Keith Haring at the Brant Foundation in NYC
Need a last minute Mother’s Day gift? Pam Smilow, Botanical Tea Towels, cotton linen blend. $28 each
Blog No. 278: Amy Goodman Documentary Steal This Story, Please!, The Whitney Biennial 2026, The Tailor Bird and Other Nest Weavers
Click to see the trailer
Amy Goodman, courtesy Democracy Now and Amy Goodman
Click to hear a Q&A with Amy Goodman and the filmmakers at the Hamptons Film Festival.
Kamrooz Aram, Born 1978, Shiraz, Iran. Lives in NYC
Kamrooz Aram, Born 1978, Shiraz, Iran. Lives in NYC
Sula Bemurdez-Silverman, born 1993 NYC
Sula Bermurdez-Silverman, born 1993 NYC
Oswaldo Maciá, born Cartagena de Indias, Columbia, lives in Santa Fe, NM and London
Oswaldo Maciá, born Cartagena de Indias, Columbia, lives in Santa Fe, NM and London
Andrea Fraser, born in Billings, Montana, lives in Los Angeles
Andrea Fraser, born in Billings, Montana, lives in Los Angeles
Taína H. Cruz, born in NYC, lives in New Haven, Connecticut
Taína H. Cruz, born in NYC, lives in New Haven, Connecticut
Emilie Louise Gossiaux, born New Orleans, Louisiana, lives in NYC
Emilie Louise Gossiaux, born New Orleans, Louisiana, lives in NYC
Teresa Baker, born 1985 Watford, North Dakota, lives in Livingston, Montana
Teresa Baker, born 1985 Watford, North Dakota, lives in Livingston, Montana
Kimowan Metchewais, born Saskatchewan, Canada, died Saint Paul, AB, Canada Cree, Cold Lake First Nations
Kimowan Metchewais, born Saskatchewan, Canada, died Saint Paul, AB, Canada Cree, Cold Lake First Nations
Jasmin Sian, born in 1969, The Philippines, lives in NYC
Jasmin Sian, born in 1969, The Philippines, lives in NYC
Pat Oleszko, born Detroit, Michigan, lives in NYC
The nest of a Tailor Bird. Click to see this master constructor
Photo courtesy Bill Garnett on Flickr
Illustration courtesy RB Davis
Pam Smilow. Flower Power Series: Blue Bird. mixed media on paper. $1500
Blog No. 277: The Portland Museum, We Share the Same Sky Podcast, Poem by Hannah Stephenson
Portland Museum of Art, Maine
Photo courtesy Ming Smith
Handpainted photograph Courtesy Ming Smith
Paper Maché birds by Christopher Patch
Birds by Christopher Patch
Photo Courtesy Christopher Patch
This is a really great, moving podcast.. Click image to listen
Click image to order the book.
Hana Dubova and her granddaughter Rachael Cerrotti. Click image to read about Rachel’s grandmother in an historical context
Pam Smilow Black Tree. 60” x 22”. mixed media on paper. $4000
Pam Smilow Turquoise Tree 60” x 22”. mixed media on paper
Pam Smilow. mixed media on canvas 46” x 76” $8500
Blog No. 276: The New Yorker Documentary, Özlem Cekic: Building Bridges, Mary Oliver Poem
Cover courtesy Maira Kalman and The New Yorker
Cover courtesy Art Spiegelman and The New Yorker
Cover courtesy Maira Kalman and The New Yorker
Cover courtesy Maira Kalman and The New Yorker
Pam Smilow. mixed media on paper. 30” x 22”. $1500. Also available as a giclee print $750
Blog No. 275: Fashion Designer Max Alexander, Phone Addiction And What To Do About It, Trude's Flourless Orange Cake Revisited
This amazing. orange creation is made from a recycled parachute. Designed by 10 Year Old Max Alexander.
Photo courtesy Roddy Bleloch
Click image to hear Jennifer Jolly’s podcast on phone addition and what to do about it…
Pam Smilow. Mandala Series: Plaid Yellow Bird 60” x 42”. mixed media on canvas. $1500
The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information
Blog No. 274: Mr. Nobody Against Putin Documentary, The Poster I Dreamed Of, Ok Go Band (Copy)
I hate to lecture but please please please contact five friends and make sure you all show up for the nationwide No Kings Protest on Saturday March 28th (www.nokings.org to find an event near you). We are the last line of defense to save our democracy and we need to come out IN FORCE with a showing bigger than ever. Please don’t just worry and complain, even if you have never come to a protest… JUST SHOW UP WITH FRIENDS. It might be Now or Never…
Please show up! And so important—bring a friend or two. We need to show up in HUGE numbers and make this the biggest one ever—our democracy literally depends on it! Click image to find an event near you.
Yosano Akiko, Japanese Poet. She wrote the feminist poem that was on the poster: Mountain Moving Day
By Lorne Bair
The “No War Toys” poster is an anonymous or unattributed work from the Vietnam-era anti-war movement rather than something definitively tied to a single known artist.
Artist: Lorraine Schneider
Poster by Ben Shahn for the Gene McCarthy presidential campaign 1968
Not a political poster but one that hung in my room for many years…advertising a Matisse show at the Knoedler Gallery in NYC. The gallery was later convicted of fraud.
Poster designd on very short notice by Arnold Skolnick
Poster by Lorne Bair enlarged…
Pam Smilow. 60” x 42”. mixed media on canvas. $7500
The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information
Blog No. 273: Jean Michel Basquiat, The Iditarod Trail Race, Poet Leonara Speyer
Click image to hear Anders Kold talk about the exhibition
Click image to see different artists talking about Jean-Michel Basquiat
Lance Mackey, champion musher
Leonara Speyer, Poet (1872-1956)
Click to download and read the poems in this book.
Portrait of my Uncle Stan, who passed away this month at the age of 96. He was my cool uncle, taking me and my sister Judy around New York City in the 1960’s. I remember the crispy chickpeas on the table of Max’s Kansas City and his afghan hounds Niko, Joffrey, and Boris. He will be missed!
Blog No. 272: San Francisco Bay Podcast, Is the Internet Dying?, Music is a Refuge
The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information
Mike Herz
Kate Josephs
Frenchy and Holly
These yoga mats double as kitchen mats. Very high quality, nice and thick, a little pricey due to the fact they are made in America and pass California environmental standards…Worth the price…
Check out the artSHOP on my website for the whole line of products based on my art and that of my late husband, Danish artist Gert Mathiesen.
Blog No. 271: A Friend of Dorothy Short Film, Creative Uses of Artificial Intelligence, Ky Dickens Interviews
The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information
Alistair Nwachukwu and Miriam Margolyes in A Friend of Dorothy
Miriam Margolyes as Dorothy
Courtesy Kelly Boesch www.theknollergroup.com
Click image to see Kelly Boesch’s Instagram. Image courtesy theknollergroup.com
Courtesy Kelly Boesch https://www.theknollergroup.com/
Courtesy Kelly Boesch www.theknollergroup.com
Courtesy Kelly Boesch https://www.theknollergroup.com/
Illustration of Ky DIckens, Courtesy Tetragrammaton
Jay Shetty Podcast
These yoga mats double as kitchen mats. Very high quality, nice and thick, a little pricey due to the fact they are made in America and pass California environmental standards…Worth the price…
Check out the artSHOP on my website for the whole line of products based on my art and that of my late husband, Danish artist Gert Mathiesen.
Blog No. 270: A Lecture We All Need to Hear, For the Love of Animals, Kahil El’Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information so don’t hesitate to click…
For those of you in NYC on Thursday February 26th , my musician friend Tom DiMenna will be back in the City playing Story Songs of the 70’s including covers of Cat Stevens, Harry Chapin, Gordon Lightfoot, and James Taylor at The Cutting Room, 44 E 32nd St, New York, NY 10016. For those who saw him last time at City Winery, he has increased his repertoire to include some new greats and I guarantee an evening of joy—Click here for tickets
Click image to hear an important message
Image courtesy of Ryan Putnam. Click image to purchase
Click image above to hear a conversation with Kahil El’ Zabar who aside from being a musician, is also a clothing designer and fashionista…
Kahil El’Zabar on multi instruments, Corey Wilkes on trumpet, Alex Harding on baritone sax.
Pam Smilow. House in Fog, mixed media on canvas, 60” x 40”
Blog No. 269: Robert Rauschenberg, Buddhist Monks Again, John Prine Playlist
The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information so don’t hesitate to click…
Click image to see a 5 minute film on his work
Menil Collection, Houston, Texas
Robert Rauschenberg, Bed, Museum of Modern Art
Photo courtesy Travis Long—click image for his instagram
Photo courtesy Travis Long—click image for his instagram
Photo courtesy Wikipedia
Click to read about a book about John Prine by Tom Piazza
Pam Smilow. Flower Power Series: Earth. mixed media on canvas 44” x 90”
Blog No. 268: Mon Rovia Music, Takashi Yasui Photographer, New York's Cutest
The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information so don’t hesitate to click…
Bloodline, Mon Rovia’s new album just released in January 2026
Click image above to see Mamdani’s Press Conference on Universal Childcare
Pam Smilow. mixed media on canvas 62” x 52”. approx. I came back from California a few months ago with a lot of commissions. This is my second to last one—going to a home in Palo Alto…
Blog No. 267: Monks Walk for Peace, Lewiston Soccer Team, Amanda Gorman Poem
The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information so don’t hesitate to click…
Click image above to see a brief report of the Monks. Photo courtesy Kaitlyn Ross Journalist’s Facebook
Click image to hear about Beautiful Aloka, whose name means light in sanskrit. Photo courtesy Aloka the Peace Dog/Instagram
Lewiston Blue Devils, Lewiston, Maine
One Goal: A Coach, a Team, and the Game That Brought a Divided Town Together by Amy Bass
My grandson Toran
Elizabeth Strout’s book The Burgess boys is a fictionalized version of a true hate crime that took place in Lewiston, Maine
Illustration courtesy BelenMedinaArt
Alex Pretti 1988-2026
Renee Nicole Good 1988-2026
Pam Smilow. mixed media on canvas 59” x 87”. $8500
Blog No. 266: Lessons from the Danish Resistance, Batsheva Dance Company, Mary Oliver on Resilience
Courtesy Museum of Jewish Heritage, illustration by Sveta Dorosheva
Courtesy National Archives, College Park, MD, USA
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
My friend Terrie Frisbee carrying a poster she made at a candlelight vigil for Renee Good.
Blog No. 265: 1963 Children's Crusade, Know Your Rights, History Teacher Unlearn 16
Courtesy National Archives, College Park, MD, USA
Blog No. 264: Nuremberg the Film, Poem by Fatimah Asghar, Eggplant Recipe
Courtesy National Archives, College Park, MD, USA
Photo courtesy Mercedes Zapata
Blog No. 263: Zohran Mamdani, Power to the People, American Bald Eagle
Zohran Mamdani, Mayor of New York City
Zohran Mamdani with his wife, artist Rama Duwaji
Patti Smith singing People Have the Power Choir Choir Choir
American Bald Eagle
Pam Smilow Tree Tops, Detail of my Tree of Life Series pieces, each tree measurimg 60” x 22” mixed media on paper
Blog No. 262: Architect Frank Gehry, ICE Protests, Roots of the Americas
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
Walt Disney Hall, Los Angeles, CA
IAC Media Building, New York, NY
Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, France
A last minute Hanukkah video (a little late) with Mandy Patinkin and family and our new mayor Zohran Mamdani, who they tried to paint as Anti-Semitic…
Pam Smilow Heart and Soul mixed media on handmade paper
Blog No. 261: Michelle Obama, Poem by William Carlos Williams, Holiday Songs from the Whitt Brothers
Michelle Obama The Look, Winter Trees by William Carlos Williams, Holiday Songs Playlist by the Whitt Brothers on wrfr.org
Brothers Bill and Eddie Holm, The Liner Notes by the Whitt Brothers
The Menorah my Dad, Mel Smilow, made for our family. Simple, elegant, very mid-century!
Flower Power Series: Purple mixed media on canvas 55” x 97”
Blog No. 260: Costco's Founder Jim Sinegal, Snowy Night by Mary Oliver, Winter Songs Playlist
Snowy Owl in the Maine Woods41.25” x 29.5”, Watercolor, Gouache, Matt Medium, Embroidery on Rives BFK Paper
Costco Co-Founder Jim Sinegal
Jim Sinegal, who co-founded Costco
Sinegal, born in 1936, started at the bottom, beginning as a bagger at a grocery store in San Diego, California. Over the years, he found he loved the retail industry and made his way around it, ending up in 1983 as Costco's president and CEO. Sinegal always had a broad vision and his ideas and innovations created the first big box "warehouse club", selling a large variety of products including clothing, eye glasses, tires, food, electronics, pharmaceuticals, etc. His approach was hands-on, and he made it his business to visit every Costco store across the country in order to stay in touch, ensure good quality control and worker satisfaction. You can kind of tell when people are happy in their jobs and I get that vibe there--when workers feel they are treated respectfully by their employers. Quoting Sinegal from a Wall Street Journal article, "You can't say people are our most important product then treat them like shit...If you don't mean it, it is reflected very quickly. The same thing is true about the quality of the product you are selling. Your customers and your suppliers are going to see you don't really mean it..
For all the reasons above, he is a target for our current president...All the more reason to frequent and support Costco over other big box stores...I hope like me you are trying to avoid Target, Home Depot and Amazon as much as possible.
Snowy Night by Mary Oliver
Diana Arcadipone, mixed media on paper
Photo courtesy Peter Ralson, A Warm and Cozy Winter Break, available on his website www.ralstongallery.com
by Mary Oliver
Last night, an owl
in the blue dark
tossed an indeterminate number
of carefully shaped sounds into
the world, in which,
a quarter of a mile away, I happened
to be standing.
I couldn’t tell
which one it was –
the barred or the great-horned
ship of the air –
it was that distant. But, anyway,
aren’t there moments
that are better than knowing something,
and sweeter? Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness. I suppose
if this were someone else’s story
they would have insisted on knowing
whatever is knowable – would have hurried
over the fields
to name it – the owl, I mean.
But it’s mine, this poem of the night,
and I just stood there, listening and holding out
my hands to the soft glitter
falling through the air. I love this world,
but not for its answers.
And I wish good luck to the owl,
whatever its name –
and I wish great welcome to the snow,
whatever its severe and comfortless
and beautiful meaning.
Courtesy Peter Ralston, Going By, available on his website at www.ralstongallery.com/winter
Winter Songs
Playlist
Photo courtesy Billy Heyman to accompany the song River written by Joni Mitchell
Here goes:
The River Joni Mitchell
Valley Winter Song Fountains of Wayne
Reindeer King Tori Amos
Quiet, The Winter Harbor Mazzy Star
Song for a Winter's Night Gordon Lightfoot
Winter Lady Leonard Cohen
Snowstorm Galaxie 500
Hazy Shade of Winter cover The Bangles
The River (again--I love this version!) cover Robert Downey Jr.
Painting of the Week
House im Snow, mixed media on canvas, 54” x 80” $8500
Charity of the Week:
ACLU
Book of the Week
About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.