Rebecca Andre (Followed by Esther de Jong, Sharon Israel, Dave Kearney & Gary Mead)
The five poets who will present on Friday, October 17th at Orphic Verses: An Evening of Poetry at the Orphic Gallery at the Roxbury Corner Store starting at 7 pm combine a diverse variety of backgrounds and experience in other artistic pursuits with their poetic inspirations but all share an intense relationship- with nature especially as manifested in the Catskill Mountains.
Rebecca Andre
Rebecca Andre, transplanted here from Bucks County PA a little over a year ago, runs two businesses here in the Catskills: an organic tea business and a photography and design business. She moonlights as a writer on the side, writing for websites, blogs and product descriptions. Since the move here with her husband and daughter, she has been inspired by her surroundings to delve back into the art of writing, focusing for now on the writing and reading of poetry. Frequenting the Open Mic on Tuesday nights at the Catamount, where the musicians have graciously made a place for poetry, her style is influenced by songwriting, often telling a story.
Sharon Israel
Sharon Israel, a poet and singer originally from Brooklyn, N.Y., now lives full-time in the Catskills. A past recipient of Brooklyn College’s Leonard B. Hecht Poetry Explication award, Sharon has studied poetry with Robert Pinsky, Henri Cole, Daisy Fried, Nick Flynn, Lee Slonimsky and Lynn Domina. Her poetry most recently appeared in the Journal of the American Liszt Society, Chronogram and Greendoor magazines and she has read her poetry at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Mass., Skidmore College, and in several New York City and Catskill venues. In 2013, Sharon was featured poet on Cabaradio, a live variety show presented by the Pine Hill Community Center and broadcast live on WIOX radio in Roxbury.
Sharon’s recent collaborative work included participation in a juried exhibit of poetry and photography entitled “Be Mine Forever” at the Alliance Gallery in Narrowsburg, NY, and in a mutually-inspired show, “In Flight,” presented at the Orphic Gallery, featuring Sharon’s poetry, mosaics by artist Jeanne Ellsworth, and a digital soundscape by composer Robert Cucinotta. Sharon also presented “An Ekphrastic Afternoon,” at the Mural On Main Gallery in Hobart, N.Y, reading her poetry inspired by an art show of sculpture and paintings. Sharon hosts a month poetry show on WIOX Community Radio.
In addition to her work as a development professional in the non-profit world for over two decades, Sharon was a reporter for Courier-Life publications in NYC and Women’s E News and was the music critic and arts reporter for the late, lamented Brooklyn Phoenix. Sharon, as a lyric soprano, was featured singer at the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, Barge Music in Brooklyn, Federal Hall, Donnell Library and the New York City Bar Association concert series in Manhattan, and at the Purchase Conservatory of Music, to cite some examples, and she has premiered several works by her husband Robert Cucinotta in several New York concert venues, on WBAI radio in New York and at the Open Eye Theater in Margaretville, NY.
Esther de Jong
Born in the Netherlands, Esther de Jong grew up in the small town of Maassluis. In 1998 she began her career as a professional model and traveled the globe. Enchanted with both the mystery of the natural world and the richness found in the cities and artworks of mankind, Esther discovered her passion for painting and poetry.
While living in France and Spain, she decided to move to New York in 2004 and attend the National Academy of Art and Design where she studied painting with Sam Adoquei.
The lyrical images Esther creates pursue a purely visual version of Poetic Realism. She tells stories in pictures where heightened elements from the natural world reflect a dreamy version of an accentuated veiled reality.
“My work is always born from a reference of Nature, transcending into an experience caught between the physical and the imagined and vibrating with poetic expression. My search is for the spirit of Poetry, which can always be found in the forms beyond mere present appearance.”
One summer, Esther journeyed from New York City to the Catskill Mountains. Being drawn by the tapestry of lush beauty that inspired people such as Washington Irving, Thomas Cole, Frederic Church and William Cullen Bryant, she made it her home. Esther resides there with her daughter, and as a passionate advocate for the area she helps others realize their aesthetic vision for a home in the blue mountains of the Catskills.
Today, Esther de Jong continues to travel on modeling assignments, works as a real estate sales agent for CB Timberland Properties and roams the forests, waters and fields of the Catskill Mountains and Hudson River Valley, and paints her visions and writes her poems.
Dave Kearney
Dave Kearney got his first guitar = a Sears Silvertone, with hula dancers on it - from his father when he was nine years old. By age fourteen he was playing at USO shows in the Maryland/Virginia/DC area. After his family relocated to the mid-west, he became a founding member of the regional favorite Reed Street opening for national acts including The Hollies,Ted Nugent and The Amboy Dukes, Steppenwolf, Seals and Croft, and Mitch Ryder and The Detroit Wheels. Then in 1971 he returned to Baltimore to form the alt-country band " Backslider." This group played concerts, clubs and festivals from Delaware to Key West, opening for John Prine, Pure Prarie League, Asleep At The Wheel, and Ronnie Milsap. In both of these bands, Dave was the primary songwriter, and his songs have been recorded by Del McCoury and other Nashville artists. Dave is currently a resident of Woodstock NY.
Gary Mead
Trees talk to Gary Mead. All kinds of trees. Even, and maybe especially, the ones that might be overlooked by other woodworkers. These are old trees, huge trees--one can imagine their roots going back to the beginning of time. As he walks underneath towering canopies, or beside fallen trunks on the forest floor, touching the cool dry bark and breathing in the soothing scents of wood, Mead hears a voice, gets a vision, just knows from deep within his soul what he can do to resurrect them for lifetimes to come. Perhaps because he was born and raised on a dairy farm in New Kingston, NY, the spirit of the Catskill mountains runs deep within him. After a childhood spent dairy farming, Mead taught himself the artistry of woodworking.
Now, the spirit is made manifest in his furniture and sculptures--works of art, really--crafted from the local butternut, soft maple, red beechnut, pine, birch, and hemlocks that he loves. Mead loves all wood, even that bound for the scrap heap. There’s no such thing as imperfection. Notches, knots, wrinkles--all are appreciated. He remembers exactly where every tree comes from, labelling every board: Mill Brook, Hubbel Hill, Shokan, Keany Hollow. He keeps a diary for each piece, too, recording the time, date, and the process that went into the composition. Sometimes he’s inspired to write a poem about the work. Framed copies hang on the walls of his gallery alongside the finished products.