Barbara Slitkin, Visual Artist

Resident at Westbeth since 2007

One miracle March day in 2008, a year after moving here, my art gal pal Toni Dalton approached me on the seventh floor and told me there were low cost temporary shared painting studios in the I Building. And she told me to talk to Christina Maile. I was off to lunch and got onto the elevator. As soon as the elevator reached the lobby, Christina was standing there right in front of me. Magically, I was in touch with the right person to put me through to the person who managed the list for our temporary painting space.

The day had begun on such a high note, yet that was not my only surprise. There would be three. I was headed to a workshop later with author Rick Jarrow. (I forget exactly what the theme of it was, but it was something cosmic.) I had plenty of time. So I just happened to walk into a big home furnishing store along the way I had never been to, ABC Carpet & Home. While milling about there, I walked into my best friend from grammar school, who was in New York City visiting from Chicago. I had not seen or heard from my friend Terri in years. This was a very unusual day. She took me for tea, and we had a lovely visit before that appointed evening meeting with Rick. The workshop/meeting was very uplifting, and my energy was so high from such an amazing day that I walked home from Midtown. On the way home, I was on the last stretch of Bethune Street when I said out loud to my guardian angels, aka Spirit Guides, who may have been arranging all the happy unexpected synchronicities of the day: If you can do that, how come I don’t have a man in my life? Just before I could get to the corner of Washington Street, he appeared: Jones Street neighbor.