Dear Artist, In Morocco we have the farthest western reach of the historic Arab world. With it came a brilliant culture, learning, architecture, laws, and one of the world’s most involving religions. While Islamic fundamentalism may not exist in equal…
Dear Artist, Here in Tunis, portraiture is virtually non-existent. People are depicted as types rather than as individuals. At the same time lofty concepts such as caring, love, the forces of nature, and the insignificance of man, find their way…
Dear Artist, The minaret calls five times a day: dawn, noon, mid afternoon, sundown and dinner. Here in Tunis it’s the eighth day of Ramadan and most good Moslems are fasting. Apart from the ideas of purification charity and sobriety,…
Dear Artist, At the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt there’s a spectacular collection of Soviet Art. Massive oil paintings, posters, grandiose architectural renderings, and soviet propaganda films. My friends and I were simply blown away — I couldn’t wait to plunk…
Dear Artist, I’m laptopping you today from Goethe’s chair. I’m in his “poetry room” here in his family home in Frankfurt. The five-story building, leaning out over a street called Grosser Hirschgraben, was restored after WW2. The surrounding buildings are…
Dear Artist, Near the entrance to Roberts Bay on Lake Joseph there are three small islands known as Faith, Hope and Charity. Right now I’m floating nearby in a borrowed ’89 Donzi. It’s making me think about the artist who…
Dear Artist, On Roberts Bay on Lake Joseph in Ontario’s cottage country, there’s hardly a soul to be seen. The water-skis, the sea-doos and the ski-jumps have all been put away. Most people’s boats are now hauled for winter and…
Dear Artist, Today, I’d like to mention a little business that I’ve been playing with since I was a kid. It surprised me recently to find that a group of artists in my studio hadn’t heard of it. It’s called…
Dear Artist, Most people have heard about restless leg syndrome. That’s where the legs insist on moving — jiggling, particularly at night when you should be sleeping. Apparently 15% of the population has it — most of them middle-aged women.…
Dear Artist, Yesterday, I received an email from Bruce Wilcox of Denver, USA. I’ve included his full letter here, but here’s part of it: “As we move to the end of the Piscean Age, the dynamics of living creatively are…