Mary Kellogg, Maria Heinrich, Anthony Armstrong at Armstrong Stone in Salem, seeing “Family” sculpture.

  September 12, 2007 – The Art Harvest weekend (at Gardenworks, Salem, N.Y., 518 854-3250) is one month away, and the artists gathered yesterday at Anthony’s concrete workshop in Salem. This art show, scheduled for October 13-14 is in part  a celebration of a remarkable friendship – four people approaching art in differing ways taking a jump together, and as friends, and in support of one another. We are a strange and wonderful little community, all pushing each other, encouraging one another, helping each other whenever possible. Mary Kellogg has been producing some astonishingly beautiful and moving poetry, which is being framed and matted at All the Right Angles in Saratoga. Maria Heinrich has been holed up in her studio barn – thread by thread – making some provocative and distinctive fiber art. Anthony has at least two, possibly more, complex sculptures coming along. They are hard work,(as he points out often) but they are beautiful things to see come together. And I, am course, are taking pictures all over the place, and loving that. I will show about 14 (Maria says I can’t show any more, and she is the curator).
   These three people have been encouraging to me from the beginning, and I love and thank them and are intensely proud to be doing this Art Harvest with them. Thus the name, “Leap of Faith: Four Friends Share Their Art.” We are all doing this for different reasons, all taking some chances.
   Gardenworks is a wondrous place to be almost anytime, but the Gardenworks Farm is enchanting in the fall, with pumpkins, mums, pies, cider, cheese and pasta for sale. Money generated by my pictures and Mary’s poems, all of which are for sale, will go to Friends of Hospice.
  This is a coming out for the four of us, and come and join us if you can. There will be talks and presentations all day Saturday and Sunday, but I will give a talk along with some of the other artists at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Anthony is threatening to make plaster casts of kid’s hands. Izzy and Emma will be in attendance.
   I am grateful to Maria, Anthony and Mary of course, and to Gardenworks. Also especially appreciative of Trampoline Design and the terrific graphics, cards and posters (like the graphic below) giving so much identify to the weekend.