the magic of "kindred spirits down the path"

the living artists

my mumsie, my brother nelson, my brother doug, 

me and my cousin kristen

where do i begin?

oh, it is such a long and lovely story...

months ago my brother doug asked us if we would be interested

in participating in a show,

gathering generations of our family's art.

we said "yes"!

this past weekend the show opened with a

celebratory reception.

over 120 people showed up.

folks from my mom's church,

folks she volunteers with at the historical society,

friends of hers from art school

(where she met my dad).

my brothers' high school art teacher,

members and fans of my brother's band,

some of my high school friends (!),

our large extended family,

even my elusive brother nelson flew in from portland, oregon.

and all three of my daughters gathered 

despite busy lives and long distances.

(we did miss our stewart and his wife dawn,

but we know they were with us in spirit).

my mumsie was the queen of the day,

with so many people embracing her and celebrating her.

xo

hannah, lindsey, ra, nelson, doug, my mumsie (isn't she cute?)

me, batman and gretta

we wanted to get everybody in the pics!

here is my mumsie, greeting my best buddy from 

childhood (we are only a week apart in age,

her dad and my dad were best friends and served as 

best men at one another's weddings...)

my dear friend judy is wearing purple and her husband

bill is to her left. judy has posted a lovely account of the exhibit 

here.

this is my beloved uncle david, 

chatting with my daughter lindsey.

each of the seven artists are represented on this wall.

the wall of trees.

a watercolor by my dad, on the left.

a mixed media piece by my brother nelson,

a serigraph of birches by my brother doug, 

a pen and ink branch by my mumsie,

a tiny paper collaged nest by my cousin kristen,

my own fabric and found object piece and

my great grandfather's gouache piece.

(all of the above photos are courtesy of larry cotton,

a friend of my mumsie's)

before the reception opened, i ran around and 

snapped a few quick pictures of some of the artwork.

sadly, the glare on the glass was hard to avoid

but i hope this gives you an idea of the work.

above:the tribute i did to my dad after he died.

left:a watercolor painted by my dad two years before i was born

right:a serigraph done by my brother doug.

on the left wall are pieces by all three siblings,

my piece incorporates a photo of the three of us together in 1967. 

on the right wall are pieces by my cousin kristen and 

a serigraph by doug.

the fish and crabs are serigraphs by doug,

the gold framed landscape is by my great grandfather,

the watercolor of the marsh is my dad's

and the triptych in green is mixed media by nelson.

the watercolors on either side are my dad's,

the gouache is nelson's

and "be the light" is my piece.

there were so many moments filled with love and fun and magic...

along with the crazy logistics of everyone going to and fro.

it just added to the 

festive feeling of the weekend.

doug, nelson and i spent the day together

on friday, organizing and hanging the show.

such a very rare bit of time.

just us three siblings,

with a walk in the woods, too.

doug and ra opened their home to all of us,

there were sleeping bags in front of the fire,

mountains of good food,

raucous laughter at the dinner table,

walks around the cranberry bogs,

and so much love.

so very much love.