Mary Therese of the Times Leader newspaper wrote a super article giving the flavor of the Moldova experience I had with fellow artist Sharon Bowar.
Last night was the final exhibition of Arts Alive which took place at the Scranton Cultural Center. Earl Lehman and I had a great group of high school painters from various Lackawanna schools. I think they were quite impressed with the paintings they did which made a bold statement hung in a pentagon shaped tower. I know we were proud of them - and glad we got to know them......
I am painting with two artists from Romania- one from Moldova - and twenty from Turkey. We are being sponsored by Summa company and by Pittson, PA based Linde International, Inc. The images are of us painting in a mall - Mall Dova - in Moldova. We each have a big canvas to create whatever we want which will be sold to help a local art school.Yesterday Aylin from Turkey remarked that people looked like their paintings – and she's right!
summaArt USA Painters Campus 2005 Wilkes University Wilkes Barre PaIn 2005 I was invited along with seven other American artists to paint with eight Turkish Artists at Wilkes University, Pa. This amazing opportunity was sponsored by Linde Enterprises Inc which is affliated with SUMMA- an internationall contruction company based in Turkey. The head of SUMMA- Mete Bora - loves artists and providing opportunites for artists to gather, paint, and exchange ideas. Scott Linde recently (I mean really recently) asked if I would like to participate in a Summa Art seven day painting excursion in Mondolva - and I said .... YES!! So tomorrow I go - every so often the stars line up - thank you Scott, thank you Mete Bora....... - Mondolva- ..... here I come!
Art stimulates and helps us to see our surrounding in a different light - what was at one time mundane, becomes tantalizing. This proved true in a recent walk in nyc where skyscrapers were the inspiration for "an eye-popping array of 10 sleek, streamlined, steel sculptures of buildings ranging from the Empire State to the Flatiron, will line Park Avenue from 54th Street to 67th Street, creating a zany, futuristic cityscape that could have been assembled from a Brobdingnagian erector set." Here are some examples:Follow this link for more information.
Julia Cameron's book The Artists Way suggests doing three things:1. Write three pages long hand as soon as you wake up.2. Walk daily to tap into your higher self.3. Take yourself and yourself only on an 'artists date'.The first two, I do daily however taking the time to take myself on an artist's date - whether it be going to a rug store to look at the color and weave of an oriental, to a movie, to an art exhibit or .... a store that showcases local artisans..... takes some conscious scheduling on my part.Last week I finally walked into Earth and Wears on 68 Main Street in Dallas, Pa. What an uplifting experience - seeing works by friends Kim Cappellini, Jean Adams and Skip Skenbach -meeting owner and potter extrodinaire Lyn Carey made me think... what took me so long? And to top it all off Lyn asked to carry some of my works - I'm in good company.
