Williamsburg Wreath, Lisa's Promotion, Gallery 10 Closes

Enjoying the use of natural materials in these wreaths.

Finished the materials I need for the Rogue Festival and submitted them - on time - I am happy to say. Feels good to meet that deadline. When my head is full of paper-work details there is little room left for the creative stuff.

Jim and I have planned to take a whole day tomorrow to run errands, have fun, attend a special occasion for my cousin at the Women in the Military Mueseum at Arlington Cemetary and attend the reception for the closing show at Gallery 10. We have not done a day like this in a while.

The day starts early - 9 am at Arlington. My young cousin Lisa will have her Air Force Major's leaves pinned on by her father, Captain, USN, retired, in a promotion ceremony at the Women in the Military Museum. Now how cool is that!!! She and her husband (also an AF officer) have flown in from Germany to share the ceremony with family and friends. It will be wonderful and a bit strange - - we have known Lisa since she was a baby. Passage of time.

We begin with a celebration of things moving on -

Then we will end out day with a bittersweet good-bye to Gallery 10. I was a member for ten years and have known the gallery since the mid-1970s. Its been a fixture in the Dupont Circle Art World for 36 years.
In 2005 Jim and I celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary with a show ABOUT TIME at Gallery 10. Collages, installations and other pieces that were made from family photos. Jim and I worked together on it - he made a large abacus to display photo cubes of family snapshots from our 50 years together. Strong connections. Good memories.

Gallery 10 brings many memories of friends and artists we have lost - my dear friend Pat Segnan, Emily Rose, a most extraordinary artist and Ruth Levine - a fine artist - I met first as a member of Women Strike for Peace in the 1960s and then met again at American University in painting classes. And, others who moved away, were colleagues from the Washington Women's Arts enter Nancy Cusick, my first art history professor and friend and Ann Banks, a fine sculptor.

Active members until the last are also Washington Women's Arts Center colleagues and friends, Claudia Vess and Lucy Blankstein. We shared shows and ideas and work. These two are the glue that kept things going for the last months until it was clear it was time to close the Gallery. Brava!

People you know and work with are the fabric of your life! All these artists brought color, ideas, fun and joy to mine and I am very grateful for the chance to know and work with them.