January 15, 2007
The Art And Life Of Vincent Van Gogh -
lecture and slide show By local artist and writer, Marlene Aron
"Sojourn," site-specific floor and wall installation by Marlene Aron
Marlene Aron is an artist, lecturer, and published poet. She received a Master of Fine Arts from California College of the Arts. In 1972 she began the study of Sufism and was initiated into the Sufi Islamia Ruhaniat Society in 1973. Marlene has had solo exhibitions at Carnegie Mellon University, The Butler Institute of American Art, Galerie de Sfinx in The Hague, the Ahda Artzt Gallery in New York City, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the McDonough Museum of Art in Youngstown, Ohio. All her works — whether objects held in the hand, hung on the wall, or created as time- and site-specific environmental installations — are a fine and meticulous layering of earth, mulch, bark, wax, sawdust, oak galls, paint, cocoa bean hulls, clay, and cloves.
January 29, 2007
Voices Emerging from Trauma into Creative Works
by Susan Parker, author of Tumbling After: Pedaling Like Crazy After Life goes Downhill
Susan Parker writes a weekly column for The Berkeley Daily Planet and has also written essays for the San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and Salon.com.
An award-winning freelance writer and outdoor enthusiast, Susan is the author of "Tumbling After: Pedaling Like Crazy After Life Goes Downhill," pub 2002, a memoir that tells the story of how her life changed in a split second when a freak cycling accident in 1994 left her husband, Ralph, permanently paralyzed below the shoulders. In this memoir devoid of self-pity and told with candor and wry humor, Suzy chronicles the transformation of her household into an oddball family of caretakers. One reviewer writes: "This astonishing memoir, devoid of self-pity and told with breathtaking candor and a wry sense of humor, is an inspiring journey that is ultimately a story of survival and second chances-and the unexpected joy and love that can grow out of grief if given the slightest encouragement." Ralph passed away last September at age 67.
Every week Suzy writes a column in "The Berkeley Daily Planet" that further explores her life. She has been published in the "San Francisco Chronicle," "Washington Post," "Chicago Tribune," "San Jose Mercury News," "The Sun," "Hope," the "Chattahoochee Review," "Salon.com," and "ZYZZYVA." Her commentaries have aired on NPR's "Morning Edition" and KQED's "Perspectives." She is a winner of the Richard J. Margolis National Literary Award, the California Independent Newspapers' Writer Prize and the Best of the West Award for most outstanding columnist in a daily newspaper west of the Mississippi. The movie rights to "Tumbling After," have been optioned by HBO.
A 9-week Memoir Writing Class with Suzy via WRITING SALON, co-taught with Alison Luterman, Class starts, Jan. 30, 2007, in Bernal Heights)
