Types and ShadowsShadows Journal of the Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts Journal of the Fellowship of Quakers in the Arts Issue # 64 Summer 2015 “Devotee at Buddhist Temple,” Myanmar, photograph © Joanna Patterson In this Issue… Photographs and essay from tour of Myanmar by Joanna Patterson, Mt. Laurel, NJ; Paintings by R. Brown Lethem, Dover, NH and poetry by Re- bekah Miller, Harrisburg, PA 1 Issue # 64 Types & Shadows www.fqa.quaker. www.facebook.com/quakersinthearts T & S Editor Blair Seitz Our Clerk speaks... [email protected] 109 N 3rd Avenue West Reading PA 19611 Here's a fun project you can do... Maria Cattell © Seitz 610-223-5240 FQA Board Members Something you can do at your meeting: have an art show where artists talk briefly about their art, how they came to their art, what it means to them, Maria Cattell or whatever they'd like to say about it. That's what FQA did at Caln Quar- Clerk terly Meeting's recent family retreat. [email protected] *Nan Morrissey told us about her "Hand Work" project involving various Doris Pulone ceramic pieces with hands, such as hands holding a globe. "Think of the Treasurer many things we do with our hands," said Nan, "such as applause, holding [email protected] things, communication." *Becky Ross showed her "spiritually oriented art," modernistic reinterpre- Chuck Fager [email protected] tations of Old Masters. *Cindy Hummel got into making big necklaces to cover her scar from heart Phil Furnas surgery and hopes to establish a nonprofit which would give big necklaces Membership to girls with scars. [email protected] *For Martha Bryans, her story quilts in mixed media (such as fabrics, wool Blair Seitz roving, embroidery) are landscapes which represent "an outpouring of spir- [email protected] it." Trenton Monthly Meeting Liaison *Judy Ballinger described creating her painted-on-silk scarves as medita- tion. Judith Weiss [email protected] *Blair Seitz showed some of his photography which he said involved having a good sense of light. Great Lakes FQA Chapter MEY Hasbrook *Maria Cattell showed a variety of her knitted items, which she designs herself. South Jersey FQA Chapter It was fascinating to hear these various artists talk about their work. Why Paul Somers not try this in your meeting? Our experience was a fun way to connect with other artists and to see their art in a new way. Types and Shadows is published FGC Gathering: If you'll be at the FGC Gathering in Cullowhee NC in July, look for the FQA Interest Group discussion on Tuesday night. Topic: "Art: quarterly by the Fellowship of What does it mean to us? What is the importance or meaning of your art to Quakers in the Arts (FQA), c/o you, as an artist? Where is the spirituality in your art? What does your art Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, mean to your Meeting community?" 1515 Cherry St., Philadelphia, We plan to publish something on this topic in Types & Shadows. PA 19102. FQA Membership is Won't be at the Gathering? Let me know your thoughts on the meaning of $30 annually. art for you: [email protected]. Submission deadlines are: Sept. Yours for the arts, 15, Dec. 15, March 15 and June 15. Maria Cattell FQA is an arts ministry for Quak- PS: Other activities at the Gathering will include an Interest Group discus- sion of the meaning of art in your life, as an artist or art appreciator; a Fri- ers and others under the care of day afternoon Reception which will include showing of things created in art Trenton MM. -related workshops; reading of a play by Sandra Johnson ; and a session for Quaker fiction writers led by Chuck Fager. Let us know your interests and talents if you would like to participate. 2 From the Editor… markable photographic artwork. It’s very satisfying to me that ac- Did You Know.... complished Quaker artists continue *that Judi Dench, Anne Tyler and James Michener to come forward to share their art were Quakers? with us. This month FQA member Joanne Patterson, who I first met *that Joan Baez, Ben Kingsley and F. Murray Abra- at New Jersey’s Tri-Quarter re- hams have attended Friends Meeting? Blair Seitz ©Ballnger treat, has traveled to many coun- *that Dave Matthews, Bonnie Raitt and James Dean tries and her photography has been featured widely. were raised Quakers? Her work in Myanmar reminds me of my own work in Laos, another isolated Southeast Asian country, years *that Popeye the Quaker Man, a Quaker Tapestry and ago. FQA member R. Brown Lethem makes that Quaker stained glass exists? bridge many of us find difficult between our activism *that Bolivian Friends, Rwandan Friends and Chinese and our art. His artwork “speaks.” I am so pleased to Friends art exists? publish multi-talented Rebekah Miller’s poetry. She is a student at Kutztown University. Enjoy! Blair *that Ben Franklin and Walt Whitman were influenced by Friends? Upcoming in T&S... *that William Penn and Margaret Fell wrote poetry? FQA members may anticipate the celebrated collage The second edition of art of FQA member Jonathan Talbot, Warwick, the book Quaker Art- New York, in our Fall issue of ists contains the stories T&S. Last month in Members’ of the above artists and News, T&S mistakenly noted more: 286 reviews in that Jonathan had published a all, a history of book of his collage art. That Friends, a history of note implied that he had self- Quaker art, study ques- published, which upon viewing tions, artist’s queries, a copy of the book, the editor 44 reproductions of the learned was incorrect. Jona- artists' works, 51 illus- than’s artworks were chosen by trations, a biblio– Deborah K. Snider, Assistant graphy, an alphabetical Professor of Art Education of index and an artist’s Southern Utah State University, to honor Talbot’s art. index. The period cov- The book includes commentary by Deborah and Jona- ered is 1659 to 2015. Friends from 18 different coun- than as well as an interview with the artist by Snider. tries are included. Poets, painters, dancers, musicians, The book is published by Royal Fireworks Press, Un- films and 13 other categories are included. (It is three ionville, New York, and the first edition is in its fourth times the size of the first edition!) printing. Talbot's works have been exhibited at The Quaker Artists is an entertaining and celebratory read National Academy and the Museum of Modern Art in in itself but it has other uses, too: as a resource for New York as well as by the Smithsonian Institution. study groups, a reference for libraries and a curriculum Look for Jonathan’s collage art in the Fall 2015 issue for First Day Schools. of T&S with commentary on each work by him. Gary Sandman, a member of Roanoke Meeting in This winter when we need a lift from the cold weather, Roanoke, Virginia, is the author of the second edition look for macro photographs of flowers in T&S from of Quaker Artists. To purchase, send check or money award-winning nature photographer and FQA mem- order to 214 Summit Way SW, Roanoke VA 24014, ber David Foster. The editor met David at Pendle Hill [email protected]. For updates on new where he is a student while making a new set of mag- Quaker Artist writings, please check his website at nificent floral photographs. T&S has the jpegs of a fi- www.garysandmanartist.com. Paperback, 287 pag- ne selection, which will be printed in the upcoming es. Price: $20. Winter issue. You can look forward to David’s re- 3 “Slave Ship,” 72” X 90” Oil on Canvas, 1991 © R. Brown Lethem R. Brown Lethem of Dover, New Hampshire, affirms life, protests violence in America In his own words Brown says, “Firstly, I am a painter concerned with life affirming and questioning images many of them in recent years depicting the mutual interdependence of humans and animals but an ongoing theme in my most ambitious paintings is a dark and probing (I hope) look at the corrosive streak of violence in American life, past and present. “Slave Ship,“ 1991, was my reaction to reading in a 17th cen- tury Quaker journal that a floor plan of a Quaker school and the interior of a slave ship depicting the horrors of slavery, were among the few im- ages appropriate for a Friends Meeting House. In “Leaping Coyote” 24” X 28” Acrylic on linen, 2014 the late 80’s and early 90’s I was opposed to the © R. Brown Lethem 4 Notice: Join FQA members in HollyStock Music and Arts Festival, Mt. Holly, New Jer- sey, on August 8, 2015, 12 noon to 6 pm. Show your art, perform music or read poetry at the FQA event at Mt. Holly Friends Meeting during HollyStock. FQA artists are invited to bring 1 to 4 artworks to Mt. Holly MM between 10 am and 6 pm on Friday the 7th for the Saturday event. Contact Doris Pulone, FQA coordinator for the event, at [email protected]. Industrial Prisons and the Death Penalty which so im- dissent hooked me. At that time,1965-68, I was teach- pacted people of color. “The Broken Axe” (next page) ing at an art school in the Midwest where I was the was the result of reading the history of John Brown SDS faculty advisor. Questioning authority and re- and the raid on Harpers Ferry. “Leaping Coy- sistance to the war on moral grounds was in the air.