Artists Who Write

I'd like to think that Artists Who Write, Salon II, was as moving for audience members and performers as Salon I. Thank you Swati Khurana and Montana Ray for sharing your never-before seen or heard works. Thank you Jenny Douglas for trusting my curatorial vision and for the warmth and generosity that makes The Brooklyn Cottage a community home.

We just might do this again sometime, when The Cottage resumes programming in September. Until then, enjoy the summer. I leave you with some of my favorite photographs from 6/17...

Emergence

As we start to shed our winter skins, I am struck by how much winter affects our posture and body language, in addition to our wardrobes. There is something about knitted hats, especially on men, that I am starting to like and might actually miss when the weather gets warmer. 

I am thinking also about the concept of emergence, defined in Wikipedia as "the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions." I am picturing embroideries of men emerging from soft watercolor strokes. As my first experiment in this direction, I made a watercolor drawing of a hat, under which I embroidered the outlines of a man in "shlumpy" dress (see below). I may add some seed stitches to the hat; I also hope to add more men. I am not sure if the men will come together in a larger piece or not, or what they are going to say to me (or to each other?). But I feel compelled to create some new imagery right now.

Spring seems to bring a renewed energy for going out of the house, outside of the norm, outside of ourselves and meeting new people. Emergence...I wonder what spring will bring for me in my personal and artistic life....

Step away from old loves to make room for "the one"

"I cut my ex out of my life, and now my mojo's back."

"I like a man with dirt under his nails."

But does it need graffiti?

 Added in a drop of graffiti that appears on the sign. Not sure it is needed in the piece. It is a separate piece of shear fabric that can be removed...

I liked the idea of layering the old, original sign with the more recent graffiti.