The Ashokan Reservoir, Shokan, NY
I knew my great grandmother, Bessie Bishop Davis, and I can
tell you she never got over the loss. She was 98 when she died and was still
pissed that they “stole her home”. So, how can a place that holds this
much grief be a place that provides an equal measure of peace and inspiration
to so many people? There’s more to it than the ever-changing aesthetic
hit of mountain, water, and sky. I think the story, itself an elegy, lays a thick
layer of beauty-born-of-tragedy on this place, and I’m sure that’s the real
thing that people respond to when they visit the Ashokan Reservoir.
Kate McGloughlin, painter and printmaker
I
There she was in a nest of driftwood, bleached
Far downstream and ripped from her rightful place
Vessel and provider
Off her blocks and useless
No other from her tribe to lay eyes on
No nod of reassurance or familiar
II
Cruel edges of noon, sharp focus
Glaring reflection, no ripple
Stillness only, bearing witness
Of this incarnation
Adrift, no hope of return
III
In the tired hour, pushing
Tossing about on white horses
Rock gently, displaced mother
Waiting to be claimed
IV
The moon knows her longing
Light blue and holding
The old trees loosed by the same
Rage of nature, gnarled and bared
By another turn of the sun
Emptied
It's fullness emptied by drought and thirst
Weathered shards of lost wood drifts,
Nesting on the shoreline,
Fishing boats as eggs
Held close in safety
Where water meets earth
Light breaks the calm surface
That belies the century old loss
Uncovers history, ourstory
The traces of past mark the
Place where their hearts were left behind
Aching for their own long ago
Dragging feet, trudging out
Spitting bitter and salt
Tears mix with the sweat
Feel the heft of dead family
Rising from earth to the new
Eternal rest
Reservoir Sketches
I
Coal skuttle dropped
In thin air, chunks flying east
In winter, form a transient V
II
Upended brooms
Jab skyward from the snow
Afternoon light warms their wiry selves
Here in this place without right water
The white of his collar never quite white
And Willie sick again at his stomach
They had so much at home, always,
Every day from the sky and the
Bog, thick with it
Never more than a quick drop in the well
To collect more to carry in
And that brook, I remember—
I hear it in my dreams,
Drowned only by a memory of the roaring sea
I never knew it would be the water
At home that I would long for
And the mention of thirst—
Quench, then numb me
The Thirst inside me too great
I ache for home and the knowing,
Here in the crowd, I'm hated
For nothing, really, just being other
As I wither, will these children
Know the ripping away it took
To give them a better life?
These Apple Trees?
Yes, they have value
My grandfather planted them
To feed us
To prepare us for later
Something to sell
Something to sweeten
Something to eat and remember him by
Fourteen acres of Pippins
And Vanderveers and others
I now care for,
My turn to climb and prune,
Debug and harvest -
Generations have witnessed the transformation
Every full turn of the sun
The slaying of these trees—
Tender blossoms in May
Growing offspring in Summer
Ripe fruit in September
Quiet nubs in Winter—
Hastens my own Winter,
Withers my own growing,
My roots also torn,
Grubbed, then burned
Artist’s Statement
Requiem for Ashokan
began to materialize in September 2016, during an intensive, seven-day drawing
and painting residency at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, MA. It
continued at another 10-day drawing and printmaking residency at the Artists
Association of Nantucket in February 2017, and was completed at home in The
Graphics Shop at the Woodstock School of Art in Woodstock, NY, and at the
Women's Studio Workshop in Rosendale, NY.
At each place I had the good fortune to collaborate with
other fine artists, namely, Patti FitzMaurice and Mary Emery, and to finish the
handmade book with Chris Petrone. This work is imbued with their spirit. Both
residencies were offered to me to complete a personal project that tells the
story of loss surrounding the devastation my ancestors endured during the
creation of the Ashokan Reservoir, and was spurred on by long talks and walks
at the Ashokan with author Gail Straub. The generosity and visionary spirit of
each of these artists helped make this work possible.
Requiem is being
exhibited at the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum in June 2017, and
includes written text, a handmade artist's book, and audio files narrating both
sides of the story from both sides of my family—the settlers and the
immigrants. The invaluable role these art institutions play in
bringing work to fruition cannot be overstated, and I will remain grateful to
each for its contribution. Read more about the exhibit here.

You got such a great collection of paintings on your website and this should be made public, why don't you start to go on exhibitions with your painting?
ReplyDeleteGreat Collection.
ReplyDeleteReally I enjoy your site with effective and useful information. It is included very nice post with a lot of our resources.thanks for share. i enjoy this post. painter and decorator
ReplyDeleteشركة كشف تسربات المياه بأبها
ReplyDeleteشركة كشف تسربات المياه بأحد رفيدة
شركة كشف تسربات المياه ببيشة
شركة مكافحة حشرات بأبها
شركة مكافحة حشرات بخميس مشيط
شركة مكافحة حشرات بوادي بن هشبل
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon! buy instagram.likes cheap
ReplyDeleteشركة كشف تسربات المياه بأبها
ReplyDeleteشركة كشف تسربات المياه بأحد رفيدة
شركة كشف تسربات المياه ببيشة
شركة مكافحة حشرات بأبها
شركة مكافحة حشرات بخميس مشيط
شركة مكافحة حشرات بوادي بن هشبل
ReplyDeleteشركات نقل عفش فى خميس مشيط
شركة تسليك مجارى بخميس مشيط
شركة تنظيف بابها و بخميس مشيط
شركة تنظيف بالخميس
شركة تنظيف بخميس
شركة كشف تسريبات المياة وارتفاع فاتورة المياه
شركة تنظيف المنازل والفلل
https://clinique-equilibre-augmentation-mammaire.com/
ReplyDeletehttps://clinique-equilibre-augmentation-mammaire.com/augmentation-mammaire/
https://clinique-equilibre-augmentation-mammaire.com/lipofilling-seins-tunisie/
https://clinique-equilibre-augmentation-mammaire.com/reconstruction-mammaire-tunisie/
Séjour médical Tunisie
Avis chirurgie mammaire Tunisie
prix lifting visage Tunisie
ReplyDeleteliposuccion tunisie avant apres
ReplyDeleteliposuccion douce Tunisie
Correction mamelon ombiliqués Tunisie
liposuccion tunisie avant apres
Chirurgie ventre Tunisie
comment avoir un ventre plat ?
FIV Tunisie
Sleeve prix
Bypass prix
anneau gastrique tunisie
https://clinique-equilibre-lifting-visage.com/lifting-temporal-tunisie/
ReplyDeletehttps://clinique-equilibre-lifting-visage.com/lifting-visage-tunisie/
https://clinique-equilibre-lifting-visage.com/lifting-cervico-facial-tunisie/
https://clinique-equilibre-lifting-visage.com/mini-lifting-visage-tunisie/
https://clinique-equilibre-lifting-visage.com/lifting-frontal-tunisie/
https://www.chirurgies-seins.com/augmentation-mammaire/
https://www.chirurgies-seins.com/
https://clinique-equilibre-lifting-visage.com/
Chirurgie Tunisie
ReplyDeletePrix chirurgie Tunisie
chirurgie tunisie prix
Clinique chirurgie esthetique Tunisie
ReplyDeletePrix augmentation fesses Tunisie
Lipofilling fesses Tunisie prix
Lipofilling seins Tunisie prix
Rhinoplastie Tunisie prix
Augmentation mammaire Tunisie prix
====================================
Liposuccion en Tunisie prix
====================================
Bypass prix Tunisie
Sleeve prix Tunisie
====================================
Abdominoplastie prix Tunisie
شركة نقل الاثاث والعفش وخدمات التسليك تحت اشراف عمالة فنية مدربة بابها وخميس مشيط
ReplyDeleteشركة نقل اثاث بابها
شركة نقل اثاث بخميس مشيط
شركة كشف تسربات المياه بابها
شركة كشف تسربات المياه بخميس مشيط
شركة تسليك مجاري بابها
شركة تسليك مجاري بخميس مشيط
lifting visage Tunisie
ReplyDeleteIt is quite amazing to see this painting. painting is one of the interesting skill. nowadays it becomes the complex task to find the good painter. I will provide you a source through you can Hire A Professional Painter easily.
ReplyDeletegreffe dhi tunisie
ReplyDeletehollywood smile