Category RileSmith Arts

Did you know that Mozart’s parents had SIX babies, but only two survived infancy? And those two turned out to be world-changing musical geniuses. What about the other four? I used to think a lot about how death was much…

December, 2019. It’s been thirty years since I drew the Babar Christmas Card. And the times have changed. No more collection of India ink-filled Rapidograph pens carefully humidified with a kitchen sponge in an old pickle jar resting on the…

They’re Paper, They’re Folded; They’re Covered with Fonts: 10 Pamphlets for Recent Grads by Karen Rile How to Buy a Stamp: An Illustrated Field Guide Feeling Entitled to Petty Theft? The Unpaid Intern’s Introduction to Office Supplies (Including Stamps) My Mother,…

One a day, added throughout April. First day of April: the sky, like an empty book, and the scribbling trees.  1/30 Snow on daffodils— delicious melancholy. Press on that sore tooth. 2/30 April afternoon: the daffodils are shrieking their terrible…

One a day, added throughout April. Who’s that a-knocking? Woodpecker at the chimney, tapping: April Fools. 1/30 rainy Saturday: practicing piano scales in a cloud-lit room 2/30 The cherry blossoms— they’re flying off their branches in this spendthrift wind. 3/30…

Our Little Free Library is about to celebrate its first year. It needs a little sprucing up—maybe we will sand and re-seal it to brighten up the cedar finish. The library itself has been a wonderful success. So many neighbors and passers-by…

This article originally appeared on Violinist.com. Every September my city, Philadelphia, belies a stodgy reputation and throws its heart and soul into an edgy two-week all-arts (dance, theater, visual arts, music and spoken-word) festival we call Philly Fringe. The festival, now in its 19th year,…

Early this afternoon I came across this woman busking in front of Kilian Hardware in Chestnut Hill. She told me that she lost her office job of 24 years after new management took over. So she’s been playing electric keyboard on…

We’d been reading about Little Free Libraries this year and we just loved the idea—who wouldn’t? Earlier this summer, while on an evening walk, we came across one about a mile from here. It was so charming and perfect that we knew we had…

This essay first appeared on Violinist.com, June 19, 2014 The door will open, casting a long rectangle of light on the dark floor and letting in the sounds of the audience, rustling and coughing.  The people in the front row…