my dance begins...a gallery space and my voice made visible for others to hear....

The rains have returned and violent thunderstorms threaten our community but I have plenty of work to complete down here in the man cave. We delivered the quilts to the gallery and laid them out onto the clean floor to allow them to rest ...I will spray them lightly with a water mist to puff up my hand stitching and ease out any possible wrinkles made while in storage and delivering. Lyn...the busy curator had a luncheon meeting with another artist for preparations for a future exhibit. We had a quick lunch with two dear friends and she was just juried into an art exhibit at the Franklin Conservatory this summer... she has hand felted two carnivorous tropical plants. Way to go Chris...I can not wait to see this exhibit...the conservatory is a favorite place of mine to visit and rest my soul amongst the moist green cathedral. We gently opened up each quilt...large and small and placed them on the floor to see how they would fill this space...with a comfortable walking and viewing traffic pattern...I love plenty of room to see and contemplate each work in an exhibit...nothing crammed yet placed to offer a visual punctuation to my work's narratives. We then delivered postcards to Memory Lane, my two banks Huntington and our local bank Park national. I call this direct foot to sidewalk marketing. Finally I went into St. Francis elementary and put individual postcards in the Principal's office...a little boy ran up to me...the art lady!... to share his glee...they were allowed to eat ice cream outside because the temperatures were so hot and muggy...free ice cream. Simple gifts from a sweet innocent child sharing his happiness on a Friday afternoon.

I came home after getting special double life lithium batteries, a new flash drive disk for premium storage of my images and video from the exhibit. We ordered 6 copies of my book of images and poetry to have on hand to share in the gallery and possible purchases. I put a roast in the oven and went downstairs to continue my work and let my oven do its magic!!! I need to complete some work on adding the final colors to a couple large collages and try to finish a few more pieces...I wish I could keep my energy up and stay healthy to get my work completed. On Monday we will install the quilts and hand over the pertinent information for each work and then hopefully have all the frames and works cleaned so we can hang them. I need to get back to work for now....stay safe in the wild storms outside and sleep like a baby. Thank you for listening and supporting my journey. Imagine and Live in Peace, Mary Helen Fernandez Stewart

I Opened Myself

I Opened myself too wide. I forgot
there's more outside that things and animals
at ease with themselves, whose eyes reflect
the wholeness of their lives.
I forgot my habit of grasping every look
that fell on me: looks, opinions, scrutiny.

uncollected poems Rainer maria Rilke