copyright Bettina Network, inc. 2013
…”There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you”…
—————————————Maya Angelou
photography by Dorothea Guild
A quote passed on to us by Dorothea Guild as she introduced the exhibit of Nicholas Michael Marinos’s art. Marinos was Dorothea’s family priest, long-term friend and soul-mate from years past. He was jazz artist, Greek Orthodox priest, one of the directors at Maliotis Center of Hellenic College in Brookline and at the end – visual artist working in oil, watercolors and more.
His art is on exhibit at the The Gallery of the Piano Craft Building at 791 Tremont Street, Boston, MA. 02118 through November 3, 2013.
The opening reception for the exhibit took place this past Saturday, October 19th. It was a beautiful success with good food, exceptional music and the introduction by Dorothea Gerros Guild of the art works of one of the two soulmates – one of the two people she cherishes in her life. The reception -intentionally or not – was about all the things needed to serve as an example for life, love, work, passion to all of us.
The first connection I found astounding was Jackie Cox-Crite’s presence as the guest curator. Jackie is the widow of Alan Rohan Crite.
The similarity of what Niko did to what Alan Crite did strikes you as you look at the art works. Crite worked from an African-American cultural aesthetic; Niko worked from a Greek Orthodox cultural aesthetic and you can see it in Niko’s works as strongly as you can see the Afro connection in Crite’s.
Jackie was not only the guest curator, but she was the caterer, promoter and all-around-into-every-part of this exhibit and its opening.
I remember Jackie as a very young person who was Alan Crite’s companion and caretaker. At the time, she was an artist in her own right. Her medium was soft sculpture. Her images and her work showed her innocence and intensity as she took a “woman’s medium” – a kind of quilting and used the medium to turn out beautiful works of art. She is not the first person to have done that, but at the time, I was particularly struck by the combination of her background, her images, her relationship with Alan Crite and how all of that showed in her art.
Mitch Weiss, photographer
The music at the reception was provided by Arni Cheatham, saxophonist, tenor, flutist, vocalist and very well known in the Boston jazz scene – who is also the soul-mate of Dorothea Guild. Arni is helping her in her quest for recognition for the works of Nicholas Marinos. That is most unusual in this society. Normally, we lock iron doors and gates against past close personal relationships when a new relationship starts and we strive to pretend that first, past relationship was somehow defective, not great and here is a list of all his/her faults.
Arni Cheatham provided a reason to attend for those who knew his music, but didn’t know Niko nor his art – and he and his group did not disappoint. Honored in Boston as a “Jazz Hero” by the Jazz Journalists Association and JazzBoston at – where else – but the South End jazz mecca Wally’s, Cheatham has a long line of acolades, performances, recordings and more. He currently can be heard at “Top of the Hub” with the Brian McCree Band during November, 2013.
…….and on to the artist.
Niko was born in 1928 and was a priest in the Greek Orthodox Church most of his adult life. He called himself an “Urban/Ethnic Neighborhood artist.” Born in Tarpon Springs, Florida, Marinos went through tragic losses as a child – starting with the loss of his father in a divers’ accident. He moved with his family to the Bronx; to the Greek Orthodox Seminary in Connecticut and on to serve a parish in Haverhill, MA. where he met Dorothea and her family and then on to Boston.
What went before in his life as jazz performer, priest, college professor, social activist and more all show up in his body of art works.
According to his own words, written in June, 1988, which reach us from 25 plus years ago——–
“Urban and ethnic neighborhoods hold a very special excitement for me. This ongoing fascination began when, as a child of the Depression of the 1930’s living in the tenements and growing up on the streets of the Bronx, Queens and mid-town Manhattan, I assimilated the cultural, racial and ethnic diversity of my environment. These became an indelible part of the fabric of my perception as a painter.
I was then, and am now, fascinated by the constantly evolving images which spread out before me as I chronicle, through color, the urban environment and its inhabitants in the various ethnic neighborhoods of this city, Boston. There is an ongoing dialogue between the indigenous environment and the changing demographics of the urban dwellers. It is this dialogue which always reaffirms the existence of the other that I attempt to record in a variety of perspectives through my art.
I am attempting to capture a moment in time and make it timeless. And if my art can convey to the viewer that which is familiar, very private, very personal, and, for each, a special remembrance of that place in another time, then I will have succeeded.
Thus far I have works of the North End, South End, Chinatown, Roxbury, Dorchester and downtown Boston including parts of the Back Bay. These paintings are, for me, a quiet celebration of life found in the urban and ethnic neighborhoods of Boston.”
The evening was an amalgam of Greek Orthodoxy – African American music – and a coming together of the two groups as if they were one because of the art of Nicholas Martinos and the spirits of Dorothea Guild and Arni Cheatham.
Dorothea was stunning in a black embroidered Greek silk blouse, skirt and shoes, all of which were her mothers. Clothes with a beauty almost unknown today. The image and the symbolism she portrayed in her look was that of a Greek Orthodox priest – it was difficult not to stare because of the richness of her appearance against the backdrop of the Greek Orthodoxy which comes through strongly in Niko’s art.
The community which Dorothea and Arni have gathered around them and who were there to see this exhibit and support their friend was a rare coming together on a very basic level of two communities which normally don’t seem to have many commonalities nor many comings together for any reason.
Maybe in all of this is hope for the rest of us. If we can imitate what is in their lives and values and incorporate a little of the processes which they used to cross many lines without providing the bridge. (That bridge which is usually a construct used for continued separation of the races.) Maybe we can all come together and begin to break down those barriers we have built to maintain unreal, unnatural and stilted separations even while we acknowledge and celebrate our original cultural identities.
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Republicanism BC and AD – oops, AT*
Wednesday, October 16th, 2013*BC = Boehner Cruz; AT = After Tea Party
copyright 2013 Bettina Network, inc.
The singing reported in the Tea Party’s caucus reminded me of the Titanic – remember? As they went down, those who could not or did not leave the ship went down singing Amazing Grace. Isn’t that what happened last night? It was a suicidal atmosphere with everyone being made to drink the Kool Aid with the pseudo religious environment to encourage those who were losing faith. I guess from the songs being sung there must have been only Conservative Evengelical Christians in the room. Somehow, we couldn’t see Jews, Muslims, Atheists or Episcopalians grooving and responding to what was described.
Many things about this have caused some really great breakfast conversations. If you can call anything in the immediate time before your own financial demise ‘great.’
So much is so hokey: (Kind of the theme of one of our breakfast conversations)
1) The Speaker of the House – Boehner – could have avoided all of this by putting the issue on the floor of the House and it would have passed – but it would have passed with bipartisan support and they refused to even consider that possibility. Is all of this really about keeping Republicans Republican and refusing to allow any kind of bipartisan action, discussion, votes, etc.?
They seem to be looking in the mirror and calling Obama out on what they see there. And someone accused them of racism. How can that be when the reflection they see in the mirror is that of a Black man?
Some sub-topics “My grandfather told me to look away when people start talking the way the Tea Party folks are talking” – such as the comments about their trying to ‘save’ the United States from fiscal ruin because we soon won’t be able to pay our debts. And what do they do about this? Put the United States in a position of a credit default which would raise interest rates on everything and make the cost of carrying the debt we have unbelievably heavy – and a burden shared by every citizen of these United States. How exactly does their stance help?
They bash Obama for not being “bipartisan’, but not being bipartisan is not allowing a vote to come to the floor of the House because it might be passed with a bipartisan vote and that can’t be allowed.
2) Cruz – the now leading contender from the Tea Party for President of these United States in the next election. Talk about disasters and a man either on an unusually high dose of testosterone or whose body produces way too much testosterone for him to be allowed to do anything except knit, crochet, sew, sit quietly listening to lovely soothing music, etc.. If he gets elected, the folks around the breakfast table – including one Republican – decided they would pack their bags, update their Visas and leave until the U. S. comes to its senses.
3) What was ominous was the comparison of what the U. S. is going through with parallels to what Germany went through with the rise of the Nazi Party. It sent chills down your spine to even know there was someone who saw this as a parallel.
4) What was really upsetting was the comment that one person made about his interpretation of what he was seeing being played out. He didn’t agree with the woman who saw the beginnings of Nazi American in all of this, he assumed that Boehner has a huge problem with alcohol and Cruz looks as though he was using that knowledge and pushing Boehner to the wall – go along with us or your alcoholism is exposed to the world. And the media was only talking about how Boehner was acting the way he was because he was concerned about losing his Speakership- have they missed something big or is this like JFK’s womanizing – lets not talk about the obvious it isn’t nice.
And here in our corner of the world was one small group wrestling with the fact that our Congress is acting like Alcoholics, their enablers or have we missed something important!
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Want to join us? Have a home that you want to open to become one of Bettina Network’s Hedge Schools? Call us and lets talk – or email us.
Ed. Note: Members of the Bettina Network Lifestyle Community can contribute to the Bettina Network Blog whenever they have anything they want to say and be heard by this fantastic group of people. Send your blog to bettinanetwork@comcast.net or mail it to us at P. O. Box 380585 Cambridge, MA. 02238 or call us on the telephone at 617-497-9166 to tell us what you want to say and we will write it for you.
Volunteer with Bettina Network Foundation, inc. to work estate sales; to help move items from one home to another; to contribute your ideas on how we can better use our resources in this effort to relieve and eliminate homelessness and poverty. We also need photographers; designers; and more. However much or little time you have, we are grateful.
Send your event information to be included in Bettina Network’s Menu of Events to: bettina-network@comcast.net
This is a curated blog so you cannot write your responses at the end of each entry. TO RESPOND TO THIS BLOG email bettina-network@comcast.net or info@bettina-network.com
TO LEARN MORE about Bettina Network, inc. try www.bettina-network.com
IF YOU ENJOY OUR BLOG, USE OUR SERVICES TO BOOK ACCOMODATIONS WHEN YOU TRAVEL!
1-800-347-9166 inside the U. S. or 617 497 9166 outside or inside the U. S.
Tags: Barack Obama, bed & breakfast, breakfast table talk, economic downturn, Economics, Financial Disaster, Government Shutdown, John Boehner, politics, Senator Cruz
Posted in Breakfast Table Talk, Guest comments, Historical Support, Making Connections, politics | Comments Off on Republicanism BC and AD – oops, AT*