Ashfield artist Robert Masla is grateful for essential workers who are often overlooked but are no less essential to a whole, functioning, prosperous human society.
So he has put together a solo exhibit of recent oil and watercolor paintings, “Gratitude: The Unrecognized Essential Workers Series,” that will be on view online beginning Oct. 1 or at the R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton.
“Most of us are acutely aware of the essential workers who are obvious to us during these challenging pandemic times — health care workers, doctors, nurses, etc.,” he said. “Hopefully this time has also brought a heightened awareness and appreciation to those that though providing these essential services, they remain unrecognized in their value to society at large.”
He listed teachers, service persons, postal workers, immigrant farmers, artists, musicians, writers, EMT’s, custodians, poets, social workers, dancers, repair persons, ” etc. etc.,” adding that “perhaps the most impassioned of these, (and unpaid), are the ‘Defenders of a Real Democracy’ who are formed by all of the diverse members and occupations of society, depicted in the paintings ‘Take a Knee: Rural Communities in Solidarity with Black Lives Matter’ (oil 22”x72″) and ‘The 30th of May: Persecution of the Defenders of Real Democracy’ (oil 48″x72″) that are on display in this exhibition at the R. Michelson Galleries.”
A full-time professional artist whose exhibition history extends over 40 years, Masla’s canvases, murals and portraits can be found in the United States and in Mexico in numerous public and private collections. His work has been featured in solo and group exhibitions in both countries and in various books and publications.
Throughout his more than 40-year career, his work has moved from visionary and symbolic paintings, to landscapes, particularly from, but not limited to the areas around his homes and studios in western Massachusetts and Mexico. His work has moved from trompe-l’oeil still lifes to abstract collages to portraits to murals. These are executed in a variety of methods and a variety of media — oil paint, alkyd, watercolor, gouache, acrylic, digital collage, charcoal, water soluble graphite, sumi-e ink.
“I do not call myself a watercolorist or ‘oilist’ or ‘portraitist or ‘landscapeist’ or either impressionist, surrealist, realist or abstractionist,” he said.
Sometimes he has been asked what is his favorite medium, and he replies, “Paint.”
Although Masla makes a living as an artist, art to him is more than a product:
“It is a process as well, it is also a way of life, of seeing, being and doing – of connecting with myself and with the universe around me.”
Art, like life, is not easily defined, he said; it is “a reflection and part of the great mystery we call the universe, (some would call God). Back in the ’70s, when I was constantly grappling with such existential questions, I coined the term SpiritRealism, to refer to artwork and a lifestyle that reflected these concerns, and had no ‘stylistic boundaries.’”
As an artist, Masla’s intention always has been to use his work as a spiritual practice, a form of ritual and meditation, a practice that ultimately helps him transcend his limited ego and reach a place of non-judgmental awareness and openness. “It grounds me in the present moment so I can connect with the creative flow of nature that surrounds me and is me. We are all a part of creation unfolding, and I see my role as an artist to play my part as co-creator, and hopefully help others make that connection through my work,” he said. “We all go about our work and our lives, hopefully trying to be present, aware and compassionate. In my case, a lot of that time is spent making art, and if I am still enough, present enough, I am able to connect – to be in the place of my essence — open awareness — that is where spirit is, and you catch it on the in breath, aha, the in-spiration.”
Masla graduated from The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University with a bachelor of fine arts degree and diploma in painting in 1979 and received a master’s in fine arts in painting and art history from The City College of New York in 1986.
His exhibit, “Gratitude: The Unrecognized Essential Workers Series,” will be available online beginning Oct. 1 or at the gallery (masks and social distancing required). Masla will be at the gallery Oct. 3, from 3 to 8 p.m. and Oct. 4 from 1 to 8 p.m. and by appointment.
LONDON (AP) — With a few daubs of a paintbrush, the Brontë sisters have got their dots back.
More than eight decades after it was installed, a memorial to the three 19th-century sibling novelists in London’s Westminster Abbey was amended Thursday to restore the diaereses – the two dots over the e in their surname.
The dots — which indicate that the name is pronounced “brontay” rather than “bront” — were omitted when the stone tablet commemorating Charlotte, Emily and Anne was erected in the abbey’s Poets’ Corner in October 1939, just after the outbreak of World War II.
They were restored after Brontë historian Sharon Wright, editor of the Brontë Society Gazette, raised the issue with Dean of Westminster David Hoyle. The abbey asked its stonemason to tap in the dots and its conservator to paint them.
“There’s no paper record for anyone complaining about this or mentioning this, so I just wanted to put it right, really,” Wright said. “These three Yorkshire women deserve their place here, but they also deserve to have their name spelled correctly.”
It’s believed the writers’ Irish father Patrick changed the spelling of his surname from Brunty or Prunty when he went to university in England.
Raised on the wild Yorkshire moors, all three sisters died before they were 40, leaving enduring novels including Charlotte’s “Jane Eyre,” Emily’s “Wuthering Heights” and Anne’s “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.”
Rebecca Yorke, director of the Brontë Society, welcomed the restoration.
“As the Brontës and their work are loved and respected all over the world, it’s entirely appropriate that their name is spelled correctly on their memorial,” she said.
