New Website

I have created a new website for my writing.

Take a look at https://www.jocarubia.com/

The site was constructed with the help of Ben Hack.

You can find Ben at www.onerarehairproductions.com

No photos allowed

"Museo de Arcives" in Ravenna:  

No photos allowed,

 SO I am touching everything possible!

·         Calendario 532-632 A.D.

·         “Ambo” early Christian reading desk, 596-597 (pulpit)

·         Altar, Foglia de oro

·         “Por Favore Non Toccare Il Vetro”: Mosaics behind glass

·         “The Invention of the Cross” by Luca Longhi, 1509-1580          Edge of actual canvas of unframed painting in unguarded Sala della Pinacoteca:

• 
  

Dreaming in Italian

I've just returned from ten days in Italy.  My body clock is slowly adjusting to US East Coast time, but the images that accompany me to sleep and upon waking are all from Italy! And my internal dialogue is a mix of (on the one hand--cousin Andrea) almost perfect yet charmingly accented English along with key Italian words, and (on the other hand--me) elementary and grammatically incorrect Italian mixed with Spanish, French, and English cognates (me).

The mosaics and landscapes, in particular, are forming the backdrop of dreams and the territories of falling asleep and awakening.

Work in Progress

Work in progress has a name for its eventually existence: It is/will be called "Songs for Orphaned Mothers."

Work in progress has a guiding vision: the life of my--mostly unknown, unappreciated, and possibly unfulfilled--grandmother, Antonina Bologna Alessi. 

Work in progress even has philosophical statement: "the life of painting and making is a matter of double knowledge so that your own hands will reveal a world to you to which your mind's eye, your conscious eye, is often blind."  p. 313, How to Be Both by Ali Smith.

Work in progress has a defined moment of conception: I witnessed a woman who has the body, head, and face that I recall of my grandmother, EXCEPT that in this version, she is a LEADER, an articulate, empowered, out-front woman of presence and realized potential.  In that moment, I was inspired to excavate the earlier version of Antonina.

Work in progress is a matter of words as well as shapes, colors, textures, juxtapositions, accidents, and incidents in combinations yet to be fully determined.

Work in Progress Work in Progress Work in Progress

Thank You

I just want to say "Thank you!!" to everyone who helped and everyone who encouraged me for my exhibit at Java Madness.  Thank you!  Thank you!  It was so much fun to talk to visitors about Fiber Fables, Crops, Persnickety Packs, Swiftly Tilting Planet, Mother Has a Wild Heart, Longevity, Life in Pieces etc. etc.

Thank you especially to Mark LaHoud and the team at Java Madness.  I have been glad to introduce a few new people to your welcoming space, food, views, and personnel.  And I look forward to seeing the next exhibit and the next and the next . . . .

The last day to see my exhibit is October 21st.  That date also marks the 10th anniversary celebration of Java Madness! 

Now, it's onward to find another venue to exhibit my work !  If you have any suggestions, please let me know!

JAVA MADNESS

Java Madness is the name of a coffee shop on Salt Pond Road in Wakefield, Rhode Island.  It's owner, Mark LaHoud, invites artists to show their work on the rough wood walls of the shop.  Yesterday, Vinnie and I, masterfully aided by a very generous new friend, Melissa Cummins, hung my exhibit.  Here are photos of my work on display at Java Madness.

Doors of Perception

"We tell ourselves stories in order to live"

 ………….Joan Didion

(This poem-story illuminates the tapestry pictured below it.)

“I need to get out of here, now!”

G whispered.

“Where do you want to go?”

A whispered back.

“Just out of the smoke, heat, anguish, and intensity of this place!”

“Go if you want! I’ll be here when you get back.”

Psyche screamed, “IF!” as G pushed her way through and through and out.

Breath and periphery opened instantly.

Near was bright, shiny, and fresh,

but further beckoned beyond with even more.

G sucked it in and powered momentum with the results.

Momentarily, a squirrel locked and unlocked eyes with G, opening another door.

An arbitrary raft on an anonymous river flourished with impulse and agility that G took to heart;

to heart, mind, amygdala, and sinew. 

For G, the poem of tomorrow opened

with a long vowel and forever.

Quotations integral to the tapestry: “ceaselessly musing venturing throwing seeking” 

from “A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45473/a-noiseless-patient-spider