I moved my studio

We are in the process of clearing out as much of our basement as possible. Why? Well, my wife and I are getting older (and yes, we are all getting older), and would like to limit the number of floors we live in, in our house. The kids are gone, and it's just the two of us ... for now. ;-)

And I had lovely studio setup in our basement; plenty of space and lots of light. Now I'll be sharing a room on the first floor with my wife, a joint studio. I don't mind, but we do have different approaches to studio spaces. We both like lots of room, but whereas my wife appreciates keeping her space tidy, I'm ... well ... rather messy. I see nothing wrong with leaving materials out for a project that's in-progress.

Still, it's very, very nice to be back out of the basement.

P.S. What you see is not my studio.

Selina Trieff & Robert Henry

My wife and I spent a week on Cape Cod, this past summer, in Wellfleet which is full of wonderful galleries and artists. On Saturday nights, most of the galleries are open, often hosting receptions for new shows. As I was walking around the area of town where most of the galleries are, I visited the studios of two artists, Robert Henry and Selina Trieff, husband and wife for almost 50 years.

Most of my visit was with Selina, a frail women with a mind as sharp as can be. Turns out she knew the director of my school's MFA program very well, and had actually been a guest lecturer at my school in the past. She had a marvelous sense of what it meant to create art and even though she was advanced in years and physically impaired, there was a spark in both her eyes and her voice.

Inside the studios were paintings she had been recently working on. Born in Brooklyn in 1934, Selina began her studies at the Art Students League in New York in 1951. Since then, she has created many amazing works. Robert was also born in Brooklyn, in 1933, and received a BA from Brooklyn College. He and I spoke for a short while, partially about a series of monotypes he had created at a recent fundraiser. Three of the series were on the studio's wall.

Both Selina and Robert, though "getting on in years", showed a distinct enthusiasm for life and their work. I only hope I'll have as much "spunk" when I get to their age.