Stu Jenks' Fezziwig Press

Circles and Spirals: Stu Jenks' Newsletter #3: 4/21/22

"PTSD" by Clarence Heyward, acrylic and gold leaf on canvas, 2020. Image capture by Stu Jenks. 

 

Hello everyone,

1) Currently some of Clarence Heyward's work (pictured above) is being shown at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University in Durham, NC. This show is shunning, presenting the work of 30 emerging artists. Entitled, "Reckoning and Resilience: North Carolina Art Now", it'll be up until July 10, 2022. I've been three times already to visit this show. I can not recommend it highly enough. 

The featured painting is very large, guessing 5 feet tall at least. And yes, that is the Pledge of Allegiance in gold leaf behind the figure. 

2) Maundy Thursday service at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, here in Greensboro, was as good as it gets. Washing of the feet. Reminding the congregation of Jesus's last commandment, "... to love one another...", the stripping of the altar, all very nice. (And to be clear, I'm not a Christian but I was raised in this Church. I do believe in a God of sorts, cosmic muffin or intuitive thought, but I don't believe in the Risen Christ. I'm more Buddhist and Deist than anything else. And yes, I believe in the ghostly presence of my ancestors in my life. Got that belief from a Native American friend years ago.) But what made me cry was a professional singer, a lovely baritone, singing "Where you there...", that old powerful slave song from almost 200 years ago. Just wonderful.

3) Not so wonderful, my prostate cancer has returned, but only a little bit. Probably the size of the head of a pin. It's a long story but the type of radiation that one cancer center planned for me was very destructive to the good surgical work of Dr. Juan Chipollini 2 years ago. Currently, I don't poop nor peed on myself and everything is working great down there, if you know what I mean. The shotgun blast radiation would change all that, possibly making me permanently incontinent, messing up my colon, and destroying my current sexual function, also maybe for good. This depressed me a lot as you can imagine. Until I remember that great medical school at my alma mater, UNC-Chapel Hill, just an hour to the east. There, I found a new urologist and radiation oncologist who does a very pinpoint radiation using a machine called the Cyber Knife. Great name. Appointment is in early June for this second opinion consultation but I'm already sold from what I've read. And my new doctor is more patient oriented in her care. I'm much more hopeful. Quality of life, baby. Quality of life.

4) The tenth anniversary edition of my first novel, Step Zero is completed and being converted to e-book-ness and soon to be uploaded to the book printer. I'll be making some book-books, but they are expensive. Soon, you'll be able to buy the e-books for either $1.99 or $.99. Attached here is the new cover art for the book. (Thanks to Michael Joplin, for turning me on the the null set symbol. That was brilliant.) 

and 5) lastly, here are some images from recent print sales of mine. I have a big inventory but I'm always, always interested in what people buy. Perhaps you are too.

Love you guys.

Thinking about y'all, and holding you in white light, as the Woo-Woo man says.

Stu. 

All images (c) Stu Jenks 2022, except for "PTSD," (c) Clarence Heyward 2022.

 

 

"St. Martini & St. Agnes, El Greco, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC." Image capture 2021 by Stu Jenks.

There is a whole room of El Greco's work at the National Gallery. I spent a good amount of time in that room. This is a detail from a larger painting. El Greco painted this in 1597. I came away with these two thoughts: El Greco was a genius, and he was way ahead of his time.

Very moving experience, that one room. I liked his work before. I love it now.

Images from the Winter of 2020.

"Shiprock Infrared, New Mexico" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks [Shot with real live Ilford Infrared film, using my medium format Rollei]

"Saguaro At Sunset, Gate's Pass, Tucson, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks. [Taken from high above.]

"Pilot Mountain In Fog, North Carolina" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks. [It's not special that Pilot is in fog. Happens all the time. But it's special to me. I'm new to this land.]

"Cottonwood Trees, Near Dudleyville, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks. [Something about the whiteness of these trees.]

"South of Solstice Rock, Santa Catalina Mountains, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks. [Taken just after I did my annual solstice prayers.]

"God's Eye Tree (Red Oak), McCorkle Place, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

"Where we kissed, by an ancient stone wall on the Virginia/North Carolina Line," (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

"Abajo Mountain Hoop Dance, Utah" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

"Four Trees, Happy Jack, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

"Peter the Sexton, at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Nogales, Sonora, Mexico" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks. (Peter led me upstairs, a few years ago, to help me shoot the photograph of the Virgin Mary that he holds in his hands. I brought him a print of Mary as a thank you, a couple of weeks ago. A very sweet man. A true man of God.)

"Christ at Bethesda (Detail), by Jean Restout, Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill, North Carolina" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

"Walk With Light, Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, North Carolina" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks. (Brett Deal, what you said was true back in 1979.)

"A Trailer Fire, Winkleman, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks. [Shit happens, sometimes in a very quick and awful way.]

"Wasp Nest and Christmas Ball, The Jenks Residence, Greensboro, North Carolina" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks. [Mark, from across the way, convinced me to not knock down this nest. Glad he did. It's a beautiful structure]

"Handmade Christmas Ball, The Jenks Residence, Greensboro, North Carolina" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

"Stronghold Dream, Cochise's Stronghold, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Lipan Point, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Elk Tracks In Snow, Coconino County, Arizona" (c) 2020 Stu Jenks.

"Happy To Be Hiking With My Wife, Uwharrie National Forest, North Carolina" (c) 2020 Alexa and Stu Jenks. [I'm typing this on January 22nd, 2020 in Tucson, Arizona. Alexa is in Greensboro, North Carolina. I'm here. I miss her madly. The good news is she misses me terribly too. True love is a wonderful thing, a precious thing, but sometimes it hurts like hell.]

 

From the road, east and south...

"Oklahoma, Rt. 66" (c) 2107 Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, The Arboretum, University Of North Carolina at Chapel Hill" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Eno River, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, The Haw River, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, 85-Year-Old Maple Tree, The Old Courtney Farm, Lancaster County, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, Harley Jenks, The Vietnam War Memorial, Washington, D.C." (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair [with Guiseppe Panone's sculpture 'Stone and Elm'], North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, North Carolina Museum of Art, Art Park, Raleigh, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Pittsboro, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Tears For America" by Mark Hewill, Pittsboro, North Carolina. Photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Sea Dog by Andrew Wyeth", North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina. Photograph by Stu Jenks

 

"Side Porch Pot by Mark Hewitt", Pittsboro, North Carolina" Photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Playful Newborn Colt, Lancaster County, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Little Rock Central High, Arkansas" (c) 2107 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Memphis, Tennessee" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Why Not, North Carolina" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Pamela's Baby Rocking Chair, Merry Point Ferry, Lancaster County, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Charlotte Skyline from Grandfather Mountain by Hugh Morton" North Carolina Museum of History, Raleigh, North Carolina. Photograph of a photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Nakayama Canyon, Hida by Kawase Hasui", Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks. Photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Night by John Stanhope", Virginia Museum of Fine Art, Richmond, Virginia" Photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Trees by Milton Avery", The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., Photography by Stu Jenks.

 

"The Wake of The Ferry by John Sloan", The Phillips Collections, Washington, D.C. Photograph by Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, at the feet of Rodin's Balzac, Hirchhorn Museum, Washington, D.C." (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, at the Brown vs Board of Education Monument, Virginia State Capitol Building, Richmond, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks.

 

"Nannie's Mirror, Cold Harbor Civil War Battlefield, Virginia" (c) 2017 Stu Jenks. [Assisted by Alexa Smith]

 

 

Life imitating Art, in the most tragic way...

"The Abyss, Rockwell Kent, 1930, Woodcut at Tucson Museum of Art's Into The Night show." Photograph 2016 Stu Jenks.

 

23 years after this woodcut was made, a friend of Rockwell's and his wife came to stay at their home on Monhegan Island in Maine. Sally Moran was going through a messy divorce from an ad exec and had lost her apartment in New York City. Sally had been a model of Rockwell's back in the day and perhaps his mistress too. (Rockwell seemed that have fooled around a lot.) Rockwell and his wife, also named Sally, were away from Monhegan in early July, but their eldest daughter and her two children were home at the time. On the night of July 9th, 1953, Sally Moran went for a walk before dinner along the cliffs. She never returned. Three weeks later her body was pulled from the ocean. Months after that, the Kents sold their house.

 

Life imitating Art, in the most tragic way.

 

 

 

 

 

"A Dale Nichols at the Into The Night show at Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona." Photograph 2016 Stu Jenks.

 

I love his work; the palette, the forms, the exaggerations. Like those saguaros. No cactus are that tall or that smooth. Great stuff.

 

 

 

"Catalina State Park, Arizona at the Tucson Museum of Art's Into The Night show," (c) 2016 Stu Jenks.

 

En plein air. French phrase for an artist who makes his work out of doors. Art curator Julie Sasse says I'm one of those artists. She's right.

 

Thanks Julie for selecting me for the show.

 

P.S. I'm two pieces down from a freaking Misrach and across the way from a Jeff Smith, a Tom Willett and a Bill Lesch. I'm in very good company. Shows up until July 10th.

 

 

A free ePub download of The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010) by Stu Jenks.

 

Download The Transpersonals Papers by Stu Jenks epub (c) 2013 Stu Jenks.

I was just at a Starbuck's buying an Egg Nog Latte, when a homeless woman came in and asked the clerk, "Do you have anything for just a dollar?"

I'm not struggling like her obviously, but as my father used to say, "It's not what you make but what you spend." And having my own business, Fezziwig Press, costs money and my little company isn't making enough money right now.

So I'm doing an Amanda Fucking Palmer thing. If I don't ask, you don't know to give.

Fezziwig Press and I have been struggling financially for the last year or so. Namely, I'm not quite breaking even, still a few hundred dollars in the red each month, even with my part time counseling gig and all. I'm making some sales with image rights, book sales, music sales, etc, but not like I did five to ten years ago. So I'm putting out the artistic begging bowl. And I'm giving shit away.

The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010) was released in 2011. Cost a boat load to produce but I only sold seven ebook copies. (Thank you to the seven, by the way.) So I'm offering it today, to you all, for free.

If you like The Transpersonal Papers, or the StuBlog, or my work, I ask that you give a little money to my Paypal account. My log-in is my email address, stujenks at gmail dot com, spelled like you normally would type it. Donate to my Paypal, or buy some books, or send money to P.O.Box 161, Tucson, AZ 85702. Whatever you like. No expectations, but if I don't ask, you don't know. And of course, if you don't give, that's perfectly all right too. We're all tight these days, don't I know. Or you just might not like my stuff that much. It's all good, as the kids say. Except for my ever-shrinking savings account.

I hope you enjoy the photographs and the stories in this book. Perhaps someday I'll have enough money to print it as a large coffee table book, like it was originally envisioned. Perhaps not, but you can have it right now for free. Enjoy.

And just download the Adobe Digital Editions free software to see and read The Transpersonal Papers: (1861-2010), if you don't already have it on your computer.

Thanks, y'all, and have a Happy New Year.

Love and light,

Stu

Download The Transpersonal Papers by Stu Jenks epub (c) 2013 Stu Jenks.

All 8 1/2" x 11" A/P archival pigment prints by Stu Jenks for $25, shipping, handling and taxes included...

Image: "Queen Esther Baptist Church, Lancaster, Virginia" (c) 2011 Stu Jenks (Just down River Road from Victoria's house. Love that luscious red carpet. And for you nocturnals out there, it was handheld. Rare for me.)

In this time of making photos on iPhones and Macbook Pros and only looking on screens, I forget I'm a old-school guy. I make a 8 1/2 x 11 work print on archival paper of EVERY image I make. EVERY one. It's the only way, for me, to accurately check for color shift, density, composition, etc. I really like my iPad screen but it's no way to make a good print.

And I have hundreds, if not thousands, of work prints artist proofs at my studio.

If you see an image of mine on The StuBlog or on my old website or on the Fezziwig Press Store or in any of my books, there's a beautiful small print in a box somewhere, perhaps with your name on it. And since I'm organized, I can find it.

Many of you can't afford my larger prints. I understand. I don't have an extra 50 or 100 lying around either. But I do have an extra $20 for stuff I really like.

So if you see an image of mine on any of my sites or in any of my books and you want it, it's yours for $25, shipping, handling and tax included. (I believe in paying taxes, sales and otherwise.)

Just email me at my facebook page or through the StuBlog or at [email protected], and tell me what print you would like or just pull the jpeg and send that to me.

I was just watching the Tarhells lose today in basketball, working on images at my computer when I thought, 'I bet people don't realize I have boxes of work prints here.'

You all do now.

Love and light,

Stu

p.s. Ignore the catagories belows. The computer went wacky. Another reason why I prefer a print in the hand as opposed to an image in The Cloud.

Now available, on the Apple IPad: The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010) and Bozo In Love

Been a long time coming for The Transpersonal Papers (1861-2010).

Three editors, two proofreaders, two designers, four printers, and hours, days, weeks, months, years, lifetimes, (I know I'm overstating), of writing, traveling, shooting, editing, remembering, hiking, and more writing, shooting, and editing, but I'm not complaining. No, no, no.

And apologies for not having the dough right now, to print The Transpersonal Papers as a coffee-table book as I had originally planned. ($10,000, it would have cost. Maybe someday.) But you now can buy it, for $14.95, as an Ebook on the Apple IPad, and I expect it to be available within a couple days on the Nook and the Kindle as well.

I just looked at it on my new IPad. The photos, text and design look grand.

And as an extra surprise, Bozo In Love is now up on IBooks too, ($9.95), as well as the rest of my catalog: Flame Spirals, Hoop Dancing, and Dementia Blues, on IBooks, Nook and Kindle.

Just in time for Christmas.

And don't worry. All but The Transpersonal Papers can still be bought as a book book through Fezziwig Press. I have plenty. Just go to www.fezziwigpressonline.com, for the hardbounds and paperbacks, but go to ITunes, today, (and Kindle and Nook, soon) for the ebooks.

Heavy sigh from my third story apartment balcony. I look out onto the Tucson city lights in the valley below. Cold, dry air embraces me. I inhale deeply. Exhale.

A very good night in the desert.

Think I'll make a cup of coffee with egg nog and play some Angry Birds on my new IPad.

Time to celebrate.

 

"Brahman" by Susan Toplikar

"Brahman" by Susan Toplikar (c) 2004 Susan Toplikar & Photos by Stu Jenks

A painting by North Carolina artist Susan Toplikar. I love her. I love her work. I love her husband Mike Cindric too.

I had the privilege to sleep under this painting, when I standed with Susan and Mike earlier this month in the beautiful Oakwood section of Raleigh.

Fun fact: There are six paintings in this series (I think) and they are huge, around 6 feet by 4 feet.

Quote by the artist: "These paintings really aren't about horses."

You got that right, as Victoria Hardy would say.

I sleep well with these colors above my head. (Actually, I was a bit restless those nights, but not due to the beauty created by men and women, but rather because of the ugliness of some people.) I hope to sleep beneath this horse again someday.

To see more images of 'Brahman', go to Susan's website at this link.

"Young Woman Defending Herself Against Love" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

"Young Woman Defending Herself Against Love" (Detail) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1880, Oil On Canvas, North Carolina Museum Of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina: Photo by Stu Jenks (c) 2011