Here we are, the middle of the month, busy with submissions from around the Blue Ridge Mountains and beyond. I just finished my 5th podcast with Gary Isreal, remembering his mother Dorothy Gillespie.
BACK IN 1977 I WAS INTRODUCED TO DOROTHY GILLESPIE, an American artist and sculptor who became known for her large and colorful abstract metal sculptures. She supported our fledgling idea of starting a feminist literary and art journal by donating A beautiful pastel for our very first cover in 1977. Her work of art was later painted to become Roanoke’s first downtown mural.
As a native of Roanoke, Ms. Gillespie’s international career spanned seven decades and her works of art have graced many institutions, museums, colleges, universities and public places. We are honored again to have her grace our current cover.
Dorothy created quite a sensation back then and now fast forward to this year…we decided to go full circle and honor her on our current Artemis Journal cover, since this year she would have been 100 years old. We collaborated with the Roanoke Taubman Museum of Art, as they were featuring her with a retrospective of her life’s work. In the plans were a celebration last June to release the 2020 Artemis at the museum. The pandemic changed all that, we canceled the in-person launch and the birth of my podcasts began reaching out to our community.
I am grateful for all those who volunteer to help keep Artemis alive. A special thanks to Skip Brown of Final Track Studio, my co-producer for Artemis Speaks, the Taubman Museum of Art for their continued support by producing a virtual video this year of our launch and the Roanoke Arts Commission for their yearly grants to cover our printing costs.
What a year this has been! Here is an interesting theory, back in the 14th century when the Black Plague or Black Death that caused so much devastation in Europe, which hit Europe between 1348 and 1350, and resulted in a shift in world view and resulted in the Renaissance.
James Baldwin once said, that hope is something that we have to invent everyday. I am imagining a better world today.
Jeri Rogers, Editor
