Putting the story on the page is a product of doubt,
not a product of certainty. . . .
~ Phil Klay
__________________________
Quoted from Nick Ripatrazone, "A Conversation with Phil Klay", Image Journal, Winter 2015, No. 87
Sunday, January 31, 2016
Saturday, January 30, 2016
Saturday Short
Today's short is The Saint of Dry Creek, a wonderful StoryCorps animation that received its debut at the Sundance Film Festival. The short's director is Julie Zammarchi. Listen to the StoryCorps interview that was the inspiration for the film.
StoryCorps on FaceBook
Friday, January 29, 2016
All Art Friday
All Art Friday
All Art Friday Spotlights
✦ A new bi-monthly magazine, Native American Art, focused on all aspects of the market for historic and contemporary Native American art, debuts in print and digitally. Here's a look at what can be found in the magazine. The publishing office is in Scottsdale, Arizona.
✦ Yesterday my friend Ann Tracy published a post about CSA Art Maine in which she participates. The project offers three- and six-month subscriptions to affordable art by Portland-area artists. This is a wonderful concept. Check out Ann's post and then visit the CSA Art site.
✦ In The Siken Collaboration, 11 visual artists—Mary Coss, Nichole DeMent, David Francis, Tom Gehrig, Todd Horton, Richard Kehl, Judith Kindler, Wanda Pelayo, Cathy Sarkowsky, Leah Schrager, and Kate Vrijmoet—respond to the title poem in Richard Siken's second poetry collection War of the Foxes (Copper Canyon Press, April 2015). The art + poetry book, from Copper Canyon and Seattle's Center on Contemporary Art, features a foreword by CoCa's board president Miguel Edwards, curator Joseph C. Roberts's remarks, selected paintings and verse by Siken, the text of the poem "War of the Foxes", and images of work and comments by the participating artists. Preview the book at the title link above.
Cover of The Siken Collaboration
✦ Muralist Pablo S. Herrero's works are eye-catching indeed. (My thanks to Spencer Byles for the link.)
✦ Online, Hyperallergic's "Galleries" section recently posted Chris Cobb's article "Gordon Parks's Long-Forgotten Color Photographs of Everyday Segregation"; it's a good read.
✦ Don't miss taking at least a virtual look at fiber artist Ellen Schiffman's "Box" project; it was featured in the quarterly print/digital magazine Fiber Art Now and online at the Textile Artist. Schiffman's online gallery includes images of her scarves, paper weavings, "Windows" series, wall reliefs and fiber paintings, and table sculptures.
Exhibitions Here and There
✭ If you can't visit international landmarks in person, consider attending "Toothpick World: From Silver to Skyline" at Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, Massachusetts. On view through March 27, the exhibition features Stan Munro's reproductions, in toothpicks and glue, of world-renowned structures and architectural gems, including the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower and, closer to home, the Empire State Building and the White House. Munro's to-the-scale (1:164) reproductions are exquisite and every bit as masterful as their real-life counterparts.
✭ The human body is the subject of "Phantom Bodies: The Human Aura in Art", continuing through Valentine's Day at The Frist Center for the Visual Arts, Nashville, Tennessee. The third in a series of exhibitions about the body, this show takes as its themes trauma, loss, and transformation. Including paintings, photography, videos, sculpture, and installations, "Phantom Bodies" is organized in four sections: "Objects and Absences", "Violence, Empathy, and Erasure", "Sublimation", and "The Mind-Body Problem". Additional details, a list of artists, resources, and a selection of images, as well as information about the first two exhibitions, can be found at the exhibition link above. An audio tour is available, as is a fully illustrated exhibition catalogue. The show travels to John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in June.
"Phantom Bodies" Gallery Guide (pdf)
Frist Center on FaceBook, Twitter, and YouTube
✭ Beginning February 6, in the Carol Franc Buck Gallery at Nevada Art Museum, Reno, you'll find "Altered Landscape: Photographs of a Changing Environment". Drawn from the museum's permanent collection, the exhibition features the work of "New Topographic" and "Dusseldorf School" photographers; the former depict the most ordinary of industrial and suburban developments as they are, while the latter produce large-format color images oriented to "revisionist interpretations of social space". The show concludes April 17.
✭ Today is the opening of "A Decade of Collecting Prints, Drawings, and Photographs" at Missouri's St. Louis Art Museum. SLAM has acquired more than 700 such works; for this show, it has mounted 62, which will remain on view through July 17. Dating from the 15th Century to today, the works include German prints and social documentary photographs by such artists as Martin Schongauer ("The Nativity", c. 1471) and Dorothea Lange ("Migrant Mother", 1936), respectively. Contemporary works on view include an Ann Hamilton assemblage ("carriage", 2009). Gallery talks are slated for March 3 and March 4 with curatorial staff. Read more about this exhibition in the illustrated press release.
✭ The Center on Contemporary Art, Seattle, Washington, presents "Bling it On!", an exhibition of contemporary jewelry and wearable art, through February 20, at its Rubix space on Capitol Hill. Participating jewelry artists are Kyle Rees, Catherine Grisez, Pariscope Studios, Hardwearables, Dixie Darling, and Brandon Perhacs. The designers and makers of wearable art are Bo Choi, Rebecca Maxim, Bill Gaylord, and Liz Tran. A trunk show with live performance art is planned for February 11—just in time to find that something special for your Valentine's Day sweetheart. Click on the exhibition link, where you'll find additional links to participating artists' Websites.
CoCA on FaceBook
CoCA Blog
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Thursday's Three on Literature and Poetry
Today's post features a trio of forthcoming books on my watch-for list.
✭ No literary library will be complete without a copy of The Collected Poems of Adrienne Rich 1950-2012 (W.W. Norton, April 12, 2016). The 960-page book, with an introduction by the poet Claudia Rankine, includes Diving Into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972 and Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991.
W. W. Norton & Co. Page for Adrienne Rich
Indie Bound Page for Collected Poems
✭ California Poet Laureate Dana Gioia will celebrate a 30-year career retrospective with 99 Poems: New and Selected (Graywolf Press, March 1, 2016). The 208-page book, arranged thematically (imagination, stories, songs, love, mystery, place, remembrance), includes at least a dozen new poems.
Graywolf Press Page for 99 Poems
✭ Author Terese Svoboda's Anything That Burns You: A Portrait of Lola Ridge, Radical Poet (Schaffner Press, February 15, 2016) is the first full-length biography of the poet, artist, editor, and human rights activist.
Here's the book trailer:
Wednesday, January 27, 2016
The Year of Shakespeare
This year marks the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare's death. Observing the anniversary in a way accessible to all the world is Oxford University Press, which has created a marvelous new resource, Illuminating Shakespeare. It's likely to become a much-visited site throughout the year.
Each month, OUP promises to post a new theme complemented with commissioned videos, book recommendations, articles including scholarly criticism, and interactive content, such as quizzes on the Oxford Dictionaries blog (one tests your knowledge of quotations). Site visitors will be treated to such thematic content as the following: Shakespeare's Reading, Shakespeare and Women, Shakespeare Studies & Criticism, Shakespeare and Film, Shakespeare and Religion, Shakespeare and Islam, Shakespeare on Sex and Relationships, Shakespeare and Money, and much more, including infographics, factsheets, explorations in Elizabethan history, images of portraits and other artworks, an A-to-Z compilation of authorities on Shakespeare's works, and an online dictionary covering all things Shakespeare. Separate sections have been created for schools and for librarians.
At Illuminating Shakespeare, there is something for everyone, whether you're a seasoned reader of the Bard's plays and poetry or just learning about him for the first time.
Also of Note
Shakespeare400, Consortium of Cultural, Creative, and Educational Organizations (Here you'll find series of quatercentenary performances, exhibitions, film screenings, and lectures.)
Shakespeare's 400th Anniversary (British Pathe)
Shakespeare's Legacy in 2016 (The Literary Platform)
Shakespeare Lives (British Council)
The Wonder of Will: 400 Years of Shakespeare (Folgerpedia)
Pelican Shakespeare Series, Penguin Classics (The new illustrated covers by Manuja Waldia are eye-catching and imaginative. The first four in the series of 40 may be pre-ordered.)
Tuesday, January 26, 2016
Elegy: #LeilaAlaoui (Ekphrastic Poem)
Last week, Leila Alaoui, aged 33, the internationally known French-Moroccan photographer and video artist, was shot and subsequently died of a heart attack January 18 in Ougadougou, Burkina Faso. On assignment for Amnesty International, she had been sitting with her driver in their car outside the Splendid hotel when terrorists launched a strike. At least 28 others also lost their lives, and many more were wounded.
In celebration of her work, The Guardian newspaper published a selection of images from The Moroccans, one of Alaoui's most beautiful and moving portfolios of work. I sat with those portraits a long while, trying to imagine the stories of the women and men, only a few giving the hint of a smile. What resulted was an ekphrastic poem, "Elegy: #LeilaAlaoui", which I submitted last Friday to Rattle magazine's "Poets Respond" column.
I express my appreciation to Rattle's editor Timothy Green for selecting my poem for the weekly feature. Read "Elegy: #LeilaAlaoui", which posted January 24.
Monday, January 25, 2016
Monday Muse: Washington's New Poet Laureate
Poetry matters . . . to everyone. . . [T]he inner life
that the arts and humanities can nurture is important
to living deliberately and introspectively. . . I am
interested in how poetry and all of the arts can
help us find our best selves.
~ Tod Marshall*
Tod Marshall has been appointed the fourth Poet Laureate of Washington. He takes over from Elizabeth Austen (2014-2016), who, in turn, succeeded Kathleen Flenniken (2012-2014). Marshall takes up his post on February 1 and will conclude his appointment on January 31, 2018. The first Poet Laureate was Samuel Green (2007-2009).
For details about the qualifications for and duties of the position, see my post of February 7, 2011.
In addition to giving readings and workshops and attending literary events throughout Washington, Marshall plans to "reinforce a message that. . . [people's] voices, their words, their songs of the self, are important and need to be heard." In an interview at The Stranger, Marshall says in his first year his aim is to gather poems from "well-practiced writers" all over Washington and, in his second year, publish the work in an anthology.
* * * * *
. . . it's best not to know where a poem or essay might
come from and, of course, not to anticipate the next
sudden swerve of where it might go. Cultivate possibility
through a willed variety of influences.**
. . . it's best not to know where a poem or essay might
come from and, of course, not to anticipate the next
sudden swerve of where it might go. Cultivate possibility
through a willed variety of influences.**
Tod Marshall, Ph.D., is the author of Bugle (Canarium Books, 2014), awarded the 2015 Washington State Book Award; The Tangled Line (Canarium Books, 2009), a finalist for a Washington State Book Award; and the debut collection Dare Say (University of Georgia Press, 2002), winner of the Contemporary Poetry Series at the University of Georgia.
Marshall also has published a collection of interviews with poets, Range of the Possible (Eastern Washington University Press, 2002), and edited an anthology of those same poets' work, Range of Voices (EWU Press, 2005); the former appeared on the New York City Public Library Poetry Book List for 2003.
Marshall's literary reviews have appeared at Boston Review and elsewhere.
Marshall's literary reviews have appeared at Boston Review and elsewhere.
[M]y understanding of art is that it should rouse us from
complacency in the midst of ... duality; if we become accepting
of the horror, then we are not feeling that horror.
"Happy" poems give no solace, no shelter, nothing but fodder
for greeting cards in a world where people prefer
complacency in the midst of ... duality; if we become accepting
of the horror, then we are not feeling that horror.
"Happy" poems give no solace, no shelter, nothing but fodder
for greeting cards in a world where people prefer
various narcotic hazes to the brutalities around them. . . .***
Even a cursory look at Marshall's work tells the reader that the poet keeps his eyes wide open to the contradictory, to what lulls instead of awakens in us; that Marshall enjoys playing with myth and the concept of artifice; that he's a connector to and blender of the unlike, and that he is attracted to showing us, through often extraordinary images, our own brokenness and the dark places we dwell. His is a poetry from which we "learn to rip things tenderly apart".
Observing dualities, Marshall can be as searing as he is lyrical and tender, creating through the beauty of his words unforgettable descriptions of violence and suffering. The coherence of his collections, the formal and traditional poetic forms he chooses to use—"a way of constantly reinvigorating my interest in the art", Marshall says—his use, as well, of rhymes, off-rhymes, mixed meters, assonance and alliteration, metaphors, propulsive active verbs, enjambment and various other techniques, all serve to underscore what he wants his readers to see and hear and turn over in the mind to find his poems' meaning.
His subjects range from fatherhood and family (as in The Tangled Line), to the unleashing and spilling forth of violence and cruelty of all kinds (Bugle). His poems also address nature, sound (Bugle) and art (Dare Say), technology, appearance versus reality, what we make of what we destroy but also (again, as in Bugle) what we need to "excavate" from our lives to uncover the possibility of transcendence and transformation.
Marshall's opening and concluding lines are often striking, immediately call us to attention or leave us questioning or surprised, as in these examples.
Observing dualities, Marshall can be as searing as he is lyrical and tender, creating through the beauty of his words unforgettable descriptions of violence and suffering. The coherence of his collections, the formal and traditional poetic forms he chooses to use—"a way of constantly reinvigorating my interest in the art", Marshall says—his use, as well, of rhymes, off-rhymes, mixed meters, assonance and alliteration, metaphors, propulsive active verbs, enjambment and various other techniques, all serve to underscore what he wants his readers to see and hear and turn over in the mind to find his poems' meaning.
His subjects range from fatherhood and family (as in The Tangled Line), to the unleashing and spilling forth of violence and cruelty of all kinds (Bugle). His poems also address nature, sound (Bugle) and art (Dare Say), technology, appearance versus reality, what we make of what we destroy but also (again, as in Bugle) what we need to "excavate" from our lives to uncover the possibility of transcendence and transformation.
Marshall's opening and concluding lines are often striking, immediately call us to attention or leave us questioning or surprised, as in these examples.
Another jumper broken by the ground
under the River Bridge. Before the fall
did he consider water, [. . .]
~ from "Never One to Paint Space, I Paint Air" in The Tangled Line
100,000 drones above us, a headline said.
Someone must love us, must be eager to know us, [. . .]
~ from "Bugle" in Bugle
[. . .]
The bears, a mother with two cubs, eat toads
on the beach and twitch their noses at boast
and skiers woo-hooing a spray, rope tight.
They crash badly, without foresight or luck.
~ from "Yeah, That's Us on the Speedboat" in Bugle
Rhubarb shoots
spiking from the muddy yard
like bloody broken bones,
like bad teeth. The leaves
grow wide and poisonous.
The sour stalks
burn calories to digest.
Eat only them, and you will starve.
~ "Extraction" in Bugle
In addition to the book awards and recognition mentioned above, Marshall is the recipient of the Humanities Washington Award for Scholarship and Service (2015) and a Washington Artists Trust Fellowship (2005).
Poems by Marshall can be found in scores of literary periodicals, journals, and magazines, including The American Poetry Review, Burnside Review, The Canary, The Colorado Review, The Columbia Poetry Review, Cutbank, The Denver Quarterly, The Georgia Review, The Iowa Review, The Kenyon Review, Narrative, New England Review, Poetry East, Poetry Northwest, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, Smartish Pace, Volt, Whitefish Review, and Willow Springs.
Marshall teaches at Gonzaga University, Spokane, Washington, where he holds the Robert K. and Ann J. Powers Professor Chair of the Humanities and administers the Visiting Writers Series.
Resources
Photo Credit: Humanities Washington
All Poetry Excerpts © Tod Marshall
* Quoted from "Gonzaga Professor Tod Marshall Named Washington State Poet Laureate", NewsWise, Gonzaga University, January 8, 2016
** Quoted from "Tod Marshall Recommends...", Poets & Writers, December 30, 2014
*** Quoted from Marshall Interview at The Spokesman-Review (See link below.)
Marcie Sillman, "Washington State's New Poet Laureate Wants to Build Bridges", KUOW, January 7, 2016 (Audio Available)
* Quoted from "Gonzaga Professor Tod Marshall Named Washington State Poet Laureate", NewsWise, Gonzaga University, January 8, 2016
** Quoted from "Tod Marshall Recommends...", Poets & Writers, December 30, 2014
*** Quoted from Marshall Interview at The Spokesman-Review (See link below.)
Marcie Sillman, "Washington State's New Poet Laureate Wants to Build Bridges", KUOW, January 7, 2016 (Audio Available)
"Gonzaga Professor Tod Marshall Named 2016-2018 Washington State Poet Laureate", Gonzaga University News, January 7, 2016
"Gonzaga Professor Tod Marshall Named Washington's Poet Laureate", The Spokane-Review, January 7, 2016
"Spokane Poet Tod Marshall Named Washington State Poet Laureate", Spark (Online Magazine of Humanities Washington), January 7, 2016
"Gonzaga Names English Professor, Poet Tod Marshall the Powers Chair of the Humanities", Gonzaga University News, April 28, 2015
"Gonzaga Poet, Professor Tod Marshall to Receive Humanities Washington Award", Gonzaga University News, April 21, 2015 (A related article, "Gonzaga Prof and Poet Tod Marshall Receives Humanities Washington Award" appeared April 17, 2015, at the Inlander weekly.)
Tod Marshall Profiles Online: Poetry Foundation and Washington Artist Trust
Tod Marshall Poems Online: "Admit Possession to Rent", "Describe Turner to MLK", and "The Book of Failed Descriptions", All at Poetry Foundation; "Never One to Paint Space, I Paint Air" at Poetry Northwest; "Metaphysic, with Applebee's" and "Daedalus Retires" (Excerpts), Both at Washington State Magazine; "Cranes" (Excerpt) at Project Muse; "Lecture on Creation" at Rock & Sling (Pushcart-Nominated Poem, 2015); "Manners" at The Literary Review; "That Ongoing Work" at Washington State Poet Laureate Website; "Eclipse: The Variations" at Iowa Review; "Scars" (Excerpt) at Narrative (Entire Poem Available to Subscribers)
Also listen to the audiocast of Marshall reading "Three Dreams from the Eastside of the Mountains" at KUOW, January 14, 2015.
Also listen to the audiocast of Marshall reading "Three Dreams from the Eastside of the Mountains" at KUOW, January 14, 2015.
"Constructing a Poetic Talk", Daily Evergreen, February 23, 2015
Rich Smith, "The New Washington State Poet Laureate Is Funny at Interviews", Interview, The Stranger, January 8, 2016
Carolyn Lamberson, "Book Notes: Book Launch Trumpets Marshall's 'Bugle'", Interview, The Spokesman-Review, December 7, 2014
Chey Scott, "Mining the Mind", Interview, Inlander, December 3, 2014
Angela Sams, "Tod Marshall: A Contemporary Poet and His Work", Interview, Washington State Magazine, November 12, 2010
Devin Baker, "'Bugle' by Tod Marshall", Review, Coldfront, December 1, 2015
Julie Marie Wade, "'Bugle' by Tod Marshall", Review, The Rumpus, March 7, 2015
Rich Smith, "Ordering a Skinny, Sugar-free Vanilla Latte on the Cusp of Natural Catastophe — Tod Marshall's 'Bugle'", Review, Poetry Northwest, January 14, 2015
Tod Marshall Reading at University of Oklahoma, 2010, YouTube Videos 2 and 3
Dare Say: Poems on GoogleBooks
Eastern Washington University Press closed June 30, 2010. Part of the EWU Press catalogue resides at Carnegie Mellon University Press. See the archives. (Marshall's Range of the Possible is listed in Nonfiction Titles.)
Washington Artist Trust (FaceBook)
Sunday, January 24, 2016
Thought for the Day
. . . Anxiety is unavoidable in life; fear is optional. . .
Courage does not eliminate anxiety, but bears it without fear. . . .
~ Brother David Steindl-Rast, OSB
Read Brother David's reflection at Gratefulness.
Profile of Brother David
Saturday, January 23, 2016
Saturday Short
Today's short introduces "Shakespeare Lives in 2016", part of a year-long British Council celebration of the life and works of William Shakespeare. Want to share your favorite part? See "Play Your Part". Have a favorite quote? Share it at "Share Your Shakepeare".
There's literature, music, film, and more to explore during this project.
Friday, January 22, 2016
All Art Friday
All Art Friday
All Art Friday Spotlights
✦ The Vassar Haiti Project is expanding its yearly art sales efforts and will be bringing its event to Washington, D.C., February 5-7. The sale will be at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, near Eastern Market in Southwest Washington. All purchases will be 50% tax-deductible. Receipts support five VHP initiatives in Chermaitre, Haiti: education, health care, reforestation, clean water access, and a women's cooperative. Visit the Website at the link above to learn more.
✦ Saatchi has launched a comprehensive online guide to more than 25,000 galleries around the world. Linking directly to galleries' Websites, the Global Gallery Guide allows viewers to see current, past, and future exhibitions and the galleries' artists and works, and to search by keyword, country, state, or city. Also available is contact information. Galleries receive a free one-month trial and thereafter pay an annual administrative fee of $100 to be included.
✦ Art historians, take note: Art History Teaching Resources, a "peer-populated platform" for art history teachers, recently launched a series to introduce and explore different pedagogical research methods used in art and museum education.
✦ Saatchi has launched a comprehensive online guide to more than 25,000 galleries around the world. Linking directly to galleries' Websites, the Global Gallery Guide allows viewers to see current, past, and future exhibitions and the galleries' artists and works, and to search by keyword, country, state, or city. Also available is contact information. Galleries receive a free one-month trial and thereafter pay an annual administrative fee of $100 to be included.
✦ Art historians, take note: Art History Teaching Resources, a "peer-populated platform" for art history teachers, recently launched a series to introduce and explore different pedagogical research methods used in art and museum education.
AHTR on FaceBook and Twitter
✦ On February 4, at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C., the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Awards of the Women's Caucus for Art will be presented to Tomie Arai, Helene Aylon, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville, and arts activist Juana Guzman. The 2016 President's Art & Activism Award will be given to Stephanie Sherman. Event tickets are required; the ceremony will be from 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
✦ Here's Adam Westbrook's new video essay about Vincent van Gogh, Painting in the Dark: The Struggle for Art in a World Obsessed with Popularity. It's one of several in Westbrook's The "Long Game" series on creativity. The other two are Why Leonardo da Vinci Was No Genius and The Missing Chapter: Our Distorted View of Success and Why We're Unhappy at Work.
✦ Have you ever become emotional while viewing an artwork? If so, Leanne Ogasawara's article "Eyes Swimming in Tears (Stendhal Syndrome)" (3Quarks Daily) may interest you. (The references following the article are worth checking out, too.)
✦ Yesterday I introduced to Escape Into Life readers the artwork of Suzanne Stryk. See January's Artist Watch feature.
✦ Celebrated Spanish artist Francisco de Goya was the subject of an exhibition, "Goya: The Portraits", at London's National Gallery; curated by Xavier Bray, the show concluded January 10.
Forthcoming is a documentary, Goya: Visions of Flesh and Blood (Seventh Art Productions), that uses location footage, Goya's letters, and the artist's masterpieces to create a portrait of the painter and his world.
Forthcoming is a documentary, Goya: Visions of Flesh and Blood (Seventh Art Productions), that uses location footage, Goya's letters, and the artist's masterpieces to create a portrait of the painter and his world.
The film was released in the United Kingdom December 1; its international release is February 9. (See Exhibition on Screen.) A review of the documentary appeared in The Guardian last December.
Exhibition on Screen on FaceBook, Twitter, and YouTube
Exhibitions Here and ThereExhibition on Screen on FaceBook, Twitter, and YouTube
✭ Tomorrow, a series of winter exhibitions opens at American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center. Two of particular note: "Renee Stout: Tales of the Conjure Woman" and "Impact! The Legacy of the Women's Caucus for Art". The former features local artist Stout's recent work exploring African cultural traditions, using as inspiration her fictitious alter ego "Fatima Mayfield", herbalist and fortune teller. (Stout gives a gallery talk on January 23, 5:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.) The latter celebrates the WCA's Lifetime Achievement Award winners, who include artists, art historians, and curators. (Exhibition curator Leslie King-Hammond and some of the awardees participate in a panel discussion about the WCA on February 6, 6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.)
Following is a video for the Stout exhibition:
Both exhibitions continue through March 13.
✭ In Claremont, California, Pomona College Museum of Art continues its recently opened exhibition "Restoring the Spirit: Celebrating Haitian Art". On view through May 15, the survey, which originated at Figge Art Museum and covers from 1940 to the present, examines Haitian artists' creative efforts and flourishing cultural practices amid historical, political, and economic upheavals. Included are paintings, sequin-covered textiles, sculpture made with reclaimed oil drums, aluminum pans, and other found materials, and works related to Vodou practices and beliefs. Also on view: "The Shake of a Man in Fever: Haiti's February Revolution through the Lens of Danny Lyon", which draws from the museum's permanent collection. Lyon is an award-winning documentary photographer and socio-political activist.
A symposium, "The Crossing/La traversee: Art in Haiti and the U.S.", is planned for March 3-5. National and international scholars and artists will examine the connections between the art and material culture of Haiti and the United States. Painter, sculptor, and installation artist Edouard Duval-Carrie gives the keynote speech.
✭ Continuing through May 8 at the Asia Society Museum, New York City, is "Kamakura: Realism and Spirituality in the Sculpture of Japan". More than 30 masterpieces from 1185 to 1333, gathered from private and public collections in North America and Europe, are featured. The first major loan of Kamakura sculpture in the U.S. in more than 30 years, the exhibition explores "the spiritual connection between external form, interior contents, and devotional practice" during the Kamakura period. View a half-dozen images of sculptures in the show. An illustrated catalogue is available.
Read "Wall Street Journal Previews Kamakura's 'Stellar Lineup' of Japanese Sculpture" on the museum's blog.
✭ The repurposed encyclopedias of Wendy Wahl remain on view through February 14 at UMass-Dartmouth University Art Gallery, New Bedford, Massachusetts. The solo show, "Wendy Wahl: ConTexts Paper in 2D and 3D", features Wahl's complex 2D repetitive reliefs, created from hundreds of rolled paper strips glued onto wooden panels, and 3D pieces comprising pages cut from bindings and light-enhanced. See the FaceBook event notice of the exhibition.
✭ Visual design and story development are explored in "About Pixar: The Design of Story" at Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York City. Continuing through August 7, the exhibition features original artwork (hand-drawn sketches, paintings, sculptures) from more than 25 years of Pixar Animation Studios' film-making and creative exercises. In addition, more than 650 Pixar artworks may be viewed on touch-screen tables in Cooper Hewitt's Process Lab and Great Hall; they are tagged to link to related objects in the museum's collections. View images of concept art and listen to a conversation with Pixar's John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, at the exhibition link above.
Exhibition viewers might want to take home Designing with Pixar: 45 Activities to Create Your Own Characters, Worlds, and Stories. (See image below.)
Front Cover of Activities Book
Thursday, January 21, 2016
New Artist Watch Feature at Escape Into Life
Suzanne Stryk
What Becomes of Beautiful Things We Make and Do, 2014
Mixed Media on Canvas, 16" x 16"
© Suzanne Stryk
PLEASE DO NOT COPY IMAGE
I'm delighted today to showcase the striking work of Suzanne Stryk for my first-of-the-year Artist Watch feature at Escape Into Life.
Exhibiting through January 31 in "Notes on the State of Virginia" at The Athenaeum, in Alexandria, Virginia, Suzanne draws on a deep affinity to nature to create mixed-media still lifes that are at once mysterious and the product of patient observation and masterful technique.
You'll find in today's Artist Watch column Suzanne's Artist Statement, a brief biography, and a selection of images from two of her series: Notes on the State of Virginia and Mirror. Also included are links to several galleries that represent Suzanne.
To see Suzanne's collaborations with her husband Dan Stryk, a poet, visit Red Eft Editions.
Suzanne Stryk on FaceBook
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Wednesday Artist: Color and Ink — The Process
If you've ever wondered how ink is made and colored, this short video shows the process and its challenges. Printing Ink Company's president and head inkmaker, Peter Welfare, narrates.
The Printing Ink Company, located in Western Canada, is responsible for creating all the colors in the PANTONE® spectrum.
Tuesday, January 19, 2016
Small Forgotten Poems
Small Forgotten Poems
1
We read ourselves in the lines
of your face, empty the red
from your warm lips, spoon ice
into sips of cognac and recall
as a poem the press of your breath
in the center of ruined wallpaper.
2
If I favor memory, I recall
the night you were born,
how I would hold you, carefully,
your lips closed over a thumb.
I would read you small, forgotten
poems.
You would suck as if a metronome,
your face the color of fire.
3
I aspire to be your introduction
to the six dimensions of the highest
moons in Galway.
Nobody says, "Don't pack rope."
2015 Maureen E. Doallas
_______________________________________
1
We read ourselves in the lines
of your face, empty the red
from your warm lips, spoon ice
into sips of cognac and recall
as a poem the press of your breath
in the center of ruined wallpaper.
2
If I favor memory, I recall
the night you were born,
how I would hold you, carefully,
your lips closed over a thumb.
I would read you small, forgotten
poems.
You would suck as if a metronome,
your face the color of fire.
3
I aspire to be your introduction
to the six dimensions of the highest
moons in Galway.
Nobody says, "Don't pack rope."
2015 Maureen E. Doallas
_______________________________________
I created these poems from words found in lines from TweetSpeak Poetry's post "Top 10 Dip Into Poetry Lines".
Monday, January 18, 2016
Monday Muse: Ohio's First Poet Laureate
Medicine is my work, but I don't regard writing as work.
I regard it as play. It's how I relax and unwind.
~ Amit Majmudar*
Ohio named Amit Majmudar the state's first Poet Laureate; his term began January 1 of this year and concludes December 31, 2017. The governor announced his selection of Majmudar on December 17, 2015.
Legislation creating the Poet Laureate position (Amended Substitute Senate Bill 84) was signed into law December 19, 2014. The law specifies a two-year term of office; the incumbent may be reappointed at the governor's discretion. The state Arts Council is required to provide the governor with a list of at least three candidates from which to select the nominee. (See "Ohio Poet Laureate" (pdf), an overview with nomination requirements and "expectations", including participating in poetry readings and undertaking a "significant" project of cultural value.)
According to an Ohio Poetry Association news release, Majmudar intends to fulfill his mandate to promote poetry throughout the state by using an "interdisciplinary approach" fostering collaborations with artists in many disciplines, and to ensure Ohio poetry's future by reaching out to Ohio's high school students. He told Kabir Bhatia at WKSU that an initial project is to write "an extended poem that fuses Hindu mythology with stories of metamorphosis" and culminates in a "performance with his wife, a classically trained Indian dancer."
More expansively, Majmudar, quoted at Antioch Review Blog, said, ". . . I envision a Laureateship that will reintegrate poetry into the already thriving Ohio performing arts scene by organizing performances that hybridize poetry, music, and dance. Simultaneously, I intend to secure poetry's future in Ohio through the Ohio Future Laureates Program, in which ten established Ohio poets will each mentor standout student poets nominated by Ohio's ten most underprivileged school districts. More projects will develop over the next two years, establishing, I hope, a dynamic precedent for my successors in this post."
According to an Ohio Poetry Association news release, Majmudar intends to fulfill his mandate to promote poetry throughout the state by using an "interdisciplinary approach" fostering collaborations with artists in many disciplines, and to ensure Ohio poetry's future by reaching out to Ohio's high school students. He told Kabir Bhatia at WKSU that an initial project is to write "an extended poem that fuses Hindu mythology with stories of metamorphosis" and culminates in a "performance with his wife, a classically trained Indian dancer."
More expansively, Majmudar, quoted at Antioch Review Blog, said, ". . . I envision a Laureateship that will reintegrate poetry into the already thriving Ohio performing arts scene by organizing performances that hybridize poetry, music, and dance. Simultaneously, I intend to secure poetry's future in Ohio through the Ohio Future Laureates Program, in which ten established Ohio poets will each mentor standout student poets nominated by Ohio's ten most underprivileged school districts. More projects will develop over the next two years, establishing, I hope, a dynamic precedent for my successors in this post."
* * * * *
My credo [on writing practice] comes from Eliot quoting
his notes to "What the Thunder Said": Da, dayadhvam, damyata.
Give, sympathize, control. That is both the art of life
and the art of poetry. . . .**
A diagnostic nuclear radiologist in Columbus, Ohio, poet, essayist, and novelist Amit Majmudar, M.D., is the author of the forthcoming Dothead (Alfred A. Knopf, March 2016); Heaven and Earth (Story Line Press, 2011), winner of the Donald Justice Poetry Award (Iris N. Spencer Poetry Award, West Chester University Poetry Center); and 0", 0" (Northwestern University Press/TriQuarterly Books, 2009), a finalist for a Norma Faber First Book Award (Poetry Society of America).
Majmudar, who was born in New York and grew up in Cleveland, also has published two acclaimed novels, Partitions (Metropolitan Books, 2009), his debut work, and The Abundance (2011; Macmillan/Picador, 2014), as well as a prose poem-novella, Azazil, serialized in The Kenyon Review (see an excerpt is at Best American Poetry blog).
Among broad themes characterizing Majmudar's writing are identity, spiritual faith and practice, history, love, and death. Often in tension are such subjects as family relationships, innocence and experience, truth and myth, and cultural conflict and violence. Also coming within Majmudar's purview are biblical figures, questions of morality, dislocation and displacement (the Indian diaspora), illness and medical practice, and current events (see, for example, "Vetting the Refugees").
Critics uniformly extoll Majmudar's lyricism, use of precise, often disparate, details that pile up in a series of end-stopped or enjambed lines; technical skill, especially in crafting ghazals and sonnets; and integrity in addressing cultural, familial, scientific, and religious influences that can foster a sense of alienation or apartness even as they can promote connection. Some of Majmudar's poems read as aphorisms ("...The sandals that remember where they stepped/Out of the world must be picked up off the floor [....]", from "Rites to Allay the Dead"); others are replete with alliteration or slant rhymes. Punctuation is not always used. Imagery is rich. The poems betray a curious and wide-ranging intellect. There is humor to be enjoyed but also a depth of emotion that, in the most expressive poems, can leave readers feeling shattered (see, for example, "Riches").
An arm is the spine of an angel wing,
cracked at the elbow. [. . .]
~ from "Subtle Anatomy" in 0", 0"
Trees keep a log of the air they breathe
like astronauts on a planet with a cyanide
atmosphere, where giant four-pronged termites
are on the loose with buzz saws. [. . . ]
~ from "Arboreal"
An arm is the spine of an angel wing,
cracked at the elbow. [. . .]
~ from "Subtle Anatomy" in 0", 0"
Trees keep a log of the air they breathe
like astronauts on a planet with a cyanide
atmosphere, where giant four-pronged termites
are on the loose with buzz saws. [. . . ]
~ from "Arboreal"
[. . .] My thoughts rise to the bewildered sparrows
clapped in that cage of thunder — how they wheeled
for hours, how they stilled their wings and fell.
~ from section 4, "Intelligent Deluge" of "Metaphysical Sonnets"
The severed parts of darkness grow and glow.
An octopus's amputations show,
Each tentacle a jiggling gigawatt.
Guillotine one, and watch: Its inky thoughts
Become a giant light bulb, humming, hot. [. . .]
~ from section 4, "From Darkness into Light" of "Seventeens"
[. . .] My mother painted us a still life and we peeled
and ate the fruit for lunch my mother sculpted
my sister earrings out of pebbles sculpted me
out of abandonment and earth [. . . .]
~ from "Riches"
Poems by Majmuder have appeared in a vast array of literary magazines and periodicals in print and online, including 32 Poems, Able Muse Review, America (The National Catholic Review), The Antioch Review, The Atlantic Monthly, Cimarron Review, Counter Balance, Dark Horse, The New England Review, Epoch, Granta, Gulf Coast, Image, JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Humanities), The New Review of Books, The New Republic, The New Yorker, Poetry Daily, Poetry Magazine, Poetry Northwest, Prairie Schooner, The Raintown Review, Salt Hill Journal, Smartish Pace, and TriQuarterly.
The poet's work also is found in numerous anthologies, including Sonnets: 150 Contemporary Sonnets (University of Evansville Press, 2005), The Best American Poetry (Scribner, 2007), The Best of the Best American Poetry 1988-2012, 25th Anniversary Edition (Scribner, 2013), The Norton Introduction to Literature, 11th edition (2012), Poems of Devotion: An Anthology of Recent Poets (Wipf & Stock, 2012), Light upon Light: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany (Paraclete Press, 2014), The Book of Scented Things: 100 Contemporary Poems about Perfume (Literary House Press, 2014), and Irresistible Sonnets (Headmistress Press, 2014).
Majmudar's literary essays and criticism have been printed in such publications as Granta, The Kenyon Review, Memorious, National Poetry Review, The New York Times, The Threepenny Review, and Poetry Daily.
Resources
Photo Credit: Ohio Arts Council
All Poetry Excerpts © Amit Majmudar
* Quoted from Ken Gordon, "Ohio's 1st Poet Laureate a Physician", Columbus Dispatch, December 23, 2015
** Quoted from "Amit Majmudar", Interview, The KR Conversations, The Kenyon Review (Asked about teachers who have been important to his writing, Majmudar notes that he has never been mentored, adding, ". . . My teachers have been dead poets, mostly, and no dead poet in particular."
"Kasich Names Amit Majmudar Ohio's Poet Laureate", News Release, Ohio Arts Council, December 17, 2015 (Information from this same release is found at Kasich's Governor of Ohio page, "The Daily Briefing" in The Columbus Dispatch, and Universal News Network, and in The Hindu's December 24, 2015, article "Indian-American Doctor is Ohio's First Poet Laureate". A variety of Indian magazines and still other periodicals, including The American Bazaar and India Today, also ran articles.)
Robert Higgs, "Greater Cleveland Native Amit Majmudar Named as Ohio's First Poet Laureate by Gov. John Kasich", The Plain Dealer (Cleveland.com), December 17, 2015
WKYC/AP, "U of Akron Grad Named Ohio's First Poet Laureate", WKYC, December 17, 2015
Amit Majmudar Profiles Online: Cleveland Poetics Blog, Khabar Magazine, Newington-Cropsey Cultural Studies Center, Poetry Foundation
Amit Majmudar Poems Online: "A Pedestrian" (Audio Available), "Horse Apocalypse", "Instructions to an Artisan", "Matter and Antimatter", "Riches" (Audio Available), "Rites to Allay the Dead", "Save the Candor" (Audio Available), "The Miscarriage", and "Twin Gluttons", All at Poetry Foundation; "Rune Poem" at 32 Poems; "By Accident" at Antioch Review; "Dothead", "Invocation", "To the Hyphenated Poets", "T.S.A.", and "The Autobiography of Khwaja Mustasim", All at The New Yorker; "Pattern and Snarl" at Smithsonian Magazine; "The Illuminator" at New Republic; "Arboreal" at The Cortland Review (Audio Available); "Are You Hungry" and "The Enduring Appeal of the Western Canon", Both at Agni Online; "Recessional" at Rove Poetry; "Emily Dickinson Opines on the NSA", "Emily Dickinson Crushes on Edward Snowden", and "No News", All at Light Poetry Magazine; "Lineage" at VQR Online; "Apocalypse Shopping List" at The Awl; "Fe" at Harvard Divinity Bulletin; "The Children's Crusade of 2012" at First Things; "The Interrogation" and "Lineage", Both at The Atlantic; "His Vision" and "True Believer", Both at America; "In a Gallery" at Newington-Cropsey Cultural Studies Center (American Arts Quarterly); "April 10: By Accident" at Counter Balance; "Pandemic Ghazal", "Transmigrant Ghazal", and "Song of Innocence", All at Drunken Boat; "Shot in the Dark" at The New Criterion; "Rites to Allay the Dead" at Verse Daily; "James Bond Suite" and "To Sibyl", Both at LineBreak (Audio Available); "The Exiles" and "A Warning Sign" at Able Muse (Audio Available); "Dothead" at The Economy Magazine; "A Pedestrian" at Leonard Lopate's Poetry Off the Shelf (Audio by Alfred Molina); "Metaphysical Sonnets" at The Chimaera; "His Love of Semicolons" at Umbrella Journal; "Vetting the Refugees" at TheNewVerse.News Blog; "Ogling Naomi" and "Static Electricity", Both at TriQuarterly, Issue 130 on GoogleBooks; "The Doll" at River Styx (pdf); "Self-Portrait in a Subway Window" at Crab Orchard Review (scroll to p. 128 of pdf); "A Minor Fallen Angel" at Image Journal; "Save the Candor" at The Hairpin;"Seventeens" at The Flea
Majmudar was a featured poet at Able Muse Review, Winter 2015, No. 20, where new poems — "No Future", "Intelligence Hearing" (Excerpt), "Chronic Pain", "Protest Poem", "The Strike-Anywhere Match", and a translation of Joachim du Bellay's "Roman Holiday" — are available to subscribers. Also featured is Daniel Brown's interview with Majmudar.
Amit Majmudar, "Hanged Man", Flash Fiction, Word Riot, December 2015
Amit Majmudar, "Elitism and American Poetry", Kenyon Review, October 14, 2015
Amit Majmudar, "Poetry and Chess", Kenyon Review, May 30, 2015
Amit Majmudar, "Epic Fail", Kenyon Review, December 28, 2013
Amit Majmudar, "Elitism and American Poetry", Kenyon Review, October 14, 2015
Amit Majmudar, "Poetry and Chess", Kenyon Review, May 30, 2015
Amit Majmudar, "Epic Fail", Kenyon Review, December 28, 2013
Amit Majmudar, "Am I an 'Immigrant Writer'?", Opinionator, The New York Times, May 4, 2013
"Feature: Five Qs with Amit Majmudar", Writing like an Asian Blog, May 8, 2015
Sarah Arthur, "Epic Tales: An Interview with Amit Majmudar, Part 1", Good Letters Blog, November 12, 2014
Sarah Arthur, "Epic Tales: An Interview with Amit Majmudar, Part 2", Good Letters Blog, November 13, 2014 (Majmudar says, ". . . For me, the most intelligent form of literary play is reading." He also tells Arthur that is working on a biography of his young son, who was born with a congenital heart defect.)
Sarah Arthur, "Epic Tales: An Interview with Amit Majmudar, Part 2", Good Letters Blog, November 13, 2014 (Majmudar says, ". . . For me, the most intelligent form of literary play is reading." He also tells Arthur that is working on a biography of his young son, who was born with a congenital heart defect.)
Nancy Mitchell, "Interview with Amit Majmudar", Plume Poetry, May 2014 (This is a conversation about Majmudar's featured poem "ABECEDARIAN", which follows the exchange.)
Robert Hirschfield, "The Persistence of Humans: A Talk with Author Amit Majmudar", Matador Network, May 29, 2013
Zara Raab, "'Heaven and Earth' by Amit Majmudar", Review, Verse Wisconsin, Issue 108
MacMillan Publishers/Picador Page for The Abundance (Listen to Marty Moss-Coane's conversation with Majmudar about the book at Radio Times. Also see Majmudar's playlist for The Abundance.)
MacMillan [Metropolitan Books] Page for Partitions
MacMillan [Metropolitan Books] Page for Partitions
Ohio Poet Laureate on Twitter
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