by Birdie Jaworski
Soft cocoons of blue and wilted yellow vibrate, collected together in a nest spun of capillary and experience. Scored into four equal segments surrounded by deliberate black void, Alex Ellis’ encaustic painting, “Mystery Map #1,” reminds the viewer of tired eyes, of internal organs fighting for direction, for space to expand. At once otherworldly and deeply intimate, Ellis’ …

by Birdie Jaworski
A massive football player, his uniform black, heavy, robotic, runs through a modern city, a flutter of torn books beneath spiked shoes. He carries a graduation cap in one hand, stolen from the head of a statued scholar, the other hand extended in an evil claw toward a group of diminutive young children sitting at simple desk – …

by Birdie Jaworski
Yunus Peer remembers the sting of apartheid in the early ’70s when he was 13 years old and ranked the number two tennis player among non-whites in South Africa. An Indian, he wanted to compete against all talented players his age, to swing the racket to the best of his ability across the court from any worthy opponent.
"My …

by Birdie Jaworski
A tall man in a pink nehru shirt and wrinkled linen slacks stood at the edge of Ilfeld Auditorium’s stage, his head and shoulders cocked at an awkward angle, no other musicians at his side. He held a violin, a instrument that seemed tiny, insignificant, compared to his large frame. The audience shuffled program and purse as he …