Two Painting as One

Tea: Christmas

Music: Queen, "You're My Best Friend"

Time: Night.

Short Third Friday tonight. None of the galleries in Columbus Park were open.

However, Eljay's Coffeehouse in the River Market had some works I've seen before and always enjoy seeing again. They're by Chuck Hoffman and Peg Carlson-Hoffman, who are collectively Doghaus Arts.

I do mean "collectively." They paint together -- on shared canvases. One might think that would be a dicey undertaking, given the inherent individualism of the creative processes.

But they make it work, in large part because each respects the other's vision and neither holds a power advantage during the painting process. There's a larger lesson in that -- and they teach it in Belfast, where they use artistic collaboration to help bridge the Catholic-Protestant divide.

That's art for more than art's sake, I'd say.