Off Path Discoveries

After the Rockwell Museum, Michal, Jeff and I set out for a couple of galleries near where we were staying. The Saint Francis Gallery was our first stop. The door was open but the lights were out and no one home. Sunlight was streaming in through the stained glass windows of this former church though—enough to get a good gander of most of the artwork. We wandered about. I expected the owner to walk in at any moment but no.

Michael Rousseau—Absinthe Still Life

They've a tremendous and wildly varied collection. The current exhibit is entitled Magical Realism.

Michael Rousseau had a few creepy-cool Hitchcockian paintings on display, including this absinthe still life.

Linda Baker-Cimini

Linda Baker-Cimini—LOVED her drawings! Her odd creatures and people spoke to me in a kindred spirit-y kind of way. I just read her bio and, ya know, she sounds like someone I should know.

Mary Carol Rudin—I am a total sucker for paintings of the sky. The wild blue yonder in all its incarnations (grey and scary included) fascinate me endlessly. The bestest part of my carnival years was when we’d play in-the-middle-of-nowhere MidWest locales. There were no tall buildings, no obscenely homely strip malls, NADA for miles and miles and miles. Yup, all corn fields which meant that the heavens were center stage all the time. Loved that!

Mary Carol Rudin

Check out Casey Krawczyk's website. That first piece, Insoluble or That Delicate Place In Between (Oil on Linen | 40”x27”) was on display. Mega dramatic, gorgeously rendered, mesmerizing—Shakespearean in tone.

We then moved on to Ozzies Glass Gallery  also in South Lee. Sadly, he was also closed.

As it turns out, both galleries are only open at the weekend. This is the height of the tourist season in Berkshire-land but South Lee must be so far off the excursionist path that being open on a Tuesday just doesn’t make solid financial sense—unfortunately for me. OK, maybe this was fortunate as I SO would’ve bought one of Mister Ozner'’s gorgeous turtles (at least) and one of the slim spiral bound volumes of Linda Baker-Cimini’s drawings.

We curtailed our gallery hopping in favor of a stop in at this spectacularly dive-ish looking bar. Nota bene, the joint’s so minimal, such a hole in the wall, that it doesn’t even have a name or a signage. How did we know about it? Michal, I believe, has honky tonk radar. Not a bad place though I doubt very much that I could get a clever, chi chi cocktail or a plate of Truffled Gorgonzola Fries or a chickpea burger.

Ah well, can’t have everything all the time, now can I? *sigh*