Studio Notes - June 2023
After a long winter, months of work has come together for Intimate Objects of Suspect Utility at Cove Street Arts in Portland, up until July 8. Please stop to see it if you can. More information and images are on the Cove Street Arts website. I hope that your winter was as productive.
To do:
Friend Meghan suggested that I listen to this podcast, Lemonada, Wiser Than Me. Julia Louis-Dreyfus talks with accomplished women in an insightful, conversational manner. I completely enjoyed the talk with Jane Fonda and will continue to listen to others. You might like them, too.
To see:
One of many supportive things Cove Street Arts does for its artists is to post a video of each show. You can see a zippy run-through of Intimate Objects of Suspect Utility here.
To read:
From Four Quartets, Little Gidding, by T. S. Eliot, a lovely and true comment on life at the back end.
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
My big brother, Mac Purdy, passed away two years ago. His last gift to me was monetary in nature and it was his intention that I use it to support my art practice and to bring me joy in whatever way I wished. His generosity has made this book possible. And it is his lifelong love that continues to bring me joy.
Available at Cove Street Arts
Coming up
Monson Arts is one of the grand additions to the arts in Maine. Begun five years ago, the organization has hosted artist residencies, workshops and retreats as well as pursuing educational programming in local schools. This month I am pleased to be leading the group at the 2023 Annual Retreat for fibers, cosponsored with Maine Crafts Association.
I have never been particularly interested in René Magritte and other Surrealists but having read a short article about him in Marginalia, an online newsletter by Maria Popova, I felt that I had found a kindred spirit.
“Life is wasted when we make it more terrifying, precisely because it is so easy to do so…This is an easy way out, resulting in a banal explanation of the world as terrifying. Creating enchantment is an effective means of counteracting this depressing, banal habit…We must go in search of enchantment.”
And so we set forth in search of enchantment. Or perhaps to make some.
All best,
Lissa