By: Carrie Heath, September 20, 2023
The Gmeiner Art & Cultural Center is thrilled to announce a book sale, signing, and performance by Michael Biddison on “Zart: The Art of Everything from Z to A, and A to
Z” on Friday, October 20 th from 7-9PM. Admission is free and open to the public.
Michael will be playing some music, sharing some thoughts and pieces from the book at 7:30 for about 45 minutes. Come by a little earlier to say hello and thumb through a
copy, or stay a little later. He hopes to see many old friends and fellow creatives who are interested in the art of everything. Michael says that this book has a number if chapters in it that are love letters to Wellsboro and its creative treasures. He hopes you find them.
Zart is a 404-page full color adventure in multi-media playing, in the form of a book. It is impossible to categorize, sometimes humorous, sometimes pensive. Michael calls it an
“automythography” because it is a mostly autobiographical project that takes liberties in combining his imagery, origin stories, lyrics, and links to his music. It is all meant to be a pondering on how the creative life can be potentially radically inclusive. Michael says, “I have found that what many people expect from art sells short of what it can do to feed and connect us to ourselves and to each other. To see my work, my family, our community, my home and gardens as creative opportunities, I can make life in general
more beautiful, adventuresome. I can experience people and situations with more awareness and openness. I can give myself permission to enjoy some things I might not
have, were I not to assume that there’s opportunity awaiting everywhere and in every being and thing.”
Michael Biddison is a 1978 Wellsboro High School graduate. He has been a part of numerous group and solo shows of his visual work at the Gmeiner Art center since his
teens. In 2015, he was part of the three-person show with local art luminaries Tucker Worthington and Dale Witherow. He has also written and performed music since the
mid 1970’s with bands such as Ticapoo Brain, Space Goop, Neo Pseudo and the Llama Dalis. Michael feels fortunate to have grown up in this town surrounded by natural
beauty and so many people in all walks of creative life. Starting with Alice Mickey’s art classes, Pat Davis’s musical offerings, and a host of creative spirits and coaches such
as Tucker Worthington, Steve and Rita Bower, Dale Witherow, Warren Goodrich… as well as his creative contemporaries.
Michael currently lives near Pottstown, PA between creeks and a cornfield. He continues to show and perform, while also sharing his most recent visual works and
music primarily in a combined gallery and performance space called “The Bungalow” in Kimberton, PA. In addition to his more obviously art-related works, for the past 25 years
Michael has worked as a restoration carpenter throughout the Philadelphia region. In his restoration work, he has found a surprising source for funky tools, old and worn
materials, and a deep appreciation of craft, history and functional invention. In restoring challenging architectural timepieces he has come to see restoration, and sometimes re-invention, as a form of sculpting. In this way, Michael has accidentally found that far from being a distraction to his creative work, the “ordinary life” is anything but ordinary
and that this is what feeds and gives roots to his arts. Work, family, community, and making a home is part and parcel of his art. And so there it is… “Zart, an art of
everything”
For those who want to experience the book without becoming a collector, Michael has donated a copy to the Green Free Library. You can find out more about Michael and his
work at I-zarts.com. For further information about the presentation or the Gmeiner, contact Carrie at 570-724-1917 or [email protected].