Touching Quiet: Reflections in Solitude

This is the story of the summer that artist Mindy Weisel was given a fellowship of one month at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, furloughed from the demands of everyday life. There, surrounded by acres of country fields and a deep great silence, she was free to paint as much and whenever she chose. This lyrical journal explores her challenge to deal directly with the many kinds of quiety she discovered there. On one day of excruciating silence, for instance, we read how she painted a storm. On another morning, in response to the beauty outside her light-filled studio, we discover with her the calm rural landscape she then painted. All twelve of the critically acclaimed paintings in the “Touching Quiet” series are featured in full color in the book, visually tracing the pattern and sense of place and understanding she found during this one momentous month of solitude. “Never have I felt more fulfilled,” she says. “And with nowhere to run, I did touch quiet.”

Mindy Weisel’s art hangs in museums and institutions around the world, including the Smithsonian, Hirshhorn Museum, National Museum of American Art, Israel Museum, U.S. Capitol, and Baltimore Museum of Art. Her work has been featured in 18 one-person and more than 30 group exhibitions since 1977. She has been nominated for Awards in the Visual Arts and participated in the State Department’s Art in Embassies Program. An interview with Ms. Weisel’s art and life aired in 1997 on CNN’s program, "Impact." She has been reviewed in The Washington Post, USA Today, Art News, and more. Ms. Weisel lives in Washington, D.C.