tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67097658365302663462024-03-13T00:16:58.606-04:00Art of Janet KozachekRecent Art Work, Reviews, Articles and Educational Opportunities.kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.comBlogger729125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-73175032707560889962023-06-09T17:12:00.004-04:002023-06-09T18:24:57.238-04:00A Small Observation on the Minoan Snake Goddess in Crete<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl6oa20iG7zTvYMNq2p8gPJ-_vzTJUQ09Ge9USS9uBtPNoiNr6YhZXfPiqKoiode7XVP87cfGTXJ5GDKT4SFHgMrzfEHQwE-MMzgOadb2dWQgYSmPyUOgoiTvPbKFvQ4jiBLvBFbD2PJqrUezXgAGdlC7CMGAttjPmVUu-vbeLOLdAd1Yad0M24v_l/s3424/WG-2023-620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3424" data-original-width="2493" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl6oa20iG7zTvYMNq2p8gPJ-_vzTJUQ09Ge9USS9uBtPNoiNr6YhZXfPiqKoiode7XVP87cfGTXJ5GDKT4SFHgMrzfEHQwE-MMzgOadb2dWQgYSmPyUOgoiTvPbKFvQ4jiBLvBFbD2PJqrUezXgAGdlC7CMGAttjPmVUu-vbeLOLdAd1Yad0M24v_l/w291-h400/WG-2023-620.jpg" width="291" /></a></div><p></p><p>Late last year, it was my great privilege to be able to visit Crete and see first hand the famous <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/snake-goddess">Minoan snake goddesses</a> in the <a href="https://www.heraklionmuseum.gr/en/">Heraklion Museum</a>. The most often reproduced one of the pair stands about 14 inches high and waves small snakes overhead in her raised hands. She was heavily restored upon her initial discovery by the archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in the beginning of the twentieth century. A head and an arm were added, as well as a crown and a cat on her head. Whether this restoration represents her original state is merely a speculative remake is uncertain. I found her sister snake goddess more appealing. She seemed sturdier and more refined. This second, taller goddess is often described as having snakes crawling up her outstretched arms. </p><p>Making a drawing of the snake goddess while standing in front of her on location was a beautiful experience, as was being able to see her from different angles. As I roughed out the patterns in her clothing, the exposed breasts and the elaborate hair wound with serpents, I noticed something I had not seen before in her hands. She held a snake head in one hand and a snake tail in the other. Clearly this indicated to me that she was not having snakes slithering up her arms but was in fact holding one long snake coiled around her body. I could find no comments upon this in the literature thus far and wonder if anyone else has noticed this small but pertinent detail. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5YCVTFvknO0rJfhU2KlHRH9yyQadbHNaob_9Ibzbnde3JHVGhLsMWoMWWGxFQ5iJXm2rkafvKXPosur3Th04-DwlGIAY-yqjTM54imUP-dJmyxjEQ-vXfwq3Nr2rTq04q_PESJBN0qwKxIzbTiYQigQV74MXFixGiQP35cqp7Y17zS6AgwJeOUW0z/s4032/Heraklion%20snake%20goddess%20detail%20left%20hand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5YCVTFvknO0rJfhU2KlHRH9yyQadbHNaob_9Ibzbnde3JHVGhLsMWoMWWGxFQ5iJXm2rkafvKXPosur3Th04-DwlGIAY-yqjTM54imUP-dJmyxjEQ-vXfwq3Nr2rTq04q_PESJBN0qwKxIzbTiYQigQV74MXFixGiQP35cqp7Y17zS6AgwJeOUW0z/s320/Heraklion%20snake%20goddess%20detail%20left%20hand.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqBVC4g188ZyHn8jlxvU3PQuU8syt1ZTMviEIXOq3V7YJpB6AOqaTUIA-BTgHPvBsoWx6E6XKMxry_6ovgqtTOm3btxzjQMecOfb6p0RdjlENE0FzC9y1MTDQDL1L2vr7VEOcIgtF_bWgv4QtLPYKBUEfznxUa9s4tuxrOvWwRlmjLFbmd6zBINAmc/s4032/Heraklion%20snake%20goddess%20detail%20right%20hand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="388" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqBVC4g188ZyHn8jlxvU3PQuU8syt1ZTMviEIXOq3V7YJpB6AOqaTUIA-BTgHPvBsoWx6E6XKMxry_6ovgqtTOm3btxzjQMecOfb6p0RdjlENE0FzC9y1MTDQDL1L2vr7VEOcIgtF_bWgv4QtLPYKBUEfznxUa9s4tuxrOvWwRlmjLFbmd6zBINAmc/w218-h388/Heraklion%20snake%20goddess%20detail%20right%20hand.jpg" width="218" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYUMuhlofnTCr7tKTeL3vYxVEW5QtfFoTIB6gtU0lpNEgwV07jW07uhPVVssLM-HZv8CXTHPDRx4pDwOte2Q3WpE2QLJRSIsaAFo16fNmVGwKy2emrvLs8lCgi6MGTCNONmbV5Fqmr8Q1axiiwZcMPhEynyhWD_jzPCxi7zLi6Qcd_cTrnJuEOJtWr/s4032/Heraklion%20snake%20goddess%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYUMuhlofnTCr7tKTeL3vYxVEW5QtfFoTIB6gtU0lpNEgwV07jW07uhPVVssLM-HZv8CXTHPDRx4pDwOte2Q3WpE2QLJRSIsaAFo16fNmVGwKy2emrvLs8lCgi6MGTCNONmbV5Fqmr8Q1axiiwZcMPhEynyhWD_jzPCxi7zLi6Qcd_cTrnJuEOJtWr/s320/Heraklion%20snake%20goddess%202.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Does one snake firmly held by tail and head make a difference from the perhaps misguided observation that she has snakes crawling up her arms? The former would seem to suggest a kinship with one proposed theory that this Minoan snake goddess may not be a goddess at all but an image of a performer entertaining spectators by charming snakes. A firm grasp of the head and tail would be necessary for such a sport. It is an aggressive stance and not the usually described passive one.</p><p><span style="white-space: normal; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p>Whatever she is, goddess or entertainer, the Minoan snake goddess, despite her small size, looms large across the millennia. A detailed drawing of her is now part of my portfolio. Of course, I embellished a bit. But if Sir Arthur Evans can make add on then so can I. </p><p>Snakes up both arms:</p><p>https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/snake-goddess</p><p>https://greekreporter.com/2022/08/26/minoan-civilization-crete-snake-goddess/</p><p>http://arthistoryresources.net/snakegoddess/minoanculture.html</p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-70020332262256745052023-04-05T10:43:00.003-04:002023-04-05T10:43:59.296-04:00A Review of Maria Rybakova's Quaternity<p> The daughter of an infamous dictator comes of age in Paris, a Nobel prize winner's spouse's life of sacrifice and suffering, a woman discovers that she is merely a secondary character in a novelist's life: these are just some of the engaging characters in Maria Rybakova's tales from the Carpathian mountains in Romania, <a href="https://coloradoreview.colostate.edu/reviews/quaternity-four-novellas-from-the-carpathians/">Quaternity</a>. For the full review follow the link:</p><p> https://coloradoreview.colostate.edu/reviews/quaternity-four-novellas-from-the-carpathians/</p><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-59837924632533913502023-02-15T13:01:00.002-05:002023-02-15T13:01:53.339-05:00A Book of Bothersome Cats is now Released for Pre-order<p> My illustrated book of rhymes for anthropomorphic cats, <b><i><a href="https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/a-book-of-bothersome-cats-by-janet-kozachek/">A Book of Bothersome Cats</a></i></b> is now ready for pre-order. This book was largely created last spring, while I was preparing to go to Romania. Follow the link to order a copy. Here is some advance praise from my very generous dust jacket blurb writers: </p><p>“Janet Kozachek dares us to underestimate her. Light verse? Anthropomorphic cats? Listen and look deeply into this beautiful book for all the layers the author has laid for us like gentle surprises. Tucked into corners and borders, the delight lies in the details: Procrastinator Cat’s bedside reading; Bully Cat’s elaborate jacket; the Guru Cat sitting on a rattlesnake; a cigar held in the paw of the floofy Fat Cat; suggestive portraits on Proper Cat’s dining room wall; and my favorite, the marvelous, coiling tunnel to the rabbit underground of Conspiracy Cat.The author sets an expectation for twists at the turn of every page. </p><p>As a polymath and multi-artist, Kozachek has way too much understanding and artistic ammunition to take her magnificently annoying array of cats less seriously. Her book has both softness and claws, and her wry, rhyming wit also holds compassion for human folly.</p><p>In the tradition of Eliot and Lear, A Book of Bothersome Cats sent this pandemic reader laughing back to Stanley Kunitz’s more serious concerns. In our darkest days, he advised us, “Live in the layers, not on the litter.” Kozachek’s book howls quietly, with a big, silent grin and a twitching tail that does not go away.” </p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> – William Epes, founder of the online arts resource group “strand line break,” host of the multi-arts, open mic series Tuesday Duets.</p><p><br /></p><p>"Janet Kozachek’s A Book of Bothersome Cats, a sequel to her Book of Marvelous Cats, is playful and fun. Its rhymes and colorful feline characters make it seem suited to children, but the foibles and flaws the bothersome cats possess are decidedly adult maladies. Her illustrations, as always, are precise and intricate, inviting long study to encourage appreciation of every detail. Like all cats, the bothersome cats are complicated characters who are nevertheless endearing and well worth getting to know.”</p><p> <span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>– JoAngela Edwins, Ph.D. Professor of English, Francis Marion University.</p><p> Poet Laureate of the Pee Dee Region of South Carolina. Author, Play. Winner of the SC Academy of Authors' Carrie McCray Nickens Poetry Fellowship, Pushcart Prize.</p><p><br /></p><p>“A famous artist once said that art was a poem without words. A famous poet once said that poets create art with words. In A Book of Bothersome Cats, Janet Kozachek does both. I encourage you to buy this book; in fact, buy several and give them as gifts." </p><p><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span> – Al Black, Founder and President of Mind Gravy Poetry, author of I Only Left for Tea and Man with Two Shadows; co-editor of Poets Respond to Race.</p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnlW4v2k53pT3QzCuTy8lAaB-neaizd3iBiBEEhcteTky8CGoq3mdbAduGGqKFaEUWje2Hf3TJzVIwPOBrhgGD5oHZy5KjzKbURr9tYfcAZKOJoF41IWiFIrz1-dmamubPCW9OUNrcBsma6AGR0x0xVOHS6FCgX8fOCZsQDnWwHj2rUtZn7RCm4_Sa/s2850/6x9CoverDesign%20(1)%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2850" data-original-width="1950" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnlW4v2k53pT3QzCuTy8lAaB-neaizd3iBiBEEhcteTky8CGoq3mdbAduGGqKFaEUWje2Hf3TJzVIwPOBrhgGD5oHZy5KjzKbURr9tYfcAZKOJoF41IWiFIrz1-dmamubPCW9OUNrcBsma6AGR0x0xVOHS6FCgX8fOCZsQDnWwHj2rUtZn7RCm4_Sa/w274-h400/6x9CoverDesign%20(1)%20copy.jpg" width="274" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div><br /></div>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-91932597969605059472023-02-11T11:23:00.002-05:002023-02-11T11:23:41.212-05:00Romanian Stumps in an Orangeburg Field: Charcoal Drawings on Two Continents<p> Many artists bravely paint or draw outdoors no matter the weather. I’m not one of them. I do sketch plein air, circumstances permitting, but mostly in order to obtain an impression or idea of a place. The details are then preserved in my cell phone or camera for later reference. There are some benefits to this method, apart from the comfort of creating art in a home studio. Not having the actual object or scene in front of me allows for some imaginative filling in.</p><p>These two large charcoal drawings were initially studies of tree stumps that I made in Iasi, Romania. One of the stumps had a strange rusty metal circle and spike attached to it. I could not figure out what its purpose may have originally been, but it most certainly had a threatening look. Was it a defunct instrument for hanging a clothes line? A public art work? Strangely enough, as I saw more such metal attachments to other trees around town it made the latter explanation possible. Some of these impromptu metal sculptures did seem to echo the particular angles of branches. </p><p>I drew the Romanian tree stumps while sitting on the grass until I grew tired and hungry, this effect coming on before my drawing was finished. The drawings weren’t brought out again to finish until my return to Orangeburg, South Carolina. Driving through the countryside in Orangeburg County, my husband and I chanced upon a newly cleared field full of torn stumps and exposed abandoned sheds and homesteads. Needing something for the background for my Romanian tree stumps, I made photographic notes of these and then later applied them to the Romanian scenes. Romanian stumps in an Orangeburg field. Who would even guess? The old canard that people are essentially the same throughout the world also applies to tree stumps. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDiJ0T8c-0T6LABOiJmxpD9cxTE42f9qG8sPHbZ_e2-rZ3jwNmPvUm7cdwwnYxO5wx2qRHSNaX_D9N-ttwfzG6uCmRhdvaWQW6CTNBmN5Xvm9153N7BbERG5RBBnHcOTTIQy111JpS3ZFXHMrgQFmcIvDS0BvE96yLg2_Bgv9wHqszNf_ubLZHO7s/s3512/WG-2023-614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3512" data-original-width="2604" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitDiJ0T8c-0T6LABOiJmxpD9cxTE42f9qG8sPHbZ_e2-rZ3jwNmPvUm7cdwwnYxO5wx2qRHSNaX_D9N-ttwfzG6uCmRhdvaWQW6CTNBmN5Xvm9153N7BbERG5RBBnHcOTTIQy111JpS3ZFXHMrgQFmcIvDS0BvE96yLg2_Bgv9wHqszNf_ubLZHO7s/s320/WG-2023-614.JPG" width="237" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOf547_A6R2jrMUjPVCODW7EHtGqJ8sZmg8njtWYpVFaJL9GRpvxQ68UPhEWXKI16Gf7rHOTYW-NDEDRblWOjoYY1JWse74sEm89AxVV8Frv5Os3fkHYNsYi3bMBzA44Ix8OQ9p6xUBpfpnZifVNRnUC0fQURNccEvP2r1B4LTADn0GPREn2JoynLr/s3548/WG-2023-615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3548" data-original-width="2580" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOf547_A6R2jrMUjPVCODW7EHtGqJ8sZmg8njtWYpVFaJL9GRpvxQ68UPhEWXKI16Gf7rHOTYW-NDEDRblWOjoYY1JWse74sEm89AxVV8Frv5Os3fkHYNsYi3bMBzA44Ix8OQ9p6xUBpfpnZifVNRnUC0fQURNccEvP2r1B4LTADn0GPREn2JoynLr/s320/WG-2023-615.JPG" width="233" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-8431594233305665622023-01-28T11:57:00.000-05:002023-01-28T11:57:01.286-05:00Ukraine, Art and Poetry in the Times and Democrat Today<p> Enjoy today's article in the <a href="https://thetandd.com/news/local/orangeburg-artist-brings-together-images-and-poetry-ukrainian-family-history-shared-amid-concerns/article_e648fd36-3afd-5e92-9522-165b16512b6c.html#tracking-source=home-top-story">Times and Democrat</a></p><p>My exhibition will be up until January 31. The Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center and I came up with a nice little exhibition catalogue. Here is an excerpt:</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivm5J-_zXYgt050vJGWc7hor8j0bmK4MadG7kTkAQsWuRQfrrapto1EKtdUnuL2W-aU51wZ_uH3cf9xTIBp0m4qRrRC-fxAyBv7ZnGIs-ulKUCtbf2hPkEJXREaLKz9Z8WoLpNHXjMeWkNlRsw_RCSVQXzGxNZOj3m5hgT_Fqr_atmGKrw_m7AZ6CQ/s3348/Catalog%20A%20Tale%20of%20Two%20Viruses.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3348" data-original-width="2589" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivm5J-_zXYgt050vJGWc7hor8j0bmK4MadG7kTkAQsWuRQfrrapto1EKtdUnuL2W-aU51wZ_uH3cf9xTIBp0m4qRrRC-fxAyBv7ZnGIs-ulKUCtbf2hPkEJXREaLKz9Z8WoLpNHXjMeWkNlRsw_RCSVQXzGxNZOj3m5hgT_Fqr_atmGKrw_m7AZ6CQ/w309-h400/Catalog%20A%20Tale%20of%20Two%20Viruses.jpg" width="309" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-4755750265821001032023-01-25T15:19:00.002-05:002023-01-25T15:19:29.885-05:00The Monkeys in Michelangelo<p> The Monkeys in Michelangelo</p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffvYiN1srn4FLwjkfZwEKg8_HwGrlZJAhpTePVjmvWg0oMOeXeXU3J8s_8Vpw3EG8DypI9Q0BguOOYmCQ7bL2rmpV5ze4Qsc75f0s7-hPpVSA5MJDBg8Gg8NR88Tz1Q44Cpyy5pwyuUYz6Pg_DJjvcybejLjZngKfBjoc0qIBUMt15EGzoLCaUddF/s1125/Dying%20Slave%202.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1125" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjffvYiN1srn4FLwjkfZwEKg8_HwGrlZJAhpTePVjmvWg0oMOeXeXU3J8s_8Vpw3EG8DypI9Q0BguOOYmCQ7bL2rmpV5ze4Qsc75f0s7-hPpVSA5MJDBg8Gg8NR88Tz1Q44Cpyy5pwyuUYz6Pg_DJjvcybejLjZngKfBjoc0qIBUMt15EGzoLCaUddF/w213-h320/Dying%20Slave%202.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>Many years ago, on a trip to the Louvre, I made sketches of Michelangelo’s famous “Dying Slave.” The statue appeared as a male youth in reverie rather than dying, with a sensuous lifting of his bindings like someone disrobing. What particularly struck my attention was the partially carved monkey at the statue’s base. It was most certainly there, and most assuredly a simian form, but why? Although there have been countless articles written by art historians on Michelangelo’s masterpiece, finding any reference to the monkey has proven elusive. I did find one reference on a blog written by a collective of female southern writers who noted the monkey but did not postulate any reasons for him being there. No need to link here. <p></p><p>Recently, I revisited the poem I wrote for a painting that I made of Michelangelo’s “Dying Slave.” I had made plans to read the poem for an upcoming performance of poetry and visual art for an online program to air soon this February 28. The painting gave the monkey a prominent place, even adding another monkey for good measure. But the painting was old and looked unresolved upon closer inspection. It did not go well with the black and white ink and charcoal drawings that I made for our other poems. So I went back to the proverbial drawing board and used ink and charcoal to make an even bolder statement, stylistically matching the other drawings and the theme for our presentation: “A Gentle Unraveling.” </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiqC1eJfsbsVFGRfiY2iwH8EO9w7icIxpg1RcqjVxHJ98lfttGqcdwJZnFa2pTAucVNg2DClV1O_WGqhOH3MyZdBUDEQoYT90pZbtDkTflO2BS5PWQe8Y8Wyv5GNHe2NhY8tepSb2RKfg4eeNliwkkaK3tJyteKjFmhSr0G6kMJK-NoD1XJ9dDkgC3/s3170/048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3170" data-original-width="2682" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiqC1eJfsbsVFGRfiY2iwH8EO9w7icIxpg1RcqjVxHJ98lfttGqcdwJZnFa2pTAucVNg2DClV1O_WGqhOH3MyZdBUDEQoYT90pZbtDkTflO2BS5PWQe8Y8Wyv5GNHe2NhY8tepSb2RKfg4eeNliwkkaK3tJyteKjFmhSr0G6kMJK-NoD1XJ9dDkgC3/s320/048.JPG" width="271" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-80609623717917940942023-01-20T15:32:00.000-05:002023-01-20T15:32:15.812-05:00Seven Aspects of Chaos: A Series of Abstract Miniature Paintings Set into Ceramics<p> I listened to a lecture by a professor of mathematics in Brasov, Romania. During the course of his talk, he stated that there were “seven aspects of chaos,” in mathematics. The rest of the lecture became a blur, because my mind was transfixed by the phrase “seven aspects of chaos.” The reason for this was that I thought it would make a nice title for seven small abstract paintings. My memory of the traditional Chinese myth about the god Chaos was also prodded to the fore of consciousness. </p><p>The Chinese mythological figure of Chaos, or Hun Dun, was an avuncular being who lacked orifices in this nebulous form. The story goes that over a dinner being hosted by Hun Dun, two other gods felt sorry for Hun Dun and devised a plan to bore holes into him so that he would be able to see, hear, and speak. They bored seven holes over the course of seven days: two for eyes, two for nostrils, two for years and one for a mouth. It always rather stumped me that orifices for the ejection of waste materials were not considered. Maybe that’s why the plan backfired, with poor Hun Dun dying on the seventh day. </p><p>Was there a lesson to be learned about imposing ill-conceived solutions onto what cannot truly be fathomed or understood? Or maybe the moral of the story was that we should not be to eager to have everyone or everything conform to what might turn out to be arbitrary standards.</p><p>In honor of the mathematician, as well as the myth of Hun Dun, My Seven Aspects of Chaos series of paintings was completed this week. These small abstract paintings were set into ceramic frames that I hand carved. When constructing these ambiguously shaped frames, I punched seven holes of various sizes through the clay to reflect the holes punched into Chaos. </p><p>Now the last step will be to name the individual pieces, which I am considering naming after aspects of physics: String Theory, Plasma, etc. But they can at least finally be seen. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyPo7cCz7VAkcPRG1MPKBJ-KN75Qaa3AQplCdH4iwihhmojv95nB9QqLT2ZuVAX4rAl0biMoTzX1ouqvFFrBUy-EjkFE5Hy1RdLMY53kH8F_iMTtThnqm626vnnoijKoIsKVc9hMcC32-7fWKP0-wrsXhOWK4NJta9XJg2r8meIwUSlLiYqryi2cqD/s4352/New%20Laptop%20download%20photos%20109.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4352" data-original-width="2904" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyPo7cCz7VAkcPRG1MPKBJ-KN75Qaa3AQplCdH4iwihhmojv95nB9QqLT2ZuVAX4rAl0biMoTzX1ouqvFFrBUy-EjkFE5Hy1RdLMY53kH8F_iMTtThnqm626vnnoijKoIsKVc9hMcC32-7fWKP0-wrsXhOWK4NJta9XJg2r8meIwUSlLiYqryi2cqD/s320/New%20Laptop%20download%20photos%20109.JPG" width="214" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2904" data-original-width="4352" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWKH6Gr3B8wVBakrKSSuNJ8WjbqaF6TMHVkAoOpgMULaxQMDZLwq-W3B9yjd6YMm8MqI282UNMksbjq4wkCm7pxejJe_ydJXbbaS8PMpqGAw0DXMh4awo_VZMLcQglOS82KBC4sIn2yhIc3bAmOtm0ftcJ_TBkdQvLht2B2CTERvXFEX4f0p4AJ7AT/s320/New%20Laptop%20download%20photos%20112.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QoUup4pq57Y6vtpAPAxwBXMTiQrCke_eZ0fXxpCBKJ3j1CvqSG3ocejKiaSC0y88n7Lzs6qC3aAq1j4igSTL-nLZa7psEtiW0u1E6AB3Z6JvH_dSoKyXaaE7Bi8A5L-cnMwLV8adjvWR9TtZftdN9l1wvaing9Ek9C5fsoJiMiB3XEafdeyRsvVr/s4352/New%20Laptop%20download%20photos%20115.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2904" data-original-width="4352" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9QoUup4pq57Y6vtpAPAxwBXMTiQrCke_eZ0fXxpCBKJ3j1CvqSG3ocejKiaSC0y88n7Lzs6qC3aAq1j4igSTL-nLZa7psEtiW0u1E6AB3Z6JvH_dSoKyXaaE7Bi8A5L-cnMwLV8adjvWR9TtZftdN9l1wvaing9Ek9C5fsoJiMiB3XEafdeyRsvVr/s320/New%20Laptop%20download%20photos%20115.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-43384949392767259292023-01-18T12:18:00.002-05:002023-01-18T12:18:39.062-05:00The Final Word on the Last Stone<p> Final Words on a Last Rock</p><p><br /></p><p>In the years from 1983 to 1985, during my studies at the Central Academy of Fine Art in Beijing, a vendor selling rocks from Inner Mongolia would come by the school every six weeks or so to sell his wares. He would lay a cloth out on the open ground onto which he spilled out polished rocks in all shapes, sizes and colors. These all had one side that was flat for the purpose of carving out stamps. The carved stamps, or seals, were an integral part of Chinese painting, so the eager clients for these beautiful stones were the professors of painting and calligraphy at the Academy. </p><p><br /></p><p>The stones were marvels of simple artistry, shaped so that they would fit neatly into the grasp of the artist’s hand. Sometimes I missed buying the best examples because I was too dumbfounded by the beautiful display to make an offer while the professors had already begun their bargaining. But the haggling gave me another opportunity, because I never haggled. It wasn’t in me. Whatever the rock seller asked for I gave him, often while the others were still haggling. In this way, over the period of two years I amassed a substantial collection of rocks for seal carving. I carried many of these around in the decades that followed: from China to Holland, from Holland to New Jersey, then finally to South Carolina. </p><p><br /></p><p>The traditional Chinese calligraphic form that carvers used for seals was called Zhuan, or seal script. Many of these characters were more pictographic than modern Chinese (modern here meaning about the last two thousand years). The script had originated on ancient Chinese bronzes from the Shang and Zhou dynasties. In 2015 the script was designated a UNESCO world heritage cultural art form.</p><p>While many professional seal carvers that I knew had a treasure trove of zhuan characters committed to memory, when carving my own seals I generally relied on textbooks such as the Metal and Stone Dictionary (Jin Shi Da Zi Dian). Every now and then, when I had the occasion, I would carve a stone seal or two and use the prints in my painting. To expand the collection, I added hard linoleum into the mix, but the carving wasn’t quite as crisp as the rock carving, nor was there the allure of the rock itself as an art object. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKVdduXamnKgCayia5WR41KhT2NrjgBJPFwswQfbSTxmKDX9BRrrmPf5vMY_86ub_h5N-bA3N2VXmdLivfZrg-5vHFpsPxiq1Oj0eXljPeG9W46QZudgOK78mXBNbBayHVlKp20WBtwQKIY2fKVEFS84dbHJeGRDN4BBpNrxQuorqmLcjKjZFr1cl/s4032/Last%20Stone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKVdduXamnKgCayia5WR41KhT2NrjgBJPFwswQfbSTxmKDX9BRrrmPf5vMY_86ub_h5N-bA3N2VXmdLivfZrg-5vHFpsPxiq1Oj0eXljPeG9W46QZudgOK78mXBNbBayHVlKp20WBtwQKIY2fKVEFS84dbHJeGRDN4BBpNrxQuorqmLcjKjZFr1cl/s320/Last%20Stone.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>After so many decades of carving, the collection that began with the vendor from Inner Mongolia came to its inevitable conclusion. I had at long last come to the end of my collection of uncarved rocks. That last uncarved rock was a milky white pleasingly curved beauty. It felt good to hold. But what to write on it? Should not those final words be a suitable summation of the long rocky journey? <br /><br /><p></p><p>Initially, I was inspired from looking at an exhibition by modern calligraphers at Yale, to carve only a picture on this last rock. There was an artist in this exhibition, Yi Qian, who carved nothing more than his own face into the rock, stamping his identity onto his work using a visual portrait rather than a signature in ancient script. So I designed a stylized drawing of my long face and large eyes for this last rock. But I could not resist the desire to fashion some script into the hair. It took a while before settling on what would be the final words. The phrase “Final Word,” seemed to be the ideal choice. It helped that the zhuan style calligraphy form for “final,” or “hou” had the appearance of a braid. Reading more about this form, I found that it had a secondary meaning of “queen.” The last rock is pictured below. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8l4T6nzqByOBadI3QCBMjC3JSo9YTTLv01ksawN6EF8f4cBcjMNn0dRMTd69rEW6mcpa0IF8Lwiq27AyE_Itiv2JaS5zfLdW3XekbJE1KnTUepjrcYWz-1de_xQGm3LaHtpkN0hu6T1jmaB2SWxWcNBbxSdcmkinNlqLlCcM2x-avwMSKWUzDUpE/s4032/Last%20Stone%20Print.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="2268" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT8l4T6nzqByOBadI3QCBMjC3JSo9YTTLv01ksawN6EF8f4cBcjMNn0dRMTd69rEW6mcpa0IF8Lwiq27AyE_Itiv2JaS5zfLdW3XekbJE1KnTUepjrcYWz-1de_xQGm3LaHtpkN0hu6T1jmaB2SWxWcNBbxSdcmkinNlqLlCcM2x-avwMSKWUzDUpE/s320/Last%20Stone%20Print.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><p></p><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-15845252980712077412023-01-16T21:25:00.002-05:002023-01-28T11:52:21.420-05:00An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings at the Orangeburg Arts Center<p> At long last, I’ve decided to attend to my nearly fallow blog to mention my current exhibition at the Orangeburg Arts Center here in Orangeburg, South Carolina. This has been an adventurous year since I last wrote. I spent a month in Romania then returned for the summer, bringing Covid-19 home as an unwelcome souvenir. I had an exhibition and book signing for my full length poetry book, <a href="https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/a-rendering-of-soliloquies-by-janet-kozachek/">A Rendering of Soliloquies: Figures Painted in Spots of Time</a>, at Stormwater Studios in Columbia, South Carolina. Then it was back to Romania for the autumn semester.</p><p>Despite the fact that my Fulbright scholar husband was the main event for us at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iasi, the professors there offered me an opportunity to speak about my own books and art. It was fun and challenging to give a short introduction in Romanian. I will miss Iasi – especially the performances at the local neo-classical opera house. </p><p>You can read more about the exhibition in the Times & Democrat: https://thetandd.com/news/local/orangeburg-artist-brings-together-images-and-poetry-ukrainian-family-history-shared-amid-concerns/article_e648fd36-3afd-5e92-9522-165b16512b6c.html#tracking-source=home-top-story</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH3GasJ2X3IA4mjWX4td3rgioQmb79DGehT9dIdrh7y4bQX_6sgvfE9AGhto0LPWES5DTmNKtgr4ouTBBgyKNmJqSwOu6pJkv9FpzGoa0kDmJ-ZPQtC-CKArsx9b2or_UaqHkLixGeSDbwXYVMfpbmBPcl8S0T99puacrqq_HR0sQ6pMo05oxBdrJv/s3296/Catalog%20Cover.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3296" data-original-width="2544" height="521" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH3GasJ2X3IA4mjWX4td3rgioQmb79DGehT9dIdrh7y4bQX_6sgvfE9AGhto0LPWES5DTmNKtgr4ouTBBgyKNmJqSwOu6pJkv9FpzGoa0kDmJ-ZPQtC-CKArsx9b2or_UaqHkLixGeSDbwXYVMfpbmBPcl8S0T99puacrqq_HR0sQ6pMo05oxBdrJv/w402-h521/Catalog%20Cover.jpg" width="402" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-8522457057228834492022-05-10T14:13:00.002-04:002023-01-20T21:09:36.633-05:00<p> Sad to see that this was cancelled!</p><p>I will be teaching Chinese Calligraphy again in person at Common Ground on the Hill at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. This will be the first in person meeting since the pandemic hit in 2020. And it will be the first time for me to teach in person at Common Ground since 2011. I had managed to teach virtually last summer. It was my first (and maybe my last) zoom course, and, although it was awkward I got through it. Zoom had its benefits, though, as it allowed a friend from the west coast to participate. Follow the link to register. I will be teaching Chinese Calligraphy again in person at Common Ground on the Hill at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland. This will be the first in person meeting since the pandemic hit in 2020. And it will be the first time for me to teach in person at Common Ground since 2011. I had managed to teach virtually last summer. It was my first (and maybe my last) zoom course, and, although it was awkward I got through it. Zoom had its benefits, though, as it allowed a friend from the west coast to participate. Follow the link to register. https://www.commongroundonthehill.org/classes/chinese-calligraphy</p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-47088451023689678162022-02-22T16:22:00.001-05:002022-02-22T16:22:14.152-05:00<p> This will be the first in person lecture in about a year. I'll be discussing how Chinese language and poetry has influenced my work. Many thanks to the Poetry Society of South Carolina for helping to sponsor this event. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhICDdhd9kiHyBdX44J2IwQLchRZ2ogyVDzL0beMbXOLWli94JzZ5WLFLFnfQ8Gt-xqeym6V98zRhnoLpTE1GTBCZsWEGbvA2k8yxa9gtNnlDtGkWFQ0tP4Rb6yfzUcFZ2jkJzTeWsIJydQYl3OKkopEc1YtquKXZFTmdNmthH1H3egdQTNwGTMMsRy=s1080" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="488" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhICDdhd9kiHyBdX44J2IwQLchRZ2ogyVDzL0beMbXOLWli94JzZ5WLFLFnfQ8Gt-xqeym6V98zRhnoLpTE1GTBCZsWEGbvA2k8yxa9gtNnlDtGkWFQ0tP4Rb6yfzUcFZ2jkJzTeWsIJydQYl3OKkopEc1YtquKXZFTmdNmthH1H3egdQTNwGTMMsRy=w381-h488" width="381" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-23804022956009979022021-11-07T14:33:00.001-05:002021-11-07T14:33:36.078-05:00Lost, Found, and Remade Pit Fired Ocarinas<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHvF4vSbk0qdLhcm9mGUIAr8GdUhMxo471Q4_HpkiOjGtyP67C1S_XWcjsWBuJZiKUfysfegtl7ctLO0AZlRL375frctzFEJ8msVZRRfbjBw8fOm8uVv6jHUOJtPG6k9PUJw4TrW9owo/s2048/CA-2021-573.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1396" data-original-width="2048" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyHvF4vSbk0qdLhcm9mGUIAr8GdUhMxo471Q4_HpkiOjGtyP67C1S_XWcjsWBuJZiKUfysfegtl7ctLO0AZlRL375frctzFEJ8msVZRRfbjBw8fOm8uVv6jHUOJtPG6k9PUJw4TrW9owo/w400-h272/CA-2021-573.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>This autumn, my ceramic work has alternated between the glossy and decorative and the austere and natural. For some time now, I’ve been working on increasing the range of my ceramic ocarinas - which have been pit fired in the austere, zen-like mode. The examples here were made with some leftover raku clay. The raku clay was heavily textured with grog in order to withstand the thermal shock of sudden temperature fluctuations. This is not really necessary for pit fired ceramics, but I had a bag of raku clay that I wanted to use up, so decided to experiment.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUwprqCgh0auX2KeQmH4MtT2CiU-VY3XAb1vagK2yjEYjB_mPkHMWhuoAOpHAlhhu5oWgToMarrfgEzx6p7VXB63Db9NRMiv6P8IKg68P000axY6EAAHt3lrtti58EPvp_65coxwRX1Lk/s2048/CA-2021-576.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1516" data-original-width="2048" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUwprqCgh0auX2KeQmH4MtT2CiU-VY3XAb1vagK2yjEYjB_mPkHMWhuoAOpHAlhhu5oWgToMarrfgEzx6p7VXB63Db9NRMiv6P8IKg68P000axY6EAAHt3lrtti58EPvp_65coxwRX1Lk/s320/CA-2021-576.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p>These large ocarinas were made in response to a little mishap, in which a box of pit fired ocarinas went missing from the last exhibition venue. The center was absolutely certain that they weren’t there and I was absolutely exhausted turning my house and studio upside-down in search of a box that I knew was not there. At one point, I thought that my hapless husband, who was doing a massive amount of recycling, might have accidentally tossed the box into the bin.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHjF5LC5EEnjLYpveyWgiD7fISffz8dkucW7bmVPMK0mhxh9O9Zzx3svDdqs8qP62oa8j21Vie-hvNYZwHCL4vTjzw53FtS9P4oSUdri_-5d5UanGoHI6Sge4oO6111q-M5e0I45qkxo/s2048/CA-2021-575.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2048" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUHjF5LC5EEnjLYpveyWgiD7fISffz8dkucW7bmVPMK0mhxh9O9Zzx3svDdqs8qP62oa8j21Vie-hvNYZwHCL4vTjzw53FtS9P4oSUdri_-5d5UanGoHI6Sge4oO6111q-M5e0I45qkxo/s320/CA-2021-575.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>If the box had gone missing under ordinary circumstances, like just a recently exhibited collection of things that was being returned, then things would be disappointing but otherwise not bruising. But contained in this missing box were two ocarinas that had been purchased, with clients eagerly looking forward to them being shipped. I offered substitutes, but my clients really wanted the specific art that they had purchased.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMbmBKGHILYE9VXiVbVIxeezmXhEYLnOAemV83dRAe2Ky3EPSpmt4ZsjTKQ0-CpMZABvuLV1RipQZY8lFf51rbiJaTWxUegzLQLzVV0NfHI4ia0tiGTCfdKRO8kpRk2IJ3UiJYX7nTa-A/s2048/CA-2021-574a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1432" data-original-width="2048" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMbmBKGHILYE9VXiVbVIxeezmXhEYLnOAemV83dRAe2Ky3EPSpmt4ZsjTKQ0-CpMZABvuLV1RipQZY8lFf51rbiJaTWxUegzLQLzVV0NfHI4ia0tiGTCfdKRO8kpRk2IJ3UiJYX7nTa-A/s320/CA-2021-574a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>A few more weeks went by, and the box of ocarinas did not appear. So I resigned myself to creating new ones, making one as close as I could to the sold but missing one. For the rest, experimentation on the raku clay yielded some interesting results. Since the clay was already pitted and textured, I splattered on terra sigillata, oxides, and mica chips - giving the forms the impression that they were hewn from rocks - or perhaps were found cobblestones that you can just happen to blow into and produce songs.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje2Q-7RVr3VwnzuCyJds3pMEy7sTcURt9AlUZ3TDf23R2YqzAKFoZ1obRTAAeuGiUhZcmoAoZSGB4pg088KpdiR-D1pWTXbgw2faZPZMtdmu_imxm5xQnMOeBLgoED0JNr-XLE6Aylmd8/s2048/CA-2021-574.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1447" data-original-width="2048" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEje2Q-7RVr3VwnzuCyJds3pMEy7sTcURt9AlUZ3TDf23R2YqzAKFoZ1obRTAAeuGiUhZcmoAoZSGB4pg088KpdiR-D1pWTXbgw2faZPZMtdmu_imxm5xQnMOeBLgoED0JNr-XLE6Aylmd8/w400-h283/CA-2021-574.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>Just for fun, I pressed into the wet clay forms to shape them to my grasp, making them quite comfortable to hold. This one was painted with designs reminiscent of Pre-Columbian the burnished ceramic vessels that I had enjoyed seeing in museum collections.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7DmgN5T6wXo0yqXTDtMqCVomyYDXMGNP_XamNC8PkWKGGQWVsv7SNq6rCUJMg9OV4sjGH9Zx413MtdGTAFQdIjIU1RErUASgRzt1y6OUAaH4NJWG5kz7lT3B2dHz2edVUepv4Q0nA1TQ/s2048/CA-2021-572.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1485" data-original-width="2048" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7DmgN5T6wXo0yqXTDtMqCVomyYDXMGNP_XamNC8PkWKGGQWVsv7SNq6rCUJMg9OV4sjGH9Zx413MtdGTAFQdIjIU1RErUASgRzt1y6OUAaH4NJWG5kz7lT3B2dHz2edVUepv4Q0nA1TQ/s320/CA-2021-572.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>A friend and I put all the bisqued ocarinas into a pit fire, added some salt and copper carbonate and stoked a fire. The fire ended up not being quite reduced enough with the smothering, so I had to bake a second time and smother again - the air got to it!</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih2Mw8RkpuwBpR9N2JotnvO7frVT0k9O4xXkQUwiEjO5lxWKQTjJ_7ZYN9njLTeR2686Pc7N8wxPel__66moqf5k8ZO23Cy59gzOa3zUz9SDtLhyphenhyphenHDchZLHTAvdJzLStEcWnq3JdrkYkE/s2048/CA-2021-572a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1539" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEih2Mw8RkpuwBpR9N2JotnvO7frVT0k9O4xXkQUwiEjO5lxWKQTjJ_7ZYN9njLTeR2686Pc7N8wxPel__66moqf5k8ZO23Cy59gzOa3zUz9SDtLhyphenhyphenHDchZLHTAvdJzLStEcWnq3JdrkYkE/s320/CA-2021-572a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p>In the mean time, the missing box of ocarinas was found, and now I have a new collection of ceramic ocarinas of many shapes and sizes to dispense with.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQnONec1dmstu5xIzyBBULrLLr-jd-EJRw1TQwFj-T8fOA7erQnBPEu1b9sQHukshEYr8_-HVucQCH4Ww1IfrurTnuSgyPALdDFJJqd1pz_ashWPtu-NVIPb1aFtZQ8SWWABfJFJlvao/s2048/CA-2021-577c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1529" data-original-width="2048" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdQnONec1dmstu5xIzyBBULrLLr-jd-EJRw1TQwFj-T8fOA7erQnBPEu1b9sQHukshEYr8_-HVucQCH4Ww1IfrurTnuSgyPALdDFJJqd1pz_ashWPtu-NVIPb1aFtZQ8SWWABfJFJlvao/s320/CA-2021-577c.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-57700165350542631382021-10-28T19:41:00.002-04:002021-10-28T19:41:36.303-04:00A Rendering of Soliloquies - Figures Painted in Spots of Time<p> Finally! My full length poetry book is published and available. This concludes a few decades of additions, subtractions and revisions. Many of the people who originally posed for the paintings and drawings have grown old, some passed away, and children have grown and move up and onwards in the world. So this picture book has in some respects taken on an elegiac quality. I am not certain now whether to call it a well polished work or a seasoned one. Here is the link: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/a-rendering-of-soliloquies-by-janet-kozachek/</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDwfOqQo1xI-oJkRj3E5gjE0gBBy_7U-u8E82BVqJGtl_oPdrRYfXeZjnJ9kOxxGMEEu_EeIbCOqiCOubtUlG_Pj6VadP69Ry86CAi0-hV8T5MWhHLLcRUai4UgkntY9qtGsnfSCyO0KU/s2048/A+Rendering+of+Soliloquies+Email+Announcement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1795" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDwfOqQo1xI-oJkRj3E5gjE0gBBy_7U-u8E82BVqJGtl_oPdrRYfXeZjnJ9kOxxGMEEu_EeIbCOqiCOubtUlG_Pj6VadP69Ry86CAi0-hV8T5MWhHLLcRUai4UgkntY9qtGsnfSCyO0KU/w350-h400/A+Rendering+of+Soliloquies+Email+Announcement.jpg" width="350" /></a></div><br /><p>There are over fifty drawings and paintings in the book. With so many, it was difficult to choose one for the cover. My husband encouraged me to go with something red. So the painting "The Red Shirt" now graces the cover.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTGjLLvSwo0Iyom_4Bm6IkQGGoaXTpOTT5XwS7GSycdDexVxJeOMblKaPUep2AhvJYejlobC5zXlSD7XmF212aKFzjSuDWvarOKIJD63gVHMLGIjwKpiZQeok9zpRo5QSldq7i6NRoEeY/s1620/A+Rendering+of+Soliloquies+Mock+Cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1620" data-original-width="1080" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTGjLLvSwo0Iyom_4Bm6IkQGGoaXTpOTT5XwS7GSycdDexVxJeOMblKaPUep2AhvJYejlobC5zXlSD7XmF212aKFzjSuDWvarOKIJD63gVHMLGIjwKpiZQeok9zpRo5QSldq7i6NRoEeY/w266-h400/A+Rendering+of+Soliloquies+Mock+Cover.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-24895990175943075632021-07-24T13:39:00.002-04:002021-07-24T13:39:38.444-04:00<p> The exhibition, Artists Drawing Artists, opens today at <a href="https://www.stormwaterstudios.org/" target="_blank">Stormwater Studios</a> in Columbia, SC. This was a really fun exhibition to prepare for. Artists paired up and exchanged photographs of themselves. Many of the artists knew each other so were able to creatively incorporate personal life and art themes into the final portraits. The portrait that Jeri Burdick did of me, for instance, alludes to my monumental snake paintings. My portrait of Jeri included a tongue-in-cheek references to the weirder photos that I had sent of myself to her. The background in Jeri's portrait is embellished with Jeri's free style brushwork. These portraits made the local news! https://wach.com/features/arts-wach/artists-drawing-artists-stormwater-studios-exhibition?fbclid=IwAR2QRaaGVrjBS3hSOOw-KsQ6mrVqgJb5GBtjakO_4DHJBqhVHRTRfIWkDIs</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEs1QgF-Unk0X9L1a4rgqAWE35M5OiCD6THxriwbt3ApRYrMIu4x5WBlCxH7jYBwPRgs8ERncUmU2fkMNJfY5BMQR9i8GlNxHOGm781JQlRClGEzGTXPEwyDtr5141xZOqqjgbryAvlUo/s2048/Jeri++copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1527" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEs1QgF-Unk0X9L1a4rgqAWE35M5OiCD6THxriwbt3ApRYrMIu4x5WBlCxH7jYBwPRgs8ERncUmU2fkMNJfY5BMQR9i8GlNxHOGm781JQlRClGEzGTXPEwyDtr5141xZOqqjgbryAvlUo/w299-h400/Jeri++copy.jpg" width="299" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-25674641955801526102021-06-23T22:36:00.001-04:002021-06-23T22:36:55.682-04:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5E8ErWgOIVDRM9l3DiSIZomVJaeW_lteslk6zi_t8VbpnTFSwIqwhOCigskNWbMNiuvkKYDz0sWewuhm-_XVZD061vyW5TYrTIlt1sMhuCtaFsBVaE36cbQ9-1_KrdPg3MGz3MA0bIwg/s2048/Book+Cover+MWMM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1335" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5E8ErWgOIVDRM9l3DiSIZomVJaeW_lteslk6zi_t8VbpnTFSwIqwhOCigskNWbMNiuvkKYDz0sWewuhm-_XVZD061vyW5TYrTIlt1sMhuCtaFsBVaE36cbQ9-1_KrdPg3MGz3MA0bIwg/w261-h400/Book+Cover+MWMM.jpg" width="261" /></a></div><br /> Yesterday I was interviewed by the New York Parrot regarding my previously published books, <b><i><a href="https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/janet-kozachek/the-book-of-marvelous-cats/paperback/product-1g8kmz4p.html?page=1&pageSize=4">The Book of Marvelous Cats</a></i></b>, and <b><i><a href="https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/my-women-my-monsters-by-janet-kozachek/">My Women, My Monster</a>s</i></b>. We also discussed my upcoming full length poetry collection, <b><i>A Rendering of Soliloquies, Figures Painted in Spots of Time</i></b>. Many thanks to my publisher, Finishing Line Press, for helping to arrange this. Enjoy the talk and a view of my art-cluttered studio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvcJgdsDIbk<p></p><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-48843698333278996192021-05-27T15:01:00.003-04:002021-05-27T21:59:52.568-04:00Paper and Steel: Three Versions of "Initiate" and a Poem by Tamara Miles<p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpe0MaG4EWvv8ODDFRltDSQiycA-UbNXlvAm41YG-JnEm3sW0RSO2Qus6v0AN3gEVueREg_PxFRbnHF5nSwdlS1Or1AtkVfeRqrSWuIHkUXAEO_3dO762lGwZIq4Kfzb7dxGfkrMBds0/s2048/Paper+and+Steel+Initiate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1546" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjpe0MaG4EWvv8ODDFRltDSQiycA-UbNXlvAm41YG-JnEm3sW0RSO2Qus6v0AN3gEVueREg_PxFRbnHF5nSwdlS1Or1AtkVfeRqrSWuIHkUXAEO_3dO762lGwZIq4Kfzb7dxGfkrMBds0/w303-h400/Paper+and+Steel+Initiate.jpg" width="303" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p> On of my tiny drawings, entitled “Initiate,” was selected as part of the brochure for Paper and Steel. But try as I might, I could not locate this drawing. As the time to hang this exhibition drew near, I figured that the only solution to the dilemma of the lost work was to draw it over again. The first drawing was a mere 4" x 6,” so I decided to make the copy 9" x 12,” which better suited its place among the other 9" x 12" charcoal and ink paintings. So this was hung with the rest of the exhibitions of calligraphic dancers, and I never mentioned that this was a replacement.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMBiXFvib-nv6bh4VF3STo-3x1thVAOV7jedBYq7-qHyqQgxY3oNsQAQpHdjHHTu4DmRu2BY62kYDw8tjZ5-JVwOrmN72lo0vqZa_5pvujVhNS1AIiszH0IxXpqcs3URepig-P5f8KtPQ/s1768/PO-2021-386.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1768" data-original-width="1164" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMBiXFvib-nv6bh4VF3STo-3x1thVAOV7jedBYq7-qHyqQgxY3oNsQAQpHdjHHTu4DmRu2BY62kYDw8tjZ5-JVwOrmN72lo0vqZa_5pvujVhNS1AIiszH0IxXpqcs3URepig-P5f8KtPQ/w132-h200/PO-2021-386.jpg" width="132" /></a></div><p></p><p>Then news came of a small painting that I had made from the sketch, also 4" x 6.” This color version was sold at the Artists for Africa exhibition. My donation made me feel a little less useless as an artist and someone in Africa will get needed food, shelter and clothing - perhaps even a dance scholarship.</p><br /><p><br /></p><p>The night of the Ekphrastic Poetry Reading at Paper and Steel came next. The poet Tamara Miles selected the drawing of Initiate to write for. Ah! I thought. Good thing that I replaced this drawing. The new drawing, was a bit more lively than the original drawing but not quite as fancy as the painting. Dr. Miles gave an outstanding performance of her moving poem, which she is graciously sharing for this blog post and other social media. The poem will be attached to the wall near the painting so it can be appreciated in person. Paper and Steel will be on exhibit at the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center until June 30. </p><p><br /></p><p>Initiate</p><p>-Tamara Miles, after a drawing by Janet Kozachek</p><p><br /></p><p>To begin, I raise my arms</p><p>In perfect praise</p><p><br /></p><p>to be introduced,</p><p>a spark flown</p><p>from the initiator’s hand --</p><p><br /></p><p>and if I learn the way of peace,</p><p>an operatic sway,</p><p><br /></p><p>what promises are made to me?</p><p><br /></p><p>Just one: You’ll never be the same,</p><p><br /></p><p>as wild ones once are tamed,</p><p>and wild no more.</p><p><br /></p><p>This ceremony seals,</p><p>a holy spirit steals</p><p>our names.</p><p><br /></p><p>An oogenesis occurs --</p><p>where we were, </p><p>someone newborn.</p><p><br /></p><p>Whatever oath was asked,</p><p>we’ve sworn.</p><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-6135255172019498422021-05-25T20:10:00.004-04:002021-05-25T20:23:17.032-04:00Paper and Steel: An Ekphrastic Poetry Reading by Mind Gravy Poetry <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBk8ZxZfcjP8JzdNP7DaWe88VUARstNV1CrmglImDj_DHgQO8VnVYQN2WPBIWWxkfV8qA5zCng1zq_3SDp7SxgpHfquqf-08Y57yQRC2MfIbquZNIoAq5_2umDlKyHeEXF9K8n6eQ-s9w/s1853/Janet+Kozachek+Conspiracy+Theories+charcoal+and+ink+5+x+7.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1473" data-original-width="1853" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBk8ZxZfcjP8JzdNP7DaWe88VUARstNV1CrmglImDj_DHgQO8VnVYQN2WPBIWWxkfV8qA5zCng1zq_3SDp7SxgpHfquqf-08Y57yQRC2MfIbquZNIoAq5_2umDlKyHeEXF9K8n6eQ-s9w/w400-h318/Janet+Kozachek+Conspiracy+Theories+charcoal+and+ink+5+x+7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /> The ekphrastic poetry reading by Mind Gravy Poetry was a moving tribute to the art work in the exhibition Paper and Steel, at the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center. Mind Gravy always does a great job with this. In my previous blog, I wrote a short review of Derek Berry's recent publication, <i style="font-weight: bold;">Glitter Husk. </i> At the poetry reading a week ago, Derek chose my drawing, Conspiracy Theories, to write and perform for. It was a tiny 5" x 7" charcoal drawing, but it caught his attention. Mr. Berry has graciously allowed me to share his composition for the art work: <p></p><p>conspiracy theories, after janet kozachek</p><p><br /></p><p>what must god have felt</p><p>when the floodwaters crammed</p><p>the lungs of non-believers?</p><p>what must have noah’s sons</p><p>thought when their friends drowned,</p><p>mud and blood and screaming</p><p>in the rush of water, the image</p><p>of god a turned back,</p><p>a night sky? did they whisper</p><p>to one another of cruelty?</p><p>empathy? or did they cluck</p><p>their tongues at those</p><p>who had named the dark clouds a conspiracy?</p><p>there must be some moment</p><p>when children look at their fathers</p><p>and understand they are also sons,</p><p>when they understand their parents</p><p>cannot answer for god.</p><p><br /></p><p>on facebook, the mother of my childhood best friend</p><p>implores her friends to abandon ship.</p><p>they will no longer put up with the fake news,</p><p>the stolen election, the wicked vaccines,</p><p>the homosexual agenda, the millennial generation,</p><p>the microchips, the freudian slips,</p><p>the children in cages or the children in basements,</p><p>the children learning about evolution in schools,</p><p>the children who will grow up to one day hate them</p><p>for all they do not believe to be true.</p><p><br /></p><p>i too have huddled with friends</p><p>in smoky rooms and asked the questions</p><p>about the cia, the man, the medical establishment,</p><p>the history not taught in schools, the slaughters forgotten,</p><p>the unions busted, the god written and rewritten</p><p>into thousands of books, then painted white</p><p>and hung on a plastic cross hanging from the neck</p><p>of the mother of my childhood best friend,</p><p>who believes i’m the enemy.</p><p><br /></p><p>i do not how to trust anymore.</p><p>i do not know how to point to the truth</p><p>& say, “this is the truth,” without flinching</p><p>at everything i do not know.</p><p>i do not know how to ask god, “why?”</p><p>without wondering when my children will ask me the same question.</p><p><br /></p><p>but i know i touch my lover’s</p><p>face with the same hands</p><p>once cradled in the palms</p><p>of that woman, who once fed me,</p><p>who once when i was a toddler,</p><p>kept me alive for three days</p><p>while my brother was born premature in the hospital.</p><p>a woman who loved me, in a way,</p><p>until i grew up to become one of the drowned.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-73027130774946482862021-05-24T22:40:00.001-04:002021-05-24T22:40:46.056-04:00Glitter Husk by Derek Berry Review <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4iUB0oXoLvqzWQ0Emsel-m9IvrO0FZtpfPWeuS5kZdCiRDG2p7eCBI3ca4kL8TQksiS1J8ZsnG0OuJgblsT2puBNCw7WOB49XZ_MKCDF0pFXzNqxiePUZnJxS_gQr1w9jSSE__qrdyU4/s1509/Glitter+Husk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1509" data-original-width="1485" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4iUB0oXoLvqzWQ0Emsel-m9IvrO0FZtpfPWeuS5kZdCiRDG2p7eCBI3ca4kL8TQksiS1J8ZsnG0OuJgblsT2puBNCw7WOB49XZ_MKCDF0pFXzNqxiePUZnJxS_gQr1w9jSSE__qrdyU4/s320/Glitter+Husk.jpg" /></a></div><p></p><p>Everyone knows the old canard, “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.” But it was the exquisite cover design, embellished with a lavender cicada emerging from its case, and the glittery lettering, that drew my attention to <a href="https://derekberrywriter.com/">Derek Berry</a>’s poetry chapbook, Glitter Husk. The cover, featuring the art work of Roberto Jones and the graphic design of Anniebelle Quattlebaum, captures that ineffable spark of wonder that insinuates itself throughout the book - even into the darkest corners.</p><p><br /></p><p>Glitter Husk, with its unconventional structures ( Who would have thought to write a redacted elegy that looks like a page from the Mueller Report?), and raw confrontations, is a self-effacing lamentation on living in uncomfortably challenging spaces for body and mind:</p><p> “Owning a body becomes unmiracled,” - from “hangover.”</p><p>Throughout the book, the reader is engaged in a search between the lines for that which shines. What exactly is this luster that is sprinkled among the text? Dressed in drag becomes a glitter sacrament. A glitter husk is the fleeting joy of a firefly. It is memory made translucent like an overly handled photograph. We find it in drink, and in the epiphany that guilt is gilt. Perhaps the glowing is hidden in bits and pieces among Goya’s black house and in his painting of Saturn Devouring his Son. Maybe it can be teased out of the words and phrases that escape from blackened elegiac redactions, or in the stars one sees from the top of a Ferris wheel on the night of a county fair. The glow, the glitter, is something that shines out as aliveness against all odds. </p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-56473526277295484312021-05-10T19:09:00.004-04:002021-05-10T19:15:30.771-04:00Illustration Course and Chinese Calligraphy Course at Common Ground on the Hill <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkiGOP9vYEvEKyp7U1XyUqqLRcNjZff2mxvhzvrGJZ95-D1Fsspo_EmK9xCVsaRpt_HaLR3GI8DrN-0YmrcLE-X0molQIG5DtRHLKrmFYLyrUSw5yYXlykNW96M8p3tFupydn3gERQGrY/s2048/CGOTH+calligraphy+image.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1730" data-original-width="2048" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkiGOP9vYEvEKyp7U1XyUqqLRcNjZff2mxvhzvrGJZ95-D1Fsspo_EmK9xCVsaRpt_HaLR3GI8DrN-0YmrcLE-X0molQIG5DtRHLKrmFYLyrUSw5yYXlykNW96M8p3tFupydn3gERQGrY/w400-h338/CGOTH+calligraphy+image.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p> I will be teaching the following online courses this summer:</p><p>https://www.commongroundonthehill.org/classes/gong-bi</p><p>https://www.commongroundonthehill.org/classes/chinese-calligraphy</p><p>Registration is open! Chinese calligraphy in particular informs the manner in which I have been composing my figurative drawings and gong bi painting has been especially helpful in my book illustration designs. So there is plenty to learn about eastern aesthetics, but there are practical applications as well.</p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-24618178408698335442021-05-01T21:53:00.002-04:002021-05-01T21:53:54.613-04:00Paper and Steel Exhibition at the Orangeburg County FIne Arts Center: Big Man Dances <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIx0biU8Bw0Nyqg9D2GkP_6vcne2kOj8t46qpUF6nYy5VrBErwuBSQ61Ve2l8mSF-L1BHz0gcBbX-tjPrrj8ydaQ-BMwDipVvEDAZx9VCGFGaIkCUtFj2vLHk5Yluen-zjXj7RSjSjCz8/s2048/Big+Man+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1300" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIx0biU8Bw0Nyqg9D2GkP_6vcne2kOj8t46qpUF6nYy5VrBErwuBSQ61Ve2l8mSF-L1BHz0gcBbX-tjPrrj8ydaQ-BMwDipVvEDAZx9VCGFGaIkCUtFj2vLHk5Yluen-zjXj7RSjSjCz8/w406-h640/Big+Man+4.jpg" width="406" /></a></div><br /> The exhibition Paper and Steel has been hung and the show will be open to the public on May 5. As usual, I had been working up to the last minute. This last minute work involved a late night addition to the Big Man Dances portion in my series of calligraphic drawings of dancers in ink and charcoals. These were painted just over a year ago but based upon sketches made at a live dance performance some decades before that. Because the dancers were obviously not standing still to pose, my sketches were impressions of their movements. I recall fondly that the dance director who was sitting next to me at the performance was so taken by these scribbles that she took me backstage after the show so I could, not without embarrassment on my part, show off my renderings to the dancers. To my surprise, they were actually able to identify specific performers by just a few lines. So that was fun.<p></p><p>In 2019, as I added charcoal and inks to these line drawings, I felt a certain familiar pathos about Big Man. When I wrote about these drawings previously, I left the identity of Big Man an unanswered question. Then I had to put Big Man in a box with all the rest of the drawings, as the pandemic lock down began and everything was put on hold. So I had a lot of time to reflect on what he might represent and why his image seemed to tug at my heart.</p><p>Yesterday, as I took the dancers out of their box and affixed them to the white backing paper, it suddenly occurred to me that Big Man looked like he was overly confined by the very picture plane he inhabited, almost coming alive to kick and prance his way out of his rectangular home. Ah! That’s it! He reminded me of a Chinese character. There is a character that is a logical aggregate of parts, with a big man in a box and a heart underneath him. I suppose this etiology means that we have feelings for those whose souls are simply too large for the constraints of their lives. The word for this is empathy. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOA4xWUeIXmnzV-VyWzDlZaYSq5bikHNlBSBFi8WkdL3Un-FfrmN4n_tA5Z_NLQluNJTVjXMSJDQ-mLhyIKgJjsS7haaNan6Uza6Y0_Lyn29G_xYYN27H2_eWEDooyeKlKaR_jRQler-c/s2048/Big+Man+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1502" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOA4xWUeIXmnzV-VyWzDlZaYSq5bikHNlBSBFi8WkdL3Un-FfrmN4n_tA5Z_NLQluNJTVjXMSJDQ-mLhyIKgJjsS7haaNan6Uza6Y0_Lyn29G_xYYN27H2_eWEDooyeKlKaR_jRQler-c/s320/Big+Man+1.jpg" /></a></div><p> </p><p>So I carved some prints with the ancient Chinese character form for empathy and affixed them in red ink on the white backing paper. Now Big Man was finally identified. Unfortunately we ran out of room at the exhibition for the entire Big Man Dances series, but attendees can get a glimpse of him kneeling and kicking. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3MerCIpSo0R23V4UfDLqePAjJgk2kjQv8tQNJXgObeyJLWEtXlZ_inOEZH6iuS4_Jekz_i0yXnXgV4F1rpadHFMMfrof_pL4wBH6epdmctYAMsmGGPfcQyrHhYdmJmtTUF9wkapq4AXk/s2048/Big+Man+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1383" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3MerCIpSo0R23V4UfDLqePAjJgk2kjQv8tQNJXgObeyJLWEtXlZ_inOEZH6iuS4_Jekz_i0yXnXgV4F1rpadHFMMfrof_pL4wBH6epdmctYAMsmGGPfcQyrHhYdmJmtTUF9wkapq4AXk/w432-h640/Big+Man+6.jpg" width="432" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-29583116774288612462021-04-27T18:54:00.003-04:002021-04-27T18:54:46.094-04:00Paper and Steel at the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center: A New Work<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCP56aId0Z2cV4kqdsiHoy9fwZWpmvFkAgTHyOlSJ5SSB7HmB-nJkBU4cbmAh5smXEmSC6Dt0ImUoR2bPUGPj7146VYftlDUJpGDA7Uzwvcizw_kN8SqR6S1_21i7qjbCCdtAyHWMCb8I/s4352/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2904" data-original-width="4352" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCP56aId0Z2cV4kqdsiHoy9fwZWpmvFkAgTHyOlSJ5SSB7HmB-nJkBU4cbmAh5smXEmSC6Dt0ImUoR2bPUGPj7146VYftlDUJpGDA7Uzwvcizw_kN8SqR6S1_21i7qjbCCdtAyHWMCb8I/w640-h428/002.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><p></p><p>The exhibition Paper and Steel will be hung this Friday and open to the public May 5. One of the latest and newest pieces I made for the exhibition is a drawing over an old abstract painting on mulberry paper. The painting was essentially a monoprint using ink and alcohol to create swirling effects on what is often erroneously referred to as “rice paper.” It was created several decades ago, was framed for an exhibition about thirty years ago, and had languished in my closet ever since. It was time to bring the painting out from hiding and into the present.</p><p><br /></p><p>The new drawing preserves much of the underpainting even though the entire context has been changed. “Who was that Unmasked Man?,” is my new title for the strangely twisted face with thorny branches, riffing on The Lone Ranger question of my early childhood memory. Here the simple face becomes a nightmare. In fact, I found that I was not alone in having Covid-19 nightmares that generally entailed being next to a stranger without a mask. </p><p><br /></p><p> The small coronaviruses in the picture were made with color pencil. They were purposely made pale and understated. The viewer would have to hunt around to spot them all. “Who was that Unmasked Man,” like many of my paintings for this exhibition, can be read in more than one way, depending upon a person’s Covid perspective. A person intimidated by science deniers, might understand the fear represented. However, it would be possible for those who underplay the severity of our viral crisis to interpret the painting as overreaction and paranoia. It will be interesting if two interpretative camps emerge at the upcoming exhibition.</p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-71180264218162810052021-04-22T18:25:00.003-04:002021-04-22T18:25:27.363-04:00Paper and Steel Four Person Exhibition at Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center New Work<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxISCrfpPMperdRwmGnSDlfhZ3X1MgZ1mX6qXkazPDH65rAdnk1q8Foin_gbvaioThKJFL_iCE9Fhucy_Za5j4nv-ZYRzSPyls1cM46wrVFLAUKfjgIWUg9VtGz4NHGPZjsEeVfILa_Ns/s1080/Paper+and+Steel+Invitation+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="810" data-original-width="1080" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxISCrfpPMperdRwmGnSDlfhZ3X1MgZ1mX6qXkazPDH65rAdnk1q8Foin_gbvaioThKJFL_iCE9Fhucy_Za5j4nv-ZYRzSPyls1cM46wrVFLAUKfjgIWUg9VtGz4NHGPZjsEeVfILa_Ns/w400-h300/Paper+and+Steel+Invitation+1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Putting on an exhibition that has been on hold for over a year is like opening up a pre-pandemic time capsule. In this time capsule lies the work of artists working in mostly black and white, stark forms that seem so well coordinated as a grouping. Indeed it was planned that way, so that the entire exhibition would look like a well choreographed dance.</p><p>The new version of Paper and Steel, is mostly the same, but does introduce some modifications and current work. How could we not be affected by the sea change of social unrest and a pandemic of biblical proportions?</p><p>My new work, “Killing One’s Brother with a Jawbone,” was created recently in response to social unrest, but also on a personal level, for my own unrest at having misplaced most of my drawings for this exhibition and wondering what I could do on short notice. So I tore up an old drawing that I had made of Schiavone’s “Cain Murdering Abel” and superimposed the torn pieces onto an old abstract ink painting on mulberry paper. The abstract painting had been done about thirty-five years ago and was languishing away in my closet in a frame that I wanted to use. The torn drawing seemed to dovetail rather nicely with the old abstract painting, the swirling composition echoed by the swirling patterns of alcohol and ink. </p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6T_asBgKFsfGn0fXIvoAj1s_4eBqTVaAPrr_dSAdHYIlf_nMOU-DozFtpb2l9QngzwtopqsuHwoxKmu08ZvbmZ4MHgLRN5tXAIv8FOvjsPtm4iVQIbjEgEixNfl1QM-1c_fIztBVwlE8/s2048/Collage+Schiavone+adjusted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1882" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6T_asBgKFsfGn0fXIvoAj1s_4eBqTVaAPrr_dSAdHYIlf_nMOU-DozFtpb2l9QngzwtopqsuHwoxKmu08ZvbmZ4MHgLRN5tXAIv8FOvjsPtm4iVQIbjEgEixNfl1QM-1c_fIztBVwlE8/w368-h400/Collage+Schiavone+adjusted.jpg" width="368" /></a></div><br /><p>The title of the new work is a double entendre, with the secondary meaning having nothing to do with smuttiness, however. In the original <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Schiavone">Andrea Schiavone</a> painting, from which I had made a sketch on location in the mid 1990's, Cain is depicted striking Abel with a stag jawbone. “Jawboning” is a phrase used to describe persuasion, pressure, or arm twisting verbal behavior. Over the course of this pandemic year, I’ve often been wary of the use of language, especially if language hides malicious intent or stirs up hatred towards various groups of people. The moment I placed the drawing on top of the painting, that sentiment was clarified. </p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-61352810973286271132020-12-28T22:16:00.003-05:002020-12-28T22:16:44.946-05:00The Eclectic Art of Janet Kozachek: A Retrospective with an Ekphrastic Poetry Event<p> The new year will be ringing in with an Ekphrastic Poetry Reading at 7PM on January 1 at my Retrospective at the <a href="https://www.hamptoncountyarts.org/kozachek-exhibit.html">Hampton Gallery Art Center</a> in Hampton, SC. Most of the art work that I make does involve narrative. I believe that this encourages both the written as well as the spoken word. The event will be available to folks both on and off Facebook via Zoom. Follow the link to their Facebook page: </p><p>https://www.facebook.com/HamptonCountyArts/posts/425084445568291</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieDoBN1go_J-9FKGRpzxhYQEdPCbSiP9VeN40dxTBrEl9dYQE88fL5NAC-Uz51ZTfO3vq_Dt-9-yPHSBkOL5maxpmuZdR-hUd3ijdpe6pSdX02U7X3W3kTGAVA0S7X6UbtmpBcAH_jboI/s2048/MA-2020-043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1561" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieDoBN1go_J-9FKGRpzxhYQEdPCbSiP9VeN40dxTBrEl9dYQE88fL5NAC-Uz51ZTfO3vq_Dt-9-yPHSBkOL5maxpmuZdR-hUd3ijdpe6pSdX02U7X3W3kTGAVA0S7X6UbtmpBcAH_jboI/w488-h640/MA-2020-043.jpg" width="488" /></a></div><br /><p style="text-align: center;">"Naiad" Mixed media mosaic with hand modeled pit fired face. </p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-53383829244169331292020-12-27T11:13:00.003-05:002020-12-27T11:13:42.894-05:00The Eclectic Art of Janet Kozachek: A Retrospective at the Hampton Fine Arts Center<p> The concluding works in my Archaeology portion of my current exhibition are eight pieces featuring fragments of artifacts. The first two, “The Key to Understanding Sibling Rivalry”, and “The Key to Understanding Ancient Poetry”, were discussed in my last blog post. The next two are “Untying the Knot,” and “The Broken Sword.”</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPa6AuYhZMxQVpfCrlcYSGmZsC-DHTizcoYdkFe2SxPHWXdXJmO2JCqXuVcXgwXaI-90SDhQwWCjiRVMEKKUji-pqzXykZaSI3Tqi9XErKyjPJYP9ksE6VRbuRN2TnUYptA-Z66kLTMQE/s2543/Barnes+Dagger+Hilt+front+view.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2543" data-original-width="1236" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPa6AuYhZMxQVpfCrlcYSGmZsC-DHTizcoYdkFe2SxPHWXdXJmO2JCqXuVcXgwXaI-90SDhQwWCjiRVMEKKUji-pqzXykZaSI3Tqi9XErKyjPJYP9ksE6VRbuRN2TnUYptA-Z66kLTMQE/w98-h200/Barnes+Dagger+Hilt+front+view.jpg" width="98" /></a></div>“The Broken Sword” was initially styled after a medieval sword hilt found in the Barnes Collection in Philadelphia. I used to visit the Barnes when it was still a cozy place in Marion, Pennsylvania, and found it refreshing and fascinating in the way artifacts were intermingled with paintings. Despite the new venue looking a little cold, Philadelphia at least kept some basic concepts in the elevation of craft to fine art by mixing the two in mostly the same symbiotic relationships as they were in Marion. The seventeenth century dagger hilt that inspired my small mosaic was of a small boy carved in ivory.<p></p><br /><p><br /></p><p>For my sword hilt, I changed the figure into a woman and added terra sigillata colorants. My ceramic sword broke twice, once on purpose for the sword end, and then by accident on the hilt end. I decided to fire it and then pit fire it anyway. I had named the piece “The Broken Sword,” after all. While assembling this mosaic, adding bits of green beach glass around the figure, it occurred to me that an arc of a brighter color emanating from the woman’s head would add some variation and highlighting. In creating the pale orange arc, I thought of a final scene in Ingmar Bergman’s film “The Virgin Spring.” In this final scene, the father of a murdered girl retrieves her body, and when he pulls her from the ground, a stream of water issues from the ground where her head had rested. Despite my stream being orange, the issuing effect is still present. Would she have been able to save herself had she been armed?</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXw_vfAG9RcPr9SImWHJ5xXunoiF72S2SERp3oh7XhRBktSHY08BOseggk8QRxhg6Jd_Ppz96j-7TrxgCqvwvK6pivBQ7ONPT5B_LYjPUx-EFc7mPTawdv2BRsN428URutoLleIcV74QA/s2048/MA-2020-037.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1425" data-original-width="2048" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXw_vfAG9RcPr9SImWHJ5xXunoiF72S2SERp3oh7XhRBktSHY08BOseggk8QRxhg6Jd_Ppz96j-7TrxgCqvwvK6pivBQ7ONPT5B_LYjPUx-EFc7mPTawdv2BRsN428URutoLleIcV74QA/w400-h279/MA-2020-037.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p>My next mosaic, “Untying the Knot,” was inspired by my recent readings in ancient Chinese stone seal designs. Some of the early designs had pointed ends which ostensibly functioned as a tool for untying knots. The untied knot in my mosaic is signified by the swirling lines in the pottery shards. I had stored this broken plate for some years, as I had not the heart to discard it. The plate had been made by Zheng Ke, in Handan, China. He was the teacher of my teacher, <a href="https://www.mutualart.com/Artist/Ka-Kwong-Hui/5CBB97D847B64EE6/Biography">Ka Kwong Hu</a>i (Xu Jiaguang in Mandarin). Hui, who I had studied with as an undergraduate at Rutgers, wrote the letter of introduction for us to take to Handan. Zheng Ke had been imprisoned for nearly twenty years. There were many in his generation that were incarcerated twice, first shortly after the Communist revolution, then again during the Cultural Revolution in the 1960's. I was astounded that Zheng Ke seemed to pick up where he had left off and founded a new school of ceramic art in Han Dan. It was with a certain satisfaction that I was able to put this broken plate back to use. Fortunately, I also still have an intact piece. What I would give to also have a piece of ceramic art by Hui, although considering that I dropped one of Zheng Ke’s pieces, I probably don’t deserve it. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiM2JUImZb_mEojcDQxuWO2F7JTSdERAzHzSpCK-Pz7UvJVDMeZk7jWzQd-gptT8ZZKVTZNxlxUYgSvQcNY30OpBKR4SPS0oJLrLu5yant6EsPqCI-epiEanfWrdVQkJNU3iZiWokM6sw/s2048/MA-2020-041.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1370" data-original-width="2048" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiM2JUImZb_mEojcDQxuWO2F7JTSdERAzHzSpCK-Pz7UvJVDMeZk7jWzQd-gptT8ZZKVTZNxlxUYgSvQcNY30OpBKR4SPS0oJLrLu5yant6EsPqCI-epiEanfWrdVQkJNU3iZiWokM6sw/w640-h428/MA-2020-041.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p>The face in this mosaic is imaginary. I was simply challenged to create something that looked like it could have been someone. </p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6709765836530266346.post-34727513976169849472020-12-22T12:51:00.003-05:002020-12-22T12:51:59.175-05:00The Eclectic Art of Janet Kozachek: A Retrospective at the Hampton Fine Arts Center. Focus on mosaics<p> My current exhibition at <a href="https://www.augustachronicle.com/story/news/local/hampton-county-guardian/2020/12/02/art-exhibits-open-in-hampton/43251935/">Hampton Fine Arts Center</a>, The Eclectic Art of Janet Kozachek, features both old and new mosaic assemblage pieces. The older figurative mosaics have not been on view for about ten years. These will be new to those who have not seen them before. The newly made mosaics pick up on the archeological theme where those older ones left off. The older mosaics depicted small ceramic figures lying in repose in what looked like dioramas of archeological excavation sites. These incorporated both found objects as well as handmade artifacts.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3mnQv33dKOqjCSiRWzFI4Z2jq7eWN2iFuKYSJcBTaKJXYeTK-lZ0OPWC-gj_U0SMrgdsCtX1gbypTem6QMdaE-LLfZXsu_wXMtGkINLnFOESIuAQSyUkjp9HRAvVR5VIPus9FJLJ50YE/s866/MA-2003-010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="866" data-original-width="732" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3mnQv33dKOqjCSiRWzFI4Z2jq7eWN2iFuKYSJcBTaKJXYeTK-lZ0OPWC-gj_U0SMrgdsCtX1gbypTem6QMdaE-LLfZXsu_wXMtGkINLnFOESIuAQSyUkjp9HRAvVR5VIPus9FJLJ50YE/s320/MA-2003-010.jpg" /></a></div><br /><p>The newer, smaller mosaics, completed this November/December, made use of a pile of leftover 8" x 10" and 8" x 12" cement backer boards - a total of eight. Applying hand made ceramic bull noses to these for frames, using locally mined clay for hand made relief sculptures, and integrating found objects onto these pieces satisfied yet again my goal of dispatching with excess materials on hand. Because these cement boards were on the small side, rather than create environments as in the older, larger mosaics, I opted instead to focus on one or two artifacts. If the mosaics of the past evoked a sense of lost civilizations, these smaller ones would be the tools the people of these imaginary civilizations used and the objects they collected. </p><p> The two mosaics below have large keys central to their design. These keys were sculpted from my locally mined red clay and fashioned in a manner like old Nordic tools. The themes emerged slowly, as the art of mosaic is slow and deliberate. The key became not just an object but a means to understanding, hence the titles “The Key to Understanding Ancient Poetry,” and “The Key to Understanding Sibling Rivalry.” The key here unlocks not just physical doors, but access to information and a means to understanding.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTb6xNnif_FktLElp5-cE8JJKENhAu9UuoGI8UXb0_4Yi7vKQLxC0fO43hTqOh1E3xESxiRV02IKhGAEGWl2DFV-D9mzKqbcbwBn9icVJ8nvKwT5TfMcGXnXXrEYBFuAlp_nTvNh0GP6A/s2048/MA-2020-039.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1371" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTb6xNnif_FktLElp5-cE8JJKENhAu9UuoGI8UXb0_4Yi7vKQLxC0fO43hTqOh1E3xESxiRV02IKhGAEGWl2DFV-D9mzKqbcbwBn9icVJ8nvKwT5TfMcGXnXXrEYBFuAlp_nTvNh0GP6A/s320/MA-2020-039.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>The porcelain sherds in “The Key to Understanding Sibling Rivalry,” were a serendipitous find of two female figures from a broken Chinese vase. The sea tumbled pottery sherd with the three uneven lines stimulated a memory of someone I once knew who was the eldest in a family with three children. I always puzzled over how he was unable to see the pecking order in his own family, despite being a counselor to others’ families. In reflecting on the American striving for democratic equality, and how there must be a substantial cognitive disconnect with regard to how many people are actually raised, the title for this mosaic was born. The “key” to understanding here is perhaps the small imprint on the round form which reads, in ancient Chinese, “The Universal.” Family favorites are, in fact universal. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeG3gh5c2rFRmsAw0PEXSSsp9vvdhtXcP9mANpCwwgU3Uca6688ENnFgI-TZdGgWXaY9ewF6WM6dWEPTLppjLiH7jkFUMcmvzpRhqsNiFrFluaGsr93zD6Md2AAQ8MEQgHipPoYPUS0Gg/s2048/MA-2020-040.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1378" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeG3gh5c2rFRmsAw0PEXSSsp9vvdhtXcP9mANpCwwgU3Uca6688ENnFgI-TZdGgWXaY9ewF6WM6dWEPTLppjLiH7jkFUMcmvzpRhqsNiFrFluaGsr93zD6Md2AAQ8MEQgHipPoYPUS0Gg/s320/MA-2020-040.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>In “The Key to Understanding Ancient Poetry,” I use another stamp on the square ceramic piece above the key. The stamp is the ancient form in Chinese zhuan script for “Poetry.” The key to understanding is found in another stamp impressed into the ceramic lock. This one was impressed by a stamp that I had carved recently, adapting one carved by the Ming artist Su Xuan. It says, “I think of ancient people, and my heart is moved.” From the book Chinese Seals, Carving Authority and Creating History, by Weizu Sun. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrBbUVRol6WS4Vub-uNovUMbm2vpebEZBs59h43-XXShZlAqzjwCMeeKGHzTlipr1m1kcjMykry8_Icu0hHetEvW12qtdPBMen5vUdoTK_GGK2PPDmCXpI4vapzZEeiDnIdcWPLu0w0_c/s4352/IMG_8024.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2904" data-original-width="4352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrBbUVRol6WS4Vub-uNovUMbm2vpebEZBs59h43-XXShZlAqzjwCMeeKGHzTlipr1m1kcjMykry8_Icu0hHetEvW12qtdPBMen5vUdoTK_GGK2PPDmCXpI4vapzZEeiDnIdcWPLu0w0_c/s320/IMG_8024.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>My carved stone seal is not as nice by far as that of a Ming master, but it is serviceable. </p>kozachekarthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04214709345697169109noreply@blogger.com0