January 2022 | visual art
GMO Picnic
Ash Margaret Cheatham
Gently Seeping, depicts the delusional state that many people are blissfully unaware they are in. Ash Margaret displays vivid scenes characterizing the things we do to nurture ourselves, yet simultaneously destroy. Covid exposed a “save yourself” mentality that has us at war against each other. Ash chose the gas mask without its filter to portray the relentless bare minimum mindset society continues to display. The mask illustrates a positive action but is then rendered useless by other choices. The smoke represents the danger we allow to seep into our lives while feeling protected with our faulty gas mask. This series is set in an indistinct time period. Ash mixes vintage with modern aesthetic, combining for an almost post-apocalyptic feel with a cross-processed quality. These windows of augmented reality express what life obscures.
January 2022 | visual art
Blueish
Rose
Doug Dabbs
Doug Dabbs is a comic book artist, illustrator, and university professor who has taught visual storytelling and illustration in higher education for over a decade. His comic book artwork has been published by Image Comics, Oni Press, 12 Gauge Comics, and Desperado Publishing, and his work has been displayed in over 30 national and international exhibitions; most recently the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art Museum (South Korea), Shockboxx Gallery (California) and the National Gallery of North Macedonia. His work has been featured in numerous juried art publications including ArtAscent Art and Literature Journal, Coffin Bell Journal, Brightness Magazine, High Shelf, Pittville Press, and Sand Hills Literary Magazine. Additionally, his work has been recognized by international illustration competitions including American Illustration, 3×3, Cheltenham Illustration Awards, Brightness Illustration Awards, Creative Quarterly, and Communication Arts. Dabbs’ artwork and research focus on methods of visual storytelling through the exploration of the human figure and environments. His art isn’t about perfecting each mark individually, but instead, using collective mark-making to communicate themes, emotions, and narratives. He investigates the effects positive and negative space have on compositions, mood, and storytelling, and how these components invite active viewer participation and analysis. He is interested in challenging traditional illustrative rendering methods that typically rely on color. Utilizing arguably one of the more vulnerable art approaches—black and white line art—marks cannot be hidden by additional media and color applications. The result is an intimate view of his hand and vision that is not obscured by further rendering.
January 2022 | poetry
The way clouds seep through in wings
Fringe of shadow After summer Fall camouflage
I see me
Outside a window looking in
My first baby
Sam the dog
Trusting Wandering
Snow Ice Branches littered Trees
From storms Bowed
I see snowmen and snow angels One more child
Packed in a snowsuit Dad on skates
Burning trash Sitting with a beer
On a summer night
My mother kneels
offers her flowers to bees Waits
One second
Another needy plant
Calls her eye
Small flutter Leaves
Petals rise light Hallowed breaths
I see the wooden man
Whirligig White canoe Saw cut
Feathers Slipped halo
He rides lopsided
Above my mother’s garden
Like a wing
One lone paddle
Lifts the sky
Sheryl L. White
Sheryl L. White is an artist and writer living in Boston. Her writing has been published in The Comstock Review, Solstice Literary Magazine, Poetry Quarterly, The Boston Globe, Split Rock Review, Great Lakes Review, The Woven Tale Press Journal, The Roanoke Review, among others. She was a recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Poetry Finalist Grant and was twice selected for the Mayor of Boston Poetry Program. In 2019, she was a Pushcart nominee and in 2021, a Best of the Net Nominee. Her chapbook, Sky gone, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2020.
