Seeking the Sublime in the Everyday

Monday, to celebrate the Summer Solstice, we hosted a garden party at First Presbyterian Church, inviting artists to enjoy the fresh air and greenery and maybe draw or write.  The weather cooperated with sunshine and cool breezes. Tamara Wyndham came as the Pocket Lady. Her beautiful skirt has 49 pockets tied with ribbons, each containing a "blessing." She invited us to take one and I have to say, the one I chose was the exact message I have needed for this week, and maybe for all my life.  Here it is, from painter Agnes Martin;  "Of all the pitfalls in our paths and the tremendous delays and wanderings off the track I want to say that they are not what they seem to be.  I want to say that all that seems like fantastic mistakes are not mistakes, all that seems like error is not error; and it all has to be done.  that which seems like a false step is the next step." That reminds me that I used to tell my students, "If you make a line you don't like, don'

                                                                                                                                                                                        Ready for some unadulterated good news?  Tuesday, in the New York Times, Jane Brody wrote;  "Wake up to the Good News about Coffee."   She said, " The   latest assessments of the health effects of coffee   and caffeine, its main active ingredient, are reassuring indeed. Their consumption has been linked to a   reduced risk of all kinds of ailments , including Parkinson’s disease, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, gallstones, depression, suicide, cirrhosis, liver cancer, melanoma and prostate cancer.  In fact, in numerous studies conducted throughout the world, consuming four or five eight-ounce cups of coffee a day has been associated with reduced  death rates. In a study of more than 200,000 participants followed for up to 30 years, those who drank three to five cups of coffee a day were 15

 The world is opening up again and we're welcoming back the Pride Parade and the Evelyn Davidson Water Table at First Presbyterian Church. We've been serving water to thirsty marchers since I don't remember exactly but a long time.  It's the best way to see the parade.   Lately there's been a debate over who gets to march. Nobody asked me but this is what I have to say.  Twenty-five  years ago it took courage for a police officer to come out and I was deeply moved to see a group of officers marching under a Pride Banner.  I'm sorry that that won't happen this year. Rodney King said, "Can't we all just get along?" Andy Warhol said, "I want everybody to like everybody." Does that sound silly?  Inane?  It's certainly aspirational-- This month we celebrate  Loving Day , the anniversary of   Loving v. Virginia , the aptly named 1967 Supreme Court decision that vacated the two 1-year sentences of Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter Loving

  I have a drawing in this show, and I'll be speaking about it at a Zoom event tomorrow at 7 ET! I hope you can come. Lost and Found: A Personal Vision The New York Artists Circle is thrilled to announce An Exhibition and Series of Four Inspiring Roundtable Events and More! Our Spring and Summer programming is based on our curated online show.   Lost and Found: A Personal Vision The NY Artists Circle presents  the work of  117 selected artists who reveal what is truly important in their lives, as they cope with waves of loss as well as surprisingly  positive   personal  change during this Pandemic time. They give us a wide-ranging array of personal explorations on the theme of Lost and Found, from the concrete and  tangible   to the sheer existential.   Exhibition dates: May 1 – Aug 31, 2021 Go to  nyartistscircle.com/curated- shows/lost-and-found . The show is divided into four unique sub-themes focusing on different aspects of what is Lost and Found: The Personal, The Iconographi

I'd love  to show you where I work. My studio was once our daughter, Jessie's bedroom, before that a nursery for Jessie and baby Sam.  In 1981 Arthur and I bought a loft--an empty room with a kitchen and a bathroom in a former warehouse on the edges of the meat-packing district; not the new chic meat-packing district but the original where meat was actually packed.  We had a little girl and the baby we were expecting was gender unknown, so we made that big room into a two bedroom apartment. When the baby turned out to be a boy and got too big to share a room with his sister we built another room for him.   When our children grew up and moved out our apartment grew as well.  Suddenly Arthur and I each had a room of our own. For thirty years I worked in a studio on Broadway at 81st Street.  It was upstairs from Shakespeare and Company, on the same block as Zabar's, walking distance from the kids's school. So in the beginning I'd escort them, then they'd make me le