Traditional Masks for Healing

While masks remain a flashpoint in 2020, traditional African masks were considered sacred. The masks shown here, courtesy of the University of Michigan Museum of Art, were worn by the village healer or shaman who in turn connects with powerful spirits to bring relief from illness, infirmity or imminent death.  They are beautifully individually crafted…

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Actions Have Consequences

The UK is now counting down the days to the biggest fall out in the nation’s history. Not only are we leaving the European Union, but the threat of leaving without a deal is imminent. A “no deal” Brexit does what it says on the tin. It means the UK and the EU are unable…

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The Not-So-Distanced Past

I spent a recent Saturday in tears. The tears were of both varieties, the happy kind and the sad. I sat in front of my laptop, as my brother and sister-in-law shot me photos and videos from Nashville of the wedding of my only niece. Alyssa was as beautiful as a lily, in her lacy…

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Faceless Faces in Public Places

My series of photographs in Faceless Faces in Public Places documents people interacting with their daily environments in the angst of the Covid era. At the same time, it captures the affection they display for their communities and the vital nature of place even during a pandemic. It has been compelling to photograph in public…

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This Way Now

“This Way Now” seems appropriate at this juncture in the pandemic. It has no melody, just chordal progressions with 4ths and 5ths lingering in the decay of the instrument voices. For me, the lack of melody speaks to an imbalance between darkness and light, anxiety and hope. Even with the promising vaccines on the horizons…

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Hopefully Headed for the Dumpster Soon

Discarded masks and gloves seem to be the urban flotsam and jetsam of the times. I’ve seen all manner of them on sidewalks and street curbs lately, ranging from cheap disposables to designer face coverings. The news of the vaccines give me hope that masks and the virus will be headed for the dumpster. In…

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PL Recommends #7

Artist Stories from the Pandemic (2.5 min) Parrishart.com Parrish Art Museum on Long Island recently gathered artists living throughout the Island to share thoughts about art and life in the time of COVID. Some feel they are not able to fully realize their artist potential now, some are frustrated with virtual art as a venue,…

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The Magic in a Stranger’s Heart

Cathy and I, the past few years, have been opening our home on Thanksgiving Day, providing a welcome table to anyone who might need a place to go. Of course, we’re disappointed that the pandemic has made that impossible this year, but our gathering’s loss is a small price to pay for the sake of…

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Leaving Covid

My studio is filled with a curious assortment of raw materials, finished sculpture and mosaics, works in progress, notebooks of drawings, clippings, books and photos of places, and objects that fascinate and inspire me. Mosaics are created when fragments are united in a new order. Many of these narrative sculptures and mosaics embody my own mythology, which explores well-being,…

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A Trifecta for Surviving and Thriving the Pandemic

Are you running out of “cope” and need some new ideas about how to get through this pandemic that is showing no sign of ending any time soon? In my 20+ years as a psychologist, I’ve found three factors that can make the difference between barely surviving a crisis or both surviving and thriving the…

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