Monthly Archives: June 2012

Downstreet Art opens tonight!

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The real fun of the summer begins tonight, Downstreet Art, North Adams. I will be there, at PRESS, and out and about from time to time on the street celebrating with the hundreds of art-loving people who will come out for the night.

Looking at a test of some plates last summer.

When PRESS opened its doors a year ago, I had no idea that the project would become a cornerstone on Main Street, at least for a little while. I stumbled upon this quote by Colin Powell, “A dream doesn’t become a reality through magic, it takes sweat, determination and hard work.” The dream of PRESS began twenty years ago, as I thought about my life and wondered how I could bring art and community outreach together. I spent the first couple of years out of college as a Jesuit Volunteer and then a Peace Corps Volunteer. This history of my “do-good-works” as my father calls them, instilled in me this need to bring art to others. Up until now it has been mostly through teaching, but in the past year, that evolved to the PRESS project. Tuesday was a dream day for me at PRESS. Two different artists worked with me at PRESS to either plan their print or print their print, while Team PRESS, Associate Gallery Manager Pam Buchanan, BHIP Intern Sharbreon Plummer and MCLA Intern Andy Cross installed, cleaned and did whatever it took to get the space ready for tonight’s opening. It’s looking so great, and tonight’s celebration will just be plain fun. I remember being so nervous about the project starting last year, and Doug encouraging me to manifest. Manifest Fun. Manifest Faith. Manifest Calm. Manifest Peace. Manifest Love. And that’s what I did, and continue to try to do everyday.

Manifest. Available at PRESS.

Hope we see you tonight!

Going home

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I’m on my way back to Massachusetts after spending the weekend with my siblings, their families and our parents. My sister is moving to Germany in a couple of weeks, and this is the last time we will all be together for awhile. A certain level of sadness sits in my belly, sadness for conversations that didn’t happen, milestones that will be missed while we each pursue our own thing, and other little things.

Mick’s Heart, Peace Fire Charcoal Rubbing on paper, 2005

“Be proud of every scar on your heart, each one holds a lifetime’s worth of lessons.” ―Wallace Stegner

Wallace Stegner came to mind over the weekend, his name showed up on someone’s list of books to read and I was reminded of how much I loved Crossing to Safety and Angle of Repose. Each member of my family has scars on their hearts, some we gave to each other, some we gave to ourselves. Some are good, some are better off-forgotten. But I am proud of who we all are, who we have been and who we will become. I will miss my sister and her family while they are away. I know Facetime and Skype will keep us in contact, maybe even more so, but not being able to just get in my car and drive the five hours to see her, or knowing that I can do that will be the hardest. And this too will provide me with the opportunity for another life lesson. To be proud that this is a scar on my heart, to find family and comfort with those around me and within myself, and to reach out to my parents and my brother more, knowing that it is an opportunity for her, her family and our greater family. Be proud. Live your life.

Paulus Berensohn

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Paulus at Penland

I first met Paulus in 2000 at Schumacher College in Devon, England. We were both enrolled in a class with Thomas Moore and Joan Hanley (now Hari Kirin Kaur Khalsa).

Paulus was talking to another man, Peter Adams, at the outdoor bar on our first day there. We began to talk and I learned that he was a former potter. I took a chance that he might know of a book that I had read as an undergrad, whose title I couldn’t remember, a book that inspired me to concentrate in ceramics and to make many of the choices that I made in my early 20′s. So I described it to him, and he looked at me and said, “I wrote that book, Finding One’s Way with Clay.” To this day I get chills up and down my spine when I remember this moment.

Over the past twelve years, I’ve had the opportunity to take a class with Paulus, visit with him, and exchange cards. And these small moments of time with him have influenced my own teaching as well as how I want to be in the world. My past two weeks at Penland allowed me to see him a few times, to be reminded of how I want to be as a teacher–encouraging, gentle, inspiring and expansive.

Paulus is an inspiring teacher, someone who finds the right words to help the creative soul find it’s way in the world. One of his ways of encouragement is to invite people to find their own way of hanging out in their journal, be it doodling, writing, realistic sketching, collaging, whatever it is. This past week, he talked a lot about seeing. To sit with whatever you are looking at and let it come to you, to be quiet, and turn off the computers and smarty-pants phones and let it come to you.

He also asked us this question, “what story has infected you?” And he means this as what stories do you believe about yourself that may need to be discarded and other stories that could be highlighted. I keep coming back to this question in myself, as I go forward on my own journey of trying to be the best person, teacher, mentor, lover, friend, sister, daughter I can be.

What stories have infected you? How do you hang out in your journal, sketchbook that feels really good to you? Would love to know…