SHADOWS - LEAVES - ROSES
PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBIT BY MAJA TROCHIMCZYK
SCENIC DRIVE GALLERY, MONROVIA, SEPTEMBER 1 – 23, 2013, OPENING RECEPTION: SEPTEMBER 1, 2013, 4-6 PM. 125 W. Scenic Dr. Monrovia California, 91016. www.trochimczyk.net www.scenicdrivegallery.com
Maja Trochimczyk, Ph.D. is a poet, music historian and non-profit director, who takes pictures of what she likes to see in her neighborhood in California. An author of four books on music and four volumes of poetry, Maja is a recipient of many prizes, including honors from the City and County of Los Angeles and Poland’s Ministry of Culture. Her photographs previously appeared in PoeticDiversity, The Houston Literary Review, Epiphany Magazine, Polish Music Journal, and books by Moonrise Press. She participated in two group art shows: at the Scenic Drive Gallery in 2011 (“Poets –Artists” Exhibition) and at the Colburn School of Music (KRAK Art Group music photo exhibition associated with the American Paderewski Piano Competition in May 2013). This is her first solo photography exhibit, which will be accompanied by a reading of her garden-and-rose themed poems during the opening reception on September 1, 2013.
MAJA ABOUT THE INSPIRATION FOR THIS EXHIBITION:
A poet and music historian, I like to share the delights I experience every day in my new life in California (after almost 20 years, still "new"). This sense of bewilderment with life and nature is shared by children and convalescents. I once saw an older, frail woman shuffling along the sidewalk, with a hospital pallor still marking her face. . . She glowed with childlike wonder, admiring everything she saw. "Look at this leaf" - she said to me, "Isn't it amazing? Everything is so beautiful today..."
My first solo exhibition features a selection of thousands of pictures taken in response to this admonition.... "look at this leaf..." I also look at the play of light and shadow, the reflections on the water, and the miraculous shapes of petals of my roses. Sometimes, I write poems about what I see and the Opening Reception will feature some of my poems, especially those inspired by roses, and the love that they carry in their multi-petaled hearts.
With a simple digital camera I take pictures of what I like to see in my neighborhood in California. An online journal, PoeticDiversity made me the Artist in Residence in their August 2009 issue. Photographs of roses appeared in the Epiphany Magazine, No. 16, October 2012 and in The Houston Literary Review, June 2009 visual arts issue. I participated in two group art shows, at the Scenic Drive Gallery in 2011 (Poets -Artists) and at the Colburn School of Music (associated with the American Paderewski Piano Competition in May 2013).
I used my photos as illustrations in my poetry books, Rose Always and Miriam's Iris, published by Moonrise Press. I also designed all the Moonrise Press covers, often featuring my own photographs.
Sunland Seasons in 30 Photos, Autumn 2009
ROSE WINDOW
I place you in the heart of my rose, dark red one,
with dew drops on its leaves.
Like a tricked-up baby
from Ann Geddes' postcard
you rest, snugly wrapped
in the comfort of my love.
"That too shall pass," they say,
"That too shall pass.
The rose will wither,
love will fade away."
Respectfully, I disagree.
I know the symmetry
of velvet petals
is but an opening
into a different universe,
a cosmic window,
timeless.
I see it in the shyness
of your smile. Yes.
You are that lucky.
In the morning
when the curtains of mist
open above silver hills
carved from time
like a Japanese woodcut,
you taste freedom.
You found your true self
under the detritus
of disordered life.
Isn't it strange
that you've been saved
by the perfection
of just one rose?
http://www.moonrisepress.com/rosealways.html
