Mar and I made a kind of pilgrimage in 2011, to places in Maine that her mentors had lived and worked, Deer Isle and Cranberry Island. David Lund had a studio in Deer Isle, but he was living in NY at that time, and we did not see him in Maine. Marvin Bileck had passed away in 2005, but we knew that he spent summers on Cranberry Island, and that an artist friend of his still lived there on Little Cranberry Island, Ashley Bryan. We took the ferry to the Island, and were told that we could not miss Ashley - he was a very tall black man, and the only African-American there. He welcomed us to his home and studio. He had fond memories of Marvin Bileck and his wife, Emily Nelligan. We saw his huge collection of dolls and puppets, all made by him and used in performance, and his latest paintings. He told us how he became the first black person to attend Cooper Union, and gave us one of his books, “Walk Together Children”, of woodcuts based on spirituals.

Dedication: For my Mother
who sings from one end of the day to the other

And
To the Memory of my Father
who used to say, “Son, your mother must think she’s a bird!”