(L. to r.) Mark Wethli, Lisa Belisle '92, Joan Benoit Samuelson '79
An accomplished artist, a traditional doctor-turned-medical acupuncturist, and an Olympic gold medalist — all with Bowdoin connections — are featured within the pages of Maine magazine’s April 2011 issue.
In the Spotlight: Prof. Wethli’s PMA Biennial Pieces, Cinnamon Girl and Kwazy Wabbit
"Krazy Wabbit," one of two works by Mark Wethli in the PMA Biennial, 2009, acrylic on panel.
A. LeRoy Greason Professor of Art Mark Wethli used worktable tops salvaged from a sculpture studio at the College and created pieces whose titles alone are evocative. Cinnamon Girl and Kwazy Wabbit are included in the 2011 Portland Museum of Art Biennial, which runs through June 5.
An excerpt:
They seem to be having a conversation about mood and color, about the energy of their pinwheeling lines and the rhythm of large shapes and delicate details. But they are not too serious.
“Cinnamon Girl” is the title of a song by Neil Young. “Kwazy Wabbit” conjures Bugs Bunny and might refer to one of Wethli’s first jobs out of college: he was an art director at Marvel Comics and worked on comic books including Spider-Man and Conan the Barbarian.
Precise geometries and random surfaces, intention and accident, control and spontaneity—in these paintings, Wethli asks questions about the impulse to make art.
He paints a mystery: art’s power to make us pay attention. Read the article.
Dr. Lisa Belisle ’92 on “Life Support”
“An Integrated Life,” the cover story for the special “wellness issue” includes a profile of Lisa Belisle ’92, family doctor, medical acupuncturist and Qigong teacher. “
Lisa Belisle '92 (Photo: Richard Sandifer)
The article traces her path from traditional Western medicine to Eastern modalities in a quest to deepen and expand her medical approach.
An excerpt:
“As I was doing my family medical practice, I would talk to patients. I began to find patterns of disease that went far, far beyond the time I had to talk. Even with longer visits, I wouldn’t necessarily be able to get to the end of a problem or I would get to the end and I wouldn’t have a solution. I was looking for a tool to help me.
“At the time, I saw acupuncture as an extra technical skill. I liked it because it achieved identifiable, measurable results. Very Western thinking. Then I started my training [at the Academy of Pain Research in San Francisco and at Harvard University], and that’s when I discovered that it encompassed so much more.
“The Eastern modalities attract me because they are metaphors for something bigger. As a creative person, this makes sense to me. Almost everything has meaning, so why shouldn’t medicine have a larger meaning, too?” Read the article.
Running into Joanie
An essay about the joys and challenges of running includes mention of, who else, Joan Benoit Samuelson ’79.
Joan Benoit Samuelson '79
Excerpts:
If you run in Maine, you run with the awareness of Joan Benoit Samuelson, who took home the gold medal at the first Women’s Olympic Marathon in 1984.
She’s still running. “Joanie”—as she is affectionately known, and as her Beach to Beacon (a race she founded) bib reads each year—is a local legend.
Last winter, the winter I decided to become a runner—no longer a jogger or a plodder but someone who eats what they want at Sunday brunch because they just ran through three towns—I visited the website Mapmyrun.com.
Then I found an old quote from Joanie: “When I first started running, I was so embarrassed I’d walk when cars passed me. I’d pretend I was looking at the flowers.”
I told myself I could stop to look at flowers, even in winter. Read the article.
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