Sunday, April 28, 2024

An Abundant Life - I Will Remember This Dream Of Gentleness

When I was preparing to open the new show at YES Gallery, I had originally planned for it to be sometime in late January or early February, but my schedule was so busy during that time and the time just before and after that when I looked at the calendar and thought about what would really give me enough time to enjoy curating and recreating the space and design in the gallery, it seemed that I'd need to wait until least March. I was also waiting to hear from an Artist whose work I had discussed having as the focus for this show, and he was away for a while and when he returned, and with my schedule still very full, it seemed like it would be better to wait until April. 

Around the time that I was trying to plan I heard from one of the Artists who had been visiting the gallery and the events on a regular basis that he had a video installation he was wondering if I'd be interested in viewing. When he described it I thought it would be something that I'd really want to have in the gallery, and when I saw it I knew that I did. It's just the kind of interesting, experimental, unique, fun and also very layered in nuance. When you watch it, if you don't know what you're watching, it can draw you in to try to figure it out and keep you watching and enjoying and thinking.

The same Artist with the video had also said that his girlfriend had a band that would be interested in discussing performing if I had an opening for them, and when I listened to the link he sent me, I said yes immediately. A few months before that an Artist from Halifax, Nova Scotia who is also a Chef had contacted me to ask if I'd be interested in showing his work at the gallery, and when I saw his work I said yes immediately to that too. When I mentioned that Artist and his work to Chef Seadon Shouse at Halifax Restaurant in Hoboken, he offered to attend and bring some boards of his wonderful Artisanal Charcuterie with him. The Artist who I had been waiting to hear from originally did not get his work to me in time for April, but with all of these wonderful people who were appearing and bringing so many gifts and blessings of their beautiful and inspiring work, the gallery was going to be filled to overflowing with beautiful and special new things to enjoy.

As I began to curate, I decided to give Alberte Bernier the focus this time around. I had been wanting to do that for some time, and with the season beginning to get warmer and the opening being moved until late April, it seemed the perfect time to have her vibrantly colored pieces in the windows and sprinkled throughout the gallery in prominent places. The name of the show as always is from one of my own poems, this one from a piece that I had written a number of years ago that I started reworking in December. It had originally been a love poem, and as I reworked it the love of life, as my Grandmother would say, began to shine through instead along with the faith that brings a deeper feeling of love and peace that is lasting. Originally titled "You" the title is now "In Your Presence" and the poem itself is this:

"I will remember this dream of gentleness
When the day comes on full and rushes in
You're here with me now and will be again
When I wake up
Your touch and your breath
Give life
And I am completed
And I have found peace
Here with you"


"I Will Remember This Dream Of Gentleness"
At YES Gallery
408 6th Street
Hoboken, New Jersey




Blessings,

Jannie Susan
 

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