Newsletter Two; January 17, 2021

 In this newsletter, our second, Gretchen Butler, an artist living in Sonoma, shares her origins of becoming an artist, going back to her first drawing, 50 years ago, which began her path. In her essay, " Art Roundup 2021”, her art jumps off the page and changes since her children were toddlers to adults and her retirement from special education. I love her conclusion which states that at age 77, she still needs deadlines to figure it all out and evolve as the "witchy self-critic becomes friends with her inner time keeper."

Marlene Shigekawa, a writer and documentary film maker, describes in her essay, "Stories and Moving Pictures," her childhood in Anaheim filled with astonishment over seeing her drawings in her elementary school classroom hanging with other drawings. Suddenly, "this black-haired girl “appeared on the wall where many blonde-haired ,blue-eyed classmates could see her." What did it mean for Marlene to become visible as a Japanese American girl to her growth as a writer and filmmaker to the point where she would eventually explore her origins in the Japanese American incarceration experience?
 https://www.marleneshigekawa.com/

As always,  a huge thank you to the technical and creative assistance of Rebecca Mikosz, who helps put our newsletter together. I could not do it without her!!

Feel free to comment on both these essays. It allows them to live more broadly off the page.