Poetry to Treasure

Although I enjoy poetry and sometimes write it, I don't often pick up a book of poetry and read it. That's what makes The Embrace: Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo by Carolyn Kreiter-Foronda so special. I opened this book and discovered a treasure.

Kreiter-Foronda has put her heart and soul into this very special volume. She went to the museums in Mexico City where gigantic murals by Diego Rivera were on view and studied them. She then visited La Casa Azul, the house in Mexico City where Frida Kahlo was born. The flavor of the possessions she saw there fill the lines of her poems with emotion. Her words tremble, and the reader feels them.

The poetic connection with the paintings by these two famous artists is unforgettable. The tumultuous relationship between Rivera and Kahlo cries out from the poetry of this talented writer who was Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia from 2006 to 2008.

Do you like poetry? Poetry and art combined? If so, please take a look at this book.

Mixed Emotions and the Changing of an Era

On Friday evening, when I walked between walls of art on the second floor of Petersburg Regional Art Center, I felt an overwhelming sense of sadness. Strange to feel it there, since none of the art was mine and I had never actually shown work on that floor.

My journey with the Art Center began in the mid-1990s in Richmond with Shockoe Bottom Art Center. For a while, I shared a space there with Wayne Chambers who moved a few years ago to Savannah, Georgia where he now shows his watercolors.

Old Buttterworth Building housed PRAC (PRAC Web Site photo)

I was inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of artist Deanna Thomas and her son Rusty Davis. They started SBAC and patterned it after the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, Virginia. In 2003, SBAC closed to be turned into condos, and my husband and I spent many hot summer days moving paintings and display items from Richmond to the new space in Petersburg. While SBAC was located in an old tobacco warehouse, PRAC was in a big brick building constructed in 1858 that had housed the Butterworth furniture store. Strange to realize that building stood when the terrible Civil War carnage struck Petersburg.

When the Center opened in July 2003, we had such hope for its future. Artists in Petersburg were excited. Those artists who moved from SBAC were excited. I almost immediately began a series of paintings called, "Very Petersburg".
While working on “Very Petersburg”, I learned about the amazing history of a small southern city torn by the ravages of the Civil War. Some of the art in this series of paintings focused on Old Blandford Church and the cemetery where 30,000 Confederate soldiers are buried. I was interviewed by the Petersburg Progress Index, the daily newspaper, and a story ran about me and my exhibition. Things looked bright, and large crowds turned out each month for the juried show and the open house.

Then the health of both Rusty and his mother began to fail. In 2006, I have a memory of Rusty hauling my 7-foot long acrylic painting of the Grand Canyon up the long flights of stairs to the third floor because the painting wouldn't fit in the elevator. I didn't realize that would be the last time I saw him. His sister Donna Jacobs and her daughter Angie Thornton Long took over the difficult job of running the Center. Neither of them is an artist, but they made up for that lack with their enthusiasm. Angie actually grew up with the artists. She was a young child of about six when her mother and grandmother began bringing her with them to SBAC.

The plan for the renovation of the old Butterworth building is to turn it into 75 upgraded studios and 45 apartments. The project is expected to take a year to complete. In the meantime, I probably will not be in Petersburg.

Friday night was sad. Then Saturday, I got up early to head to Williamsburg for a four-hour long book signing at the William and Mary Barnes and Noble. By the end of the day, I was exhausted from the two events. Emotions, changes, stress--the weekend had them all. Now, like a line in the sand, I will cross over into a new realm of art.

Petersburg Paintings - Last Chance for Sales

After 10 years, the Petersburg Regional Art Center is closing. Artists are hosting a big sale there tonight. Since I have a group of acrylic paintings of buildings in Old Petersburg, I will feature them in the Mezzanine Gallery. For tonight only, I will offer these paintings for 50% off. The "Old Court House" is acrylic on Arches paper, matted and framed. The other three pieces are acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas.

The location is 132 North Sycamore Street in Petersburg, Virginia. Open House begins at 7 p.m.

"Old Court House" ©Mary Montague Sikes

"Old Blandford Church" ©Mary Montague Sikes

"Old Petersburg Building" ©Mary Montague Sikes

"Old Train Station" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Arts Center in Richmond Serves Community in Many Ways

The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen is expanding its gift shop. Yesterday, when I took new art pieces for the shop that will hold a grand opening on September 8, I was struck by the many ways this beautiful facility serves the community. Not only does it have a wide array of theatrical events, but it also offers art and writing classes and workshops for all age and ability groups. In addition, the Center has four art galleries featuring high quality exhibitions.

©Sondra Arkin from the Cultural Arts Center web site

"Where I've Been Where I'm Going" is the exhibit currently on view in the Gumenick Family Gallery there. I was thrilled to see this exquisite exhibition of encaustic paintings by Sondra Arkin. In recent years, I have fallen in love with this form of painting which incorporates colored pigments blended with melted beeswax combined with damar resin. The materials can be maneuvered with a heat gun.

In this show, Arkin has a brief history of the process and descriptions of how she works displayed on one wall. She tells about the dibond support she uses. I was not familiar with dibond and now want to investigate that material because the wooden support on which I often work makes large paintings quite heavy. Arkin also uses tinted shellac in her work--another method I long to try with the encaustics. Her large geometric pieces are especially beautiful and impressive.

"Threading color into these structures, without making the work about color, is the goal of this exhibition," Arkin says in a statement for the Glen Allen show.

"Field of Wild Poppies" ©Mary Montague Sikes

Coincidentally, two of the pieces (including the one on the right) I left for the gift shop at the Cultural Arts Center are small encaustic paintings. This is a medium I will continue to explore.

I am thankful that the Cultural Arts Center makes possible wonderful art exhibitions like this one with Sondra Arkin. What a special treat for the community.

Summer Activities for the Writer and Artist

As a writer and/or artist, how do you schedule your summer activities? Do you try to plan vacation trips that will later enhance your writing or your art? Or do you want to get away from all of the craziness a creative life involves?

"Hotel Del Pool" ©Mary Montague Sikes

I have to admit that, good or bad, I can't seem to get away from using any trip, vacation or otherwise, as an opportunity to create a writing, photography, or art project. With the wonder of digital imagery, creating articles, stories, and paintings has grown far easier. I always enjoy having a picture to go along with a story. Even with fiction writing, it's helpful to have reference photos to remind you of details of a setting. Also, I have found that it's wonderful to have your own image to use for a book cover when the occasion arises. The cover for my Passenger to Paradise novel, Secrets by the Sea, is a beach photograph I took on one of those vacation trips.

Recently, I've started taking photographs of meals in restaurants. After all, you never know when you might need your own picture of crab cakes or quiche to go along with the story you're writing.

As a artist, you can never have enough good reference photographs to inspire a new painting. When I made a painting a day for Blogging A to Z, I was happy to have my own photos to use most of the time for that project. There are free photographs available on the Internet, but I always feel more comfortable using my own.

What about you? Do you really take a vacation, or are you, like me, always looking?