Remembering "Rites of Passage" Gallery

The Morrigan prepares for Battle!

Found these great old photos of myself invoking Fire at the Gallery I had in Berkeley, California. Being a double Leo, I've always had a thing for fire.  And a lot of great photos of other people.   What a great group of people I knew there.....thanks to all for the memories!  They say "if you build it they will come" and it was so very true - create the space for magic to happen, and it will.  Make the Circle sacred, and all the more so.  ***

Evelie Posche

 

Flynt Garner

The God and the Goddess for Beltane

 

The famous Snake Dance

 

Arjuna Blessing the Space with Tuva singing

 

Serene Zloof dancing with Kali and with Fire

 

Blessing of the Priestesses

Ann Waters as Sophia holding the Mirror of Self

***I've often thought of opening a gallery again, here in Tucson, especially since Tucson's "art district" is diminishing to just about nothing, along with most American cities, thanks to gentrification, "real estate" investment, and a relatively hostile society that tends to think of the arts as unimportant, if not suspect, and if they should be around at all they should color coordinate with the sofa, or sound good on a Hallmark card.  Alas, I can't afford to do it any longer.

I have many times  ranted about the importance of low rent districts, and cultural creatives.  There would not have been Modernism and Post-Modernism if there hadn't been cheap warehouse in Soho.  There would not have been the Visionary Arts Movement, the Summer of Love, and the Beat Poets movement if there hadn't been cheap rent in Haight Ashbury.  There would not have been a genre of poetry, art, and music that has profoundly impacted American culture  if there hadn't been cheap rent and coffee houses in the Village.  There probably would not have been Impressionism if their hadn't been The Left Banke.  These were places where creative people could come, create and share ideas, show their work, perform, speak, and they could still eat.  Without cheap rent...........would there have been a Rothko, or a Seurat, or Bob Dylan, or Alan Ginsburg, or Pete Seeger, or..................?


The fact is, all of this is changing in our urban centers.  The arts are being de-centralized, and even more trivialized (I like to call it "Cultural Soul Loss").............because there are so few spaces where people can live, work, or show.  It's no secret that innovative arts (innovators in general) usually don't "sell".  And most non-commercial  galleries generally don't make money................well, I see I'm ranting again.  I wrote an article about this when the Muse Community Arts Center (Requiem for the Muse)     was destroyed 10 years ago, to become condos.