Artwala Road

“Dreaming” by Janis Wunderlich

I got an email the other day announcing a new documentary film, “Who Does She Think She Is?,” which is just being released.  It’s a film about the challenges facing women artists and opens with old footage of Bill Moyers talking about well-known women artists—Virginia Woolf, Eudora Welty, Georgia O’Keefe, Janis Joplin and others, then stating that not one of them had children.  Other commentators mention that even now, even when a woman is accomplished and possibly visionary, she doesn’t find entrance to museums and galleries as easily as a man does.  People in the art world, men artists too, have long recognized the silent prejudice against women artists.  I remember as a young art history student going through four years of classes and hearing only about one single female artist—Mary Cassatt, the painter of women and babies.  It was almost inconceivable then that women might have other concerns and it really wasn’t that long ago.  And can we forget Picasso’s mistresses, more than one was an accomplished artist in her own right but tonight their names escape me.  Who knows them as anything but lovers?

Janis Wunderlich is one of the artists featured in this film.  She’s a Mormon mother of five and somehow manages to produce a steady stream of fantastical scuptural images that speak of her life and ours.

I just want to give a little shout out to all the sisters out there doing their art, especially the ones following visions of their own rather than trying to fashion themselves after established male artists.  Perhaps there’s freedom in not being allowed to play with the boys though I think a lot of the boys wouldn’t mind playing with us.  One thing that’s clear—the vision is enriched when it’s expanded.  And a big shout out too to the women who’ve managed to find their way into the museums and public eye.  I’m going to see Rachel Whiteread from England at Boston’s MFA mid-October and report back on her.

Truly looking forward to seeing the film when it comes to Cambridge in a couple of weeks.  Meanwhile, check out the link here to see more. We should all be able to rent it very soon.

http://www.whodoesshethinksheis.net/

A status report from here—I have five art projects that I’ve committed to and out of those only one fairly big one.  Still, I’m following inspiration and doing all new work.  I always feel like I’m an accidental artist.  I’ve more or less left my life as a designer/illustrator/filmmaker and now find myself exploring art in a whole new way.  I’ll be posting images as I go along.

Meanwhile, I’m in the thick of my book on drawing based on the drawing class I teach on Saturday mornings.  It’s aptly titled—The Saturday Morning Drawing Club Manual and is really about the amazing benefits of maintaining a drawing an art practice just for the sake of it.  This is a secret the sisters all know and I’m just spilling the beans.  I will post a little of that too.

The astute reader will notice I’ve changed my own name in the Welcome section from Cathy to Cat.  A few days ago I went to the gym and forgot my pass.  I gave them my name and they said there were 5, yes, five, Cathy Bennett’s on file.  And this is just in Boston!  Well, I’ve been called Cat since childhood by more than a few, so for now, I am Cat again. Nothing important just an arty thing.

Feel like I’m swimming in work.  This is good, I know.  I’m going with the current and it’s rushing along.  I’ve taken to making lists and usually just get through three of the five things I put on them every day.  I may need to live to 110, or work faster.

One last note—The Saturday Morning Drawing Club resumes its ever energetic meetings next week.  Adventures of the highest nature are sure to ensue.  It’s what happens when the sisters get together and make art.  And if we were in museums it wouldn’t be happening, not like this.  So—a hallelujah after all!

September 15th, 2008 | Category: Dear Reader | Comments (1)

This may be the only blog in überspace that disappears and collapses from time to time.  Truth be told, I think my site host is up to no good.  When I called on Sunday I got a trés miserable dude with heavy, difficult-to-decipher accent.  His name was Gregor just like Kafka’s Mr. Samsa in The Metamorphosis and just as miserable even though he’d not wakened up as an insect as far as I know. And he was very, very sullen even before he heard about my problems.  So sullen I sort of hated to add fuel to the fire but then it’s his job to listen and sort incomprehensible technical things out.  When I mentioned some of the issues like banners disappearing and a few other minor things, the phone went dead, not disconnected dead, just silent.  ‘Excuse me, are you there?’ I said and he just said, ‘Yeah.’  No comment on aforementioned concerns just more silence.

I have no idea why I’m even bothering to post this because you, dear reader, definitely don’t need to know.  Maybe I’m just hoping some sympathetic soul will say ‘Yeah, I know what you’re talking about.’  A long time ago I was a young single mother and struggling artist.  They go together like hand in glove, I have to say.  It had never occurred to me that being an artist was not the most brilliant thing to be until it came to tax time that year.  I got a call from a man named Bob at the IRS saying I’d neglected to put a check with my tax payment in the envelope with my return.  It was a stalling tactic that, believe it or not, I’d learned on some television news show and I really didn’t know what else to do as funds were low and I was waiting on a check myself.  I started to explain to Bob the whole situation, that I was a little short that month and had two small children when suddenly he cut in and in a very soft voice said, ‘There, there, dear, everything’s going to be okay.’  It was probably the nicest call anyone has ever had from the IRS and he said he’d just mark down that I was popping that check in the mail ASAP.  And I did.  So, maybe by writing this I’m just getting to hear good old Bob again—’There, there, dear, it’s only a bloody website.  Put your feet up and chill.’

Thank you, Bob!

So I’m celebrating every little thing like figuring out how to stick stuff into the sidebars and how to get Dear A’s new site launched which I did this morning.  It’s to launch his new book—The Six Archetypes of Love which is really very good and a very interesting way of looking at love by showing how we move through various stages in our lives.  It explains how I blundered around in my youth and occasionally, well—just blundered.  Tears on the bathroom floor.  If only I’d had this book!  Truly.  It really is such a great way of sorting things out and understanding where you are and what you’re doing.  So, check it out, my friends!www.sixarchetypes.com

September 9th, 2008 | Category: Dear Reader | Comments (6)

A couple of days ago the banner from my site totally disappeared without warning. What’s worse there seemed to be no way to restore it. I’m no tech wizard and this is all way over my head. In attempting to fix it I lost the previous site design altogether. My dear friend, Kelly, had helped me get it up in the first place and done some incredible work fine-tuning the design. Of course, being an artist I care about how things look and can get a bit obsessive. At any rate, here we are and as you can see it’s only half done. I haven’t figured out yet how to get the stuff into the sidebars. I just got up this morning and my eyes are bleary red from working on this yesterday. How do web designers do it every day? Phew. Well, patience and it will soon be done. And, at least, the banner is up and people know that this is Artwala Road.

And this morning I received this award from my beautiful friend, Jenni Ballantyne, in Australia. Jenni is a wondrous soul, a single mom of two boys who is in the process of healing herself of cancer. She is an artist too. The way she writes makes you glad to be on the planet with her. She’s so full of life and love and loving kindness. And she’s so truthful, a rare quality—she just tells us where she is at any moment. The truth opens our hearts and connects us. She’s got courage in spades and wisdom too. She feels the pain and lets it go. She moves on. She’s in the present moment. More often than not she thinks of others. I learn a lot from Jenni and I think about her every day and smile. I say to myself how lucky am I to have stumbled on her site through another friend. And she’s just got a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy named Otis. Lucky puppy! And thank you, Jenni!

September 6th, 2008 | Category: Dear Reader | Comments (2)

Can this summer that hardly arrived be almost over already? Can I still have a pile of stuff unfinished on my work desk? Can Sarah Palin really be the Republican nominee for VP? Tell me I’m dreaming.

Hello, my dear readers! I hope you’ve all had summers filled with good fun if not good weather. I didn’t make it to Walden Pond once this summer for a swim. It seemed to rain here in Boston every afternoon in August and now there’s a nip in the air. If Indian Summer arrives out I’ll go. It doesn’t feel right for the whole season to zip by without a swim! But, otherwise, a fine summer here. Mostly we worked but there was a trip to New York, dinners on the porch with friends and one overseas visitor with another to arrive in a couple of weeks. So it didn’t feel like it was all work here, for sure.

Having taken the last three months off from blogging, I’m a little out of practice but will dive back in with what’s on my mind right now and go from there. Will be posting at least once a week now. Thanks for sticking around and hope to hear from you as I go on.

Hopes are high here in Massachusetts for Obama and I want to believe that recent choices on the other side are only going to help. We were walking down Newbury Street the other day when a wee Smart car with ‘Obama for President‘ painted all over it zipped by. We waved and the driver hooted and waved, a huge smile on his face. Visions of things to come! I actually felt a wave of euphoria. Yes we can!

Spent all day yesterday helping my daughter set up her classroom. She is a high school teacher for kids from the city of Boston and I have to say that the school is a wreck. Paint peeling from the walls in the hallway, dirty windows, grime all over the desks and chairs. How can kids feel respected and that education matters when they go to school in a building like this? The floors were spotless, all waxed and shiny, but the custodian only has time for the floors. In other words, the place is understaffed and underfunded. The teachers are responsible for their own classrooms. We washed all the desks and chairs, painted the scuffed metal legs and the edges of the tables that were missing their black trim. We threw out the teacher’s desk which had drawers that didn’t open and scuzzy stuff glued to the inside. We brought in some plants, pulled tape of the walls, hung maps. It looks beautiful now and I think the kids will benefit. But crazy what underpaid teachers are expected to do. I’m going to do some more volunteering in the schools. It feels to me that if we don’t really value education we’re going to have more of our population who’re only able to think in simplistic black and white terms and can’t see past the platitudes that have caused so much imbalance in this country.

I’m so inspired by Edward Kennedy who flew out to the Democratic convention despite ill health. When I saw that he volunteers one morning a week in the schools I really felt I had to step up. That man is so amazing. Thank you, Senator Kennedy!

Yesterday I picked up a file cabinet for the school that we scored off Craig’s list. I was a little uncertain whether I ought to actually go into the man’s house, not knowing him, but when I looked in the door I saw a room full of amplifiers and guitars and knew all was fine here. I told him I’d once been married to member of Muddy Waters’ band. ‘Oh, poor you!’ he said without skipping a beat. Pretty funny. He was referring, of course, to the financial prospects of musicians and went on to say how his own fortunes have waned in the last few years. In a material culture like this, it’s a sad thing that clubs have closed and musicians haven’t many places to play now. Very grateful I came of age at a time when music was a central focus of our lives. What good energy we brought home after a night out! I told the dude to hang in. There are other rewards and nothing like doing what you love.

The other news I find interesting is that a small group of ‘hippie’ students was arrested in Minnesota before the Republican convention. They were stunned, as were we, at the heavy hand of repression. And this a free country? Well, it’s a whiff of the old days—the days when we listened to music and said no to the politics of power and fear and privilege. The times, they are a changing.

September 4th, 2008 | Category: Dear Reader | Comments (5)