Studio Notes - December 2021

Happy new year. The end of one, the beginning of another.  I have often thought that each day should be New Year’s Day.  The end of one, the beginning of another.  We could celebrate, make resolutions for better behavior, take stock of where we are and where we want to go each and every day.  But that sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it?  We stumble through three hundred and sixty-four days to get to the one that we mark as a new beginning.  But at least we have one a year.

To see: The astonishing work of Henrique Oliveira, above. 

To do: Make just one resolution.  And make it one you can really keep.  I’m usually good for about twelve days of sticking to mine and then all falls apart because I choose things such as lose 10 pounds, exercise “more”, write a letter a day.  This year I think I’m going with smile at myself in the mirror when brushing my teeth in the morning.  Surely I can do that and it sets me up for a good day, every day.

To read:  Joan Didion (1934-2021)

“I’m not telling you to make the world better, because I don’t think that progress is necessarily part of the package,” she once wrote. “I’m just telling you to live in it. Not just to endure it, not just to suffer it, not just to pass through it, but to live in it. To look at it. To try to get the picture. To live recklessly. To take chances. To make your own work and take pride in it. To seize the moment. And if you ask me why you should bother to do that, I could tell you that the grave’s a fine and private place, but none I think do there embrace. Nor do they sing there, or write, or argue, or see the tidal bore on the Amazon, or touch their children. And that’s what there is to do and get it while you can and good luck at it."

Coming up:

Stories:  Women of the Hebrew Bible in Contemporary Book Arts, Maine Jewish Museum, Curating exhibition featuring artists Jessyca Broekman, Rebecca Goodale, Annie Lee-Zimerle, Jan Owen, Sandy Weisman, March 2022

An Adventurous Spirit:  The Jane Costello Wellehan Collection, Bates Museum of Art, Olin Arts Center, Lewiston, Maine, November 5 - March 19, 2022
 

11th Biennial Portland Show, Greenhut Gallery, April 17 to May 28, 2022

Line/Drawing, Cove Street Arts, Portland, Maine, Curating and participating.  Summer 2022

Here we are in the traditional time to rest, reassess, and renew. 
I’m hoping that 2022 brings kindness and the possibility of transformation for us all.

All best,

Lissa