Karen Kramer Russell, Peabody Essex Museum’s curator of Native American art and culture, discussing a painted hide shield cover, Upper Missouri River, c. 1820, National Museum of Natural History, on display at the PEM’s new “Shapeshifting” exhibition
I’m still here, art-lings. And I do miss you (and the blog)!
Your many notes of appreciation for CultureGrrl that I’ve received since deserting you have greatly moved me (sometimes almost to tears). I knew that some of you cared, but didn’t know how many or how much! Only one donor took me up on my offer to refund contributions to my recent fund drive that fell short of its goal (causing me to delete my “Donate” button and shift professional focus).
Speaking of professional changes, I’ve now slightly fleshed out my Linked In profile, which you can access by clicking the logo in the middle column. My entry into this everyone-is-connected world has been reluctant and slow: I’m one of the least social individuals ever to (sort of) participate in social media. But I did experience the power of that world firsthand, when other Tweeters encouraged their followers to contribute to my fund drive. Thanks to all!
Although I come from the old school of “writers are loners and are not entrepreneurs,” I’m slowly learning new tricks. One of these days, I’ll even get a smartphone. (But the NY Philharmonic marimba incident did give me pause!)
In any event, there’s still some life in the old CultureGrrl: As I previously mentioned, I’m going to link here to my mainstream-media work, and even flesh it out a bit upon occasion. And I encourage all of you to follow my tasty news-and-views tidbits on Twitter (@CultureGrrl).
Here’s my first opportunity to reconnect with you on the blog: If all goes according to plan, the Wall Street Journal‘s “Leisure & Arts” page tomorrow will run my review of the just-opened Shapeshifting show at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. My piece should be online later today.
I’ll soon provide you with the link to that piece (with a raunchy beginning), and I’ll post on CultureGrrl some photos of the works I discuss. As a bonus, I’ll include my video interview with one of the artists, Nicholas Galanin, who attended the press preview.
I fear that these two posts may cause me to backslide into blogoholism. Luckly I’ll be, of necessity, away from my home computer for much of the next two weeks. (Should I leave the laptop home?)