Author: Bree

granted, it has only been 25 years since i began writing songs, and meanwhile i never have recorded them!

when i was 18 i sang Billie Holidays ‘Strange Fruit’ at an open mic along with a couple of poems. a dude i cannot recall the name of from the band New Salem Witch Hunters befriended me, and had me in a studio singing ‘Strange Fruit’ and ‘Fast car’ for a compilation of contemporary songs by folks in Cleveland. but this was the last time i was in the studio…1996.

my bands recorded ourselves only for the purpose of working out songs. but this March i entered three of my original songs in Kentucky Arts Councils Songwriting Grant contest, and will hear back July 1- i stand to win $7000!

it was difficult to choose genre- i write blues songs, but i am not a blues songwriter. i write jazz songs, and much of what has inspired my music has been jazz, but it was not a category up for the grant. i decided on Americana, as this encompasses the ‘sittin on the porch without shoes’ feeling i feel when i sing.

here are a the songs i entered.


https://soundcloud.com/user-378668999/dawns-bog
https://soundcloud.com/user-378668999/trombone
https://soundcloud.com/user-378668999/dust-catcher

if i win i will use the money to press a small numbered edition of a dozen of my songs on vinyl, and put them online for free. been recording with Lewis Mathis who has a music studio near me in Shelbyville, KY and a small cast of local geniuses.

i have been exploring nudes and eroticism with my ‘collages made from a single photograph’ for some months now. truly they are a way to get better at drawing, as photographs have built-in palettes, lighting and shade.

i will put together a book of just a dozen or so, each collage facing the original photo from which it came with applicable info. all of the collages are made from shots i took in various parts of central Kentucky.

not all of them are meant to be erotic. some simply address the human body, while others are explicit.

if you would like to order a copy let me know at FB or greenpandapress@gmail.com — if it appears enough people are wanting a book i will produce one before the month of November is up.

here are a few finished pieces to check out. xoxo Bree

i have spent the last half-year creating this 320 page art book, which consists of selected collages from a single photograph. i make the collages on Paint, a program which recently made the news—Microsoft was going to lay it to rest, but a revolt took place, and they will keep it as part of Windows computers.

here are some examples of my work. in the book the photo the collage came from faces the page with the collage itself, so the reader can see where my vision came from. click on link to buy the book, or send $37 here.  

well the Artist Enrichment Grant the Kentucky Foundation for Women awarded me has seen its end. i sent in the final report, which is a retrospect assessment of whether my work made impact and affected change, whether i grew as an artist and independent thinker, well–so much to think about, digest, take inventory of-
we are all such houses to clean!

i put as much work into the report as i did the calendar, book or other aspect of the project. today i spoke with a woman at KFW while she held my work in her hands. hours later i would discover i am covered now by Medicare. the rewarding finish of two major looming aspects of my life–the project, and my pursuit of health insurance concurred.

my response was in earnest because the project gave me the opportunity and responsibility of sending more overt messages out with my singular voice.

i find i dont always agree with messages the media labels as feminist because at times it is sensationalised and rather honed to an agenda.

this can cause people to perceive feminists as being up in arms about things which may or may not be relevant, accurate or true–meanwhile, each day women endure actual discrimination, harassment, hardships and barriers most men dont. and i think to focus on my personal experience- my point of view is the most helpful, and the less distracting.

was happy to set fire to 2016… much loss and illness…a climate changing for the worse, groups being singled out and blamed, bolstered supremacy groups like the KKK and neo-nazis, rivers being raped, native people stripped of rights, treaties ignored, a congress which gives itself a raise the very day it votes against an increased minimum wage, people who are well-off living like they were poor because of skyrocketing healthcare costs…

well anyways.

here are two collages in response to such ugly things, attempts at Beauty.

making a collage from a single photograph has been my daily routine for some time. it is not that i prefer it to drawing- rather it is more fun to play with shapes, shadows, textures and so forth using a photograph as a pallette. my cousin Marcel asks a good question- is anyone else out there doing this?

not sure how to find out. but i do know i am thankful for everyone out there.

xo Bree

so yesterday i joined the Shelby Regional Arts Council and sold some of my pieces at the festival of lights in Shelbyville. i met several of the artists involved with the council. i look forward to being active in the group. one of the board members had seen my work at Sixth & Main Coffee Shop and lured me in- i was caught easily! it was because of the exposure the grant from The Kentucky Foundation for Women awarded me with that i came into the council.

thinking of Trump and not knowing what is to come for women- (not to mention ALL stigmatized or minority groups) i made some collages which celebrate the strength and bravery women exhibit unceasingly- and shall- despite Trump, Pence and whomever else should try to eradicate hard-fought for freedoms.

sometimes we work better under pressure- as a chef, i certainly learned how to maintain my rhythm and balance with two feet in the fire. while i like to allow myself to create whatever comes- i expect affirmative works which glorify women as we walk on coals unscathed.

this first day after the election i am thinking the tipping point is not even close.

women need to uplift one another- feel each other within us- let that feeling fortify, instruct and lend hands.

this is true for all oppressed and stigmatized. our stigma- our breastplate. wear it proudly, for it is what the world sees when they look at us as much as it is our protection.

i have been making gorgets again- based on the stone gorgets made by the Yucchi tribe which revered the sun, pileated woodpeckers, and so forth. one of their clans was the opossum.

previously the gorgets i made were drawn. this one is a collage made from the photograph below- although i used Paint’s watercolor tool on the critters themselves. it reminds me of a quilt and i think of all the Kentucky women who use quilts as a form of community and symbol of family.

other recent art- since lately all i do is walk and draw it is the animals which seem to pique me..