that working there might ruin my passion for photographyand that was a sacred love. i went to William Morris becausethey were good at promoting from within and i decided to notgo in the photography book direction which seemed limitingfrom a career point of view. When they finally did promote meit was under the condition that i handle science fiction and fan-tasy novels (among other areas). i currently work at Sanford J.Greenburger Associates in New York. i have been there since2003. i am known as an agent for New York bestselling fantasyauthors Tad Williams and Patrick rothfuss. Patrick’s secondnovel in his Kingkiller Chronicles series entitled ThE WiSE-MAN’S fEAr hit number 1 on the New York Times hardcoverbestseller list. That was very special. i also represent Eric idleof Monty Python fame for his books and other writers such ascritically acclaimed novelists Kris Saknussemm, Seb doubinskyand Jim Nisbet. i represent a Pittsfield novelist named GabrielSquailia. he has a fantastical and hilarious novel entitled dEAdBOYS coming out from Talos Books next year. i represent anew fiction writer named d. foy. his novel MAdE TO BrEAKis just going like gang busters. That makes me feel good becauseit is a dark, literary work.

Matthew, what was it like for you when you wrote your firstpoem that you really thought was outstanding and crazy-good?Matthew: My poetry career comes in two parts with a 25 yearhiatus in between. i started writing poetry in late middle schooland wrote through my junior year of college. Then i got blockedand stopped. i will just say that it was a very hard time for me

and i learned a valuable lesson from thewhole experience. don’t write or pursue anyart to please others. Trust your own instinctsand find others to trust. The world is full ofso-called teachers who just want to tear peo-ple down. i got caught up in all of that.When i picked up the camera, i had a verydifferent attitude. i decided i had to learn totrust myself and avoid people (teacher types)with bad karma and attitudes. And so istarted to write again almost 5 years ago,seemingly out of nowhere. The first time istopped i was pretty young and formativeand had no professional publications to mycredit. in this second round, i have hadmany poems published in journals and sixactual books published. Even though i didnot write, i never stopped reading poetry.My best moment was when a journal that iloved to read called Green Mountains re-view accepted my work for publication. ihave to thank liz Powell there for that. That

was so exciting for me. And she continues to support my work. My original goal in writing again was to just get a few poemspublished in journals. i never for a second thought i would havebooks published. it is all gravy. And it is really a lot of fun. iam not trying to conquer the world of poetry but i feel like i amdoing it now on my own terms and in my own way.

It’s hard for many people to get poetry. It is getting morepopular these days I think. Why is it often considered aharder form of art to partake in?Matthew: i think a lot of poetry is indeed inaccessible and wasalso hijacked by professors who either write about the same poetsfrom the past (great as they were) or they write about some con-temporary poet who is very difficult to read and is full of what iwould call verbal gymnastics and seemingly not much else. itis off putting to people. People feel like they have to “smarten”up to read poetry. in my view, that should not be. A poet likeCarl Sandburg was read by many. But the academics never likedhim because he was of the people. it is so ridiculous. i thinkthe same thing happened to classical music. The composershave been professors writing for other professors. That is chang-ing now and i am glad. Maybe it will get more young people tothe concert halls. People don’t like to feel like they are not so-phisticated enough for something.

Continued on next page...

MATThEW BiAlErWATErCOlOr,SCENES frOM ThEBErKShirES

MATThEW iN STUdiO PhOTO CrEdiT: MATThEW BiAlEr

MATThEW BiAlEr, WATErCOlOr, SCENES frOM ThE BErKShirES


When i did not write, i often thought about how i would write ifi started again. i decided that i would not refer much to otherpoetry (Blake, dante, etc.) simply because it is done to deathand i would write not about the myths spun by homer (who peo-ple can’t relate much to much anymore) but the myths spun onthe history Channel at 3 am. Stuff like conspiracies and sur-veillance, Big foot reality shows, and Alien Astronauts. That iswhat interests me as a poet and curious person. As in photogra-phy, i try to keep the curiosity of a child. And i try to lay off theheavy metaphor and deploy my visual skills.

.From a ‘human condition’ point of view, what situations orthings that exist or have existed in history, and can be re-peated, are you particularly drawn towards? Matthew: As a creative person, i am always interested in specialevents. As a poet and human being i am interested in fantasticevents that may or may not have happened. for instance, in theearly 1960’s many people in this small town in West Virginiaclaimed they saw this so called Mothman. (By the way, themovie about this is terrible.) Supposedly, this large flying hu-manoid creature came from an old, abandoned munitions plantand was appearing on people’s lawns or flying after cars. it cre-ated so much mass hysteria that everyone started seeing thiscreature everywhere. People went real crazy coincidentally cul-minating with the then largest bridge collapse in US history rightin the same town. it was as if the collapse was some sort of man-ifestation of the emotional state of the town. it is a strange andfascinating story and i certainly did write about it. it is hard toknow if anyone did in fact see this creature at all. After readinga lot of books on the matter, i think some people saw somethingweird. i am pretty sure about that. There were dogs that weredisappearing and the original witnesses were reputable. i amfascinated by the collision between the fantastic, the unbeliev-able and things far greater than ourselves with just ordinary peo-ple, with just us. i am intrigued by how uncertain everythingultimately is except our humanity. To put it another spin on it,people often think our government is hiding information fromus whether it is about UfOs or terrorism or health risks or secretspace missions. Are governments that great at pulling thestrings on us? Or do we project all of our paranoia and fantasieson to them? When i am on the street with my camera, i am look-ing for an event. That is what it is all about: Microcosmic humanevents.

Documenting people, nature and the existence of all thingsliving, what conclusions can you make and what are yourthoughts on the way our world is today? Is it something youput a lot of thinking towards? Guessing by your art work,you may do a lot of pondering.Matthew: i am amazed at how many of us walk by each otherand don’t realize how much we all have in common. in a sense,i am trying to connect people in my photographs, connect thosewho are seemingly disconnected. i am trying to express mylove for New York. i have photographed in many other citiesbut New York is the place i like to be with my camera. NewYork exudes so much disorder and disharmony and what i amtrying to do – like any artist – is to express the order and har-mony while remaining true to the place. ironically, i do that ina world where Big Brother watches us more and more. for in-stance, i am aware of all of the surveillance cameras aroundTimes Square and herald Square and many other places all overthe City. i often wonder if anyone manning these cameras evernotices this guy out there all of the time with his camera! Whenthe cop told me to stop photographing and what did i think i wasdoing. i replied i am a street photographer. he said “ A streetwhat?”. he saw it as some kind of threat. it was kind of funnybut it was also sad. i felt like saying don’t you go to a museumand see photographs? i thought it was depressing if he did not.We were going through customs to get back into the States fromdenmark and they were taking thumb and palm prints of somepeople and even retina scans. There is so much imagery anddocumenting of all sorts going on. And yet there is a sign thatsaid we the people could not use thier cell phones or cameras.The camera is still and always is some sort of a threat. it is al-most as if the government reaction to so many people havingcameras now is to have even more cameras. We can look at youmore than you can look at us. But it is all so clinical and forcynical reasons. i love the idea of still making pictures to con-firm our own humanity. i love being a threat.

Tell me about your family life. What are the dynamics thatgo on in your family?Matthew: My wife lenora lapidus is the director of theWomen’s rights Project of the AClU. She has even appearedbefore the Supreme Court. She fights the good fight for women:inequality in pay, inequality in domestic disputes. i was watch-ing homeland Security scanning people and i was saying this

has just gotten out of hand. The terrorists won. look what thishas done. And how many would be terrorists do they reallycatch? They were taking thumb and palm prints of a woman trav-eling alone with her baby. lenora said we made the choice toleave the country to go on this trip. Yeah, i guess. lenora andi love the arts together. We’re parents of an 11 year old girl sowe don’t get out as much. But we love museums and concertsand all of the cultural stuff of the Berkshires. Our house is amile from Tanglewood. Our daughter was 11 days old and al-ready on the lawn of Tanglewood. We live a few blocks awayfrom all of these outdoor concerts in Prospect Park in Brooklyn.We can never get enough of it. i would like to think izzy willhave the same love of the arts that we have. But if she doesn’tthat is ok. But i think she will. lenora is also the author of avolume of poetry herself.

How do you divide and separate family time and your artwork, or, do they get combined at times? Matthew: They overlap. i try not to do the photography onweekends. That is family time. But they are very much a partof my creative process. i know i am thinking of izzy every timei photograph a child. They see my paintings as i do them andizzy never holds back her feelings good or bad. She is very intophotography herself these days. having a family enhances cre-ativity for sure, at least for me. it gives my life a whole otherdimension and point of view. it makes me look outside of my-self.

I’m wondering if you can give us a description of what it waslike for you as a boy spending time in the Berkshires?Matthew: i never spent full summers in the Berkshires (as aboy). My family had land there so we would come up to spendtime and look at the land. “here is the land!” it took years be-fore there was ever a house on such land. i also went on a biketrip that passed through the Berkshires. i attended two Julys atBennington for poetry programs when i was in high school.Bernard Malamud would walk around. he was such a nice, ap-proachable man. This poet named Stephen Sandy would tell youthat poetry is something that should be recited to you in a bar. ikind of agree with that. he meant it should be of the everydaylike having a beer with a friend. We would come down and goto Tanglewood, go to the Clark, go to Jacob’s Pillow. That waswhen i really, really caught the Berkshires and the arts bug. i

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love the place and find it to be a source of strength and inspira-tion. it is so special. i don’t know what i would do if i didn’thave it my life. i mean i can’t imagine my life without the Berk-shires. i didn’t grow up in New York City. i grew up in Teaneck,New Jersey. i had a healthy suburban upbringing. Now my lifeis either rustic or urban.

When you’re at home up in the ‘country” now, are you ac-tively involved in the art scene? Matthew: i am not that active. i used to be a lot more active. Asa painter, i was in the Sheffield Art league (now called thehousatonic Valley Art league) and go to a lot more art openings.We still go to openings but it is not exactly what our daughterwants to do. When i am in the Berkshires, i paint in the morningsor before dinner. i don’t even own a brush in Brooklyn where ilive.

As far as your mentors or affiliates in the Berkshires thathave supported your watercolor paintings, your photogra-phy, and all the rest, who would you give credit to? Matthew: The first person to show my photographs in the Berk-shires is the now locally known painter Scott Taylor. he usedto have a gallery in lenox called Art Works. he really liked myphotos and he sold a whole bunch of them. But he closed thegallery long ago and has since gone on to some exciting stuff.Cassandra Sohn had one of my photos in a juried group showlast year and she is just wonderful and a great force for photog-raphy in the area. She is also a wonderful photographer herself.Jeff risley at Park row Art Gallery in Chatham has shown mywatercolors in the past. And so has Stephanie hoadley of thehoadley Gallery in lenox. i am grateful to them all. right nowa bunch of my paintings are hanging in the restaurant rouge inWest Stockbridge. it is our favorite restaurant in the Berkshires.

As a watercolor painting teacher, Pat hogan was great. She isa fabulous and inspiring teacher as well as artist. i don’t knowwhat would have happened to me as a painter if i had not foundher. She has a nice loose sensibility both as an artist and personthat so agrees with me. for anyone starting out painting wa-tercolors or acrylics, take a class with Pat. She has been afriend for many years. Other local artists i like to be aroundare Nancy Soudant, Monika Sosnowski and Gabrielle Senza.

What is the most sanest or INsanest advise you have gottenfrom anybody in the past year that you can share with us?Matthew: Sanest is keep doing what you are doing. Keepgoing. And i agree. i am not out there trying to win contestsand awards and being the flavor of the month.

Why do you think people need to see ART? Why do youlove creating art?Matthew: i love to create art because it keeps me alive andhappy. it is as important to me as breathing. i don’t know any-thing else. if i could not do it anymore for whatever reason, idon’t know what i would do. i think people need art to under-stand the world, the universe, our existence. i know there aremany who don’t need art or at least need it that much. And idon’t understand that. it is truly alien to me. But differentstrokes for different folks. At the end of the day, it is whatevermakes an individual happy.

What so far has been the greatest thing you have discov-ered?Matthew: how making art is one of the greatest ways to feelfulfilled and happy. how it is the best defense against tryingcircumstances. it truly is a great escape and i view it as a gift

every day. if i didn’t have it to step into, i do not know what iwould do.

Where can we see more of your art work, Matthew?Matthew: My poetry books can be found on Amazon. flickr.com/photos/87604431@N05/https://www.flickr.com/photos/99845620@N03/www.mattbialer.com

Thank you Matthew!!


16 • ThE ArTfUl MiNd JUNE 2014

MARGUERITE BRIDEWATERCOLORS

Marguerite Bride will be exhibiting in a number of ven-ues during the summer months.

As part of a group exhibit entitled “BiG Works: GardenTreasures” at Celebrations Gallery in Pomfret, CT, Bridewill exhibit three new floral pieces. This exhibit runs May31 – July 13. in addition, the gallery also has 18 of Bride’sseasonal watercolors on display. Visit www.Celebra-tionsShoppes.com for more information about the showand the gallery.

The weekend of July 12 – 13, Bride will be exhibitingat New England’s longest running, outdoor, juried fine artsfestival, the Wickford Art festival, in picturesque Wick-ford, rhode island. Bride grew up in ri so this is like“going home” for a visit. for more details visit www.wick-fordart.org.

And, more local to the Berkshires, Bride will be exhibit-ing at the annual juried Church on the hill Art Show atlilac Park in lenox, MA the weekend of July 26 – 27.

Bride is now represented by Arnould’s Gallery in Mar-blehead, MA who has a number of her seacoast and Mar-blehead paintings on display.

Can’t make it to the exhibits? Not a problem…you cancatch Bride’s paintings and reproductions at the followingvenues: Phdesigns at 141 North Street in Pittsfield; lenoxPrint and Merchantile, 11 housatonic Street in lenox; St.francis Gallery on rt 102 in lee, plus the red lion innGift Shop. And always directly from the artist.

Bride is always happy to consider commission work. Asubject she particularly enjoys is painting house portraits,and has now done nearly 150 homes locally, nationally andsome in Europe. Commissioning a piece is much easierthan most people imagine. Check out Bride’s website formore information, or contact the artist directly.

Bride invites visitors to her studio during “open studios”on each first friday of the month, held in conjunction withPittsfield’s first fridays Artswalk from 5-8 pm. At the NUArts Studios you will see up to 18 different artists who wel-come the public to see their working spaces and meet withthe artists.

Marguerite Bride, Nuarts Studios, 311 North Street,Pittsfield, Studio #9, by appointment only. Call 413-442-7718, or 413-841-1659 (cell); website: margebride-paint-ings.com, email: [email protected]. Facebook:Marguerite Bride Watercolors.

BERKSHIRE ARTS FESTIVAL

if you have never been to the Berkshires Arts festival,you can win free tickets. it is now BAf’s 13th year and thefounder of the arts festival, richard rothbard, is anxious tohave more families come to the show.

Kids love to meet the artists. Your children will have aunique experience that will have long lasting and positiveeffects for years to come. This year The renaissance ArtCenter will provide guests with a hands-on opportunity totry various forms of making art. There is nothing more funthan making things out of clay or trying the potters wheel.

All day every day you & your children can experienceall kinds of creative opportunities. Great food, smoothies byJungle Juicy, puppet shows and the most beautiful art andcraft works hand made by 175 artists from all over the coun-try.

Enter our contest! in 25 words or more tell why you havenever been to The Berkshires Arts festival. 15 free weekendpasses, a $14.00 value, will be emailed to those with themost inventive reasons for not coming. All respondents willreceive an email with copies of the winners’ responses andfree admission to the show Sunday afternoon at 3pm.

Visit our web site BerkshiresArtsfestival.com. No matterwhat! Come see for yourself. We promise you will have agreat time.Berkshires Arts Festival – BerkshiresArtsFestival.com fordates, time, details.. INDIA

MARIGOLDS, MYSTICSAND MOUNTAINS

imagine standing at the foothills of the himalayas and gazingup at a full moon in October. Or, stepping into a world wheremystics, mountains and marigolds greet you, where sunset chantstouch the sky and temple bells fill the air. A world where you willlight a thousand and one butter lamps to the sacred Goddess, siptea with village women in remote mountain villages, shop in ex-uberant marketplaces, meander on cobbled pathways leading tothe abode of his holiness, the dalai lama, enjoy yoga andayurvedic massages, and reside in a lovely eco-retreat nestled inKangra Valley, the Valley of the Goddesses.

Marigolds, Mystics and Mountains, 2014 is a guided journeyfor women led by Amber Chand in close partnership with JagoriGrameen (Women Awaken!) a non-profit organization in indiadedicated to the empowerment of women and girls. in its fourthyear, this journey offers travelers a unique and safe way to expe-rience the evocative spirit of Mother india and to engage in adeeper, more meaningful way with all her myriad manifestations.

We will arrive in the cosmopolitan city of New delhi and thenfly to our himalayan destination. An optional and supplementary4 day trip to the Taj Mahal and the deserts of rajasthan is alsoavailable. dates: October 12-25, 2014. Cost: $3150 (double oc-cupancy and does not include direct air fare to india)

“Not a day goes by that I haven’t thought about some aspecto the trip. It truly was a remarkable adventure, a once in a life-time experience” R.L. Concord, Mass

Mother India Awaits! To learn more about this incredible journey, visit

www.amberchand.com or email: [email protected]

ArtistEleanor LordOne of many at...

510 Warren Street, Hudson, NYwww.510warrenstreetgallery.com

518-822-0510

PlOWShArES BY MArGUEriTE BridE, WATErCOlOr


Otis The WolfPArT 1

richard Britell

My story begins in the far North in the town of x, in theProvince of Y, in the land of z. Now that you have the coor-dinates it makes it easier for you to picture what i am aboutto tell you. it is a story about Otis the wolf; his story shouldconvince you of the superiority of animal intelligence, com-pared to that of people. Otis, however, was not very superior;on the contrary he was considered a reject by his wolf pack.it was not that he was a runt of a litter; it was just that he wasnot a good-looking wolf by wolf standards.

To put it simply, Otis looked like a dog rather than a wolf,something very unacceptable in wolf communities. if youconsidered Otis as a dog rather than a wolf it was anotherthing completely. As a dog he was very acceptable looking.he was entirely black, long legged and narrow in the hips. ifyou did not know he was a wolf you would have mistakenhim for a Belgian Shepherd.

The Belgian Shepherd is similar to the German Shepherdexcept that it is all black, better proportioned, and more intel-ligent. in short, the Belgian is the best, but an inferior wolf.The Belgian face lacks that Asiatic turn of the eye, the slantedeye that seems to give the wolf his sinister look at least to awesterner’s perception. The Belgian has instead the knowing,sympathetic, wise look of the intelligent dog.

Otis’ childhood was one of constant fighting. he was al-ways on his guard against ambush by his various brothers andsisters and over time he became a formidable fighter. Otis wasnever rejected outright by his wolf family for two reasons,first because of his strength, and secondly because of his abil-ity to pass for a dog.

Although their families generally reject wolves that looklike dogs, they do have a very important role to play in thelife of the pack. They are often assigned the role of spies, andit is their duty to infiltrate human settlements. They have topass as dogs. This makes them even more hated by wolvesand yet, though they are despised, they are indispensable. Otiswas given such assignment.

A wolf that looked like a dog could not simply wanderinto a medieval village and hope to be accepted. it was a dif-ficult time; superstition and fear ruled the land, the orderly,predictable despotism and savage illogical justice of the ro-mans was long forgotten. A stray dog showing up in a villagewould most likely suffer a cruel fate. The first thing Otis hadto do was spend many days observing village life with an eyefor the behavior of the local dogs. from a safe distance hemarveled at their antics. Why did they shake their tails in suchan obscene way, what was the purpose of sitting up on thehind legs and pawing the air before eating some morsel offood?

in time Otis connected dog behavior to attendant humanactions. Tail wagging was related to being petted, sitting onthe haunches was a preliminary to sometimes being fed, butnot always. All of these activities had to be practiced and per-fected in front of an audience of his peers. They stood in judg-ment of his acting skills, which convulsed them with laughter.There is nothing so shameful for a wolf than to be caught, act-ing in a dog-like way. One can imagine Otis’ feelings at thattime. he had no place in the wolf community to speak of, andnow he had to humiliate himself just to fulfill the one task thatwould give his wolfish existence some purpose. That was notthe worst of it, however. Otis had seen other wolves beforehim learn dog-like behaviors, and then go out into the villagesto spy. Often they were found out instantly and done awaywith.

Once Otis’ apprenticeship was complete the right time hadto be found for him to assume his duties in the nearest village.he had to be on the lookout for a wandering theatre troupe topass through the town and then on the following morning hewould simply show up, as if lost or abandoned by his owners.Once established in the village, Otis assumed the role ofeverybody’s dog. his day was spent roaming from cottage tocottage greeting everyone, ignoring no one. it is customaryfor community dogs, then as now, to disappear for many daysat a time, and then appear early in the morning as if they werenever away. his job was to spy out every location where noc-turnal wolf raids would prove successful.

Otis’ existence was the most precarious possible. he wasbeset by dangers on all sides. he ran the risk of being discov-ered to be a wolf by the town’s people and constantly sus-pected of turning into a dog by his wolf family. it was notenough to never “wolf down,” a meal. Very slight things couldgive him away to his new friends. his training could not covereverything he needed to know; he was almost found out be-cause he had no idea what “fetch” was and only figured it outby accident.

Although there are dogs that seem to belong to an entirecommunity, that situation never persists for very long. inevery town or village there always resides some thirteen-year-old-boy whose one wish in life is to own a dog, especially ablack wolf-like dog, and often those boys have mothers whoare utterly against dog acquisition. Those boys will sometimesdiscover a stray dog and adopt it as much as their circum-stances will allow. They can never actually own the dog, butover time a bond is created that is even stronger than owner-ship. Those boys are fond of day dreaming of situations inwhich they are waylaid by robbers or murderers on darklonely roads, and suddenly, out of the darkness of some treesemerges a terrifying black wolf, and woe-be-tied to any mur-derous kidnappers of young boys who do not flee in terror.

it was not long before Otis was discovered by a boy like

that, whom, for the sake of simplicity in this story we will callsimply “the Boy.” The boy in question did not befriend Otisright away; actually it took almost a month. his first reactionto Otis was fear. As friendly as the new dog was with every-one, there was something about him that the Boy could nottrust.he was not alone in has suspicion and apprehension of thewolf; the village dogs were in a quandary about him. Therewas something about his movements that were inexplicable.Why, for example, would a big well-proportioned dog be sowilling to flop down on his back at the sight of any poodlethat came into sight? like an overly friendly stranger in a bar,one suspected some ulterior motive.

The Boy's anxiety about Otis grew steadily until he foundhimself altering his usual path through town to avoid comingacross the dog that gradually assumed for him the features ofa frightening evil omen. fear got the better of him completely.his father was a blacksmith, and his job was to pick up anddeliver various small mended items at farms in the vicinity.he was constantly coming and going, a sack over his shoulderfull of things like mended harnesses or repaired pad-locks.

finally he was unable to do his job, developed a fever andtook to his bed. The doctor was called and he could find noth-ing wrong with the Boy. he suspected that it was his first en-counter with “puppy love” and its attendant fever, and he wasvery nearly correct in his assumption.

But finally the Boy overcame his fear suddenly one after-noon and, seeing the wolf in the distance he stood still, benthis legs and slapped his knees twice with his hands; the wolfhearing the sound bounded across the field but stopped shortjust three feet away. Then he lunged at the Boy with the samemotion he would have used to bring down a doe by the neck.he rested his forepaws on the Boy’s shoulders and began lick-ing his face all over. The Boy took the wolf’s head by the earsand held his face down a little and then preceded to bang hisforehead against the wolf’s head three times, three hardknocks. After that they were best friends.

To be continued...by Richard Britell

"They thought I was a Surrealist,but I wasn't. I never painted

dreams. I painted my reality."- Frida Kahlo

Planet Waves Eric Francis June 2014For most of 2014 so far, we’ve been under the influence of

inner-planet retrogrades, a distinctive feature of this year. Firstwas Venus, then Mercury, then Mars. Now Mercury begins aninteresting retrograde on June 7, which ends July 1. I say in-teresting because it begins in the water sign Cancer, and treksback into its own sign Gemini. That will provide contrast be-tween instinct and intellect, which modern humans could usemore of. Said another way, that contrast highlights the differ-ence between emotional reflex and mental reflection, which youcould say is the basis of a peaceful life. Mars for its part remainsin Libra until July 25. The Sun enters Cancer June 21, at whichtime the Northern Hemisphere days begin to get shorter.

ARIES (March 20-April 19)if history has a tendency to repeat, that’s because so few peoplelearn from their mistakes or pay attention. You have the abilityto do both. There’s been plenty to pay attention to, and plenty youwould do differently if you could — and now you can. When youencounter challenges similar to what you’ve already encountered,remember to review how you handled them. in particular, notehow you handled the feelings of others, and how you perceivedthe role of others in your life. Now you can reassign those roles.if you’re paying attention, you will make choices that lead youto be a more autonomous and independent person, but one no lesscommitted to who and what you love. it’s just that you cannothave a relationship without a Self.

TAURUS (April 19-May 20)Venus will be in your sign for most of the month, which is ofcourse good news for you. This hint of stability comes at a timewhen plenty will be vibrating on the inner levels of your life. iknow it always is — there are few signs that have as complicatedof an inner life as does yours, though the message of the planetsnow is focused on seeing both sides of yourself, whatever thatconcept means to you. This is a fine time to analyze where yourvalues conflict, and it’s also time to overhaul your ideas aboutmoney and the way you organize it. There is a valuable methodof income that you may not have seriously considered yet, and isuggest you give it some thought the next few weeks, and takeaction soon.

GEMINI (May 20-June 21)Mercury is now making a long visit to your sign, interrupted bya spell between May 29 and June 17. during that time Mercury,associated with your sign, will be moving very slowly in earlyCancer. The image is of you getting to experiment with being an-other person, perhaps the person you’ve always wanted to be butcould never quite make contact with. While you are there, thismay seem natural, and it may even seem extremely familiar, likeyou’ve done it before. Once Mercury goes back into Gemini mid-month, however, you’re likely to forget everything you just re-membered. The way to avoid that will be to anchor your newreality while you are there, in particular on the emotional level,

through contact with others, and with acting on your deepest de-sires. That will give you some reference points so that you canfind your way back when you want to.CANCER (June 21-July 22)

One theme of this time in your life is sorting out your emotionalsphere, questions around your sense of safety and belonging onthe planet, and whether you feel confident in your home. Nowthe emphasis shifts to an inquiry into what you might be inclinedto deny the existence of, including influences that touch your lifeoriginating before your birth. if your therapy, healing or personalgrowth process handles this territory, i suggest you go there. Evenif not, you can help yourself by maintaining a discipline of look-ing at both sides of every issue, particularly any anxiety, guilt orother shadowy emotions you feel. There is indeed another side,and it’s there if you’re curious and willing to see it. The goodnews is that doing so will likely provide significant psychic andemotional relief.

LEO (July 22-Aug. 23)Part of how you’ll shine in your career this month is by being amaster of psychology. You’re loved and trusted enough for peopleto reveal themselves to you. Then you’ll need to be a careful ob-server of what is not said, and a devoted analyst of any informa-tion you acquire. Everything is not what it seems. There are morethan two sides to every story, then there are the emotional mo-tives, which change when someone is in the context of a group.Be mindful of the two identities that a person can have, one whenthey’re acting on their own, and one when pressure, image andconformity come into the picture. Notice these things in yourselfand you will be that much better equipped to notice them in oth-ers, though everyone will express this differently.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sep. 22)in professional matters, i suggest you work with Plans A, B andC. You’re likely to get where you want to go, however, it’ll prob-ably be by a different route than the one you planned. Therefore,on any matter of real significance to you, work out a few contin-gencies, then be open to things happening by serendipity. in otherwords, don’t worry about the plans once you make them; actuallyrespond to what’s happening in real-time. Above all, be aware ofthe tone, content and clarity of your communications with peoplein authority. You’re likely to experience direct benefits and re-wards associated with that clarity, and experience one bungle afterthe next if it’s lacking. Therefore, edit your emails carefully be-fore sending. Consider what requires a phone call or in-personvisit. Think carefully; don’t miss the obvious.

LIBRA (Sep. 22-Oct. 23)Mars has stationed direct in your sign, and it’s now time to eval-uate whether a particular relationship is right for you. You’vegained considerable experience, and you have likely had manymoments of revelation. All the facts in the world, however, don’t

add up to what your intuition is telling youabout whether someone belongs in your life.There is more, however. You have learnedplenty about what kind of relationship andwhat kind of partner is right for you, andgoing forward it will be vital to apply this in-formation to your choices. You’ve experi-enced a pattern of astrology that you willnever experience again, though you will havea few last reminders of what you learned be-tween now and the end of July. New worldsare opening up, and i suggest you open your-self up and be ready for them.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 22)We live in a world where fear seems to stalkus even from before we were born. Over thepast six months, your relationship to fear haschanged, and that process is now gatheringmomentum. Notice how what might have

caused deep anxiety is now something you take in stride. Thequestion is, what has really changed? That question has an an-swer. What has changed is your relationship to yourself. You havedeepened your inner contact to a degree that you may have onlyguessed was possible, and that has resulted in your finding a placeof greater confidence in yourself and faith in the flow of events.You are also smarter than you used to be — there are rewards forputting your well-earned knowledge of life to actual use.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 22)People may seem to make less sense to you than ever, but thatdoesn’t matter so much because you need them less than ever. ifthe adventure of Mars retrograde has taught you anything, it’sthat you need to emphasize your independent streak, and leavethe codependent thing to others. in fact you’ve yet to see the realbenefit of not being so entangled in the lives of others, which willemerge when Jupiter enters fire-sign leo in July. Until then, isuggest you keep your long-term commitments to a minimum,because within a matter of six or eight weeks you will have awhole new perspective on time and planning. indeed you willhave a whole new perspective on your existence as your visionfor your life gradually comes into focus.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 20)You are about to discover how much devotion true leadershiptakes. it’s even fair to say that leadership and devotion are thesame concept for you now, as you put your heart and soul into adeeply held personal goal. remember that though this is a pointof commencement, you’re not starting from the beginning.You’ve learned a lot the past six months, gone through severalrevisions of your plan and learned to state your goal in a way thatyou can accomplish. And you may have learned to let go of thefolly of ‘things just happen’ and replaced that with ‘things happenmore easily in the correct time, with sincere preparation’. That iswhat you have going for you now. One last thought — in the dig-ital age, proper work flow is second only in value to the idea it-self.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 19)Getting clear on your yes and your no is a top-level personalgrowth project. if you prefer the spiritual paradigm, it rates rightat the top there as well. These are the two main commands thatcontrol the flow of your life. Without clear yes and no, it’s likehaving a car where none of the interior controls are connected tothe moving parts on the vehicle. i believe that much of what peo-ple struggle with, especially here in Western culture, could beavoided or resolved were people to be in full possession of yesand no. for you, there is a wrinkle, which is making up your mindand asserting yourself in the face of conflicting information. Whatyou seemed to agree with a month ago you may now have ques-tions about. What seemed unlikely or impossible six months agonow seems plausible. i suggest you give any important decisionat least one more month consideration, if you can.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)The recent Mars retrograde raised many questions of sex and gen-der, most of which were expressed in a public or political way.These are in truth deeply introspective themes, and over the com-ing weeks a question comes home for you. That question is: ifeveryone contains all gender and sexual potential within them-selves, why do we need one another? if you can relate to yourselfand to others from the polarity of male or female, submissive ordominant, giver or receiver, then what is the use of relating toothers? The obvious answer is that it’s interesting, and when donewell, nourishing. The more aware of your inner potential you are,the more fully you will be able to relate to others.

~Read Eric Francis daily at PlanetWaves.net



DISCOVERING YOURLEGACY

ThE lAST Will ANdTESTAMENT AS A CrEATiVE WriTiNG

ExPEriENCEThis creative workshop supports people in reflecting on what

they care about in their lives, how they want to live their livesgoing forward, and from this context, consider what they wantto do with their resources after they're gone. We will use free-writing exercises to get to the heart of what we hold dear in ourlives, so that we may make plans from an inner place of self-care. (No writing experience necessary.) Caring for ourselvesand our loved ones can be a fulfilling experience that releasesenergy and re-invigorates our lives in the here and now.

ruth henderson, Ph.d. is a writer and educator. She facili-tates groups and works with individuals focusing on transfor-mation through compassionate reflection. her doctorate innarrative studies informs her approach, which focuses on help-ing people value their experience through storytelling and thewritten word. ruth has also done extensive research on for-giveness, and has given workshops on the subject, internation-ally. her work has been supported by Archbishopdesmond Tutu and harvard law School deanMartha Minow. her decade-plus years of helpingpeople forgive provides the backdrop for this re-flective workshop on envisioning our legacies.

Two Workshops Will Take Place: Sat. June 7thin Lenox (for women) at Church on the Hill'sChapel (55 Main St.) 10am-4pm--Sat. June 14th in Great Barrington at the SouthBerkshire Friends Meeting 280 State Rd (mixedgendered). Couples welcome.

for more info: [email protected]

rUTh hENdErSON

WHOLEPERSON MOVEMENT

FLOOR OF THE CORE PILATESSharon True, a certified Pilates and Pfilates™ (Pelvic

floor Pilates) instructor and owner of WholePerson Move-ment in Great Barrington, is now offering personal andgroup training in pelvic floor muscle conditioning calledfloor of the Core Pilates. The pelvic floor muscles areamong the core muscles that support the spine and are keyto good posture, body ease, and confident movement. Whilepelvic floor muscles are typically recruited naturally whendoing regular Pilates workouts, when there has been traumato the pelvic floor due to pregnancy, childbirth, surgery, orother sources, studies have shown that training the pelvicfloor muscles in a targeted way is even more beneficial.

The pelvic floor is actually shaped more like a bowl or ahammock than a flat floor. The muscles connect the tailbone,pubic bone and the two “sitbones,” and they provide supportfor the pelvic organs. Pelvic floor muscles have a big impacton quality of life. When they are functioning well, life isgood! When they are damaged, weak, or not well-coordi-nated there can be embarrassing problems with inconti-nence, unsatisfying sex, and a feeling that one’s insides arefalling out (organ prolapse). These in turn negatively impactimportant aspects of life such as work, travel, intimate rela-tionships, the ability to lead an active lifestyle – and creatingart!

Sharon True’s floor of the Core Pilates can help to getdeconditioned pelvic floor muscles back on track. Based onPfilates™ (pronounced fih-lah-tees), an approach to pelvicfloor muscle conditioning developed by a urogynocologistin conjunction with Pilates, yoga, and fitness professionals,her floor of the Core Pilates is a three-part program. first,she offers an introductory workshop that provides an orien-tation to the pelvic floor and the Pfilates™ exercises. Thisis followed by home practice with internet support alongwith a few private sessions to discover an individual’s “bestthree” exercises. finally, there is another workshop onstrategies for incorporating pelvic floor exercise into dailylife. The entire program can be learned privately if preferred.True wants to see an end to suffering in silence with respectto pelvic floor muscle dysfunction. She believes that tar-geted pelvic floor exercise is self-empowering and shouldbe the firST thing to try when problems appear. She standsready to serve as a partner and guide on the journey back toa healthy “floor of the core.”

Act now to find “floor of the core” support for the ac-tivities you love, and to start making the most of the bodyyou have through Pilates and PFilates™. For a free con-sultation via email, contact Sharon True [email protected], or phone 413-528-2465,9am - 9pm

MARY CAMPBELL WEDDINGS

A wedding is one of the most sacred and important daysof anyone’s life. The ceremony is the heart of the wedding,and when well crafted, holds the potential to truly reflect acouple’s distinctive personality and love.

rev. Mary Campbell takes special delight in helpingcouples celebrate their unique love as they create a weddingceremony that honors the people and things that are mostimportant to them and their families. Mary is an ordainedinterfaith/interspiritual minister and couples counselor. Shehas lived in the Berkshires for over 20 years, leading trans-formational workshops for women and creating ceremoniescelebrating love and connection.

As a couple explores the myriad choices involved incrafting a truly beautiful and meaningful wedding cere-mony, whether traditional or more contemporary, Mary isable to offer passages and rituals from ceremonies practicedin a wealth of traditions as well as share her extensive col-lection of poetry and prose.

And as couples naturally deepen their commitment toone another during the planning of their wedding, theyoften look toward the future and are enriched by guidance.Mary’s compassion and skill, shared through her Excep-tional Marriage Mentoring counseling, can provide themwith a strengthened foundation upon which to build a lifeof joy and ever-deepening intimacy.

Create the wedding of your dreams and the love thatcan last a lifetime.

Rev. Mary Campbell – 413-528-6633; [email protected] / diviningWeddings.com

"The best reason to paint is that thereis no reason to paint... I'd like to

pretend that I've never seen anything,never read anything, never heard

anything... and then make something...Every time I make something I thinkabout the people who are going to seeit and every time I see something,

I think about the person who made it...Nothing is important...

so everything is important."

-Keith Haring

Harryet Candee: How many years has theHousatonic Valley Art League been active? I heardit’s going on its 25th year!Well, it’s more like the 40th year. it was founded in 1974as the Sheffield Art league and, somewhere along theway, i believe around 2005, it evolved into thehousatonic Valley Art league as a non-profit artists or-ganization. Currently, we have around 150 members.

And what about you, Harvey? What role do youplay amongst these talented Berkshire artists?Actually, i’ve only been a member, of the league, for acouple of years, now, but last year they conned…., i’msorry, i mean “asked” me if i would like to be chairmanof the Summer Shows and i accepted, and this year, asif they haven’t learned their lesson, voted me on to theBoard of directors. Now, a lot of the members helpwith these Summer Shows, but, still, there’s a lot of or-ganizing, planning and materials needed. And this pastyear, disaster struck when dewey hall, in Sheffield,severed its long-standing relation with us to hold ourshows there. Well, it really had me panicked. here i am,in my 2nd year as Chairman, with no place to hold theshows, and if there are no Summer Shows, there couldbe no future for the hVAl, because most members joinspecifically for these shows. i don’t know if you’ve evertried renting a large empty space for the summer monthsin the Berkshires, but, i’ll bet that going to the moonmight be easier. We tried every building from Sheffieldto lenox, and after nothing but frustration after frustra-tion, Jed & Jill lipsky came through at the 11th hour byletting us rent their building at Jenifer house Commonsfor June & July. Now, we’re even hoping that we mightbe able to hold a 3rd show there in August.

It’s a perfect space for a large group show. Harvey,please share with us your background, I know it’s aninteresting one.i was born and raised in New York City, loved art froman early age and was fortunate enough to attend the highSchool of Art & design, a specialized art high school inNYC. i continued studying art, while working in Adver-tising, at the Art Students league and National Academyof design. i married in 1974, yes it’s 40 years this month,and around 1999 or 2000, my wife, Vivian, went into theantique business. She opened her first store in hudson,then moved to Great Barrington. during this time, webought a home in Ashley falls and i was coming up fromthe city from Thursday night to Monday morning, finallywe were able to get a high speed internet connection,which allowed me to move up here full-time and workfrom home. Soon after, i discovered a few life drawinggroups in the area which i religiously attended, and even-tually it led to me to running one, here in Sheffield, everyWednesday evening at the library.

What are some of the goals for the Housatonic ValleyArt League?Well, hVAl is all about its’ members. The league givesits’ members the opportunity to show in art exhibitsthroughout the year. Besides the Members Show, whichwill be held in June, and the prestigious Juried Show, inJuly, there’s usually a Small Works Show, held in the fall,sometimes there’s a Christmas Show, and often a specialexhibition, like the one for the Sheffield land Trust, thatwas held a few years ago. They also put on workshops forthe artists throughout the year with some very prestigiousinstructors. There was just one held for Monoprints, and

last November, there was a fresco Painting Work-shop, where the instructor was a well-known frescoconservator in italy and she flew over, especially, justto give it. The league also is a great supporter of vi-sual arts. during these shows and other events,money is raised to donate to a school, or art schoolfor a specific art’s program.

What do you look for when looking into artistswork in order for them to join? Is it a difficult cri-teria?Actually, the main criteria, is that you have a passionfor art. The league accepts all levels of artists, andeven some non-artists who support the arts. Some ofour members are professional artists while others arehobbyists. They run the gamut in age, from teenageto several members who are in their 90’s.

Tell me about this summer’s great annual shows!What are the highlights?Our Members’ Show will be held first and opens onJune 5 at Jenifer house Commons. Only hVAlmembers can participate, although you can join onthe day paintings are submitted. Each member maysubmit up to 2 pieces of art and all will be accepted,providing there is space enough to hang them all.This show gives our members the opportunity toshow their work in public, which, as i’m sure youknow, is not that easy for an artist. We’ve had asmany as 140 paintings hanging in this show. Theshow is judged with awards given out for the best art-work. The Members’ Show runs through June and isimmediately followed by the Juried Show, whichopens on July 3 and runs through July. The JuriedShow differs from the Members’ Show in that it is


hOUSATONiC VAllEYArT lEAGUE

Talking with Harvey Kimmelman

rUTh drYSdAlE, NUdE COllAGE, MixEd MEdiA

KEiTh dAVidSON, TrEES, ACrYliC

open to members and non-members and the work submitted has topass the scrutiny of two judges in order to be accepted. Artists usu-ally save their best efforts for this show and the work is generallyof a higher standard. like the Members’ Show, Awards are givenout for the best artwork. i do have to say that even though the JuriedShow is supposed to be of a higher standard, the quality of the workin the Members’ Show is surprisingly good. But, to me, the biggersurprise is how many really good artists there are living in this area.We are also keeping our fingers crossed that the Jenifer houseCommons space will be available to us in August, and if it is, we’llput on a third show where the artists have their own space to showas many of their works as will fit. But we won’t know about thisuntil the end of June.

The people responsible for keeping this Art League going, Ihave to say, are very dedicated individuals. Who are the headhanchos? What makes them special and gives them the enthu-siasm and inspiration for bringing artists together?Oh boy, where do you start? Well, the league’s Board of directorshave been mostly the same people for quite a while, now. WayneJenkins has been our Chairman for about 5 years, and when there’sa problem or something needs to be done, you can always counton him to jump in first to solve it. Tina Chandler has been in chargeof membership and her wisdom and insight, as well as getting anybit of news out to the members, is priceless. Alice Gage, was treas-urer for the longest time, but had to relinquish that job for personalreasons, this past year, so Penny Pitts jumped in and took this job,which nobody else wanted. And though she’s not an intuitive treas-urer, what artist is, she’s doing an incredible job. She also chairs

our Small Works Show. fran heany takes care of our newslettersand publicity and handles it, so seriously, with a great sense ofhumor. Pat ryan is our dedicated Secretary, who also greatly helpsthe league to keep moving forward. hans heuberger, was mypredecessor as Summer Show Chairman, who, i can honestly say,without his counsel and advice, there would be no Summer Shows.Barbara fletcher takes care of our scholarship and grants. TeresaBellizzi has probably attended every board meeting since the be-ginning. Joe Baker does a wonderful job handling our website. leoMazzeo is Vice Chairman and keeps us informed about what’s hap-pening in the north county. ruth drysdale is responsible for pub-licity in Massachusetts, and does her job as if she were workingfor donald Trump. Karen linden does the same in CT. Ann-Marielight is the newest member of the board, but, already, her inputhas been invaluable. And Norma Kimmel, is in charge of hospital-ity, and creates the wonderful food for our show receptions. You’vegot to come on June 6th just to taste it. There are many other people,too many to name, who consistently volunteer to help set up andorganize these shows, that without their help, it would be difficultto impossible to put on these exhibitions.

How does the league help out schools? At our shows, an artist will donate a piece of artwork that will beraffled off and all the proceeds from the raffle goes to our Scholar-ship/Grant fund. There have also been events held, like most re-cently, an Art Swap, at the Sheffield library where artists donatedart supplies that were sold. At the end of the year, the board acceptssuggestions and decides who will get our donation. CATA just re-ceived a grant, iS183 was the beneficiary of last years Scholarship

fund, The year before, the Mt. Everest school received a donationfor it’s art program.

Has visual art ever been combined with music for the ArtLeague when it comes to events and shows?Actually, no. it is something for us to think about, though. Musichas a lot of support, much more, i believe, than the visual arts. So,right now, we are just focused on the visual arts.

What is your take on the next five years, and what can theHVAL do to grow and achieve some real challenges in todayscrazy world?Because we are local, i think the task is a lot easier for us. Theworld has gotten to be so complex that anything you do, seems totick off half the people. We want to continue focusing on the artistsin this area and if we can get the word out about the league andwhat we do for our members, i think we can sustain our member-ship and maybe even grow a bit.

IF you had a wish list, do you think one of the wishes would beto have a permanent home base for HVAL? Where would it be?What would it look like? Lets do some visualizing techniqueshere, if you were to speak for the group as a whole, what wouldbe the ideal HVAL home? With your words, paint us a picture.Oh, boy! A permanent home base does sound like a dream, but thereality is that if you own it you also get to fix it. And for an organ-ization without too much funds, that dream could turn into a night-mare. i think the best thing that could happen to us is that we findanother long-term relationship, like the one we had with deweyhall, where someone would let us put on our shows in their build-ing year after year. Somewhere along route 7, from Sheffield upto Stockbridge, or even lenox, would be our ideal location. i don’tknow if you’re familiar with the Grange Antiques building, inSheffield, which we came very close to renting. That building isabsolutely beautiful and would have been perfect for us. AndMichael Buchanan, who owns it, was more than happy to let us useit, except, it was filled with valuable antiques and would have beenour responsibility to move and store them during the shows. TheStockbridge Train Station is another building we’d drool over, butthat too was rented. i guess our ideal home base would simply be“on the beaten track” with plenty of open space and light…is any-body listening?

Just keep visualizing it, Harvey, and it will happen. Exhibit at Jenifer House Commons, 420 Stockbridge Rd, GreatBarrington, MA. www.hvart.org G


NiNA riTSON, CONNECTiCUT SCENE 3, WATErCOlOr

hArVEY KiMMElMAN, lA CAMEriErA, WATErCOlOr

hANS hEUBErGEr, WOrKiNG GrEAT BArriNGTON, WATErCOlOr


BERKSHIRE FRINGE FESTIVAL

This August, the Berkshire fringe moves north to theUpstreet Cultural district to kick off its 10th anniversary sea-son at Shire City Sanctuary. From August 2-August 18,the fringe will celebrate its decade milestone with over 30performances, special events, pick your own price nightsand free concerts by beloved Berkshire fringe artists andensembles from around the world.2014 ‘best of the fest’ highlights include:Retrospectacle, the 2014 fringe kickoff party on Saturday,August 2 features live performances, auction, dj, dancingand special musical guest, May V. Oskan; Brooklyn’sbeloved Under The Table Theater Ensemble present two hi-larious and poignant physical comedies, The Hunchbacksof Notre Dame and Solo: A Two Person Show; TheWardrobe Ensemble from Bristol, UK return with theiraward winning show RIOT and the US premiere of 33;fringe favorite The Pi Clowns from San francisco, CA in-spire audiences of all ages and award winning monologistDan Bernitt from lexington, KY delivers an encore per-formance of his touchingly poetic hit, Thanks for the Sca-bies, Jerkface! Plus, a British themed pub quiz, CommunityPerformance lab, new work showcases, free concerts andmore!

All performances take place at Shire City Sanctuarylocated at 40 Melville Street in Pittsfield, MA. For Season’sPasses, tickets, information and a full schedule of eventsand free programs, visit www.berkshirefringe.org, e-mail [email protected] or call 413.320.4175

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH MUSIC

With representative works from many of the genres inwhich he wrote—piano quintet, piano trio, song cycles, andopera, and always with his trademark captivating melodi-ousness and soulfulness—audiences at the Close EncountersWith Music all-dvořák gala concert, Sunday, June 15 at 2PM will take away a composite portrait of the composer asan original and independent force in classical music. Theprogram will also illustrate how the irresistible charm andmastery of dvořák’s compositions helped bridge the worldof popular musical culture with that of the 19th century con-cert hall.

The gallery of scheduled works includes two of his great-est and most dazzling chamber pieces—the “dumky” Trioand the Piano Quintet No. 2 in A Major, both incorporatingpensive Slavonic music (dumka), Czech folk dances, andglowing with dvořák’s optimism, rhythmic vitality and in-toxicating beauty. The “dumky” was so well received at itspremiere that it was presented on a forty-concert tour, justbefore dvořák left Bohemia to head the National Conserva-tory of Music in New York City. it was published whiledvořák was in America and proofread by none other thanhis friend, Johannes Brahms. The Piano Quintet is acknowl-edged as one of the masterpieces in the form, along withthose of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Shostakovich.

“The Many faces of Antonin dvořák” is scheduled forSunday, June 15, 2 PM at Ozawa hall, Tanglewood (lenox,MA). Tickets for this extraordinary concert are $40 and $50.A limited number of Preferred Patron Seating and Gala re-ception Packages are available at $125 per person.

Close Encounters with Music - For more information orto order tickets, visit www.cewm.org or call (800) 843-0778.

SAINT FRANCIS GALLERY

At the St. francis Gallery, each show brings forth excitingnew additions. Sue Powers, Karen domanisth, Casey Kraw-czyk, and robert rosegarten are exhibiting their works atSt. francis for the first time. Each of them possesses a dis-tinct skill and an ability to impact the visual senses.

The mesmerizing and meditative oils of Casey Krawczykare astounding in both their size and beauty. They are sooth-ing, and beautifully contemplative. The detail and executionof Sue Powers still life oil paintings will leave you amazed.You will find yourself pulled into their content, admiringher skill as a painter and entertained by her sense of humorand creativity.

The use of line and color in the nature inspired paintingsand drawings of Karen domanisth will enrich your sense ofmindful exploration easily becoming lost in their simplicityand complexity simultaneously. finally robert rosegartenscreations need to be seen. To describe them as assemblagesdoes not do justice to the amount of creative juices that wentinto the selection of materials he combines to the delight ofour imagination and his own.

Several artists who have previously exhibited in thegallery have returned with new directions and visions Jurek,known for his superbly realistic paintings of wild animalportraits has moved into “windows on the world”, exploringimagined environments full of light, depth and color, as onlyhe can render in his unique medium.

Paul Solovay whose photography is a moving kaleido-scope of people and color, has captured the Junkanoo festi-val in the Bahamas as no one else could. his creative anddramatic portrayal of this “celebration of freedom” capturesthe life, joy and spirit of this event and is beautifullymounted and presented.

Two other photographers Maureen Sutter and roberthoughton also bring newer dimensions of their work toenjoy. Then we have Jean Germain who has just been hon-ored at the Paris Book awards for her celebrated jazz photosand Sharon Vidal recently chosen by Sohn Gallery in Stock-bridge to be in their juried show of exceptional photographs.

Sculptural work and unique creations are tucked into var-ious places throughout the gallery that beg to be discovered.linda Baker Cimini and Beverly Bourassa contribute asusual works that people who come to the gallery looking fora surprise always seem to choose as needed gift for them-selves or others.

Our expanded “Africa shop” has a rich display of cloth,craft and beautiful bead work brought back by dedicatedvolunteers doing community work in Kenya, supported bythe gallery profits. Please come and enjoy our unique envi-ronment of artistic exploration.

St. Francis Gallery - Rt 102, South Lee just 2 miles eastfrom the Red Lion Inn, open from 11am to 5pm Friday, Sat-urday, Sunday and Monday.

KArEN dOMANiSThrOMAN rABiNOViCh

"When my daughterwas about seven yearsold, she asked me oneday what I did at work.I told her I worked atthe college- that myjob was to teach people how to draw.She stared back at me,incredulous, and said,"You mean they forget?"

- Howard Ikemoto

413.528.2465


Simply Sasha by Sasha Seymour

Loving’ Those Leftovers!

Summer is the season of fruit! Sometimes we get so excited about all of the beautiful and colorful fruit for sale at the Farmer’s Markets that we buy too much, and the fruit beginsto look less than youthful. However, don’t give up on these bruised beauties! They aren’tany less awesome just because they’ve got a brown spot or two on them. Throw them in a

blender and make a smoothie!

here’s how:

Gather together:~ 2 over ripe peaches, chopped (soft bits removed)

~ 1 speckled banana, peeled and sliced~ 1pint of strawberries, hulled and leaves removed

~ 125ml of orange juice

Put all ingredients in a blender and whiz until smooth!Pour in glasses and serve!

How easy was that?

Enjoy!

Advertise this summer in The Artful Mind!Full of wonderful artists! Be seen, be supported, be inspired!

413 854 [email protected]

tam june 2014

Documents

depot street

artists reception

housatonic gallery

gallery126 main street

thfront street galleryfront

displaylawrence fine

art watercolor

art of mur