Artist and author Marcia Gloster Ammeen recounts her 'Story of Seduction' 50 years later
VERONA, N.J., Sept. 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — "As his eyes met mine, I felt a sudden, powerful sensation wash over me. I saw him in a flash of white light and knew that image would be engraved in my memory forever." – Marcia Gloster, author of 31 Days: A Memoir of Seduction.
Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140915/146184
Photo – http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140915/146185
That encounter occurred in the summer of 1963 on the first day 20-year-old Marcia Gloster arrived to study painting at Oskar Kokoschka's School of Vision in Salzburg, Austria. It marked the beginning of an intense relationship with an artist and her instructor William Thomson that would change Gloster's life.
Nearly fifty years later while in a shop in New York, an unfamiliar song caught her attention. As she stopped to listen, she experienced a second flash of light and a vision of that fateful meeting. "I was shaken," Gloster says. "I had not thought about that summer in decades, and yet unexpectedly and seemingly out of nowhere, I had the name of a book and the first page of a story, my story, and one I had never told to anyone, even my closest friends. Confused, I practically ran home, took a deep breath and began to write. The story poured out of me as the memories returned with unexpected force.
"Years ago, I put my canvases and brushes aside to begin what would become a long and successful career as an art director in NYC. For all those years, I never painted or thought about writing a book. Yet telling a story I had kept secret for decades has been an unexpected and exhilarating journey. Remarkably, the memories I have relived through writing have unlocked and reawakened my creativity. Only now do I realize just how powerfully that summer decades ago shaped my life. And what is more surprising is that it is still doing so today," says Gloster.
Marcia Gloster's 31 Days: A Memoir of Seduction gives the reader a glimpse into Kokoschka's famous, and infamous, school, and paints an intimate portrait of the artists with whom she shared the seductive Salzburg nights. At 37, William Thomson was as well known in London's lofty social circles as he was for his indiscretions. Kokoschka, who spent time with Thomson in London, considered him a superior artist and invited him to teach several summer sessions in Salzburg.
Just two decades years after WW II, Gloster observes the tensions and mysteries of an era in flux. Above all, she exposes the naïve curiosity of a twenty-year-old art student willing to take chances and discover a new world of love and sexuality.
Advance Praise for 31 Days: A Memoir of Seduction
"An elegant and eloquent narrative of seduction and sensual awakening, against the backdrop of the last summer of Kokoschka's famed international art school in the historic city of Salzburg."
–Miriam Frank, author of My Innocent Absence
"Beautifully written, sensual and heartfelt, Gloster captures the reader quickly, providing insights into the emotional workings of a young woman's mind."
–Robert Tulipan, author of Rockin' in the New World
Book signings are being held at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ on September 18, 2014 and the National Association of Woman Artists' NYC headquarters in early December, 2014.
For more about the author, her book and paintings, visit www.marciagloster.com.
31 Days: A Memoir of Seduction by Marcia Gloster
Published by The Story Plant
Publication Date: September 16, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61188-188-2
Media Contacts:
Janet Appel, 212-258-2413, Email
Kimberly Macleod, 347-371-3798, Email