SHIRLEY A. BLAIR KELLER - Author and Artist

 

Shirley Keller, Artist and Author, December 2024

Spiritual Awareness Center, Visalia, California

Art and Book Show


All books available:

 Amazon.com, Spirit Hill Meditation and Art Studio, Three Rivers, CA and Barnes and Nobel Bookstore, Visalia, CA








But What About The Children? Diversity is Life 

A Memoir 2019

Cover: Delia Keller


The Donkey Song - Novella of Fiction

A Romance based on a true story 2021

Cover: Delia Keller


About Connections

Short Stories 2024

Cover: Delia Keller




ORIGINAL COVER ART




                                       But What About The Children? Diversity is Life

                                                Memoir by Shirley A. Blair Keller 2019

                                                            Cover Art: Shirley Keller


This memoir tells the story of a family that began with Russian Jewish parents, divorced, and remarried to an African American stepfather, and a Japanese American stepmother. The family received into it people from around the world and became the diversity of the American dream. Land of equality, liberty and justice for all. The struggle was there in the time of segregation, but the family not only survived, it has thrived.



                                                                        
                                                          The Donkey Song 

                                    A Novella of Romance, by Shirley A. Blair Keller 2021

                                                           Fiction based on a true story.

                                                               Cover Art: Gary Williams


Before Derrick Johnson left the mainland for Hawaii, he stopped in San Francisco to visit his best friend. She was his biggest advocate when it came to his desire to travel. The plan was to share a meal with Julia and then continue on with travel plans. And yet, plans changed and a surprising new found romance began. Derrick didn’t want to leave Julia, but she helped him decide like she had been doing their whole life, “Do the trip. If love is real, it will endure the separation.” What neither could know, the universe had other plans…






                                                                                  About Connections 

                                                       Short Stories by Shirley A. Blair Keller, 2024

                                                        Cover Art: Shirley Keller


Short stories about the connections Keller made over a lifetime, inspired by Stephen Cope, Deep Human Connections. Mr. Cope suggested making connections for human beings is as important as breathing. Memories surfaced that Keller thought others might benefit from, stories of connections to strangers, family and friends, and even a few critters.





Ekphrastic Workbook
Edited by Sandra Rogers-Hare


    Looking through Facebook I noticed a photograph. It was Nora Lago in Puerto Rico. Leaning against a wall on a stone lined street, one foot up on the wall, and no people as far as you could see. Dark glasses hid her eyes. But she had a smile ear-to-ear. I thought, How happy she looks, relaxed, at home in her parent's birth place. I asked Nora if I could have a copy of the photo to paint. She emailed a copy to me. After I painted Nora, I sent her a photo of it. If she liked it my plan was to send the painting to her. She loved it and when she received it she found a beautiful corner to display and sent me a photo and asked if I approved. Of course, I did.

    A woman who I’d been friends with back in the Synanon days, whose daughter I helped raise in a boarding school, had a writers workshop and presented them with various art pieces to do fifteen minutes speed writings inspired by the pieces. She’d seen the Nora painting on Facebook and asked if she could use it in her workshop.

Later, she asked if she could use the painting for the cover a book she was putting together of the art and writings of her students. I asked Nora if she minded. It was her on the painting, and I gave her the painting so I felt permission from her was needed. She said, “Of course.”

    About two months later, my friend sent me a photo of the book. Lo, there was my painting. She sent both Nora and me copies of the book. Mine got lost in the mail for a while, so Nora had time to read the book, rave about it, and she even read it a second time before my copy finally made its way to me.

    The title of the book caught my interest, Ekphrastic Workbook. I had never seen that word before: Ekphrastic - Greek for vivid descriptions in poetry or prose inspired by works of art. 

    Sandra Rogers-Hare edited this workbook from her San Leandro Writers Workshop in 2023. She provided writers with images of art from famous artists, to me, including an artist in the group and another mutual friend. The writers were asked to view the various pieces of art over the year and write what the artwork inspires, most poetry, but some prose. She timed them for fifteen minutes, so they were immediate, in the moment, no edited thoughts, just let the pens flowed across the paper. She then place the art on the left hand page, the writings on the right. 

    She invites the readers to try their hand at this exercise by placing a piece of paper over the right pages, enjoy the painting and write for fifteen minutes, thus she calls this a workbook.

    You can find this treasure on Amazon.com. 







































Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

To Display at Kaweah Oak Preserve, 11/06/09

Image
"Kaweah River" from a series "On The Walk...", Three Rivers, Winter 2009. The daily walk along Kaweah River Road is full of adventure if you keep your eyes open. Critters and birds attracted to the water's edge, the seasons change the landscape and the way the rivers runs through it. A new home was built and I realized before long all the wild beauty will disappear, even the local Hawk was so disturbed by the loss of some of his territory he knocked the hats off a few walkers, even hurting a couple. I feel empathy for his rage, even as I understand how lucky the people who moved in are. I take my camera each season, hoping to capture this lovely place, just in case my fear is realized and the wild disappears. "Truck Garden," Three Rivers, 2009 Pat O'connell's Petrol Station is a familiar landmark for those of us who live in Three Rivers, and many tourists who pass through, especially those who find themselves in difficulty and Pat has been cal...
Read more

ARTWORK by Shirley Keller ©2024-2025

Image
  Georgia’s Hands Shirley Keller, 2025 Sketching pencils on drawing paper Darcie, AWE teacher, presented a photo that we are guessing was taken from Georgia O’Keefe’s partner in black and white. Our assignment was to do a timed sketch.   This is my rendition. It was a very challenging assignment. The hands were staged in the most awkward positions. I barely was able to place the face and hands in some proximation that matched the photo in the time we were given. Over the next week I worked on the sketch, filling in details. I’d been using a sketch book. Recently, Darcie had shared what sketch books mean to artists, a place to quickly sketch ideas, practice doing parts of what would be whole pieces of art.   My sketch books all have a few started ideas, but then I’d not work in them again. So I took the one that looked like a book and every assignment Darcie gave us over the past couple of months I used this book as the source.   My inexperience was very evident when ...
Read more

The FBI: As I Knew Them As A Child, And Updated

The last of the FBI files for my stepfather, and mother, arrived. As I went through the papers, I remembered how my parents thought communism would solve the social inequities they fought so hard against. But, when discovering the horrors of the real Stalin, they were disturbed. Their focus always had been on ending segregation in America, so they joined Civil Rights groups and were activists for the remainder of their lives. Most of the FBI paperwork reflected that change.      The FBI wasted tons of money, year after year, following my folks. A form appeared on top of each year. The manager of their cases filled out this form requesting funds for the coming year, or termination of the case. To quote him, "The Mosley's do not show behavior that would over throw the government of the United States, therefore I recommend ending these cases."  Hoover ignored the recommendation and signed off on one more year anyway - 42 years against my pop and 32 years against my moth...
Read more