Vol. 1, No. 1.
As the editor of this first ever newsletter for Gannaiden Sculpture Garden, it seemed appropriate to take some space to introduce myself. My name is James Armstrong and its a wonderful experience to be involved in a small way in the vision and work that happens in and because of Gannaiden Sculpture Garden. It’s also an immeasurable honour and pleasure to have the opportunity to get to know Marcel Braitstein and Elaine Steinberg. They are amazing teachers and I am priviledged to know them as friends. Currently, I am freshly retired from a wide and varied career that has included journalism, music, sales and marketing, business administration and a childhood spent on a family-owned dairy farm.
The Chanukah 2019 event held at the Stephen F. Shaar Community Center in Hudson was my first major involvement in a Gannaiden related event. I was hooked by that experience in the same way I had been hooked by previous summer events held at the Garden itself. The “hook” was an almost indescribable sense of being included in a community with thoughtful and respectful connections to a much wider community that are local, national and international.
Bringing together the many strands of the events that have happened over the past year pertaining to
Gannaiden wouldn’t have been possible without Elaine. Her vision, her voice, her integrity have been major motivating factors in the production of this newsletter.
My hope for future newsletters is that they will be more interactive and contain input from everyone involved in the Gannaiden project. That means volunteers, visitors, readers and whoever else is drawn to the beacon of Gannaiden.
As the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions lift and vaccinations protecting us from the virus begin to have an impact, my hope is the vision of Gannaiden Sculpture Garden will become reality and take wing and fly.
That’s how I see it from where I’m sitting in the Garden.
