About a year ago I received an e-mail from Alicja Mann. She is a writer with an interesting past, living now in Arizona who has a couple of my paintings. She informed me that she was working on a new book of essays and poetry and wanted to use the image from one of the paintings of mine that she owned on the cover. I was honored that she chose to use my work and gave my okay.
It had completely slipped my mind until this morning when I received another e-mail from Alicja with the announcement that her book was out. She explained that she had encountered obstacles in the past year that had slowed her progress in completing her project but had overcome them and was pleased with the final product.
According to the book’s website: “The author writes from the perspective of “the other European” (from Eastern Europe) and “the other American” (an immigrant). She came to the States from Poland at a time when it was still dominated by Soviet-style Communism. In her new country she transformed herself from a scientist to a writer. These essays and poems take the reader on a journey through space and time addressing issues of identity, alienation, belonging, and responsibility. Sometimes funny, sometimes tearful, but always thoughtful, this book charms and provokes. It invites the reader to sit and reflect, as symbolized by the art on the cover.”
As you can see, she deals with many of the same issues as I do with my work. I look forward to reading it soon and am sure it will inspire something new in my own work. You can click on the book cover shown to go the book’s website.
In other publishing news, another painting of mine was used on the cover of Saint Vincent Vitals, the quarterly magazine of the western Pennsylvania based regional health care provider.
Over the years, a number of people associated with Saint Vincent have acquired pieces of mine through the Kada Gallery in Erie. I have met many of them at the gallery so was pleased when the magazine contacted me several months ago for permission to use my work on their cover.
Though I don’t actively seek this type of exposure for my work, it’s always interesting to see the work in a different context. It allows me to see a bit how others view the work, to see what emotion it evokes in them. In both of the cases shown, I think they both see it as I do.
And that is gratifying…
Redtree Times 