Issue 32, December 2019

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Dragonfly Out in the Sun

Tracey Dean Widelitz

Hold On To Me,
Sunlit Beauty,
and Rose Petals and Golden Wings

Refugees DRC

Despair Paintings

Owen Brown

The world seems to carry on as if there aren’t a million reasons to be shocked. But because I don’t want to go numb, I try to paint them, at least a few. For these, I paint figuratively, as I was trained, even though now, often, my desires, and my output, is abstract. Still, how can we ignore the drought in Afghanistan, the strife in Sudan, the war in Gaza, the invasion of Ukraine? Or even what goes on in our own lives?

Finding a Pathway

Finding a Pathway

Mark Rosalbo

As an emerging artist, the art form I work with is primarily abstract painting and large-scale installations. My artistic process involves using various mediums and techniques to create physical manifestations of internal dialogues and personal judgments. In my abstract paintings, I use house paint, various tools, and textured canvases. The technique involves creating overconfident brushstrokes that mask my imposter syndrome, with multiple layers of paint partially hidden under the surface. The inner turmoil arising from self-doubt is expressed as geometric shapes woven together with texture.

In Between

Wholeness Through Fracture: Sculpting the Human Condition

Aleksandra Scepanovic

Three works in clay by Aleksandra Scepanovic.
Each of these works tells a story of the complexity and beauty found in life’s fractures, embracing the wholeness that emerges through resilience.

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Coastal Grey

Miki Simic

This series of photographs, titled “Coastal Grey,” depicts elements of summer themes. My goal was to capture a vibrant setting and allow the viewer to realize it remains vibrant even though color is lacking.

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Symphony in Green

Patrice Sullivan

I paint landscapes, interiors, exteriors, still life’s with figures interacting and posing for the camera displaying memorable moments with families, friends, and neighbors.

friends

Friends, Triplets, and Family Narrative

Tianyagenv Yan

Tianyagenv uses light clay to make miniature figures and wishes to capture the characteristics of femininity, vulnerability, and resilience in potential.

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Green Canyon Bridge 1993, Thrive, and Tarot Deck: The Moon

Robb Kunz

My paintings explore the abstract simplicity of ordinary life and the deductive impulse to see ourselves reflected back in art.

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Metamorphosis

Marianne Dalton

The photographs are from the series, Metamorphosis. Each painterly creation constructed from dozens of layered photographs is driven by my reaction to nature’s extreme seasonal change.

La Huasteca

La Huasteca, Roots in Nuevo Leon, and Frames

Tee Pace

La Huasteca, Roots in Nuevo Leon, and Frames

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Cherry Blossoms

Annika Connor

Cherry Blossom Forest

Les Femmes Mondiales Black and White

Les Femmes Mondiales Black and White

Janet Brugos

Les Femmes Mondiales Black and White
Hurricane
Chicago Ice

Sunset over the Pacific

Three Photographs

Lawrence Bridges

UNDER THE PIER, MALIBU CA
SUNSET OVER THE PACIFIC
and POOL, POST RANCH INN, BIG SUR

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Joshua Tree Project

Holly Willis

The images are part of a larger series created in the Mojave Desert around Joshua Tree in the fall of 2023 that explore the shifting state of the desert.

October Still Life

Chasing Paradise

Marianne Dalton

This series, Chasing Paradise, draws upon my work as a fine artist in painting, as I create stylized photographs of flowers and plants found in my rural environment.

Turtle Light

Ocean Sleep and Turtle Light

Maite Russell

Turtle Light and Ocean Sleep are works of multimedia and sculpture mediums, respectively, depicting the natural world with fantastical elements.

Issue 32, December 2019

Featured image for ““I Lost My Faith in God When I Was Nine Years Old” and “Longing””
Amyen Fielding

“I Lost My Faith in God When I Was Nine Years Old” and “Longing”

whispers the woman sitting next to me.
I’ve seen her here before–drinking alone,
her skin heavy with loss.
This close, the taste of her regret is pungent,
and is swallowed with each sip of my vodka-tonic.

November 2019
Featured image for ““Birds of Prey” and “San Pedro, Los Angeles County””
Angela Gaito-Lagnese

“Birds of Prey” and “San Pedro, Los Angeles County”

I was nine. My parents came home hollow from the hospital.
My mother sobbed in wild animal cries, violent splotches
of purple spread from under her skin, her chest
her cheekbones tainted; my father silent
slumped in his easy chair, his neck gray-yellow
half of his face buried in clenched raw knuckles.

November 2019
Featured image for ““Gender Bias” and “The Oak Trees Have Seen Everything””
Tori Grant Welhouse

“Gender Bias” and “The Oak Trees Have Seen Everything”

Teachers pat me like a loaf
especially the chalk-dusted
I learn early who has authority

Behaving is more important
than the Theory of Relativity
The length of my hems a critical topic

November 2019
Featured image for ““I Like Ike””
Robert Eugene Rubino

“I Like Ike”

When I was your age
the subway cost fifteen cents
gas cost thirty-two cents a gallon
television was free
& so was Saturday confession
in preparation for Sunday communion
when I was your age…

November 2019
Featured image for ““Consciousness” and “Creole in St. Barth’s””
Katherine Lutz

“Consciousness” and “Creole in St. Barth’s”

Commuting, standing
in a half-empty
subway car, reading news
on my phone, an article
on two competing
theories of consciousness,
triggers a memory…

November 2019
Featured image for ““She said, ‘Lift.’ ” and “She said, ‘Let go—I’m a memory. I’m not real.’ ””
Dom Fonce

“She said, ‘Lift.’ ” and “She said, ‘Let go—I’m a memory. I’m not real.’ ”

I remember being told to soak
myself in unreason—that words
fall to pieces because the wind

needs her role; not everything
must be a weight to grunt over.

November 2019
Featured image for ““Road” and “Chimney Swifts at Dusk””
Steve Brammell

“Road” and “Chimney Swifts at Dusk”

Once we followed the others on all fours,
contributing trails through grass and brush
to favorite trees and watering holes
before our spines thrust us up on two feet…

November 2019
Featured image for ““Night””
Tahseen Béa

“Night”

I want to meet
night as a friend
who welcomes and comforts
offers solace and replenishment.
I want night to
become a place
I seek
to deliver, to surrender, to belong.

November 2019
Featured image for ““Approaching Middle Age” and “The Climber””
Dorothy Neagle

“Approaching Middle Age” and “The Climber”

Last night the new moon broke open across my shoulders.
Then dawn came through the trees
in pinpoints of varying sizes
like starlight glowing among the leaves.

November 2019
Featured image for ““The Wine-Dark Sea” and “The Weighing of the Heart””
Kathleen Holliday

“The Wine-Dark Sea” and “The Weighing of the Heart”

A sea wife,
my mother didn’t have time
to pace a widow’s walk,
searching for a sail on the horizon.

She was too busy
pinning up sheets to dry,
weeding the garden…

November 2019
Featured image for ““Time Flies” and “Global Climate Strike””
Madison Gill

“Time Flies” and “Global Climate Strike”

Two restless houseflies
buzz around my living room,
stirring the August heat on this
dog day of a summer afternoon

They land for a moment, then
take off again

November 2019
Featured image for ““Eclipse””
Debra Groves Harman

“Eclipse”

My love and I drive south
For seven minutes of darkness.
During solar eclipse, the sun proposes,
A sparkling rim and white-hot stone,
We drive for margaritas, the blue Pacific,
to make love when Orion rises…

November 2019
Featured image for ““The Phantoms””
Vincent Vecchio

“The Phantoms”

Here they come, on they go,
One by one, in a row,
misanthropic phantoms
Drifting by me on the street…
snuffed candelabrums….
No warmth to meet…
Incense del Dia de Muertos

November 2019
Featured image for ““Of Man” and “The Nature of Living””
Marcus Lindsey

“Of Man” and “The Nature of Living”

As children we mocked
The earthworm’s ambitious move
From safety assured

As children we laughed
At their madness
Their vulnerable bodies
Called by the drumming

November 2019
Featured image for ““Sky Too Large to Know,” “Habitability” and “Once More Crouching””
Keith Moul

“Sky Too Large to Know,” “Habitability” and “Once More Crouching”

A hawk rises on a prairie thermal,
its diminishing black shadow below,
its eye wed in magic to a single spot.

I step in to feel promptly like the prey,
wobbly with hypnosis by gazing above
me, a disfavored adversary to a predator.

November 2019
Featured image for ““Gather at Colvos Passage” and “Legacy””
Vina Mogg

“Gather at Colvos Passage” and “Legacy”

In summer months
sun and moon rise from the same spot,
a point northeast of my porch, the place I welcome morning.

November 2019
Featured image for ““An Imaginary Letter to My Friend, Irina, in Moscow” and “Can’t Google This””
Nika Cavat

“An Imaginary Letter to My Friend, Irina, in Moscow” and “Can’t Google This”

I drank Merlot last night from the wine glass you gave me
and thought about how we’d met when our children were
chubby angels, marriage still appeared the answer and the
Twin Towers still raised up above Manhattan like trusted sentinels.

November 2019
Featured image for ““Contro Verse 3” and “Executive Presentation””
Philip Kienholz

“Contro Verse 3” and “Executive Presentation”

moose at the forest edge
cross the meadow in the sun
munching browse little trees
head up sniffing on the breeze
easy easy ecotone easy
filament barnacle billabong
troubadour trouble away…

November 2019
Featured image for ““A Powerful Corpse””
Jacob Klein

“A Powerful Corpse”

People of Thebes! who walk in the debris
Left by the Seven[1] and mourn
The Dragon who lies in the dust,
His teeth chipped, murmuring
About mothers and sons.

November 2019
Featured image for ““Cold Water” and “Not Her Real Name””
James Miller

“Cold Water” and “Not Her Real Name”

We have no heat left for showers
and the washing up. The instructions
to relight the pilot are detailed,

patient—but leave us no warmer.
Grease hangs on our pans.
How quickly we dry ourselves…

November 2019