Blog No. 226: David Hockney Paris Exhibit, Mary Oliver Poem, Delicious Hummus Recipe

David Hockney Retrospective

Courtesy David Hockney

The Arrival of Spring in Woldgate, East Yorkshire, 2011, iPad Drawing, Copyright The Artist

Ipad Drawings, Copyright David Hockney

We Two Boys Together Clinging, early painting . Copyright David Hockney. Photograph courtesy Prudence Cuming Associates

David Hockney, Mulholland Drive, June 1986 Copyright David Hockney

The David Hockney retrospective exhibition opened at the spectacular Frank Gehry designed Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris last week. I for one wish I could beam myself there--but alas, I can't be in two places at once so this video (courtesy Judith Benhamouhuet) will have to suffice. Although I can't say I love absolutely everything Hockney has done, there is so much that resonates with me and I definitely respect him as an important, amazingly prolific artist who definitely has something to say. I love the variety of his work, beginning with his early paintings and I have been especially inspired by his ipad drawings of later years..

Here is an interesting interview for those who want to read more about him, his motivations and inspirations: The Colorful Life of David Hockney (courtesy Hochhedel).

Mary Oliver Poem

Photo courtesy James A. Giroux,

Finally, signs of spring on my walk this morning…

WITH THANKS TO THE FIELD SPARROW, WHOSE VOICE IS SO DELICATE AND HUMBLE
by Mary Oliver

I do not live happily or comfortably
with the cleverness of our times.
The talk is all about computers,
the news is all about bombs and blood.
This morning, in the fresh field,
I came upon a hidden nest.
It held four warm, speckled eggs.
I touched them.
Then went away softly,
having felt something more wonderful
than all the electricity of New York City.

Delicious Carrot Hummus

Carrot Hummus

Photo courtesy Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

I recently attended a great three day workshop with the talented artist Rebecca Chappell at Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Edgecomb, Maine. On top of loving having my hands in clay again, we were also fed some awesome meals during our time there. That included this delicious carrot hummus made by chef Henning Vagtborg of Straw's Farm. Henning has been a chef in many restaurants around Boston, Portland and Damariscotta and I can attest to his talent, judging from the meals he served us during the workshop. Thank you Henning for sharing this delicious Carrot Hummus recipe.

CARROT HUMMUS
5 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 1” pieces
1/4 c olive oil
2 T cumin seed
1 t red pepper flake
1 T salt
1 clove garlic
Juice of one lemon
1/4 c honey
1 t sesame oil

1. Toss carrots with olive oil, cumin seed, red pepper flake, and salt. Roast in a preheated 400 oven for 15 minutes or until softened and caramelized. Let cool for 5 minutes.
2. Place carrots and remaining ingredients in blender or food processor with 1/4 c of water and blend until smooth, pushing down with a rubber spatula and adding more water as necessary.
 

Straw’s Farm, Newcastle, Maine

Straw’s Farm, Newcastle, Maine

Overcoat Silkscreen, mixed media 30” x 22” $1500

Charity of the Week:
American Civil Liberties Union


About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Source: david-hockney-louis-vuitton-foundation-car...

Blog No. 225: Infused Joy: PS 22 Chorus, David Hogg Speech, Insects in Flight

Infused Joy:
PS 22 Choir

One of my heroes: Gregg Breinberg

This is not the first time I have written about these beautiful singers but I think it is time to return to this Staten Island chorus of 4th and 5th graders for a little touch of magic and infused joy. We all need it right now! If you can take a few minutes, I encourage you to take it in--it will bring you a big smile.

Here are a few of my favorite songs they sing but you can also go and discover more of them on your own on youtube...

Andy Grammar
Don't Give Up On Me

Paul Simon
Still Crazy After All These Years

Cold Play
Viva La Vida

Look at all those beautiful kids in every shape and form...the beauty of New York City, the wonder of music and the power of an arts curriculum in the schools...If you want to see more, there is a documentary about them entitled Once in a Lullaby that includes their performance at the Academy Awards--well worth watching.

Gen-Z Youth Leader David Hogg

If you haven't heard of David Hogg, I would like to introduce you. David was a senior at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida when a shooter shot up the school and killed 17 people and wounded 18 others in 2018...After the school shooting, Hogg emerged as a leader in the gun violence protests. He subsequently founded a youth organization called Leaders We Deserve which has done a great deal to involve young people in politics.

In February 2025 Hogg became a vice-chair of the Democratic National Committee, after winning his race for one of those positions, becoming the first gen-z member to take on a national leadership role within the DNC.

Last week he spoke at the Woman's National Democratic Club and I share with you his compelling speech here. He is defintely one to keep an eye on as a rising star... .

Insects in Flight

Thanks to biologist Dr. Adrian Smith, of the Evolutionary Biology & Behavior Lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences and Assistant Research Professor at North Carolina State University, here is some amazing close-up video of insects in flight. I've never seen anything like it: the intricacy of nature is beyond words...

And thanks to my friend Susan Baum Moyer for sending me this video...


About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Source: PS22-Chorus-david-Hogg-dr-adrian-smith-ins...

Blog No. 224: The Telepathy Tapes Interview, Leza Lowitz Yoga Poem, Philadelphia Playlist

The Telepathy Tapes Follow Up

For those of you that were as blown away as I was about the telepathy tapes (featured in my No. 216 previous substack, here is an interview that Harvard Scientist Jesse Michaels conducted with documentary filmmaker Ky Dickens, creator of the Telepathy Tapes and a follow up from the ten segment podcast. Watch both the original podcast as well as this interview at your own risk--if you believe what you see and hear (and I do), it will change your whole view of the world...

Uttanasana
Poem by Leza Lowitz

I took my first chair yoga class this week and although it sounds lame, I found it to be a surprisingly good workout without the angst. Our nice teacher Ann included some aromatherapy with an oil called neroli--something she deemed "happy oil" and I loved the scent. Towards the end of the class, she read us the following "Yoga Poem" which hit the spot. In fact, almost like a symchronicity, it related to a series of paintings (see in the paintings of the week section below) that I am working on right now.

UTTANASANA
by Leza Lowitz

Mind, mind
am I doing it right?
can I stay here long enough
or even a second longer
can I eat an ice cream sandwich
after class,
or, but will class ever end?
Mind,
will you ever shut up?
will my legs stop shaking?
will my head reach lower?
Will I
can I
should I
could I
let go of my mind
listen to my breath
let it move through this body
reach out to this moment,
this world,
this life
& let it go?

Philadelphia Playlist

I spent a lot of October in Philadelphia canvassing for Biden and Harris and had my first Philly Cheese Steak--it was decadent and very delicious. So I chose the following songs that feature the City of Brotherly Love (Greek for love (phileo) and brother (adelphos) for my blog this week:

Bruce Springsteen,
Streets of Philadelphia

Neil Young,
Philadelphia

Mark Knopfler
Flying to Philadelphia

Philadelphia Freedom
Elton John

Hall & Oates
Fall in Philadelphia


About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Source: Telepathy-tapes-interview-yoga-poem-philad...

Blog No. 223: 42: T.S. Eliot The Hollow Men, Animal Communicator Laïla Del Monte, Kakatsitsi Drummers

The powers that be say we have about two months to turn this thing around and it all depends on us showing up in the street en masse…Wherever you go (there will be protests across the country) , please go! So important to show numbers…

And in the words of Robert Hubbell, “If you are feeling anxious and helpless, the single most important thing you can do is to exercise the First Amendment right of every American to “assemble peaceably and to petition their government.” The time is now!

T.S. Eliot,
The Hollow Men

Illustration courtesy Trent Carbaugh

THE HOLLOW MEN by T.S. Eliot

I was introduced to this poem fifty years ago by my first boyfriend, who is the one who turned me onto poetry in the first place. This poem stuck with me and I came across it recently and thought it particularly apt today...

Here goes...

The Hollow Men
T. S. Eliot (1888 –1965)

I
We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men 
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
Our dried voices, when 
We whisper together
Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass 
Or rats’ feet over broken glass
In our dry cellar
Shape without form, shade without colour. 
Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
Those who have crossed
With direct eyes, to death’s other Kingdom
Remember us—if at all—not as lost 
Violent souls, but only 
As the hollow men

                                II
Eyes I dare not meet in dreams 
In death’s dream kingdom 
These do not appear:
There, the eyes are 
Sunlight on a broken column 
There, is a tree swinging
And voices are
In the wind’s singing
More distant and more solemn 
Than a fading star.
Let me be no nearer 
In death’s dream kingdom
Let me also wear
Such deliberate disguises
Rat’s coat, crowskin, crossed staves
In a field
Behaving as the wind behaves 
No nearer—
Not that final meeting
In the twilight kingdom

                              III
This is the dead land
This is cactus land
Here the stone images
Are raised, here they receive
The supplication of a dead man’s hand
Under the twinkle of a fading star.
Is it like this
In death’s other kingdom
Waking alone
At the hour when we are 
Trembling with tenderness 
Lips that would kiss
Form prayers to broken stone.

                              IV
The eyes are not here 
There are no eyes here 
In this valley of dying stars
In this hollow valley
This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
In this last of meeting places 
We grope together
And avoid speech
Gathered on this beach of the tumid river
Sightless, unless 
The eyes reappear 
As the perpetual star
Multifoliate rose 
Of death’s twilight kingdom 
The hope only
Of empty men.

                              V
Here we go round the prickly pear 
Prickly pear prickly pear 
Here we go round the prickly pear 
At five o’clock in the morning.
Between the idea 
And the reality 
Between the motion 
And the act 
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
Between the conception 
And the creation
Between the emotion 
And the response 
Falls the Shadow
Life is very long
Between the desire 
And the spasm 
Between the potency 
And the existence 
Between the essence
And the descent 
Falls the Shadow
For Thine is the Kingdom
For Thine is 
Life is
For Thine is the
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends 
This is the way the world ends 
Not with a bang but a whimper.

This poem is in the public domain.

Animal Communicator
Laïla Del Monte

Meet Laila Del Monte, animal communicator, better known in France and Spain for her ability to communicate with animals as well as to heal them. She has worked with birds cats, dogs, ferrets, goats, hamsters, horses, parrots, rabbits, rats, and turtles. Although she recognizes that she has a gift, she also believes that everyone is capable of what she does. For that reason, in addition to being the author of six books, she also teaches. To see a full 50 minute documentary about this fascinating woman and the work she does, click here.

Kakatsitsi Drummers

Kakatsitsi Drummers from the Ga Tribe in Ghana.

There are certain sounds that I find soothing and energizing at the same time--the beat of these African drums does just that for me. As a little interlude and respite from all the turmoil of our day, listen to the power of this group of traditional drummers, dancers and singers called Kakatsitsi, from the Ga tribe of Southern Ghana. They have their roots in the fishing community of Jamestown, Ghana and combine traditional rhythms and chants from their own Ga tradition while also mixing in a variety of other Western African cultural traditions.

Gert Mathiesen’s self portrait—it would have been his 73rd birthday this week!

Charity of the Week: American Civil Liberties Union


About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Source: T-s-eliot-the-hollow-men-kakatsitsi-drumme...

Blog No. 222: 42: Jackie Robinson, Guts, Update on Spirit, the Black Leopard

42: Jackie Robinson

So many times I find myself on a plane with good intentions of getting a lot done: cleaning out old emails, getting rid of duplicate photos, writing this blog... but most of the time I find myself doing absolutely nothing but sitting there as if I am in a trance. This last trip, I decided instead of just sitting there, to investigate the movies--something I rarely do. And I came across this film, 42, about Jackie Robinson, which I had heard of, but somehow missed in 2013 when it came out in the theatres. My dad was a big Brooklyn Dodger fan so the story interested me by osmosis.

Of course I had heard of Jackie Robinson and how he broke the color bar in baseball in the 1940s, but I didn't know any of the details. This film fills it all in. Chadwick Boseman (1976-2020) did a brilliant job of portraying Jackie Robinson, as did Harrison Ford as the courageous Branch Rickey, president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who dared to sign the first Afro-American player into major league baseball.

When asked by Robinson why he did decided to go out on a limb to integrate baseball, Rickey explained that he loved the sport but was haunted by something he did many years previous, as a college player at Ohio Wesleyan. He felt he didn't do his part and stand up enough for a black teammate, Charlie Thomas, who was attacked for the color of his skin. From that day on, his love of baseball was tainted by that feeling of shame that he didn't do enough. Fighting for Jackie Robinson and breaking the color barrier allowed him to love baseball again, untainted. I found these letters between Rickey and Robinson that touched my heart, showing the depth of their love and respect for each other.

Can you believe we are really here again? Jackie Robinson’s Army career was just wiped from a military website this week in another of the DEI purges. It has since been reinstated in at least one website, but this attempt at rewriting history will hopefully not work in the end...Each one of us, like Branch Rickey, has a role to play...

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Guts

Bill Keating, courtesy of The Member

Representatives Keith Self and Sarah McBride

Once and a while I am going to feature someone that stands out like a beacon of light during these incredibly troubled times--someone who has the guts to stand up and fight for human decency, respect and kindness.

In this case, it is a small act but in light of what is going on in congress, it stands out. I am celebrating Congressman Bill Keating of Massachusetts, who had the courage to stand up to Texas representative Keith Self, punk that he is, who refused to recognize his fellow congressperson, the first transgender member of the house of representatives, Sarah McBride, by the correct gender title. Watch here to see how acts of resistance, no matter how small, can make a difference, serving as an example for us all...

Update on Spirit, the Black Leopard

Click to see what became of Spirit

Photo courtesy of Larry Linton and Happy Tails Magazine

I often wondered what became of Spirit, the black leopard Anna Breytenbach made famous many years ago when she connected with him at the Jukani Wildlife Sanctuary in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. Jukani is a rare animal park that is truly ethical, providing lifetime care for animals on their own terms. This is where Spirit lived out her 20+ years, happily living life on his own terms as explained in this short youtube video

Flashback from the past, Pam Smilow/Gert Mathiesen Collaboration, Vessels, mixed media on canvas, approx. 72” x 130”

Charity of the Week: American Civil Liberties Union


About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Source: jackie-robinson-guts-spirit-black-leopard-...

Blog No. 221: Hope Sandoval Music, Laser Painting, Coming for Social Security

Hope Sandoval

Hope Sandoval

Hope Sandoval and David Roback of Mazzy Star

Hope Sandoval and Colm Ó Ciosóig of Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions

Hope Sandoval has one of the most hypnotic, mesmerizing, and beautiful voices you might never have heard of in the music world. Originally lead singer of the LA group along with the late David Roback called Mazzy Star, Sandoval went on to play with a variety of bands including her own band Hope Sandoval and the Warm Inventions along with Colm Ó Cíosóig . Here is a selection of some of my favorite songs beginning with perhaps the most famous from Mazzy Star: the ethereal
Fade Into You

Quiet the Winter Harbor

Flowers in December

Blue Flower

The Peasant

"The Jesus and Mary Chain

"Wild Horses (cover)
If you want to hear more from Sandoval herself, here is an interview that goes back to 2017 on New York's WFUV Fordham University radio program

Laser Painting Program

Deborah Dawson

I had the privilege of meeting Deborah Dawson at Rancho La Puerta a week ago and hear about her amazing work with children and young adults with multiple disabilities and the laser painting program she facilitates with them. Through a laser that they wear on a headband or somewhere on their body, those with limited physical mobility are able to give direction to Deborah, the facilitator, and complete large scale abstract paintings using the red laser dot as an indicator of how to apply the paint. The choices are theirs and she is just the conduit for their expression. Here is a video that shows the process, bringing joy and a sense of accomplishment to all those involved in creating these large scale paintings.

Georgios. We use a hand rig for Georgios, play Greek music and he chooses the largest of brushes. 

Chelsea. Delightful disposition. Also non verbal with multiple disabilities. We get loud and messy. She also wears a head laser.

Hazel is in a wheelchair with limited hand use. Her sessions are exploratory and therapeutic.

Vicky. age 21.  She is non-verbal has multiple disabilities. She wears a head laser and is very clear about her color choices, brush sizes and when she's done with a painting.

Coming for Social Security

I have tried to stay away from politics in this newsletter, instead publishing upbeat inspirational entries to keep our spirits up during these incredibly hard and perilous times. But avoiding the subject is increasingly hard these days when the outrage keeps coming, assaulting the very heart of democracy and our country to the core.

But here is a story where pushback seems to be working, at least for the moment. Listen to representative John Larson delivering an outcry and appeal to his fellow committee members in Congress as it relates to social security. And the subsequent effect it seems to have had...Public outcry does work. Keep it coming!

Pam Smilow, Childhood’s End Series, mixed media on paper, 22” x 30”

Charity of the Week: American Civil Liberties Union


About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Source: hope-sandoval-the-warm-inventions-mazzy-st...