Beltane Interlude: Art and Poetry
Jean Opitz and Hannah Elizabeth King at Pegasus Gallery
Last Christmas when I was visiting my “fairy godmother” Jean Opitz in Minnesota, just before her 89th birthday, I told her that I was going to have some of her art on display in Corvallis during her next visit.
I wasn’t actually sure how to make that happen, so I asked Hannah King, who has more connections in the art world. She connected me with Paige Shumway at Pegasus Gallery, and thus began many visits sharing Jean’s portfolio, selecting frames and paintings, making prints, and bringing in originals mailed from Minnesota.
April, when Jean was visiting, happened to be an art and poetry show, so Paige asked me if I knew a good poet, and I said as a matter of fact I did. I then spent an evening paging through Hannah’s We Are Wanderers, finding some remarkably resonant matches. Although it might appear that way, the poems were not composed for the art, nor vice versa.
The exhibit went up April 17th, ahead of the monthly Corvallis Arts Walk, and it will be up through early June. The next Arts Walk is Thursday, May 15th, and I would encourage any local readers to stop by Pegasus Gallery (312 SW Madison Ave.) to check out Jean’s art, Hannah’s poetry, and all of the other creative works on display. Prints and cards of Jean’s work are for sale, as are Hannah’s books.
Beltane is usually celebrated on May 1, but the cross-quarter day - halfway between the spring equinox and the summer solstice, falls on the 4th or the 5th this year, depending on your time zone. So - in honor of the upswing, the explosion of growth and blossom, the beginning of the season of long days, here are five of Jean’s creations and five of Hannah’s poems, on 5/5/25.
EXQUISITE!!!! Every petal and tree and particle of the Mother.....BEAUTY!!!!!
What a gorgeous way to start my day! Thank you, Markus! Will give Jean a call.