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Save the Date: Nave Gallery December Salon Opens Dec. 3

November 30, 2009 by Cynthia

On Thursday, December 3, The Nave Gallery opens its December Salon featuring the work of almost a hundred artists.  Below you can read more information about the Salon, and get a sneak preview of my artwork on display, as well as sneak peeks at works by two excellent artists, Zoe Langosy and Stephen Horne.

 

One of Two Framed Photographic Prints by Cynthia Staples

 

Framed Photographic Print by Stephen Horne

Steve Horne is a scientist who works with light, and that interest is reflected in the photos he takes.  Photography is in his blood.  His father, Joseph Anthony Horne, was a photographer in the 1940’s for the Farm Security Adminstration- Office of War Information  (alongside such esteemed photographers of the day including Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks and Walker Evans).

 

Framed Original Artwork by Zoe Langosy


Zoe Langosy is a Somerville-based artist who does beautiful work with pen, ink and collage.  If you look closely at many of her collages, you’ll notice that they are often made up of butterfly wings!  The piece she has submitted for this exhibit is quite lovely.  Her work has appeared in galleries nationwide.

 

More about the Salon: The Salon runs for 8 days over two weeks and provides a unique opportunity to add to or start your own art collection while supporting one of Somerville’s most innovative art spaces. Many dates will feature live music.  The Salon is open December 3, 6-8 p.m.; December 4, 6-8 p.m.; December 5, 1-5 p.m.; December 6, 1-5 p.m.; December 10, 6-8 p.m.; December 11, 6-8 p.m.; December 12, 1-5 p.m.; December 13, 1-5 p.m.  Free and open to the public. No wheelchair access.  For more information, visit http://www.navegallery.org/nave/2009/salon.html

 

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Aunt Thelma’s Christmas Cactus

November 30, 2009 by Cynthia

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Speaking of Butterflies: Shay Youngblood’s Black Girl in Paris

November 25, 2009 by Cynthia

Years ago, when I was at a different crossroads in my life, a colleague suggested I read a book by one of her former students.  The book was Shay Youngblood’s A Black Girl in Paris.  As the title suggests, it’s about a young American woman who packs her bags and moves to the City of Lights.  I greatly enjoyed the book and even shared it with friends who then shared it with their friends.  Not too long ago, I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Youngblood.  She spoke during an evening event about taking a break from writing, trying her hand at painting on large canvases, and creating small bookmarks.  And, I was inspired and reminded that sometimes the only people pigeonholing us as “just a writer” or “just a painter” are ourselves.

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Butterflies as Inspiration I

November 24, 2009 by Cynthia

Butterflies have always been a part of my life.  Quite a variety made their way through rural southern Virginia.  My brothers and I found a little green pod once.  We watched it grow transparent and out drip a wet-winged Monarch.   White and gold butterflies were most common.  Every now and then a blue butterfly would appear and that was an event that delighted everyone.  Today living in the city I don’t see many butterflies at all unless they are on exhibit at local science or natural history museums.  But whatever I experienced in my youth continues to inform my creative self to this day because I continue to draw upon these winged creatures for inspiration.

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Lovely Color-Filled Language: Marianne Moore’s The Fish

November 24, 2009 by Cynthia

” the submerged shafts of the sun, split like spun glass,

move themselves with spotlight swiftness into the crevices

— in and out, illuminating the turquoise sea ”

 

Read the full poem, The Fish, and about the fascinating author, Marianne Moore,  here:

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/21070

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The Art of Slowing Down

November 23, 2009 by Cynthia

It shouldn’t take the flu to slow one down, but sometimes it seems that way.  I do not think that I am particularly energetic but of late I have felt a need to slow down, or to encourage people around me to slow down.  So, how strange it was to rediscover amidst my journals a folded up piece of paper.  The program for my mother’s funeral service.  Inside was a poem that my brother had asked to be included, a poem that he had seen our mother reading, and which she kept folded in her bible.  I had not read it since her passing so many years ago.  When I stopped long enough this past week to look at it, I understood why she’d kept it.  I share it here on this slow, slow Monday.

Slow me down, Lord!

Ease the pounding of my heart

By the quieting of my mind.

Steady my harried pace

With a vision of the eternal reach of time.

Give me,

Amidst the confusions of my day,

The calmness of the everlasting hills.

Break the tensions of my nerves

With the soothing music of the sighing streams

That live in my memory.

Help me to know

The magical restoring power of sleep.

Teach me the art

Of taking minute vacations of slowing down to look at a flower;

To chat with an old friend or to make a new one;

To pat a stray dog;

To watch a spider build a web;

To smile at a child;

Or to read a few lines from a good book.

Remind me each day

That the race is not always to the swift;

That there is more to life than increasing its speed.

Le me look upward

Into the branches of the towering oak

And know that it grew slowly and well.

Slow me down, Lord,

And inspire me to send my roots deep

Into the soil of life’s enduring values

That I may grow toward the stars

Of my greater destiny.

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Back Bay Flower Peeking Through a Fence

November 23, 2009 by Cynthia

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Rediscovery: The Africa Diaries

November 23, 2009 by Cynthia

Not to be cliche, but I have indeed always dreamed of traveling to Africa.  To this day, I remember as a child watching on network television shows like Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom and National Geographic.  At first I wanted to be one of the researchers on the ground studying the animals and the people.  That interest influenced my decisions to study subjects like biology, environmental history and geography.  Over time my interest evolved to include the people behind the scenes, shooting the footage that influenced my life so much.  I’m sure that’s why I picked up the book, The Africa Diaries, An Illustrated Memoir of Life in the Bush by Dereck & Beverly Joubert.

It is a beautiful book of words by Derek Joubert and images by Beverly Joubert, of the landscape, the animals, the local people, and mostly, of the relationship between a husband and wife with a common passion for Africa. I highly recommend.

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More Golden Books!

November 21, 2009 by Cynthia

Found at a used book store for .25 each!

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Windows and Doorways

November 17, 2009 by Cynthia

Yesterday I found an essay that I called The Watchers.  It was a very short, personal piece about my mother and I, and how from her I learned to observe the world through the windows and doorways of our home.  Though the woman I knew stayed close to home, and she made clear her worries for me as I ventured further and further from the nest, she eventually encouraged my wanderlust.   And, she always encouraged me to tell her stories from my travels.

Today, I find that I am still quite drawn to doors, doorways and windows in my life and travels.  They are portals into and between worlds.  I did indeed used to tell my mom what I saw through the open windows of my dorm rooms, my hotels rooms at conferences, my apartments, etc.  Though my mom is now gone, I find that I still use that “technique” to give people a view of what I see and experience around me, whether it is in writing or through my photography.

 

 

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