“A good poem makes us see the world in a different way; a good image does this, too. These good poems and images that follow invite us into the river along with the poet, with the photographer, from the banks where we normally reside. There, we become part of the chorus, in communion with the elements and the flow of words and pictures that hold the world in a suspended state. Never the same river twice; never the same poem twice; never the same image twice; never the same self twice.”      Kathleen Garrett

“Timeless and transcendent, the voices in this volume embody reckonings and illuminate resurfacings: a collective emergence from a worldwide pandemic, from racial, economic, and political unrest, from riots and protests, surfacing to the light, singing in texts and images—ekphrastically,* the texts from the images—bearing witness to the journey home and all it represents to each creator, each voice.”    Kathleen Garrett

“The imagination is boundless.  That fact is both its promise and its despair, contradictions that make great art possible, art like Galen Garwood’s whose vision invariably expands beyond its frame, its rectilinear borders, into the realm of things unseen.  His is a formal and contemplative art, yet always surprising as if reality were best measured by dreams.  It is an art of wonder and ever-changing evocations in which “something inside his images” is always “begging to be let out.”

~ Peter Weltner, author of Crow-Black Stones and a Flock of Crows / Agenda Editions, UK

In Apeiron, Galen Garwood’s astonishing galenographs give physical and spiritual dimension to boundless mysteries, to questions which cannot be expressed in words. Remarkably, the poems accompanying the images convey a similar sense of being. This consummate artist’s contemplative, kinetic symmetries engage gradients of shade and hue, unparalleled light, calm seas and impelling darkness, all of which accentuate that calling we recognize as our humanity. With this beautiful book, Garwood invites us to see far beyond and within ourselves, to intuit that of which we are an integral part.

~ William O’Daly, author of The New Gods and translator of Pablo Neruda’s Book of Twilight

“A conscientious working artist may encounter real genius a dozen times in a lifetime. What distinguishes such work is a unique mixture of technical mastery combined with a compassionate engagement of a grand vision.  In the words of Camus, this may be as simple as recapturing two or three metaphors of our lives or as complex as intercultural mythopoetics or even both at once. Neither greater vision nor technical mastery alone is sufficient. In some way, the gift must be earned to be realized, which requires discipline and generosity.

On the one hand, the task is Sisyphean; there is no success without failure. On the other hand, it is like the Zen monk raking the garden. Success and failure become almost meaningless in one’s act of selfless devotion. Galen Garwood has the richest palette of any artist I have ever known. Whether working in oils, acrylics, on canvas or paper, as a painter or printmaker, or behind the lens, his work invariably embodies the true qualities of genius.”

~Sam Hamill, poet, translator, essayist / from the introduction to PASSPORT,

a collaborative book of paintings on plexi by Galen Garwood and poems by Sam Hamill.

“With lyrical language and magical storytelling, Galen Garwood weaves a tale that is both modern and timeless yet has the feel of an ancient myth. Ambrus, the venerable, charismatic main character of the story, tells the history of Bench, in some ways the history of the world, to his young friend, Döm, in this enchanting story. This is destined to become a favorite of readers young and old.”

~Rosi Hollinbeck, Seattle Book Review

“Children and adults everywhere will enjoy the seedlings of magic planted throughout the pages of the enchanting tale Bench: A Story of Wonder by Galen Garwood. The story is told by a homeless man and seen through the eyes of a wandering young boy who learns more than he ever thought he would about a bench on the river’s edge. Combining mystery in good storytelling and the effervescence of childhood belief in the incredible comes a beautiful tale of two kindred spirits and the journey that weaves them together.”

~Jenna Swartz, San Francisco Book Review

“A timeless tale about the magic of Mother Nature and how long after humans pass, the trees, rivers, and other bodies of water remain and carry on with their business. Reminiscent of Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree,” Bench is a tree that becomes a log that becomes a bench that speaks to those who touch it and keeps on giving generation after generation. A wonderful book for all ages with vivid imagery and a mixed cast of interesting characters.”

~Kristi Elizabeth, Manhattan Book Review

“An incredible journey. One cannot be too prepared to be swept away. Deeply stilling and resonant, Galen’s writing, like his brushstrokes, is a work of extraordinary meditation. Remarkably restrained and sublime, it is writing that emboldens the enormity of story with a cast of characters, each one bigger than life itself.”         ~Nirupa Umapathy

“Sell The Monkey is a captivating story of family, love, abandonment, and man’s search for his identity. The story is told in clear and powerful prose, and the reader is pulled in from the very beginning by the ruthless honesty with which the narrator looks at his life. It’s a story that answers the question: What does it take to feel at home with one’s self? I enjoyed the way the protagonist was developed throughout the narrative and how he grows from a victim to someone who can live life on his own terms, embracing art and determining how his work can be appreciated. There is grittiness and a powerful sense of pathos that makes this memoir a gripping story. I found it to be as riveting as it is psychologically deep.          ~Romuald Dzemo, Seattle Book Review

“In the initial pages of Sell the Monkey, Galen Garwood is being urged to take a chance in life. This is just a microcosm of his life story… Sell The Monkey is not your average autobiography. The title alone proves that, but don’t let that fool you. The narrative is strong, and the retelling of a tough past done beautifully. The reader will be glad to be a passenger on a voyage of self-discovery and growth. An excellent autobiography and all-around great read!”           ~Philip Zozzaro, San Francisco Book Review

The Dream Sea Photographs by Galen Garwood is a series of twenty photographs that reveal the power and mythic nature of the sea, out of which the fires of our supra-consciousness rise in the winds of our dreaming, a symbolic transformation from the self to the universe of unknowns.

As poet William O’Daly writes: “Galen Garwood’s works are meditations and explorations that attain harmonic balance and truth in motion, infused with an astonishing awareness of color and the perpetual energy generated by dark and light. Life within these evocative works emanates from a fleeting, ceaseless center, and their vulnerability and compassion, their fearlessness and wisdom, reside within us.”