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| Paintings
of the First Water | Good Vibrations | Songs for Old Folks |
Social Uproar, watercolor
and pencil, 24 x 30 inches
Sin Cycle, watercolor and ink, 20 x 27 inches
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Paintings of the First Water
Watercolor is the stepchild of the art world—as déclassé
as pastels, lacking the kitschy chic of bottlecap sculpture, the mere mention
of the medium calls to mind Hallmark sentimentality and syrupy “say it
with flowers” commercialism. But as many an aspiring watercolorist has
discovered, its apparent simplicity is deceptive. The paint soaks immediately
into paper, injecting a quality of arbitrariness into the work and making
mistakes nearly impossible to fix. It dries fast, but not permanently—you
can’t paint over it the way you can with oils. Apply too much, and you
don’t get depth—just wrinkled paper. “I didn’t realize the difficulty—doing
a watercolor painting’s like building a house,” says Ed Berkise. “Being
a watercolor painter has made me a better oil painter.”
A student of Staats Fasoldt at the Woodstock School of
Art, Berkise took up watercolors about six years ago, attacking the new
medium with the same passion he brings to his fabric import business, and
drawing from the many influences he encounters in his travels. His work
takes him frequently to the Pacific rim, and the Asian influence is evident
in two of his most successful pieces, “Terrorists” and “Winter’s Coming.”
The latter is strongly reminiscent of winter in the Catskills, though painted
with Japanese attention to contrast and line. It’s painted from a scene
in a book, but Berkise says it reminds him of the Japanese and Korean winters.
“Sometimes in the mountains in Korea, it’s a lot like Woodstock.”
A European influence is obvious in “Woman In Venice,”
and several colorful pieces, such as “Sin Cycle” and “Social Uproar,” veer
toward the abstract. Yet another style is explored in a series of silhouette
paintings, eerie scenes in charcoal and sumi ink that suggest sinister
nighttime activities. These are Berkise’s latest creations, and he plans
to experiment further in this direction. “I’m not an accomplished painter,”
he says. “I’m just scratching the surface. I can go really far with this—I
think.” As a measure of his passion for paints, Berkise says he’s playing
less golf so he can paint more.
Despite his self-depreciatory manner, Berkise’s work
shows a mature sensibility and a facile grasp of an elusive medium. His
first show in the area may be viewed through February at the Half Moon
Studio, above Cardbuck at 67 Partition Street in Saugerties. The studio
is a cozy second-floor space with benches and chairs, and a fine view of
what the proprietors call “Saugerties’ Times Square.” For more information,
call 246-8262 or 246-0553. |
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Good Vibrations
“Hi, I’m here to interview you about the psychic fair.”
“Yes, I know.”
No, that’s not really how the conversation went, and
we didn’t communicate by telepathy, either. Nevertheless, Carole White
and Cherie Lee, co-owners of the Woodstock crystal shop Pieces Of Mine,
are very serious about their upcoming psychic fair, one of several they
sponsor each year at the Woodstock Town Hall. And they have their share
of stories to tell. Like not being able to burn sage, a purifying herb,
during the fair, because it filters into the town court, which is in the
same building, and smells like marijuana. Or the time, a couple winters
ago, when everyone was worried the fair would be snowed out. “I don’t care
if it snows all week,” said |
 
Examples of auric photography |
Lee, “as long as it doesn’t
snow Saturday.” Sure enough, it snowed Monday through Friday, stopped,
and then snowed Sunday. The fair went on, White recalls, “with snow drifts
up to our hips.”
The first fair this year, scheduled for February 20,
will combine psychic readings with healing arts. It will feature psychic
astrologers, tarot readers, certified mediums from the Trinity Temple of
the Holy Spirit in Albany, Reiki practitioners, chiropractors, purveyors
of crystals and magnets, and auric photography. White had a dream
they were going to get a palm reader, but that hasn’t happened yet. Lee
and White take pains to keep the fair pure. They turn away 50 to 75 psychics
each year, selecting only those who not only give you good information,
but guide you in interpreting and applying it to your life. It’s not about
entertainment, White and Lee say; it’s about spiritual growth and healing.
The organizers don’t charge admission, because they don’t want toturn the
fair into a money-making event. And, says White, “We won’t hold our psychic
fair if there aren’t four primary anchors of light in our readers.” I take
it that’s sort of like not taking the band on tour without a solid rhythm
section.
Pieces of Mine is at 7 Maple Lane in Woodstock, behind
Bread Alone. The psychic fair will take place Saturday, February 20, at
the Woodstock Town Hall, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Readings are $15. Don’t
worry, it won’t snow. |
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Jay Mankita, not just for
kids anymore |
Songs for Old Folks
Jay Mankita doesn’t want to be known as a children’s performer.
Or a folk singer. He doesn’t do topical songs. And he doesn’t want to raise
people’s expectations too high. Matter of fact, Mankita pretty much edited
this article in the course of our interview, following every other sentence
with the admonition, “Don’t write that.” He’s tougher than anybody in the
Chronogram editorial offices.
A professional musician for over a decade, Mankita has
been called one of the half-dozen best songwriters around by Pete Seeger,
for whom he’s opened shows. He’s also opened for David Bromberg, Paul Winter,
Leon Russell and Christine Lavin, and has performed at the Clearwater and
Falcon Ridge F*lk Festivals. He currently plays 150 to 200 gigs a year,
most of them for very—um—select audiences, due to one of those topics we
can’t discuss. (“The less you say about what I do for kids, the better,”
says Mankita. “I don’t want kids to come.” Okay.)
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Seriously, Father Guido
Mankita says the school auditorium and library circuit has been very, very
good to him. Besides paying the bills, it’s taught him a lot. Like how
to handle large, fidgety crowds. How to tailor each concert to a specific
audience, and how to form, maintain and gently end a relationship with
that audience. But he’s missed playing for adults—which he used to do a
lot, we hasten to emphasize—and that’s why he’s looking eagerly forward
to his upcoming performance with Katy Taylor and Amy Fradon Friday, February
19, at the Fiddler’s Green Coffee House in the Methodist Church Hall, in
Hyde Park. Fradon, formerly of Amy & Leslie, will also do a couple
songs of her own, though she doesn’t know that yet. If you see her, you
might mention it.
Jay has two tapes out, and plans a CD for this year.
His first, eponymously titled tape is for general audiences—that was before
he hit the Graham Cracker circuit big-time—and his second, titled The Day
The Library Went Wild!, is for kids. The big secret is, I enjoyed them
equally. Both tilt toward environmentalism, and both employ a humor and
simplicity reminiscent of Jonathan Richman (but Mankita has a better voice).
Seeger’s right, he is a gifted songwriter, blending blues, jazz, ragtime
and traditional influences into memorable, emotionally-charged songs with
a message (just don’t call them folk songs). You can also expect a few
stories, and some nice, tight three-part harmonies, thanks to Taylor and
Fradon. It should be a good time for all. Just leave the kids at home.
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