Books I'm Reading…

…dreams are illustrations…from the book your soul is writing about you. Marsha Norman

• Thin Places: An Evangelical Journey into Celtic Christianity

Tracy Balzer/Leafwood Publishers

…the dividing line between earth and heaven seemed thin.

• Sheila Hicks:50 Years

Joan Simon and Susan C. Faxon/Yale University Press

…her photographs reveal consistencies in point of view, compositional strategies, and morifs with her weavings and sculpture

• Annie Leibovitz: Pilgrimage

Introduction by Doris Kearns Goodwin/Random House New York

…she was solitary the way Thoreau was solitary.

• Joseph Cornell: Master of Dreams

Diane Waldman/Abramsbooks

…convinced that the unconscious was the essential source of art and life, the Surrealists set out to explore the hidden recesses of the mind.

• Mapping: The Intelligence of Artistic Work

Anne West/Moth Press

…imagination is an essential instrument for knowing the self and the world. Calvino

• Your Mythic Journey: Finding Meaning in Your Life Through Writing and Storytelling

Sam Keen and Anne Valley-Fox/St. Martin's Press

…when we forget our stories, leave our heroes unsung, and ignore the rites that mark our passage from one stage of life into another, we feel nameless and empty.

• Nests: Fifty Nests and the Birds that Built Them

Sharon Beals/Chronicle Books

…as of the latest estimate, there are about ten thousand avian species, with new ones still being discovered.

An Egg a Day: Phil Burns @ Richland County Public Library

I recently attended a book signing and reading by award winning author Ron Rash of his book Saints at the River, which is the current selection of One Book, One Columbia, a city wide initiative supported by the Richland County Public Library (RCPL) to reduce illiteracy and encourage reading in the Midlands.

While at the RCPL, I discovered an inspiring art exhibition in the downstairs gallery by artist and illustrator Phil Burns. After undergoing back surgery and suffering from chronic back pain, Burns was encouraged by surrealist artist Pavel Tchelitchew to draw an egg a day. Using a crow quill pen and India ink on illustration board, Burns has sinse created 3500 egg drawings. The exhibition, An Egg a Day: Drawings by Phil Burns, is on view through March 4, 2012.

The Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble (DTHE)

Last night I attended a performance by the Dance Theatre of Harlem Ensemble (DTHE) at the Township Auditorium in Columbia, SC. Their second ballet, Adagietto #5, that was choreographed by Royston Maldoom with music by Gustav Mahler, was undoubtably the most breathtaking dance performance that I have ever seen. Thanks to the Cultural Council of Richland and Lexington Counties and Palmetto Health Foundation for bringing this inspiring dance troupe to our city. Several dates still remain on their 2012 tour. GO, even if you have to travel to see them. You won't be disappointed.

reserve your seat @ 2012 Artista Vista

art installation and book signing

April 26, 2012

A photography art installation of 50 chairs from the art installation reserve your seat: doni jordan + janette grassi, which was created to benefit Nature's Theater at Saluda Shoals Park in the Midlands. A collection of miniature twig chairs painted by the 2011 Saluda Shoals Park Summer Safari Campers (grades 1-12) along with paintings of their favorite chairs will be featured in the outdoor patio space. The evening will include a commemorative book sale and signing by the artists to benefit the theater and a drawing for a basket of Saluda Shoals park day passes and items. Dolly Patton, Executive Director, of the Saluda Shoals Foundation along with Foundation member and River Runner owner Guy Jones will be present to answer questions about Nature's Theater and to share architectural renderings of the upcoming premier 500-seat outdoor performance venue in the Midlands. Photography courtesy of nature photographer Kent Porth of Lexington, SC. Look for a collection of the chairs on the plaza of the Columbia Museum of Art on April 27, 2012 during the 2012 Annual Gala: The Chair-ity Ball which celebrates the opening of The Art of Seating: 200 Years of American Design.