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Saturday, June 17, 2006

On the threshold

Cory Anne Sharer, the daughter of one of the Cooperstown librarians, has just graduated from R. I. S. D. Needless to say, I have been known to haunt the local library (Wooo....) and make good use of interlibrary loan for me and mine. (Of course, I still have way too many books.)

So Cory Anne’s mama, Martha—also a painter—gave me a link to her daughter’s web site. I thought passers-by who love fairy stories and water color and books might like to visit the site.

At www.coryannesharer.com, you can take a look at the ink-on-Bristol-board turbulence of the wind gods next to a windmill, a watercolor-and-acrylic of the girlish Viviane of the lake with floating leaves and sword, a Navajo wolf in a magic blanket-garden, the “steam man,” the spiral-stair tree, aged paper and books, oils, and much more. Here is one sample, a Rapunzel with arabesque hair—another young woman on the verge.

If you like the pieces, please leave a note here, to let her know about your pleasure in them, and to help others follow a thread through the maze of the web to Cory Anne’s pictures. It’s a sweet thing to encourage a young artist on the verge of the nest, about to fly out in the world.

11 comments:

  1. Beautiful, very very beautiful.

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  2. I've given up my silence for a day
    To wander in and softly say:
    Once, a young girl, herself of the pen
    Loved to write words, again and again,
    And to draw saddened faces, or ones filled with joy,
    Or small girls with braids, or rolicking boys.
    This she enjoyed, but none could tell
    Why the fate she found to her befell.
    She lost her pen, her paper, her ink--
    Into another world she slowly did sink.
    One filled with machines, cars, and boys;
    One that required no books and no toys;
    One that whispered, in regard to vocation:
    "Being an artist is a poor occupation."
    She worked all day long, from morning till night,
    Until she was old and had lost all her sight,
    And as she lay, breathing one last breath,
    Waiting for her kiss of death,
    She mused to herself, in a small, small voice--
    "I wonder if I have made the right choice."
    To all young artists, here and elsewhere,
    Heed my quiet little prayer.
    Don't go the way that this young girl went.
    You are angels whom God has sent
    To bring your own light, your own beauty
    Into the world. It's your duty.
    I hope you enjoyed my warning verse.
    It could have been better. It could have been worse.

    ~A Taciturn Pen

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  3. Weekends are a little slower than weekdays, but I've already gotten a number of emails from writers and others about Cory Anne--and Jeff Ford wrote that he's going to do a post about her pictures at http://14theditch.livejournal.com/... He has a son, Derek, who is a young artist--lots of pictures on 14theditch. By the by, Corey Mesler's son is going to Memphis School of Art this fall. And is commissioning portraits this summer.

    So look for the Ford post in the next week! And thanks for the responses that are coming in, here and in the mailbox.

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  4. This is lovely work. Reminds me of Dulac or Arthur Rackham. Hey, why not get her a contract with Mr. Godine!

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  5. Beautiful work! Just lovely, transporting, enigmatic--everything you'd hope for. I couldn't figure out how to navigate the site last night, but did just now--I think some of the images aren't downloading on my computer, but still managed to see all of it ( I think) today. Congratulations to the young graduate!

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  6. Mystical, lovely, a wonderful sense of line and color.

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  7. This is exquisite work, with so much loveliness in it. You do find the nicest things and people, Marly!
    I've been coming by your blog, though busy with other matters, these past weeks. Nice to pause here--and today with an extra pleasure.

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  8. and please inform the artist that Zelda is surely the younger sister of my ancient Buddy, whose illness kept me occupied these weeks.

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  9. Marly,

    The check really IS in the mail. It went out today along with a couple of other things I had forgotten to pay because I had baby on the brain.

    Since it is Sun., I figure it won't go out until sometime tomorrow, so it will probably reach the tundra where you live around Wed.

    Thanks for your patience.

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  10. Exquisite! Cory Anne's illustrations transport the mind to new worlds, inspiring the creative. Each piece tells yet holds stories untold. What a gift!

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  11. Thanks to everybody who sent me an email or left a note here--or who wrote me that they would write Cory Anne a note!

    Hurrah for youth and sunny days to come--

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Alas, I must once again remind large numbers of Chinese salesmen and other worldwide peddlers that if they fall into the Gulf of Spam, they will be eaten by roaming Balrogs. The rest of you, lovers of grace, poetry, and horses (nod to Yeats--you do not have to be fond of horses), feel free to leave fascinating missives and curious arguments.