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Born in Chicago, and living in a northwest suburb for many years, I was introduced to the joys of watercolors by two well-known local artists, Nancy Fortunato and Tim Trausch.

The light, color, and seeming spontaneity of watercolors are what most delight me. Workshops with Frank Webb, Judi Betts, Anne Abgott, and most recently, Win Jones, keep adding new insights and perspectives.

I have had exhibits in Palatine and Arlington Heights, Illinois, Reedsburg, wisconsni, Bradenton and Longboat Key, Florida. The Palatine Library District has one of my works in their lending art collection. other works are ni private homes across the United States.

Since building our home in Juneau County in 1974 after my retirement, I divide my time between Wisconsin and Florida. My work is displayed in the gallery at the Longboat key Center for Arts.

Mary Bittner

Barb Cranford to Read Her Poems

Barb Cranford, North Adams County poet and sculptor, will read from NO ONE THERE, her sixth book of poems at the Hatch Public Library, Mauston on Wednesday, April 18 at 6 pm. Open mic will follow.

Barb's poems are usually short, having been pared to their essence well before they see print by the brutal editing of the poet, who says she cannot abide excessive adjectives or convoluted syntax or murky meanings. Subjects range from songs of joy and light, childhood and the seasons, through the depths of sadness and loss. Many of the latter refer to her husband Walt's life and death.

Another frequent mode is ekphrasis, poems responding to works of art, which reflect Barb's former area of expertise. The subjects range from a Mark Rothko abstract painting in oil to a 50-year-old self-portrait in pastel, NO ONE THERE, which gives her present book its name.

IN 197l Walt with Barb's help built an unconventional frame home in a jack pine woods. They camped in a tent while working full time on construction of the house. Walt died six years ago but Barb intends to stay there as long as she is able. For over 20 years she has audited one class a semester at UW-SP "to get me out amongst 'em," she says. By now she is older than the professors.

The Cranfords came from Chicago where Walt was an an engineer and exhibit animator and Barb had a studio and art gallery. Earlier she had been an editor, then art director of Britannica Junior, the multi-volume children's edition of Encyclopedia Britannica. Her clay sculpture was shown extensively in the Chicago area and in Central Wisconsin until about twelve years ago when she turned back to words and began again to write poems.

After publishing several chapbooks, Barb brought out her first perfect-bound paperback, SWEEP THE SPRING, in 2000. SCORPIO'S CHILD, SOME QUIET PLACE, PENTIMENTO and FROM LIFE followed in successive years,

Barb's poems have appeared in many literary journals and anthologies. The first book was completed during a residency at Ragdale. In 2006 she was nominated for a Pushcart prize. A member of Riverwood Roundtable (Wisconsin
Rapids) and the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets (statewide), Barb was poetry editor of MANHATTAN LITERARY REVIEW, runs several invitational intensive one-day workshops in poem-making every year and occasionally shepherds a poet through the process of making a book from a miscellany of poems.