North Fork Memorial Day Weekend

Posted by Censor Librorum on May 27, 2007 | Categories: Lesbian in a Catholic Sort of Way

Here was my Saturday:

Run around to yard sales: Success! Three bargain Persian rugs and five old books, including one I read as a little girl; a first edition Ian Fleming and a wacky children’s book, “Orlando the Brave Vulture.” I had to see how the artist/writer could make a vulture into a rescuer and beloved friend.

Run around to nurseries: Bought herbs, tomato plants, beach roses, flowers, lavender, Japanese willow, and a beach plum bush. Today I plant. Fiddling around in the yard is probably my greatest source of spiritual nourishment other than gazing on, creating or imagining art.

Run around to art gallery openings: We finished the day at Sirens’ Song Gallery in Greenport. The gallery owner and resident artist, Caroline Waloski, shows the most exceptional work. I purchased my favorite piece, “Dragon Eel” by Anneli Arms from her last summer.

Some delightful surprise always awaits whenever we stop by for a visit, and yesterday was no exception. The featured exhibit was by Barbara Yoshida, who I met and had the chance to talk with for a few moments. She described pitching her tent by the stones and photographing them in the moonlight. Did the ancients see them as a spiritual connection between earth and sky? We’ll never know…but gazing on Barbara’s photographs cemented in my mind the notion photography is the most versatile religious art.

Here’s the description from Barbara’s postcard describing this collection:

“In 2003 I pitched my tent next to the ancient Ring of Brodgar in Scotland and photographed from evening through the night until dawn. That was the beginning of this project, a series of images from at least ten different countries, from Sweden to Spain, featuring various standing stones. Also called ‘menhirs,’ the standing stones are megalithic, with the earliest ones having been erected around 3,650 to 2,500 years B.C. Although some of them have burial sites beneath them, we really don’t know anything about who constructed them or why. This mystery is one of the things that draws me to them. Photographing at night, using moonlight as the only light source, emphasizes the mysterious quality of these ancient sites.”

www.barbarayoshida.com

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