Art Findings...
Part #1
I have been trying to find new art centered things and get my swerve back artistically. The pandemic took a lot of my creative feeling away because outside influences and experiences give that side of me the gas to create. In a world where we were encouraged to stay separate and home to avoid infection, that fuel was taken away…for about 4 years.
I am starting to get out a bit more with friends playing trivia at a bar once a week. It has got me starting to feel like painting and creating again. I have dove into looking at art, looking at photography, reading books, and watching movies to get that part of me even more charged up. Influences always come from unexpected places for me. It remains true now.
I bumped into an author on Twitch. I have been hanging out on Twitch since 2021 to listen to DJ sets both vinyl and video just to remain sane during the pandemic. There is a chat option that helps a little with the socializing while doing so and I love to talk music with the people who are there to listen to music.
About a week back I bumped into a author on a stream who requested Pogues music because he just is releasing his new book of poetry and Shane McGowan wrote a cover blurb for him. As you can imagine, that has the author stoked. I managed to hunt down his website after he said the name of the book and investigate. Then the stream died and the author went off into the depths of the Internet.
His name is Mark Berriman and his new book is called “Holding the Door for Barbarians.” It is not his first book and he is also a musician. You can check out his website here: Mark Berriman. I am going to be buying one of his books in the near future because judging by the poetry sample on his website? I may be into it.
In other art news, a local artist that was well known around the Pacific Northwest has died. Ric Gendron has died and there was an article about him in the Spokesman Review newspaper. I did not know him personally but have seen his art in galleries around town and heard good things said of him. He has a book you can buy of his paintings if you can hunt it down and want to spend the money. It was limited edition so very pricey but a new book by Gendron has been published and you can get it decently priced. The article in the Spokesman is worth a read because it gives you a good idea about the artist and his work. Use it as a springboard to see if he may interest you and explore him more with your favorite search engine online.
I may update Substack in coming days with other art explorations of mine. So, expect me to invade you inbox again soon.