Moment of Pure Seeing

The show is up.
It looks beautiful.
Stop by the Loading Dock Gallery for a moment of tranquility.

 

At the Loading Dock Gallery, 122 Western Avenue, Lowell, MA, from July 29 through August 28.   Artists Reception will be held Friday, August 5, 6-9pm.

Remember: Lowell offers many reasons to visit in August.

August 6, studios will be open for you to visit at   Western Avenue Open Studios .

The weekend of August 13 and 14, don't miss the Quilt Festival, with special events at galleries and museums around town.

 

 

work keeps coming

Echos - work in progress

 In David Bayels' fine book, Art and Fear, there is the parable about the ceramics class. Students are divided into two groups. One group's grade depends only on quality: they must submit their one best piece for their grade. The other is told they will be measured only on quantity.  At the end of term, each student's work for the semester will be weighed: the heavier the load, the better the grade.

The outcome is that the students searching for one, best piece become stuck. The students producing in quantity make discoveries and produce better work.

So it's no surprise that the hardest part of getting ready for the upcoming show is having to stop. Ideas spread like honey, rise like saplings.  They are the children of the work that's already finished, the parents of work still to come. 

Lost in the Garden - work in progress

Moment of Pure Seeing

 This is the last week before "Moment of Pure Seeing" hangs. I am wrapping, stapling, sawing, hammering away. Another trip to the photographers is in order. The work itself gets more enigmatic. One piece leads to the next.

 The image of these two girls - my mother and her sister - weaves in and out of several pieces. My mother turns 84 this year.

 Her sister died decades ago, in childbirth. My mom is, I believe,  the only person who remembers her now.

I think a lot about time and memory: how memory changes, how its source disappears, the life it has inside our heads. When I work with my nursing home patients, I try to see past the surface to the memories they share. I hope some of this comes through in this show.