ART HEALS Part 3 - Finding Meaning

Mesquite Flat Dunes

BERT HALSTEAD

Photograph
18x7.5

$100 unframed

I have enjoyed photography since I was a boy and still have happy memories of days spent in the dark, entranced by the magic of photographic chemistry. Like many in my generation, I have experienced the wonderful thrill of watching images emerge from a blank sheet of paper in a developing tray. Although I have long since moved on to digital photographic technology, I still enjoy discovering and recording beautiful and interesting moments.

I find myself especially drawn to subjects that offer strong patterns, shapes, textures, contrasts, and moods. For this exhibit, I submitted images that I think emphasize the healing and calming power of connecting with our natural world.

“Mesquite Flat Dunes” highlights the beautiful natural curves of a dune field in Death Valley near sunset, providing a softer echo of the jagged mountain forms in the distance. Some people explored these dunes earlier in the day, but all that is left now is their footsteps.  

It’s still out there, waiting for us to go back!

Hope

JILL GOLDMAN-CALLAHAN

Collage, Chinese Ink & Acrylic on Paper     

10x10     

$400

This intimate work, Hope, glows with transcendent luminosity and liquid beauty. Beginning with a wet on wet ink painting, it moved into an imaginary landscape and was painted using a cake icing tool instead of brushes to retain a sense of freshness.  Apricot, Naples Yellow, Olive and White are colors that generate sense of hope to me. When I hang my laundry to dry these are the colors of my shirts and pants draped over the wooden dowels on the rack. The easy joy of these colors make me inhale quickly with surprise.  I I painted this on Chinese New Year and used Chinese New Year money for a collage element because I wanted to mark the day.  A sunrise in blinding white speaks in Turner’s language, it tells us that, even as the ominous wave breaks on the shore, relief is coming.

A Dream

MINNA ROTHMAN

Handwoven, Wool, Linen, Silk, Wood Frame 

10" x 8" 

$520 

I create handwoven tapestries because they make me happy. The process of creating a fabric from a discontinuous weft is very meditative and spiritual. It is a long process but also a joyous one, bringing happiness through the healing power of creative flow over an extended period of time. There is nothing obstructing the touch of fiber by the weaver’s hands; just like a song when nothing separates a singer from her voice. Often, tapestry artists are said that they have found their voice in their weavings.

I weave tapestries in silence, committing myself fully to the process: a continuous conversation with the weaving. Fiber following a weaver’s hand is an embodiment of a very intimate conversation between the weaver and the weaving. This quality of tapestry art enriches my life, leading me on a path to wisdom while creating a fabric of my thoughts. As a result, a tactile object is born - an actual tapestry standing with its narrative as a witness to human thought, telling the story of its time.

Shades of Winter’s Reservoir

SARAH MORRISON

Monoprint

12 x14”

$400 (framed)

I am inspired by the natural beauty that surrounds me living in New England as well as by the unique landscapes, art, literature and cultures of the places where I have lived and worked—from Virginia to Montana, Italy to West Africa. My technique involves experimenting with multiple layers of colors, textures, shapes and marks created playfully and organically, embracing the unexpected, unintentional ‘mistakes’ inherent to the art-making process. My artwork is informed by professional experiences as a social worker focused on the overlapping issues of poverty, health and housing as well as by personal experiences as a woman, wife and mother in a constantly changing world affected by climate change and riddled with social injustice. Simultaneously, my work is a celebration of and meditation on the life events we share, from the mundane to the ethereal.

The three monoprints I am submitting for consideration were inspired by daily walks around a local reservoir throughout the seasons. During the past year these walks helped sustain me. The colors, shapes and lines I noticed everyday took on new meaning and provided new inspiration in my art making. While challenging days of remote work and homeschooling blended into each other and the impact of the pandemic around the world brought fresh horrors each morning, the dirt path I followed with my dog each day was reassuringly constant yet always slightly different. Each turn around the reservoir brought a new variation from the day before: a quiet power in the shape of the rock that I passed everyday; delicate lines in the layers of recently formed ice; surprising textures in the patterns of a fallen leaf. The natural world continued its work- it had seen plagues before. This thought was simultaneously comforting, astonishing and disconcerting. I sought to convey this sense of awe, reverence and succor in my art making- in the shapes, lines and colors inspired by those I saw on my walks. In layers of muted or saturated colors I tried to communicate the solace of understanding that these ordinary rocks, water and trees were so much grander than they seemed, so much more meaningful than prosaic landmarks passed in my quotidian routine. The process of attempting to communicate these ideas and feelings in my printmaking echo the peace and wonder I experience in nature. I hope that the artwork offers some sort of respite and joy to the viewer as well.

Winter’s Reservoir in Two Parts

SARAH MORRISON

Monoprint

18 x 24”

$600 (framed)

I am inspired by the natural beauty that surrounds me living in New England as well as by the unique landscapes, art, literature and cultures of the places where I have lived and worked—from Virginia to Montana, Italy to West Africa. My technique involves experimenting with multiple layers of colors, textures, shapes and marks created playfully and organically, embracing the unexpected, unintentional ‘mistakes’ inherent to the art-making process. My artwork is informed by professional experiences as a social worker focused on the overlapping issues of poverty, health and housing as well as by personal experiences as a woman, wife and mother in a constantly changing world affected by climate change and riddled with social injustice. Simultaneously, my work is a celebration of and meditation on the life events we share, from the mundane to the ethereal.The three monoprints I am submitting for consideration were inspired by daily walks around a local reservoir throughout the seasons. During the past year these walks helped sustain me. The colors, shapes and lines I noticed everyday took on new meaning and provided new inspiration in my art making. While challenging days of remote work and homeschooling blended into each other and the impact of the pandemic around the world brought fresh horrors each morning, the dirt path I followed with my dog each day was reassuringly constant yet always slightly different. Each turn around the reservoir brought a new variation from the day before: a quiet power in the shape of the rock that I passed everyday; delicate lines in the layers of recently formed ice; surprising textures in the patterns of a fallen leaf. The natural world continued its work- it had seen plagues before. This thought was simultaneously comforting, astonishing and disconcerting. I sought to convey this sense of awe, reverence and succor in my art making- in the shapes, lines and colors inspired by those I saw on my walks. In layers of muted or saturated colors I tried to communicate the solace of understanding that these ordinary rocks, water and trees were so much grander than they seemed, so much more meaningful than prosaic landmarks passed in my quotidian routine. The process of attempting to communicate these ideas and feelings in my printmaking echo the peace and wonder I experience in nature. I hope that the artwork offers some sort of respite and joy to the viewer as well.

May Reflections

JANET SMITH

Photography

20x16

$275 framed

I am a photographer and this past year has been a year of taking walks. With Covid threatening all of us and with the daily onslaught of disturbing news, I took lots of walks in search of peace, solace, and respite. When I walked in old familiar places I was excited to discover new things, and when I found new places to walk, I had new adventures. Walking turned a year of staying inside into a year of going outside, a year of fear and boredom into a year of gratitude and discovery both inside and out.