From Jim Woland

This is one of those columns that I wish I had authored. Instead it was written by my dear friend Jim Woland and is one of those reasons why the arts are alive and well in Harrisburg:

"One of my favorite things about living in Midtown is all the creative people; right up the street from me is a terrific photographer, bass player; in the same building is a guy who wrote the definitive book on Harrisburg architecture and architects, a working artist lives over on Herr St. and another up in Capitol Heights. Several years ago, those of us involved with Friends of Midtown decided to "brand" Midtown as an arts friendly area. Now we have the Stage on Herr, Midtown Scholar and Gallery Blu..... it seems some people took us seriously. We coulda been politicians, we believed our own lies.... thank goodness, they were GOOD lies.

So the area has REALLY BECOME artist friendly... performing artists are on the stages in Midtown and visual artists are on the walls of Midtown, Like the new head of the National Endowment for the Arts, Rocco Landsman says, "Art Works".

Art certainly works in Midtown. Several years ago we asked 62 artists to DO LUNCH by painting lunch boxes to help raise money for the Salvation Army and for "Loaves of Love" a program of Harris St. Church. Artists worked, created original lunch boxes and over $6,000 was raised to support the food missions of both organizations.
Christina and I are putting Art to Work once again, hoping to raise over $10,000 for the Salvation Army located in our neighborhood on Green St. During these tough economic times the line for breakfast at the Salvation Army is getting longer and longer. Artists like Mary Ludeen and Steve Wetzel and Robert Stadnycki have agreed to participate in SWEET SALVATION, 100 for $100. We'll be opening the show at Gallery Blu with at least 100 original Art Works, which will be available in silent auction for a starting bid of only $100. Feel free to bid more than that, but imagine being able to walk away with an original Bruce Johnson or Li Hidley for $100. Art Works and you and the Salvation Army Win. The show begins Friday February 12th at Gallery Blu and runs for two weeks when the bidding will end. Here's just one of the Art Works available for bid, Jennifer Kane's "Sunken Garden Gazebo" 8x8 framed, that she painted during Gallery Walk.

An Emerging Artist

Dorothea Sarteschi is emerging as an artist in the Harrisburg area. After she had her twin sons safely off to college she began painting in ernest and picks up her paint brush almost every day. She has been inspired by the paintings of Kandinsky, Picasso and Chagall and you can catch glimpses of their colors, brushstrokes and themes in her paintings.

Here in "Domesticated Woman" she speaks of the happiness found in that life. The woman's hand lovingly holds the two babies growing in her womb. She is entirely at peace with her life and herself. Can you see the 3 utensils that dangle from what looks like a marionette wire? Yes, she is the force that controls what may be called a domesticated life - she brings it to life by her careful and caring manipulation of her surroundings. She reclines comfortably on a chair in a brightly colored room - obviously a domesticated woman with good taste! I can imagine the other people living in this home to be perfectly at peace in the surroundings that she has so lovingly arranged.

Dorothea's point of view speaks to the symbolism that she creates in all of her paintings. Look for her work to be shown at Gallery Blu sometime in 2010. We anxiously await her show.