Hope Springs Eternal
I don’t know about you, but it’s been a challenging year for a variety of reasons, and I find myself looking to 2018 with a great deal of optimism, and a feeling that everything can start anew!
One of the things I am most excited about is a new venture/adventure I am starting with my friend and fellow artist Pamela Underhill. She and I, along with another friend Cheryl Leibovitz, spent a large part of 2013 creating art together. We would meet almost every Monday afternoon in Cheryl’s studio (then at Convergence on Quaker Lane in Alexandria) and try a variety of media, techniques and approaches and ended up with more than enough pieces to fill the walls of Convergence for a show in early 2014. It was such a productive process and one we’ve tried to recreate since but after Cheryl lost her studio, we just haven’t been able to get into a regular rhythm.
Come Friday mornings in 2018, Pamela and I hope to change that by leading a new Mixed Media group at the Arlington Mill Community Center (in Arlington, VA). Most artists will admit "arting" (verb coined by my friend Tracy Wilkerson) can be an isolating experience. You can spend hours working alone in your studio with nothing but your music (and occasionally the Game Show Network) to keep you company, and you miss the opportunity to bounce ideas off someone else. We hope we’ll overcome that and also be able to try some interesting experiments that either can’t be done in our cramped home studios or require working with someone else. We had a “practice” go-round today with my friend Donna Gallo, Pamela’s mother Nancy and a watercolor artist named “Art,” who frequents the center regularly. (See pictures.) It was great to exchange materials, found objects and ideas and it makes me so hopeful and excited for 2018. Who knows, we may even put on a show at the end!
In the meantime, I wish all of you happy holidays and a fantastic 2018, and thank you for your ongoing support!
(Work in progress photos -- above is mine, 2nd is Pamela's and third is Donna's)
