Brooklyn driving is always and adventure for Jersey grrls who don't venture too far off the Belt Parkway. But when the light at the end of the tunnel is an Open Studio, my grrl and I fire up the GPS and away we go!

Artist Catherine (Cathy) Eckdahl held her annual Open Studio on November 9 and the apartment where she's lived with her partner of 23 years, Susan Freedner, was well hung. Art was on every vertical surface, and many horizontal ones, in many media ranging from the watercolor, oils and acrylics one might expect, to multimedia pieces incorporating metal, wax, found objects and naturally occurring materials like feathers, crab claws and the remains of monarch butterflies. The natural materials were harvested not from living creatures, but rather those who left behind a bit of themselves to be found by a discerning eye.

Eckdahl's art, which may be viewed in part at her website, www.eckdahl.org, is much more than a visual experience. I purchased an addition to my Eckdahl collection at the gathering that is a new age interpretation of an ancient explorer's notebook. Visually, Eckdahl's art guides my mind on a journey of it's own. While the art itself is the launching of the journey, the experience is mine alone.

The mixed media pieces were in vitrines throughout the apartment and the range included deconstructed hands holding the husks of monarch butterflies who were at some part of their journey between this world and the next, to what Freedner calls the "Warrior Princess," a piece comprised of metal and shells that speaks to the warrior within us all. Some of the paintings were large and commanding in their presence and use of color, while works on paper adorned hallway walls with judicious use of white space making the spare script stand out lonely and important against the background, bounded only by the gallery frame.

The artist has exhibited around the country, including solo shows in Manhattan and group shows in Cherry Grove, Fire Island. Check the website to see when your next, best opportunity to experience Eckdahl's work will be. The painting I acquired Sunday was a gift from my beloved-and a great reminder that all we really need is art.