Thanks for the insights.

Puts me in mind of the topic that Steve just brought up concerning the social and ethical impact of an artist’s work. Seen in the wrong context by the wrong person, your mouth-taking-pills painting could be construed as advocating some form of substance abuse. It could be that, or simply a description of a common everyday activity. It is actually something much deeper and more from within if I understand you. Now it is imperative to go back and look at your work with a fresh eye.

The screen that separates is a theme found in oriental art and I certainly am not alone in having burrowed into my bedding and finding a special space, one that is intensely personal. Your paintings that see through the fabric bring that up for me quite clearly. I especially respond to the interposition of the printed characters in the sense that they often serve as intermediaries between the child - and I assume that these paintings take the child’s position - and a big world out there.

Actually, I look forward to my yearly dream.

Good. That’s all I really had to say.

Looked at your site last night and was taken by the four panel of the mouth taking pills. Question: aside from the subject matter, does your experience as a past or present social worker affect the choices in your painting? I’m getting at this: I worked in fund raising and public relations for a number of agencies, including a stint as operations director for one of them. And I ran a small program. To me, the problems and issues that a social worker encounters on a daily basis are rarely, if ever, in the abstract. The dealings are face-to-face and often in-your-face. It appears to me that the focal point of many of your paintings is that same kind of social distance - somewhere around an arm’s reach.

I like bread. I think you are talking about being basically decent to eachother, which we are. When someone gets a bit unruly, there are usually ten others willing to bite back and hold someone accountable for their comments. That said I think we need to allow for disagreement and conflict -without personal attacks, of course. I think it can get a bit dicey when one mistakenly equates blogging with life. It generates its own little world that can get all consuming!

Steve,
Shucks. Flattery gets you everywhere :) thanks to you for being such a great blog guru

Except for the obvious spam, which I delete, I honestly can’t recall a real comment I would have considered removing (true, my memory isn’t the greatest). Even some that I might have considered out of line have advanced the discussion in some way. I’m really quite amazed. Maybe this is a good occasion say thanks to all posters and commenters. Thank you!

At least once a year I dream that I change my pajamas in a bar.

My son Matt created and runs Sane Cavs Talk. com, a fan site about the Cavaliers. As the name would indicate, SCT invites thoughtful discussion without flaming and whatever else passes for communication on the web. This serves as something of a framework for my attitudes toward A&P.

Take your example about airing problem issues and work with the goal of eliciting comment. Most, if not all, of the people commenting here will take you seriously. But there are people, who, for the fun of it, are dying to call you five varieties of garden utensil and in-effect, dropping trou in your general direction. Think of the drunken patrons in that bar of yours.

That kind of stuff will happen. Matt kicks it off the site. Lord knows, at times I’ve gotten as high as I can on that horse I rode in on and appreciate your forbearance, one and all. Given, however, that we want things to be yeasty, let it at least raise the level of the loaf. If visitors sense that some norms of conduct apply here, then they may behave appropriately.

June,
I think the word decorative is full of connotations and politics, as many feminist artists have pointed out. I personally think its is AOK to “fall” (not that it needs to be a descent persay) into “mere” decoration, adn I would posit that soem artists who would shudder (or roll over in their graves) at the “d word” being attached to their work, in fact, make verrrry decorative work (how’s that for a run-on sentence). Matthew Ritchie comes to mind. A good topic for another post.

D.(and Jay),
I think you raise good questions about credibility on A and P. As far as I know, anyone can comment without identifying themselves or presenting who they are in any complete way. So each reader can evaluate for him or herself whether comments are worthwhile aside from the fact of who you are exactly, whether or not you are an artist, critic, housewife, show regularly, or make stuff in your garage for no one to see. That is the joy and the frustration of blogging and the internet in general, right? Those of us who make work and show it here also select what we choose to show, do not necessarily air all our dirty lanudry, mistakes, less than exciting work, etc etc. Should we? Sometimes that feels about as safe as walking into a bar and changing into my pajamas in front of total strangers. Ok, that’s an odd analogy, but maybe you get my point.

What is my point? I come and go from this blog as I see fit and as time allows. One of its strengths is that it is a completely voluntary activity. One of the interesting parts of the experience is that I really don’t know these folks who are writing. I am getting to know them somewhat by reading their comments and seeing some of their work. But it is odd that I wouldn’t recognize any of them if they came to my front door! Odd and strangely compelling…