Barbara Mink

 This month I hosted another writing group created and run by my dear friend Zee Zahava, who brings small groups to the gallery to respond to the current show- not a critique of the work but a response to how the pictures make them feel. It is such a privilege to share in these visions. This is Zee’s short art/fiction story of coming to Ithaca- standing in front her favorite picture of the month.  It was late August, 1968, and the drive from our apartment in the Bronx, up to Quarry Dorm in Ithaca, was long. Longer than it would be for any other family. My father was nervous. He had to stop and pee at every rest stop. Also, he had to smoke a cigar, each time we stopped. My mother was unusually quiet. Each time dad got out of the car mom would turn around in her seat to ask if I was okay. I always said that I was. But was I? I had no idea.   I was bundled into the back seat with my guitar, my new electric typewriter, a not-very-good record player, and all my albums: Joni, Laura, James, J

From artists and non artists alike. I am so lucky to have a dear friend, Zee Zahava, who is THE best facilitator of informal writing groups I’ve ever known. Over the last few years she’s convenes small groups to respond to the work on the walls- not what it means, but what it reminds them of, or how it makes them feel. This last Wednesday felt particularly resonant.I’m going to share a photo of the painting and what these women wrote. I hope you enjoy as much as I did! Here is Katrina Morse, a well-known artist and educator in Ithaca. August 21, 2024 Katrina Morse Response to “Arrival”  Can we be in a pink, orange, lighthearted mood and also in a black, blue, and crusty one --- at the same time? Or maybe it’s not exactly at the same time but alternating by the moment, or hour, or day. Each mood available to tap into as needed. Planes of existence, past experience, current situations. Certainly there are more moods than just two. The nuances of dark becoming light and back to dark again