As I refine the 2016 artCentral calendar and shape the programs that signify the unfolding of a new artCentral year, I’m claiming the balance of January to hibernate and work remotely from my cottage. Sequestered here with minimal distractions, simple pleasures nurture, encourage and sustain my focus. Each new day, before settling myself at my computer, as the sun rises and the neighborhood awakens to prepare for jobs and school and domestic chores, I flow through the steps that set a tone to insure my hours ahead will be productive |
Oh how I love seeing their feathered population at my winter feeder. Gliding over from out of the hedge and down from the tree limbs above, they occupy each perch and ring shoulder to shoulder around the rim of the circular saucer. They decorate the frosted winter grass beneath. Plucking at sunflower seeds in the shell, they crack and spit with gusto while twittering a sustained conversation.
There are so, so many of my animated guests, their variety rich with diversity and winter colors—compact wrens, sparrows and snowbirds; petite gold and house finches; a singular downy woodpecker, gentle doves and a big, red-dot-adorned flicker; noisy grackles with heads painted lapis lazuli; bright-breasted robins and cardinals in scarlet and taupe. Communally tending their dining, they’re a gloriously ordinary, feasting inspiration. Their focused intention encourages me to get on with my own work on behalf of art and artists.
Oh how I love my job working on behalf of art and artists, so much so that I leave my treasured hibernation to meet with a colorful collection of creatives in the chandeliered gallery of artCentral. I sit with better than a dozen of these inspiring people ringed around a large table. They’re the Artists of Grace.
When I first came to Carthage and discovered Grace Episcopal Church I was delighted to find a place of exceptional beauty and a parish of remarkable artistic depth. For months, Father Steve Wilson and I have been in conversation about the possibility of an exhibition—a possibility now manifesting, as details are put in place for November’s ARTISTS of GRACE Exhibition and Opening Reception with artistic offerings including watercolor, acrylic and oil paintings, portraiture, sculpture, stained glass, photography and more.
Next week I’ll give you the full 2016 Exhibition Calendar, beginning with JRAC’s SPARKLE and SHINE opening February 12th. In the meantime for a preview, visit artCentral’s website: www.artcentralcarthage.org/events.
At artCentral we cherish sophisticated pleasures and simple pleasures, too.