The River Reveals Two Words

As I work on pieces for my next solo show this September '10 at the Rider University Art Gallery in Lawrenceville, NJ, I'm thinking more and more about the river.  I've been out photographing the river, painting the river, making ceramic sections of river, and, crocheting the river.  I've lived near the Delaware River for decades, but it's really only recently that I've felt it's grip.  I've actually been thinking that I couldn't possibly ever move away from this river.  I am increasingly under its spell.  There is a word I've recently learned,  "solastalgia". 

                          
Solastalgia is defined as "the pain experienced when there is recognition that the place where one resides and that one loves is under immediate assault...a form of homesickness one gets when one is still at 'home'".  In my case, the pain may be from learning about the  immediate assault on our river's essential beauty and the utility of its water due to gas drilling operations.   An artist friend who creates beautiful nature-inspired sculpture (www.naomiteppich.com) and lives in Northeaster Pa  when she's not in Manhattan, started to send me information on the threats to river water from gas drilling.  Our beautiful Delaware river is just one of the many national water treasures slated for, or already being ravaged by the hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking" process that entails from gas drilling.  A  group of "concerned citizens", www.DamascusCitizens.org , is desperately trying to enlighten people about the environmental and health facts of the gas drilling process. Liz Bucar's blog written from an upstate New York perspective, "Breathing is Political", http://lizjbucar.wordpress.com/ is chock full of readable information.  As a  Pennsylvania homeowner who got involved when gas drilling arrived at his doorstep, Josh Fox has documented the dangers in film, and the Damascus Citizens' website has links to his award-winning work.  The imminent loss of our river as the beautiful ecosystem that we know would be devastating in SO MANY ways!  The Damascus Citizens are certainly feeling and being motivated by "solastalgia".

pic:  site of Washington's Crossing
The historical importance of the area of the river just a few minutes drive from my house resonates loudly every year when dedicated history buffs re-enact it's Christmas morning crossing by General George Washington and his troops, dressed in period costumes. One year when the river was too low to row a boat across they accomplished "the crossing" on motorcycles over the bridge! Now the sad state of the economy is threatening this hugely significant state park. With only three employees to maintain it, the park is really struggling.

At Canal Frame-Crafts Gallery in Washington Crossing, Pa, 

 

www.CanalFrame.com

owner Deborah Crow, C.P.A. (Certified Picture Framer) is 

heavily involved in the history of the region.  She is
actively trying to save the Pennsylvania side of the park
from closure, and currently has up a benefit show,
"Rally the Troops".  

10a.m.-5pm Tues. through Sat. until March 6, '10,  

(hurry up!) one can see this exhibit which showcases works 

by many local artists that are related to the area's history.  

Go to 1093 General Greene Rd., Washington Crossing, Pa.

(Below L: paintingby James Feehan)                                            

                 

   (Above: Giclee print by Gail Bracegirdle)

People like Deborah Crow, the Damascus Citizens,  and all artists who have been inspired by the Delaware River region understand the second word I recently learned, "solophilia".  Solophilia is "the love of and responsibillity for a place, bioregion, planet and the unity of interrelated interests within it.  I think I am definitely developing a version of this affliction as I walk beside and cross the river I know best, The Delaware.  I hope my work will express the unity of interrelated art media as well as the unity of interrelated interests along The Delaware, as I create and consider the river in my newest work.