Tag Archive - Michelle Aldredge

Gwarlingo “Sells Out”…To You

 

(Photo taken in Copenhagen, Hovedstaden, DK. by Zephyrance via Flickr Commons)

 

You’re curious. Open-minded. Creative. You’re an artist or arts lover who isn’t afraid to be challenged.

Gwarlingo, like the arts in general, is about seeing the world in a way we’ve never seen before. Whether it’s through poetry, film, visual art, music, performance, or writing, we make room for art in our lives not only to be entertained, but also to be challenged, educated, and awakened. Isn’t this the reason we make time for the arts in the first place? The real reason we buy books, travel, and attend gallery shows, movies, concert, and performances?

I started Gwarlingo because I knew that readers like yourself were perfectly capable of appreciating contemporary art, sounds, and writing that was challenging, strange, radical, and out of the mainstream. I understand that you’re busy and that your time and attention are valuable. My goal is to make every Gwarlingo email or post a highpoint in your day, no matter how stressed you are or how many tasks are piling up on your “to-do” list. Art has a way of grounding us—of reminding us of what’s really important.

Most people who have over 25,000 unique website visitors a month and a burgeoning subscriber list would turn to advertising at this point to “monetize” their site. It’s not the idea of spreading a message or selling things I object to. It’s the fact that most of this advertising space is dominated by large corporations or businesses offering “stuff.” And do we really need more unnecessary plastic objects in our lives?

 

Rachel Perry Welty, Spam Series: what do you really want (Rochelle, February 25, 2009, 9:05:05 AM EST), 2010. One piece of aluminum foil. 8 ½ x 120 x 1 ” (Photo courtesy of the artist and Yancey Richardson Gallery)

 

Now that Gwarlingo has thousands of devoted fans, it’s time to take the site to the next level by trying something different. This is where you come in.

Recently, while brainstorming advertising ideas for the site, it hit me…

If Gwarlingo is going “to sell out,” why not “sell out” to you? I have one of the most interesting, talented, intelligent readerships on the web. I know because I see your event announcements, your press releases, your websites and Facebook pages, and receive messages and comments from incredible individuals all over the world. Over the past year and a half, I’ve been fortunate enough to connect with so many of you online and in person. I often wish I could clone myself so I could write about and work with each and every one of you.

I may not be able to clone myself, but it IS possible for me to introduce you to each other—to offer you the Gwarlingo platform to share your work, your website, your bio, your arts organization (or to allow you to do this in honor of a friend, loved one, or cause you care about).

So today I’m officially launching the first Gwarlingo Membership Drive and offering you the opportunity to become a charter Gwarlingo Member.

And in return, I have some exciting things to give you.

Since Gwarlingo launched in June of 2011, I’ve single-handedly brought you the work of over 60 Sunday Poets, nearly 200 articles on film, visual art, books, and music, as well as insights about the barriers to the creative life based on 20 years of working with artists and arts organizations. But in order to continue providing you with quality content, I need to raise a minimum of $15,000 through this membership drive. Your collective support will allow me to offer the Complete Creative series, artist interviews and reviews, the Sunday Poem, and other great content for free with no paywalls.

Where will your money go? Watch this special video I’ve made just for the occasion to find out.

Drum-roll please…

 

Gwarlingo Sells Out…To You from Michelle Aldredge on Vimeo.

 

I’ve worked hard to assemble a unique mix of rewards for my Kickstarter-esque campaign and to offer something for everyone, regardless of your donor level. Giving to Gwarlingo is a win/win. Not only will you have the chance to share your own work (or pay tribute to someone else) through the Member Page, you will be supporting some of the artists whose work I love and have featured on the website, while also acquiring a unique piece of artwork priced well below market value. How can you lose?

Please take a minute to check out the special artwork, prints, and other cool rewards I have to offer. They include work by photographers Bill Jacobson and Barry Underwood, artists Rachel Perry Welty, Matthew Northridge, and Anna Schuleit, and a new film from Cindy Kleine and Andre Gregory. I’m also offering members a chance to work with me directly through Complete Creative Intensives, workshops, and more. Rewards are extremely limited, and many are one-of-a-kind, so don’t wait. I’ve also made a special video just for the occasion.

Click here to browse the rewards and to donate. Thanks for reading and for your all of your support.

Happy holidays!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning to Look : Whistler, Fireworks, and a New Way of Seeing

 

James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, ca. 1875. Oil on panel, 23.7 × 18.3 in. (Photo courtesy the Detroit Institute of Arts-Click to Enlarge)

I’ll never forget the first time I saw James McNeill Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Gold. I was still in high school when I stumbled across the painting in an art history book and was immediately stunned. I had never seen night captured so perfectly in an artwork before. Even as a teenager, I sensed that Whistler had caught those falling skyrockets at exactly the right time—not at the point when they were at their most garish and outrageous, but at the poignant moment when the fading sparks were falling into water.

Whistler’s style and composition owe something to Japanese ukiyo-e prints, which were popular with many Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painters. Monet was a collector and Vincent Van Gogh and his brother Theo owned over four hundred Japanese prints. One of my favorite ukiyo-e artists, Utagawa Hiroshige, had a lasting influence on James McNeill Whistler. Hiroshige’s extraordinary series, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, was of particular importance. As the Brooklyn Museum website explains, Whistler was inspired by the Hiroshige prints that he once owned. “As the West entered a new century, Japanese woodblock prints provided an artistic alternative—in the use of color, perspective, and spatial structure—for presenting changes in society.”

It’s interesting to compare this Hiroshige print, Fireworks at Ryogoku (below) with Whistler’s Nocturne in Black and Gold (above). Both images are striking in their own way, but the difference between painting  and woodblock printing techniques allowed Whistler to depict the fireworks and night sky with greater delicacy, as well as a deeper, more complex palette.

 

Utagawa Hiroshige. Fireworks at Ryōgoku (Ryōgoku Hanabi) (8th Month, 1858). From the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, c. 1856–58. Woodblock print. (Photo courtesy the Brooklyn Museum)

Whistler’s loose, impressionistic depiction of fireworks at night was not to everyone’s liking when his painting made its public debut. Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket sparked an infamous feud between the artist and the Victorian critic John Ruskin. In 1877 Whistler sued the Ruskin for libel after the critic condemned the painting in his publication Fors Clavigera:

“For Mr. Whistler’s own sake, no less than for the protection of the purchaser, Sir Coutts Lindsay [founder of the Grosvenor Gallery] ought not to have admitted works into the gallery in which the ill-educated conceit of the artist so nearly approached the aspect of willful imposture. I have seen, and heard, much of Cockney impudence before now; but never expected to hear a coxcomb ask two hundred guineas for flinging a pot of paint in the public’s face.”

The trial produced this hilarious exchange between John Ruskin’s lawyer, Attorney General Sir John Holker, and Whistler during cross-examination:

Holker: “What is the subject of Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket?”

Whistler: “It is a night piece and represents the fireworks at Cremorne Gardens.”

Holker: “Not a view of Cremorne?”

Whistler: “If it were A View of Cremorne it would certainly bring about nothing but disappointment on the part of the beholders. It is an artistic arrangement. That is why I call it a nocturne.…”

Holker: “Did it take you much time to paint the Nocturne in Black and Gold? How soon did you knock it off?”

Whistler: “Oh, I ‘knock one off’ possibly in a couple of days – one day to do the work and another to finish it…”

Holker: “The labour of two days is that for which you ask two hundred guineas?”

Whistler: “No, I ask it for the knowledge I have gained in the work of a lifetime.”

 

James McNeill Whistler, Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge, c. 1872–1875. Oil on canvas, 26 7/8 in × 20 1/8 in. (Photo courtesy of the Tate Britain, London. Click to Enlarge)

Hiroshige’s influence on Whistler can also be seen in his breathtaking piece Nocturne: Blue and Gold – Old Battersea Bridge. Here again, Whistler uses the golden sizzle of fireworks over the river Thames to wonderful effect. The compositional similarities between Whistler’s painting and Hiroshige’s print, Kyobashi Bridge, are unmistakable.

Whistler and Hiroshige taught me a new way of seeing. From both of these artists, I learned that less is often more. The best art, regardless of its medium, captures the essence of a thing, and leaves out all of the right parts. This idea was pushed to its limits by the minimalist artists of the 20th century. The gap between Whistler and Ellsworth Kelly or Hiroshige and Agnes Martin is not as great as it may appear at first glance.

Utagawa Hiroshige, Bamboo Yards, Kyōbashi Bridge (12th Month, 1857). From the series One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, ca. 1856–58. Woodblock print. (Photo courtesy the Brooklyn Museum. Click to Enlarge).

I think of these artworks by Whistler and Hiroshige each year when the Fourth of July holiday rolls around.

As an ardent lover of fireworks, New Hampshire is an ideal place to live. Each town has its own fireworks display (some shows are larger and better than others, but regardless, the crowds are never a problem). The local villages are kind enough to stagger their events on different nights so there are no scheduling conflicts. Before the show, there is typically an ice cream social, music, swimming, and other community activities. As locals gather around the lakes with their glow necklaces and bottles of bug spray, so do the mosquitoes, followed immediately by the bats.

In the past four days, I’ve seen two local fireworks shows—one over Dublin Lake by Mt. Monadnock and the other over Norway Pond in my old neighborhood in Hancock. In the case of Dublin Lake, I decided to make the mile-long journey on my bicycle. The hills were steep and the bugs intense, but the moon was bright—bright enough to throw shadows onto the empty road.

During my night ride, I spotted a fox, two porcupines, an owl, and a deer. Other mysterious creatures lurked in the bushes. I never saw them, but I heard their rustling. The number of dramas playing out in nature each night while we lie in our beds is staggering. (I’m reminded of this fact each time I hear the coyotes howling outside my open bedroom window.)

Photo by Michelle Aldredge (Click to Enlarge)

 

 

Photo by Michelle Aldredge (Click to Enlarge)

 

 

Photo by Michelle Aldredge (Click to Enlarge)

At Dublin Lake, I perched myself on a rock and waited. In a brilliant stroke of Yankee ingenuity, the woman behind me swatted bugs away with a tree branch. I buttoned up my shirt and rolled down my pants to protect myself from the swarms. Just as the fireworks began, a bat skimmed over the top of my head.

I’ve never heard a boom so loud before. Each explosion ricocheted off the side of Mt. Monadnock and bounced over the water. I can only imagine what the foxes, porcupines, and deer were thinking. The excited children, on the other hand, made their thoughts very clear: Those are my favorite. I like the purple ones! I like the one that looks like a splash in the water (little girl)! I like the giant red ones that look like a bomb going off (little boy)! Today I learned that there are more exacting names for these firework effects: peony, chrysanthemum, dahlia, ground bloom flower (there are lots of flower names). Also, willow, palm, crossette, spider, horsetail, time rain, fish.

Photo by Michelle Aldredge (Click to Enlarge)

 

 

Photo by Michelle Aldredge (Click to Enlarge)

 

 

Photo by Michelle Aldredge (Click to Enlarge)

Whenever possible, I prefer to be in nature without the distraction of electronic devices. This means no camera. No cell phone. No i-Pod. When it comes to fireworks, though, I make a rare exception.

Each year I photograph the local fireworks, and each year the photographs are a surprise, even to me. While these images aren’t “art” in the strictest sense, I do think they capture artful moments. Like Whistler, I’m particularly fond of the less dramatic scenes, the golden criss-crossing tails, the juxtaposition of colors, the unusual patterns captured by the camera, though not always visible to the naked eye.

Sometimes the point of taking a picture is the end result. We want a record of where we’ve been or who we’ve seen. Or maybe we are setting out to create art or capture something larger than ourselves. But often I find that the actual process of taking a picture is just as important. A camera can focus our attention and allow us to see things we might have missed otherwise. It sharpens our senses and also opens us to the happy accidents that often occur when we click the shutter.

“I sit for a long time and watch one thing,” says the writer Barry Lopez. “If you don’t do that homework, you don’t make yourself vulnerable enough to a place, and it never releases itself into you.”

Learning to look is perhaps the most under-appreciated skill of our generation. Do I love the fireworks for themselves? Of course. But I also love the fact that for a few days each year, individuals gather together in one place, expose themselves to the elements, and for a short time, stare at the sky, not their computer screen or cell phone.

We see what we expect to see. But if we’re still and patient, if we take time to turn off our devices and get out into the real world, we leave room for so many more possibilities.
 

Photo by Michelle Aldredge (Click to Enlarge)

 

Continue Reading…

Listen to My Interview on NHPR

 

(Photo courtesy fubiz.net)

A big thanks to Virginia Prescott, Taylor Quimby, and Rebecca Lavoie Flynn for another fun visit to the NHPR studios. Today’s on-air discussion covered everything from Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom, the Barnes Museum controversy, Japanese manhole cover designs, the Copenhagen Philharmonic’s flashmob, and more.

If you missed the segment you can listen online through the NHPR website.

Thanks to all of the Gwarlingo fans who tuned in today and to the kind folks at the NHPR studios.

The best way to stay in the loop on the latest arts and culture news is to subscribe to Gwarlingo by email. (It’s easy, safe, and free). You can also follow Gwarlingo on Twitter and Facebook.

 

Listen to My Live Interview on NHPR’s Word of Mouth This Thursday

 

 

On Thursday, June 21st, I’ll be appearing on NHPR’s Word of Mouth with host Virginia Prescott. We’ll be discussing a number of arts-related topics, so I hope you’ll tune in.

The show runs from 12-1 p.m. EST; I’ll be appearing in the 12:30-1:00 time slot. If you can’t listen to the radio, you can also listen live online or after the broadcast. The show will also be rebroadcast from 9-10 p.m. Thursday night. Please tune in!

I have some new stories in the works for Gwarlingo readers. I’ve just returned from New York City, where I had a sneak preview of a fabulous new documentary about actor and theater director Andre Gregory. This morning I’m in Gloucester, Massachusetts, covering two visual arts stories. It’s been a busy summer, but I’m looking forward to sharing these discoveries with Gwarlingo readers soon.

The best way to stay in the loop is to subscribe to Gwarlingo by email. (It’s easy, safe, and free). You can also follow Gwarlingo on Twitter and Facebook.

 

The Art of Taking Risks : 13 Years, 3500 Artists, 7 Memorable Lessons

 

Image from the vernacular photography collection of Mark Glovsky

When I was a girl, I was fearless. I was always falling out of trees, off of speeding bicycles, into muddy creeks. Once, I was bitten by an angry goose. I was knocked on the head accidentally with a baseball. A rock. And a basketball. On one hot summer evening, the rope of the tire swing broke and sent me and my best friend, Michael, hurling through the yard like a hockey puck. And then there was the morning I tumbled into my neighbor’s cactus garden. (Who knew that cacti spines came in so many size and color variations? Ouch.)

But somewhere on the way to adulthood, the youthful spirit of risk took its leave. Like so many other “responsible” adults, I succumbed to the tyranny of the regular paycheck. Although I never lived extravagantly, I traded my time for money, and money for things. Once on that spinning wheel, it’s hard to get off. Often we forget that it’s even possible to stop, reevaluate, and make radical changes to our lives. It feels too scary. Too hard and overwhelming.

This past year has forced me to stop and reconsider my options. Ten months ago, when I launched Gwarlingo, I never could have anticipated how quickly the site would grow and how enthusiastically it would be received. Some incredible opportunities have come my way as a result–I’ve made new friends, had fabulous conversations with readers (in person and online), traveled, flexed my writing, tech, and photography skills, been on the radio, been hired for new, challenging projects, and more. And every minute has been pure pleasure for me. For the first time in ages, I have no idea what surprises the day will bring when I get out of bed, and that excites me.
 

Image from the vernacular photography collection of Mark Glovsky

After thirteen remarkable years working at The MacDowell Colony, I’ve decided it’s time to take the leap into full-time self employment. The decision wasn’t easy, but I know it’s the right thing to do. Letting go of my 9-5 job (with a regular paycheck and benefits) will allow me to expand Gwarlingo and tackle some new creative projects. Is it a risk? Of course. But it’s a risk that takes me back to those free-wheeling, tree-climbing days.

While I’ll miss all of my friends at the Colony terribly, I can still be part of a creative community through Gwarlingo and through some new collaborative projects that are on the horizon.

Over 3500 artists have passed through the doors of MacDowell during my tenure there. That’s a lot of creative energy in one place. In the past few days a number of people have asked me about the experience of working at the Colony for over a decade. Here are a few of the lessons I’ve learned in my thirteen years at the nation’s oldest artist retreat…

  • If you are open, receptive, and generous with others, the majority of people will be open, receptive, and generous in return.
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  • Reserve judgment. Forget rumors. Listen and be patient. Most people will surprise you.
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  • The most successful artists don’t have some mysterious gift that allows them to excel in their field. They simply work hard, work consistently, take creative risks, and don’t worry about what other people think. This is the real formula for creative success.
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  • It is artists who have the best bird’s eye view of our culture today–they can tell us where we’ve been and where we’re going. They have the special ability to imagine alternatives to the present.
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  • Artists can also view the world from a micro level. They can help us appreciate the unseen.
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  • Solitude is an art. Unplugging and learning to be alone with yourself is essential if you want to do your best creative work. Technology is a tool. We should control it, not the other way around. Turn off your phone, Twitter, email, etc. Do it. The withdrawal symptoms will subside, eventually.
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  • Being an artist is challenging in our society. It’s hard mentally, physically, and financially. It takes a village–a community of friends, fellow artists, and supporters who understand why you do the work you do and believe that it’s valuable. If you have the means, support artists and organizations, like MacDowell, who are helping artists realize their full potential. And if you’re an artist, don’t forget to leave your apartment or studio every now and then. Find a residency program, go to a reading, concert, or opening, or have fun with friends. Play and connection are just as important as hard work.

These are just a few of the lessons I’ll take with me when I go.

 

Image from the vernacular photography collection of Mark Glovsky

I have a lot of exciting ideas for growing Gwarlingo. I’m looking forward to organizing live events, providing more resources for artists on the site, and digging into much-discussed topics like money, fear, and technology and how these dovetail with the creative life.
 
And then there is my own creative work that’s been languishing–I have a novel to sell, stories to finish, and photographs to print.

Of course, I will also need to piece together the funding to make all of this happen. Traffic on the site continues to grow. Last month I had over 25,000 unique visitors to Gwarlingo. I expect this number to climb as I have more time to devote to the project. This opens up some new opportunities for sponsorships, which I’ll be exploring.

I’ll also be available for freelance and consulting projects. I have a large project with a nonprofit that will take part of the year, but I also look forward to working with artists who need help with grant writing, project proposals, social media, and artist statements. I have a few artists penciled into my calendar already.

 

Image from the vernacular photography collection of Mark Glovsky

My last day at The MacDowell Colony will be April 27th. Life is going to be very full until then, so please forgive me if I’m not able to post as regularly in the coming weeks. You will have more of my time and attention very soon.
 
Thanks to all of the staff, friends, and artists who have made my job at the Colony so memorable through the years. I also want to thank the friends, old and new, who have participated in the evolution of Gwarlingo.

We’re just getting started.
 

Image from the vernacular photography collection of Mark Glovsky


Don’t miss the next Gwarlingo feature. Click here to subscribe to Gwarlingo. You can also follow me on Twitter and Facebook.
 
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A special thank you to Mark Glovsky for sharing these beautiful images from his found photography collection. Thanks Mark!

 
 

Listen to My Interview about Gwarlingo on NHPR’s Word of Mouth

 

 

Virginia Prescott, Taylor Quimby, and Rebecca Lavoie at NHPR’s Word of Mouth made my first live radio interview a blast. If only we had had more time to discuss those Japanese manhole covers, which are still flying around the “inter-web.”

If you missed today’s show on New Hampshire Public Radio, you can listen to the segment on Gwarlingo here.

Stay tuned! I have a new Creative Spaces feature in the works, plus a fun piece in my ongoing series on street art.

Don’t miss the next Gwarlingo feature. Subscribe to Gwarlingo by email. (It’s easy, safe, and free). You can also follow Gwarlingo on Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

The Dow of Art: Why Art Still Matters in Our Market-Driven Society

currency collage, money, boat

"Rub a Dub" by Mark Wagner (Photo courtesy smokeinmydreams.com)

Writer Nova Ren Suma has just published a new essay of mine over at “Distraction No. 99.”

Although the assigned topic was “inspiration,” my piece covers a range of subjects, from library book censorship to the financial stresses of being an artist. But the central theme concerns the value of imagination and creative exchange, and how these values are often in conflict with the marketplace.

Here is an excerpt from the essay:

“For many artists, money is a constant source of anxiety because most creative projects don’t make economic sense. As artists, we have chosen an alternative paradigm to the profit-oriented one. This doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t be smart about the business-side of art making, only that money isn’t our primary motivator.

The concept of creating for its own sake remains a radical concept in our culture. This is one of the central rifts we see playing out now between Wall Street bankers and supporters of the Occupy movement. One camp places a higher value on profits, while the other a higher value on more elusive qualities like imagination, empathy, and justice.

Of course, if you have your money invested in the stock market, then you want your broker to be greedy with your money—you want to earn 6%, not 4% like everyone else. But when it comes to art, greed turns the best ideas sour. It isn’t hard to sniff out the difference between work that was created from a free, deep place, and a blatant commercial commodity.

You may be able sell the end product of art—the concert ticket, the photograph, the book—but the idea itself is free. Art is a gift. It is an elusive mystery that thrives only when it’s shared.

Being an artist is hard because we’re operating in a parallel universeone that values imagination, creativity, and ideas more than money or status. But a true creative exchange—one in which art is given and accepted without obligation is a way of side-stepping the soul-crushing grimness of consumerism. I would go so far as to say that it’s an alternate way of being. It’s this free exchange between artist and audience that creates movement, provides pleasure, provokes change, and offers meaningful connection…

‘The artist who hopes to market work that is the realization of his gifts cannot begin with the market,’ [Lewis] Hyde explains. “He must create for himself that gift-sphere in which the work is made, and only when he knows the work to be the faithful realization of his gift should he turn to see if it has currency in that other economy. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t.’”

You can read the entire article on Nova’s site, Distraction No. 99. There are also a number of guest posts from talented writers like Alexander Chee, Anna Evans, and Laurel Snyder.

Nova Ren Suma is the author of "Imaginary Girls" and "Dani Noir." She has an MFA in fiction from Columbia University and has been awarded fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, Yaddo, and The MacDowell Colony. She grew up in small towns across the Hudson Valley and now lives in New York City.

Nova’s own contribution to the series is also a stand-out. She discusses rejection, the burning need to find her voice, and the long, difficult path to becoming a published writer:

“So how do you rise out of debilitating shyness to show that you are a person worthy of opinions, a person with a voice who has things to say? To show you are worth something. You are someone. How? In my case, you write.”

I particularly love Nova’s description of juggling writing with various day jobs:

Continue Reading…

Welcome to Gwarlingo

 

Michelle Aldredge, Creator of GwarlingoMy name is Michelle Aldredge. I am a writer, photographer, and the creator of Gwarlingo.

Gwarlingo is an online community where artists and curious individuals can follow great visual art, music, film, performance, writing, and design, as well as discuss the rewards and challenges of the creative life. Its aim is to highlight some of the most interesting work being created today–to cut through the noise and clutter of the web so that you don’t have to. Whether you’re an artist yourself, an arts lover, or someone who wants to be more innovative in your job or personal life, I trust you’ll find Gwarlingo a useful and inspiring resource.

Artists of all disciplines and in all stages of their careers struggle to integrate their creative practice into daily life. It is challenging to carve out the necessary time and space to think, question, and create, and often as challenging to find a network of supportive, like-minded peers. I hope Gwarlingo can be such a community.

Gwarlingo aspires to make the arts more intelligible, collaborative, and cross disciplinary–to treat the subject with both intelligence and wit. At Gwarlingo the focus is on quality over quantity, on clarity over clutter, on stories over sound bytes.  At Gwarlingo we believe that asking questions is often as important as finding answers.

Most of my professional life has been dedicated to making the arts more accessible. Since 1999, I’ve worked at The MacDowell Colony, the nation’s oldest artist colony founded in 1907. In addition to working with the artists in residence, one of my many jobs is coordinating MacDowell’s community outreach program, which connects Colony artists with local students, teachers, and audiences. I’ve also worked as a librarian, a docent at The High Museum of Art, a photographer, an English and literacy tutor, and an editorial assistant at an arts magazine. I’m also a working artist myself. I’m a photographer and writer, and I recently finished my first novel Promiseland.

Michelle Aldredge-Creator of GwarlingoI grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, but have called New Hampshire home since 1999. My home studio sits on top of a hill overlooking Mt. Monadnock and the distant Berkshires. Although I miss fried okra, the early southern spring, and restaurants that stay open past 9:00, this quiet, rural life agrees with me. In New Hampshire I can see the stars, go kayaking or snowshoeing, watch bald eagles fish in the lake, and focus on my creative work in silence. I no longer have to worry about traffic jams or rush hour accidents; moose, bear, deer, wild turkey, and frost heaves are the primary road hazards here. Although I live in the country, I’m fortunate enough to be part of a vibrant arts community in New Hampshire, New York City, and Massachusetts. The quiet days are punctuated by regular travel and frequent visits to museums, theaters, readings, arts events, lectures, and open studios.

I hope you’ll join me in the weeks and months ahead as I share some fascinating work, news, artist interviews, excursions, resources, advice, and discussions about the arts and the creative process.

The Gwarlingo Studio in New Hampshire

The View from Gwarlingo

If you’d like to participate, your contributions are always welcome in the “comments” section. You can also follow Gwarlingo on Twitter, Facebook, or subscribe by email or RSS Feed.

Please send suggestions, links, images, ideas, interviews, articles, invitations, event announcements, video clips, questions, press releases, found photos, recordings, and other cool stuff to michelle (at) gwarlingo (dot) com. To send materials by snail mail, please contact me for a mailing address.

Thanks for visiting Gwarlingo. Come back. Come often.