“Katherine” by Dale Sparage

As a photographer I’ve learned to pay close attention to the qualities of light, noticing the subtle details it reveals in color, form, and direction. This spring the light glows with a gentle intensity as it illuminates the birth of new growth. It brings to mind the seeds that I’ve planted within my own heart during the dark, cold seasons of past winters.

Seeds, or Sankalpa, is the Sanskrit word for intentions, or more poetically, “our heart’s desires.” Deep within I’ve been nurturing the desire to find new life, like new spring plantings, clearing my heart of barriers so I may live with greater presence.

To my delight, this spring I’ve realized some of these dreams, finding love in a new relationship, as well as blossoming with creative potential by renewing an old photo assignment into a new project.

Several years ago I was asked to do a series of photographs that documented yoga asana for Strut magazine http://www.strutmag.com . I completed the assignment, it was archived and tucked away. Recently, the owner of Karma Yoga ( http://www.karma-yoga.net ) asked if I would print and frame some of these shots to hang in the studio. As I dug into the photos, I was again inspired, realizing how yoga and photography were coming together for me.

Trained as a yoga teacher in 2003, I chose not to teach yoga but to return to the College for Creative Studies and teach Digital Photography instead. I noticed my yoga practice began to deepen after my teacher training.

Today I’m ready to begin a series of new photographs that combine yoga asana within landscape. Through my experience with yoga and photography, I’m aware that light remains constant, continuously shining, and expanding our consciousness even though at times it appears to be concealed from us. I plant the Sankalpa within my heart. I’ve learned to wait and be patient, knowing that even during challenging times…although I may not feel or see it…I know the light is there.

Cape Farewell
One place that grows darker and warmer as I write is Greenland. David Buckland came to Cranbrook http://science.cranbrook.edu/planetarium/featured/earlier this month to discuss this very fact. Speaking about the current exhibition, “Cape Farewell” curated by the artist, Buckland explained the eminent danger of climate change he’s been experiencing firsthand through expeditions to the Arctic with other artists, musicians, writers, photographers and scientists. As much as 28 percent of the ice is disappearing due to the release of carbon dioxide into the environment. Each of us creates a carbon footprint of about 22 tons carbon dioxide per year. Buckland is hoping to cause a cultural shift that will be initiated by his film and book, “Burning ICE” and the exhibitions that he and other artists are presenting around the world. More info can be found on the Cape Farewell website.

Love Talk: I’ll begin with a timely and thoughtful project Let’s Talk About Love, Baby by artist Chido Johnson (www.let’stalkaboutlovebaby.com). Johnson’s work is being shown as part of a larger exhibit called the Art of the Artists Book at Oakland University Art Gallery (http://www.oakland.edu/ouag) curated by Dick Goody. As the physicality of reading and the “book” as an object begin to disappear, Johnson, Goody and others are redefining the art form of the book and redefining the book as art. At the top of my favorites list, this exhibit reveals personal interpretations of the book medium in an age when virtual knowledge reigns supreme. Johnson’s special Valentine’s Day presentation I attended included Skype “visits” with artists from around the country and the world who could not attend. Artists on hand spoke about their contributions to the project. Johnson continues to spread the love with an exciting exhibit that’s taken on a love life of its own. Watch my video of Chido.

‘F’ Word Update: In pursuit of that which constitutes ‘F’ Word Project matter, I recently discovered several exhibits where women are leaving their mark. At the Scarab Club, the show Women’s Image was curated by Marilyn Zimmerman and Gail mally-mack, both long-time supporters of women and ‘F’ Word aficionados. This exhibit put a new twist on the term “Crone,” turning it into something sacred…exalting feminine wisdom to a place of value and appreciation within our culture. The exhibit culminated in an event called the Crone Celebration that honored and celebrated women who have made significant contributions to the community.

Moving from the wise old crone to the hip edgy college student Michaela Mosher of CCS, an artist who has already curated her first exhibit titled Women’s Perspective? Ms. Mosher has become a spokesperson for her artist peers. Young, passionate and articulate, Mosher has her eye on the future. Check out the video to hear this new-to-the-scene clear and compelling voice. I bet you will be hearing much more from her in the months ahead.

Mosher’s show at the Future 2 Casper Gallery included fellow CCS students Olivia Abrahamian, Mary Savage, and Hailey Choi. The Future 2 Casper is an intimate venue in Royal Oak with a radical format. The gallery allows the artist to launch an art exhibit, music performance, or poetry reading, giving the participants a percentage of a house cover charge. There are no additional fees.

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Venue Manager Kay Skyflower will hand over the mic and coax you up on the stage to “talk” about your work. Kay, aka Thai pop rock singer, sculptor, videographer, and promoter of artists, is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth and received her MFA from Howard University, Washington DC. The venue gets its name from artist Casper Milquetoast who was the first to respond to Kay’s ad and has had 200 shows at the venue to date. Upon entering the small intimate space complete with stage, sound system and hanging apparatus you immediately feel at home. Artist and writer Luke MacGilvray (http://www.mannekorpse.com) has shown at the space, and has also helped Kay interview artists and served as DJ. Luke was encouraged by Kay to publish a book from his journal writings. He says, “Kay allows artists to break out of the Catch-22 of, ‘to show in a Gallery, you need to have shown in a gallery.’ Kay is proud to give opportunity to artists and musicians who might not be established enough to show elsewhere.”

Other faves and women making their mark in the Detroit area: Monica Bowman, Curator and Director of the Butchers Daughter Gallery (http://www.thebutchersdaughtergallery.com) continues to launch innovative, evocative exhibits, showcasing new young talent from around the country. Monica, thank you for keeping us on our toes by stimulating our intellects!

Meeting Woody, Tony and Nate
A highlight of last month was the chance to finally meet the dedicated and talented staff of thedetroiter.com Woody Miller, Managing Editor; Tony Hepp, Interim Director of Arts and Humanities, and Nate Mullens. Mullens is employed by AmeriCorps and originally hired by YArts www.yarts.org as Exhibition Coordinator; in addition he heads Art in Schools. The program places professional artists in Detroit Schools to blend with existing curriculum teaching digital arts, photography, painting, music, video production and more. It is a rare opportunity for children of all ages to work directly with individuals in the field of visual arts and music. The goal is to build community. “Teaching is an investment in our youth,” Mullens says. He is “looking for funding and for ways to grow not only in relationships with schools, but to encourage artists’ growth as well by sharing what they do in new and different ways.”

YArts’ mission is to help and promote artists and find them paying gigs. A side benefit of Art in Schools is the benefits kids are getting from their experience and contact with artists. Thedetroiter.com fits into this mission by promoting, reviewing and creating dialogue around art and culture. The online weekly updates and informs insiders and outsiders of “Arts Specific” events.

The publication’s offices are located in the Bolls Family YMCA on Broadway in the heart of Detroit. The YArts and YMCA act as incorporator and fiduciary for thedetroiter.com. The online publication began with journalists John and Nick Sousanis who paid out of their own pockets to get it underway. After thedetroiter.com picked up my blog, I became a regular reader. Now it is a vital resource…my connection to the pulse of the art community and the cultural events the city has to offer.

Please Lecture Me
On the lecture front, Mathew Barney filled the house in January with clips from his new film about the death of the car industry. Barney shot scenes at two Detroit locations, The Sewage Plant and St. Johns Church. A DIA www.dia.org curator introduced him as “the greatest living artist of our time.” Barney spoke about finding inspiration for this new film in Norman Mailer’s text, “Scatalogical” and his interest in the Egyptian concept of the ”Seven States of the Soul” to a group that could be characterized as Pavarotti meets Fish. The film clips were hauntingly beautiful; to say that his speaking style was less than dynamic would be an understatement.

Anthony Huberman, curator of the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, has put together at great the show at the MOCAD (http://www.mocadetroit.org) titled, For the Blind Man in the Dark Looking for the Black Cat that isn’t There. In a lecture last month, Huberman said he believes that art helps us understand less about the world, and that we are drawn to things we don’t understand. I like this idea of keeping the element of play, uncertainty and speculation in an exhibit, not giving all the answers. Interesting!

Cranbrook Academy of Arts’ Tuesday night lecture series has had a great line up of speakers (http://www.cranbrookart.edu/Pages/Calendar.html). The Institute of Science took over exhibitions for the next year due to Museum construction, and has launched some exciting exhibits. The last show featured Photographer Richard Barnes. Cape Farewell: Art & Climate Change is the current show. These exhibits are part of the series Artology: The Fusion of Art and Science.

A new discovery that’s turning into a fave is Brent Hallard’s online conversations about contemporary art, Visual Discrepancies (http://brenthallard.wordpress.com). The blog is great for visuals and informative interviews with artists. Brent lives in Tokyo, and travels to LA.

I’ve covered just the tip of the iceberg of the great art and individuals that make up Detroit’s creative community. To keep this vital community alive, please show your support by attending exhibits, events, and by collecting art!

“It is not our task to seek love, but rather to seek all the barriers we have to it, and remove them.” Rumi

All images by Dale Sparage, copyright and owned by the artist.

Fahrenheit 450 (Homage to Bradbury and Orwell), 2000-2010
by IAIN BAXTER&

Not one of those touchy-feely people? Don’t like to talk about love? Well, JUST GO READ A BOOK. Seriously! Read one of the books designed and made by an artist in Chido Johnson’s traveling project/installation, “Let’s Talk About Love, Baby.”

Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Johnson spent his youth reading whatever he could get his hands on. As fate would have it, the rural mission small library had an abundance of romance novels. At the time the project was conceived Johnson was living and teaching in Sweden, he came to the US at a time when love was not in the air. Politics du jour were focused on the tense situation in the Gaza Strip. Johnson responded strongly to how society diminished the individuals affected by the violence by referring to them as “these people.”

Thinking about our innate ability to homogenize individuals, Johnson turned to art, and the book project specifically, to root us back into experiencing love, life and humanity directly by living rather than being fed information off a computer screen.  Picking up one of the books from the beautifully crafted wooden shelves made by Johnson himself, you are swept into the precious imaginings of artists’ creations from around the world, using cassettes, tape recorders, French literature, sculpture, painting, silversmith, collage, photography and more. We’re taken on a journey into the heart and soul that leads us to what Johnson calls the “in-between space where pain and pleasure exist simultaneously … a space the word love can only begin to describe.”

Johnson’s vision is to someday have 1,000 uniquely made books, a library of love. The website created for the artists who participate in the project is an artistic labor of love. Visit http://www.letstalkaboutlovebaby. He was also chosen to be part of a conference on February 13th with “Artists” Book Reading, at the Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection at the CAA Conference in Chicago, http://www.collegeart.org/.

Johnson’s project is part of a larger show at the Oakland University Art Gallery, The Art of the Artist’s Book, works chosen lovingly by curator Dick Goody. In the exhibition’s beautifully crafted fold-out catalogue, Goody writes articulately about artists’ books:
“Walter Benjamin implied that only little-known, little-seen works of art…retain this pejoratively perceived aura. Artist’s books are therefore problematic in the sense that they evade such mass appeal…Their conversion into the realm of mass culture is almost impossible, which makes this exhibition all that more valuable; it is an exploration into the realm of intrinsically exclusive and private material.”

Participating artists range from local artists Lynne Avadenka, Ed Fraga, Susan Goethel Campbell and Dennis Jones to internationally renowned artists like Kiki Smith, Kara Walker, Mathew Barney and Christian Boltanski.

The breadth of work in the show is overwhelming, plan to take your time going through this exhibit. Like a good book you will not want to put it down.

Daniel contributed creative ideas and an artistic point of view to the shoot, making it a fun and unique experience. To view the complete portfolio of Yoga Dan go to http://www.dripbook.com/dalesparage/book/yoga-dan/. To see Yoga Dan’s profile you can visit Facebook or Twitter.

Looking ahead to February, I’ll bring you more about love and longing, including the scoop on artist Chido Johnson’s project, “Let’s Talk About Love, Baby,” part of the artists books show at the Oakland University  Art Gallery.  The exhibition was curated by Dick Goody.

I also want to fill you in on an exciting venue in Royal Oak where artists, musicians, poets and writers are paid to perform and showcase their work. Check back soon, and remember…“The soul would have no rainbow if the eyes had no tears.”

When I was a little girl my dad traveled. Every week he’d make his way to a work destination that was five hours away. Monday mornings before we got up for school, he would leave me, my mother and my two brothers and reappear on Thursday or Friday evening for the weekends.


In the ‘60’s and ’70s psychology experts hadn’t published much in the mainstream about the role a father plays in a daughter’s life. Middle class men focused on providing for their family’s material needs and “winged it” on the “father” part.

I knew something was different about my family.  In my friends’ homes there were signs: a man’s shoe in the hall, newspapers strewn across a sofa, a wave at the door, a ride in the car, all signs of the presence of  “fathers.”

While my dad was away, I spent much of my time sitting in the big leather chair in his study, taking in the traces he left behind, like the smell of pipe tobacco. Closing my eyes, I’d visualize him smoking one of the wooden pipes that sat on his desk. I’d gaze into a glass case filled with an antique gun collection.  Opening the desk drawer, I marveled at the tidy small compartments filled with paper clips, rubber bands and stamps. Looking at the perfectly sharpened pencils lined up one next to the other, then thinking of my own drawers stuffed with a mass of unfolded clothing furled into balls, I could only draw one conclusion. How different we were!

Depending on just my mom and the dog to keep us safe during the week didn’t give me much confidence, so I did not rest easy during the night.

There were phone calls, mostly to my mother, when I did get a chance to say “Hello, I love you Dad.” Hearing his voice just made the pain even more unbearable.

The traveling continued into my teenage years, but by this time I had learned how to conceal the aching in my heart, keeping most of my feelings tightly under wraps. There was a place where some of this emotion began to reveal itself. I began acting it out in school plays; and painting or drawing it. As the ink flowed from my brush, curving, swaying, speeding up, slowing down as it formed an image, the freedom I felt was hard to describe, it was as if I were speaking another language, one that was all mine, that came from a place I had long forgotten. This act of creating became a process of archiving feelings from an overwhelming inventory that brought some temporary relief. The arts continue to offer me comfort and somewhere to place my feelings and memories.

My father passed away last year. I know that memory is not a perfect instrument; I remember him with great fondness and love, with heartfelt intentions for his family. As a grandfather he shined. I understand that I would not have developed my artistic sensibilities without him. He was a painter, loved to paint boats, some of my fondest memories are those times we’d go to the lake, and I could be part of his deep love of the water.  l’d listen to him describe the beauty he saw around him. It was during those times that his world and mine merged, where we got a glimpse of each others’ spirits, like light glistening off the water playing hide and seek as we sat, side by side.

Right now someone I care for is away overseas, and I long for us to be together again. It’s a different longing however, not the “longings” of a needy child, but rather the longing of a self-sufficient, whole and complete woman.

F.o.R. # 14, 2009, 24″ x 20″
Latex, acrylic, chalk, powdered graphite, oil, wax on canvas.
Photo: Steve Paszt

Joseph Winterhalter’s exhibit “Painting/Paperwork” could easily be called “Architecture/Poetry”; words that filled my mind as I viewed Winterhalter’s large scale canvases and ‘Text Works’. Putting industrial materials to work ,latex, vinyl, and enamel paint, atop soft subtle substrates canvas and Arches paper Winterhalter’s work speaks of hard edged architecture and the romance of imperfection.

His huge canvases of painted bricks and areas of stained color and texture, brilliantly bring the Color Field Movement of the 50’s and 60’s that included artists like Jules Olitski, Morris Louis, and Kenneth Noland into the the 21st Century.

Like the Color Field painter’s Winterhalter depends on emphasizing the formal elements of modern painting, the flat surface, the fundamental unmodulated areas of color, and the removal of gesture.

Little surprises among the meticulously painted brick ‘walls’ call out; a soft curve here or a distressed surface there, keep the eye and mind moving. Subtle drips, muted colors carry the viewer into soft poetic spaces, finally arriving at ‘Text Works’; we can read actual prose like the following;

“Two people meet on the street and rather than passing with eyes averted, they pause-their feet forced down to the reground of inscrutable, fundamental experience-to engage, unrelenting, in a confrontation between their very souls, this

F.o.R #2, 2009, 22″ x 30″
Gesso, powdered graphite, oil, wax on Arches paper.
Photo: Steve Paszt

setting free those dormant, brave and reckless gods within..for it is only now, that consequences be damned, that we have finally met”.

Go and meet Winterhalter’s painting and paperwork, let yourself be surprised, move into the softness, past the walls, open your heart; hey, Valentine’s Day is coming, after all.

Joseph Winterhalter (Cincinnati OH) studied graphic design and fine art at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning, before earning his B.F.A. in Painting from Ohio University in 1991. In 1993, he attended the graduate program in painting and drawing at the Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge. Winterhalter’s paintings, drawings and live performances have been featured in both solo and group exhibitions at Cincinnati venues. He has had exhibitions throughout the United States, and his work is in numerous private collections.