I wish...

I have been reading  Wishes, Lies and Dreams: Teaching Children to Write Poetry by Kenneth Koch.  It's a book full of poems written in the 1960s by students of PS 61 in NYC.  In each poem the wishes fluctuate between funny and profound, fantasy and yearning... .. " I wish I were a key... I wish the boys were pigs..."  "I wish my little sister would find her nightgown..."  "I wish the street was ice cream" ... "I wish my bedroom would stop shrieking.."
Here is mine (yes, be careful what you wish for...)
I wish books will never disappear.
I wish I had more time to read them. 
I wish time wouldn't slip away like a lizard.

And here are a few of the books piled up next to my bed right now:
Magic in the Mirrorstone
The Very Best of Charles De Lint
Irish Fairy & Folk Tales by WB Yeats
Rose, Where Did You get that Red?
Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom
Drawing Words and Writing Pictures
The Great Oom: The Improbable Birth of Yoga in America

Re-Imagining Hopper & the Ghost Army

I have always been influenced by the paintings of Edward Hopper.  His sense of light & shadow and his colors.  Many times when I am stuck for an idea, a look through a book of his work unsticks me. I grew up in his home town and I'm now a trustee and member of the Gallery Selection Committee of the Edward Hopper House in Nyack, NY.

I am thrilled that 3 of my former students at SVA – Rich Tu, Katherine Ramos and Andrea Kantrowitz – will be displaying paintings inspired by Hopper's paintings in our upcoming exhibit, entitled "Hopper Re-Imagined." Other artists in this invitational exhibit are Karen Finley, Vic Muniz, Glynis Sweeney and many others.  April 2 - May 8, opening reception April 3, 3 - 5 pm.

And stay tuned for more info on an exhibit I am curating about the Ghost Army, a brigade of artists and actors who, during WWII used ingenuity, art and deception to trick the enemy, while painting their way across Europe. The Ghost Army Exhibit will be at the Historical Society of Rockland County May 1 - Oct. 16, opening reception May 1,  2 - 4 pm.

Of Kings & Eggs

                                                                                                                                                                             

I'm reading a book written in the 10th Century by a Persian poet.  It's an epic poem about the history of Persia.  It begins, as they all do, at the beginning when everything is fine and good until one day the King of Evil shows up and messes everything up.   He makes people greedy and mean, etc.  Eventually the King of Evil tricks a gullible king into eating an egg, (prior to this people ate only plants and roots.) The gullible king is ecstatic and the next day the King of Evil (disguised as a lowly cook) roasts a chicken... then prepares lamb... then veal...  Out of gratitude the gullible king grants a wish of the King of Evil, which  is to kiss his shoulders. After he does, black serpents sprout from the gullible king's shoulders, and remain part of him for the rest of his life...