A Collaborative Exhibit

by Painter Marco

Montanariand

Poet Elaine Handley

Curated by Judith Belt-Smithartsmithworld.com

Welcome to the multi media enhanced exhibition eBook for the collaborative exhibit Creating The Third Mind. This is a free digital edition and is comprised of artist and poet statements, all text, images and poems from the exhibit, recorded poems and examples of a painting in progress. The participatory exhibit can be viewed at artsmithworld.com.

For inquiries, questions or comments, please email me: curator@artsmithworld.com.

Preface

About The Collaboration

The CuratorJudith Belt-Smith

The PainterMarco Montanari

The PoetElaine Handley

About The Collaboration

A Painter and Poet Collaborate

This collaboration came about when as friends and artists Elaine Handley and Marco Montanari realized that they were separately working on pieces about war. Marco’s inspiration came when he encountered Henri Moore’s Fallen Warrior sculptures. The stories of her students who had recently returned from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars propelled Elaine to explore her own feelings about war in her poetry.

They decided to have a “conversation” about war through their art: Marco painted his responses to some of Elaine’s poetry, and Elaine wrote poetry in response to some of Marco’s paintings. They extended their conversation to topics other than war. Some of the results of this rich and complex intellectual and emotional experience is what you see here.

We invite you, the viewer, the reader, into this alchemy of collaboration, which ideally results in what writer and painter William Burroughs called The Third Mind--”from the confluence of the two art forms something new, or other, emerges.”

The CuratorCreating The Third Mind is an interactive, collaborative and participatory exhibit curated by me, Judith Belt-Smith. I hold a Bachelor of Arts degree with a concentration in Curatorial Practice and Museum Studies. Currently I am completing my final project for my Master of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Curatorial Practice and Museum Education at the School for Graduate Studies, State University of New York Empire State College. The focus of the project is to present an exhibit that is diverse in nature and will engage the viewer to form his or her own visual and written imagery in response to what is displayed. I feel that having the ability to engage and interact with many forms of technology and to visit a web site frequently, gives the viewer a stronger interest in learning.

Marco Montanari is an accomplished artist residing in Boulder, Colorado. In the early 90’s while living in Saratoga Springs, NY, Montanari developed a process of sculpting wax on a wood lathe that he turned into luminaries. In 2000 he began experimenting with using these techniques in encaustic painting and as a result has produced a body of work that has been exhibited in galleries across the country.

Montanari uses paraffin instead of the customary beeswax, which can tint pigments. He has developed a specially blended wax-additive base that provides him with greater flexibility; he’s able to achieve a wide range of textures, faux finishes, engraved and sculpted effects. The wax is applied with hot styluses, hot brushes and irons, air guns and wax on wax appliqué. It is laid on in delicate, thinly polished glazes or as heavy encrusted impastos. He carves, molds, shapes, and scrapes, building high and low reliefs. His work is finished with four layers of clear acrylic.

The paintings for this exhibit are all encaustic and some use the ancient image of the warrior’s shield to inform the painter’s thinking about the concept of “warrior.”

The Painter

Montanari explores how the ancient image of a warrior’s shield speaks to us of war, and also how the concept of warrior can go beyond its attachment to war. He investigates the various ways individuals assume a warrior-like perspective in the more spiritual aspects of their daily lives.

The PoetElaine Handley is a Professor at the State University of New York Empire State College in Saratoga Springs, NY and is an award winning poet, whose work has been published in various journals and books. In her collaboration with Marco Montanari she uses the tradition of “ekphrasis,” poetic language to write about art. This type of writing creates visual imagery for the reader.

Many of Handley’s recent poems have to do with war, a subject she began to explore particularly from a woman’s perspective. Realizing that for centuries women, in their roles as mothers and wives, know intimately the cost of war, she has been working to give voice to these insights.

The Artistic Process

Encaustic Painting

&

Ekphrasis

Encaustic PaintingEncaustic painting is an ancient art form. The word “encaustic” comes from the Greek word encaustikos, meaning “to burn in,” referring to the process of using molten wax. Initially the Greeks used an encaustic process as a way to make their ships watertight; they later found that the wax could be pigmented, which led to paintings on the hulls. In the Iliad when Homer describes the “painted ships” of the Greeks that sailed to Troy, he was referring to the encaustic art on the hulls. Predating the Greeks, the Egyptians used encaustic painting as a way to honor their dead with the famous Fayum portraits painted in wax on tombs in Roman Egypt around 100-350 A.D. Encaustic art is durable to both weather and time, and many examples are found in museums around the world. Encaustic painting seems to have mostly disappeared until it was revived by Jasper Johns in the 1950s, who used it most notably in his target and flag paintings.

Encaustic paint is usually made from beeswax, damar resin, and pigment and makes a painting richly textured, giving it a three-dimensional quality.

EkphrasisEkphrasis uses poetic language to write about art, an ancient tradition that exists in every known culture. Homer’s description of Achilles’ shield in Book 18 of the Iliad helped establish the ekphrastic tradition. The original goal of this literary form was to create the experience of a work of art for the reader so it could be imagined. In the Phaedrus Plato observed that when paintings and poetry are combined they create a kind of intelligence that talks to us.A famous example of ekphrasis is Keat’s “Ode to a Grecian Urn,” a poem in which the poet reflects upon the scenes depicted on ancient pottery. Unlike Homer, Keats goes beyond description and meditates on the power of art to create timeless depictions, but mourns the fact that the scenes are frozen in time: the young lovers about to kiss will never consummate their love. The immutable aspect of art is held up to the very mutable aspect of living and all the joy and heartbreak.This shift of the poet interpreting and entering into a work of art reflects a transformation in the genre of ekphrasis. When we read Anne Sexton’s poem “The Starry Night” based on Van Gogh’s painting of the same name, we enter the mind of the poet who is feeling alienation and agitation as she studies the painting. This is ultimately a poem about her suicidal ideation, and she perceives and addresses Van Gogh’s sky as representing a glorious death. So the poem is both about her emotional state and what the painting evokes for her with its wild, luminescent sky, as much as it is about expressing what aspects constitute the painting. She brings her own story to inform the art.

When we view art we bring our lived experience, our humanity, as the means by which to understand the work. Poetry articulates this. As William Burroughs wrote, a kind of synergy is created: the combination of writing and visual art activates "The Third Mind."

The Exhibit

Collaborative

Participatory

Interactive

"DISMANTLED TO THE BLOOD MOON - I"2013

Encaustic paint on board with gold, bronze washes & dustings36” X 30”

Painting inspired by Elaine Handley’s poem SECURING THE PERIMETER

SECURING THE PERIMETER

IOnce I loved a manWho only secured an invisible perimeter,heart razor-wired shutwandering eye on patrol. I waited for him, hoping to dismantlewhat ticked inside himtrying to navigatethe concussion of his moods, to ignore his dereliction of duties. What did I know of war, but what I tastedon his lips?

IIIf you don’t tell it, maybe you didn’t see it.If you don’t tell it, maybe you didn’t feel it.If you don’t tell it, maybe you didn’t do it.If you don’t tell it, maybe you can forget. Maybe the war will stop living in your gut,marching to the flat knock of your heart. IIIWho counts the bodiesafter war is over? How long does friendly fire last? Who listensto children crying in their bedsmissing fathersalready home? IVHe wears memories like skinso close we are seconds away from the flash.

VThe dead do not need to sit at table with us;they have their own places to be.We might stop feeding the children destruction with every meal. And no, dear, no wine for me, the color of blood. VIHe lives in no woman’s land, a boundarybetween dying and dying. Between the wartorn raggedness of us and what we planned. VII Were Adam and Eve this lonely? Did they make love in the light Of the blood moon?Did she lie awake listening to his breathing, patrolling the shadowlandsof his dreams?

Did Adam stalk the perimeter of the garden while Eve watched, brushing away the scorpions crawling toward her in the unforgiving sun?

Poem by Elaine HandleyInspired the painting by Marco Montanari“Dismantled To The Blood Moon - I”

"WARRIOR'S SHIELD OF THE INNOCENCE - I"2012

Encaustic Paint on board with gold, silver, bronze dustings & washes18” X 18”

Poem CIVIL WAR: GREECE 1947 by Elaine Handley

Inspired by Marco Montanari’s “SPIRITUAL WARRIOR SHIELD”

CIVIL WAR: GREECE 1947 Hungry, children roam ragged fields:shorn heads, empty eyes, thin legs running through seasoned grasseswhile vowels of bird song lute the air.War stunned and wild the children pause in vacant lotsto build crude cages from sticks, quarrelingamong themselves, cawing taunts. Craving trees,shade, firewood, a cool place to rest, a littleprotection: children, birds, all who will be cold in winter. They cavort on baked earth with ravaged anemonesin fields as empty as their lives, the cages, sticks and strings, the knock of delicate rib cages,hollow bellies. One triumphant child hoists a small found tree:shrine of hope to the multitude who follow. They plant the tree, smear brancheswith lime juice and sap, and lie down in shabbygrasses, their heads bobbing like sparrows hunting seed.

Then still as rocks the children whistle calls they’ve listened toin the near still mornings after grenades, firefights, afterthe music of artillery: plover and lark, thrush and finch, and watch the lone tree, where a bird lights,tired, suddenly trapped by its feeton the sticky branch. Terrified the caught birdmute, wildly flaps its wingsuntil leaped upon by screeching childrenwho wring its neck and devour it.  Poem by Elaine Handley

Inspired by Marco Montanari’s painting “SPIRITUAL WARRIOR SHIELD”

"My Father's Helping Hand - I"2013

Encaustic paint on board with gold, bronze washes & dustings24” X 21”

Painting inspired by Elaine Handley’s poem OUT OF HAND

OUT OF HAND 1Their fluttery needs, their choking insistence, too powerful for words, gestures of desire, insatiable. 2The fingers more nimble than the brain,they take flight or become nests on a lap:their instincts all their ownto seize a pen write a poemcradle an egg pluck a weedbrush back hair stir a cake,slap a cheek smash a platetear a hole poke an eyemend a sock button a shirtclutch grab snatch griptrace the boundaries of a kisshang dumbly from the wrists.

3Like mouths they are alwayshungry, and sometimes the palmsare lonely as the sky, fingers as fastand nervous as moths. 4Hers neatly folded, quiet,like the still wingsof a shot bird. Poem by Elaine Handley

Inspired Marco Montanari’s painting “MY FATHER’S HELPING HAND - I”

"Torn to the Fabric - Truth In The Healing I"2015

Encaustic paint on board with gold, bronze washes & dusting32” X 24”

In collaboration with Elaine Handley’s poem PRAISE SONG

PRAISE SONG We are tattered bits of clothlooking for patternin the dependable void. At dusk, when fevers risecolors are more beautiful:the day rinsed of its complaints,weariness gentling us.

Gray of rock or guns.Startle of red bird in pineor blood in ripe grass.Golden sunglitter on sandor dazzle of bombs.Blue Giotto snow or planeless sky.Fiery end, stars ignitedin blackest night.

Mud, bamboo, diamonds, steel,gold, bolts of fabric, paper and pen.Who is to say what is more usefulor what feeds us best? We have tools: eyes to watch, handsto soothe, our minds to fasten tobreath, our breath to words, to curse,to praiseour ragged world. We have our work: stitching passion to another’s. Witness how well we quilt ourselvesinto something usefulfrom singulardesolation.  Poem by Elaine Handley

In collaboration with Marco Montanari’s painting“Torn To The Fabric - Truth In The Healing - I”

"Breakthrough Moment - Blue Sky Within The Turmoil - I"

2015Encaustic painting on board with gold, bronze washes & dustings

12” X 12”In collaboration with Elaine Handley’s poem

Now I pitch myself against the darkness to come

Now I pitch myself against the darkness to come Washed up from muddy nights of regretsthe brittle light of noon hidesnothing, and I carry the bouquet of all my uncertainty like a torch.The days, the hours of what isComing, and memory and desire now jammed together in a bodythat is not the real estate I had in mind, but it is the onlyhome I own. I try to fashion the lossesinto trinkets that jinglemy defiance, that I will tossinto the crowd. The distant view is sobering and I am no clairvoyant--but I spit on the safe brightnessof expectation.

The disasters will come and this waitinggrows softer like my body does,more weighted, the locus a balancemore knowable and ridiculous. May the end be hilarious,the dancing so ragged and extreme.The darkness owns nobody,and when you are not looking I will pitch myself thereagainst the darkness and findsatisfaction, no pleasure, insurprising you all. Poem by Elaine Handley

In collaboration with Marco Montanari’s painting “BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT - BLUE SKY WITHIN THE TURMOIL - I”

"ENTERING A CONTRARY MOON - I"2011

Encaustic paint on board with gold, bronze washes & dustingsPainting inspired poem ENTERING A CONTRARY MOON

by Elaine Handley

ENTERING A CONTRARY MOON Enter the contrary moon.See how it tumbles,bright scrape in the sky turning and turning

its measured dervish way.Its silvered light milk we drink.Its cycles what we are made of,how we live. To be contrary is to be truestto ourselves, all clash and remedy:what you are Sunday is not what you are Tuesday. Impulsesflick like leaves in wind; what you see gets cloudedand then emergesbright and clean again.

Let the moon tumblein its wanton wayand let us live our contrary livesconfused and laughingat how we contradictthe alchemy of light and dark,belief and action, thinkingwe confound the ellipse of life,but we cannot, no more than the gold stainof moon can eraseits corona from the sky. Poem by Elaine Handley Inspired by Marco Montanari’s painting “Entering A Contrary Moon – I”

"DARK MERGING TO LIGHT - I"2012

Encaustic paint on board with gold, bronze washes & dustings36” X 30”

In collaboration with Elaine Handley’s poem In The Parking Lot, Before Work

IN THE PARKING LOT, BEFORE WORK Colorless skycold in its blue, concrete waysurrounds the car, pressingat the windows, filling in edges. There is just enough amniotic warmthto make me stay, cloistered.I close my eyes to the whisper of fatigue,the litany of waiting duties. On the seat next to mepile of too many books,bag crammed with papers,unruly, the way leaves are before a storm.I sit heavy and dumb. The radio suddenly offersPei Jesumatins from somewhere beyondthe icy parking lot,

filling the car with chromatic vowels prism pure, holy in its liquidpraise, benedictionfor this sorry pilgrim. The steering wheelwhere I bow my headis hard and sure, so unlike.this prayer for incandescence. When I look up delicate filigree of froston the windshield.Grace made visible. Poem by Elaine Handley In collaboration with Marco Montanari’s painting “DARK MERGING TO LIGHT – I”

"TORN OPEN TO THE FABRIC OF THE WARRIOR - I"2011

Encaustic paint on board with gold, bronze washes & dustings40” X 18”

Painting inspired poem CHRISTMAS EVE 1982: AT THE VIETNAM MEMORIAL by Elaine Handley

CHRISTMAS EVE 1982: AT THE VIETNAM MEMORIAL I am not sure whyI wanted to be therethat night of nights.All of D.C. seemed empty—no one on the streets, barelyany traffic, just a handful of vets keeping a kind of vigil going:a few candles, hushed voices.Dedicated just a month beforein sunlight: my reflection heldnames of the dead inside my body. I couldn’t figure out whyit was so sad, these wingsof granite with names.And that night sadder stillin the dark, hollow citywhere old men schemeyoung men to war.

What was I hoping to findthere? A loneliness that matched my own? I knowloneliness is bearable.But other things are not. I was looking for you, even thoughyou were there with me.You, who told mehow you tasted deathfor a weekafter you killedthe first time. A boyjust like you. Poem by Elaine Handley Inspired by Marco Montanari’s painting “TORN OPEN TO THE FABRIC OF THE WARRIOR – I”

"OPEN CIRCLE – MAIDEN, MOTHER, MATRIARCH OF THE SPIRITUAL WARRIOR WOMAN – I"

2012Encaustic paint on board with gold, bronze washes & dustings

31” X 28”Painting inspired poem OPEN CIRCLE by Elaine Handley

OPEN CIRCLE After every warsomeone’s got to tidy up.Things won’t pickthemselves up, after all. From The End and The Beginning By Wislawa Symborska Women have done it throughout time,quietly undertaken repairs.First they solder together circuits broken in themselves.Hard to do and clumsy; sometimesthey give up and make do. Jaggedfragments float in the bloodstream,lodging close to the skin. Next, they have to cauterize time.When he returns it must be as ifno one has changed, no feelingsclotted. She must know him even thoughhe is now a strangerin the wreckage of the familiar.

She watches him on the lipof a tunnel lookingfor passage from war to her. It is the bottom of the morningin their lives, lonely and survivingon memories and dreamsthey wrote each other. She has triedto tidy up, she knows things nowshe didn’t know before:.they have amputated children,they live like ghosts. The truth is not hers to utter,but there is no one else to say it. Poem by Elaine Handley Inspired by Marco Montanari’s painting “OPEN CIRCLE – MAIDEN, MOTHER, MATRIARCH OF THE SPIRITUAL WARRIOR WOMAN – I”

"BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT - BLISS WITHIN ONE'S DARKNESS - I"

2015Encaustic paint on board with gold, bronze washes & dustings

In collaboration with Elaine Handley’s poemGRACE NOTE

GRACE NOTE What is Mantis praying forso alert and to whom?The dragonfly glitters,dustings from what world?The cricket’s itch asks questionswe ought to know.Listen how dew bejewels the grass. Help us to know the beauty we see.Help us to feel the beauty we cannot. Teach us the wisdomthat ferments unseen,that heals us when no one else can. Feed us our dreams for breakfastso they nourish the day.Leave judgment outside the door,loneliness its companion.

Today’s self will makebright shapes. Let us lovewhatever containerwe become. Poem by Elaine Handley In collaboration with Marco Montanari’s painting “BREAKTHROUGH MOMENT – BLISS WITHIN ONE’S DARKNESS – I”

"DARK CONFLICT TORN THROUGH TO THE WARRIORS WINGED LIGHT - I"

2011Encaustic paint on board with gold, bronze washes & dustings

38” X 29”Painting inspired poem ARMOUR by Elaine Handley

ARMOUR memory cut openpungent and sour shock repeatingitself in whitearticulated rageyour hearta cold wet cavecurled into itself someplace tenderfetalthis guarded spacebetween usthe only shieldwe own Poem by Elaine Handley Inspired by Marco Montanari’s painting “DARK CONFLICT TORN THROUGH TO THE WARRIORS WINGED LIGHT – I”

"SEASON OF THE THIRD AGE - I"2015

Encaustic painting on board with gold, silver, bronze washes & dustings24” X 12”

Painting inspired by Elaine Handley’s poemTHIRD AGE

THIRD AGE Lushness about to turn brown-spotted,webs in every corner, some birds clearing outas flowers pull back to pods,The sky takes on new clarity, leaves curl,contemplate becoming dirt.Soon, smoke will embroider the air, frost edge each blade crystalline.Scarves will hold our breath in their folds, and we will walk tenderly on ice. Poem by Elaine Handley Inspired Marco Montanari’s painting “SEASONS OF THE THIRD AGE – I

"ENTWINED RELATIONSHIP - WARRIOR'S TRUTH TO ONESELF"

2016Encaustic paint on board with gold, bronze washes & dustings

32” X 20”A commissioned painting by Marco Montanari

“Entwined Relationship – Warrior’s Truth To Oneself was my expression of two lives, rooted as separate individuals, that entwined in relationship, but always distinct from one another. The gold vine (Warrior’s Truth To Oneself), is one’s spiritual path that will always continue and flower beyond – within or without relationship.” MM

SUNFLOWERS Like planting gold,or unblinking, good-willed friends,or sun insurance.By August when they bloomthe summer has disappointedwith its headlong rush: weedshave downsized the garden,the hummingbirds whir confusedly,at the neglected feeder,newspapers, magazines and bookssaved for lazy summer daysmolder in the heat. In truth, sunflowers stand too damn cheeryarrayed in schoolbus yellowno thorns, their goody-goody posture,eyeballing everything you dowhile smiling, smiling, smiling.

Poem by Elaine Handley Inspired by nature, written to create a beautiful visual for all who read and listen to it

A Work in Progress

The Making of a Warrior Shield

Shield AssemblyPlywood concentric rings

Assembling rings into shield form

Sanding the rings into smooth shield shape

Final sanding

Distressing the shield

Base encaustic painting

Finished “Warrior of Light” Shield

Interview

Questions for painterMarco Montanari

and poetElaine Handley

QUESTIONS FOR PAINTER MARCO MONTANARI, AND POET ELAINE HANDLEY

What inspires you?

MM: My inspiration comes from what I refer to as “Transcendence.” I look for the moments in our experience that may be referred to as an epiphany in one’s life that liftsyou beyond the mundane and into some new reality … a new appreciation, a newunderstanding or view of existence, an awakening. These are moments of darkness tolight and light to darkness, external and internal, physical and introspective soulsearching. My inspiration is the quest for the divine within us, the path we take and thescars we suffer in rediscovering our divineness.

EH: I probably take inspiration most often from the natural world. Nature is full ofmetaphors. I remember one Christmas morning passing a field that was full of weeds,crystallized in ice. There was an unexpected beauty there. What I saw became ametaphor for grief in one of my poems.

After nature what probably inspires my poems are my relationships with other humans,which are always curious, confusing, fascinating, disappointing, thrilling, motivating, andcomplicated. And then there is that vast and weird continent of the self – trying to figure out what it means to be a self always provides creative fodder.

I like what is unexpected – it thrills me. Many times the unexpected is just under the surface of the ordinary, and I like finding it. I don’t like it when life is too predictable – Iget bored and restless, and I suppose that is a reason to write, to always push myself tofind something new or unexpected to do with words.

How does your creative process cross the academic disciplines?

MM: Can’t really answer that one! I’m not led by any discipline other than staying trueto what I’m inspired by through that Transcendent moment. If you must pigeonhole meinto one … I would say the Humanities, but then again I cross into the Natural Sciences,and there’s that Social Science bit too.

EH: I don’t think knowledge or learning can be neatly defined or should be limited in any way. The most exciting learning happens where disciplines overlap or bump up against each other, and the creative process is one very valuable way to learn – and hopefullyproduce some kind of art. I think the more interdisciplinary we are, the greater shot wehave at wisdom. So I find it useful to find parallels or challenges for my artistic work inother disciplines. Learning how a painting is conceived of, developed, and revised letsme more deeply understand the creative process and it often gives me ideas of things totry. I may be wrong, but it seems as I get older and become more interested and involved in learning about other art forms that the creative process does not differ much in different disciplines. What always enriches the creative process is what you have learned beyond your own discipline.

Knowing that a poem or painting will be created to your poem or painting, how doesthat affect the creative process?

MM: In working out the collaborative process between us, Elaine and I decided that wewould not explain our work to each other. The poem came to me and I was left tointerpret it as I felt, in whatever direction I chose to take it. Elaine received a photo ofmy painting with only a title and she was left to interpret it as she felt in whateverdirection she chose to take it. This kept us free from feeling constrained to the othersidea of what we might want or need to create from each other’s art. This did become adifficult challenge with some of our work on both of our ends. But what a wonderfulcreative challenge it was which I personally felt raised my art to a better place.

EH: I really don’t think about it. I can’t know how an artist might interpret my poemvisually. My job is to be as emotionally honest as I can in my writing. What strikes theartist is partially based on his life experience and what he brings to the poem. So I can’tknow what image or even what poem might move him to produce a creative responsein the form of a painting – so I just try to write the best poems I can and the rest is up tothe painter.

But I admit it is fascinating and a little thrilling to see how someone responds to mypoem, especially in another art form. I am surprised and I like that.

What book or artist has inspired you the most?

MM: A book that I was really taken with and inspired by is Just Kids by Patty Smith…. lovedit! One book that I have given away over a dozen times to artists that are struggling to do their art is Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland. It helps put your art back into theperspective of your life and that there really isn’t any reason to NOT DO YOUR ART!

EH: No one book or artist has inspired me the most. Most people have a writer or book thatlaunched them into their own writing, but that just doesn’t happen for me. I don’t know why I started writing poetry as a teenager – there was no one and nothing in my working classbackground that encouraged me. It is a mystery what drew me to writing and especiallyto poetry.

I have always been a fairly eclectic reader. As a teenager I was very influenced by RobertFrost’s poetry. Later it was Emerson and Thoreau who spoke to me. I loved the voice andstyle of The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. After 9/11 I found myself turning toWalt Whitman a lot, and I love the simplicity and power of Mary Oliver’s poetry. When it comes to poetry these days, I love most to read through an anthology of poetry so Iencounter very different voices and sensibilities.

Exhibit Price List

To purchase art please contact:Marco Montanari

303-746-0592mmontana@mac.com

www.marcomontanari-encausticart.com

Price List for Art

2D“Seasons of the Third Age” - $850.00“Entering a Contrary Moon” - SOLD“Dark Merging into Light – I” - $2,250.00“My Father’s Helping Hand” - SOLD“Breakthrough Moment: Bliss with One’s Darkness” - $650.00“Breakthrough Moment: Blue Sky within the Turmoil” - $650.00

Shields“Warrior shield of Innocence – I” - SOLD“Torn to the Fabric Truth in Healing – I“ - $2750.00“Torn Open to the Fabric of the Warrior – I” - SOLD“Dark Conflict Torn Through to the Warriors Winged Light” - $2750.00“Dismantled to the Blood Moon – I” - SOLD“Open Circle – Maiden, Mother, Matriarch of the Spiritual Warrior Woman – I” - $2750.00“Entwined Relationship – Warrior’s Truth to Oneself – I” - SOLD

CreditsCollaborators

Acknowledgements

Credits

Cover Art: Marco Montanari, “Dismantled To The Blood Moon - I” 2013, pg. 13

Collaborators

Artist: Marco MontanariPoet: Elaine HandleyCurator: Judith Belt-Smith

Acknowledgements

With heartfelt appreciation for their ongoing support, many thanks to Elaine Handley, Marco Montanari and Howard P. Smith.

Proofread by: Elaine Handley, Marco Montanari, Howard P. Smith and Christine Paige.

Designed by: Judith Belt-Smith

Technical Consultant: Aaron MackleyFirst Edition