Sunday, December 31, 2017

Looking Back at Poems for New Year's Eve

It's been a long year. What's better than a look-back through some poetry to see you through 2017's end?

* * * * * 



Let's only call this a night,
      Eve, if the mood strikes.

Give the hours a hand to go
      straight to twelve with a bubbly-pop,

the minutes a push to make it a second past
      with the glass raised for the emptying. 
        Continue reading "Watching the Clock on New Year's Eve".

* * *

With every shuffle of the deck
we play a different hand,

your life, then mine, resolving
on one last roll of the dice.
        Continue reading "New Year Games".

* * *

The tears fall back
Into place,
Stored and numbered
For some other day,
A different night,
When loss might swell
With the count-down.
        Continue reading "New Year's Eve 2009".

* * *

He asked,
What will you have
on New Year's Eve?
        Continue reading "Taking Leave".

* * * 

fresh strawberries tucked into it — the kind you used
to get in Devon every afternoon
with a warm scone and Tiptree & Son's strawberry jam
        Continue reading "January begins with cream".

Thought for the Day


New Year's eve is like every other night; there is no pause
in the march of the universe, no breathless moment of
silence among created things that the passage of another
twelve months may be noted; and yet no man has quite
the same thoughts this evening. . . .
~ Hamilton Wright Mabie
_________________________________

Quoted from Hamilton Wright Mabie, My Study Fire (Dodd, Mead & Co.), pages 62-63

Hamilton Wright Mabie (1846-1916), American Essayist, Editor, Critic, Lecturer

Monday, December 25, 2017

The Christmas Story: A Russian Animation


Merry Christmas!

Following is a Russian animation of the story of the birth of Christ (my thanks to ArtWay.eu).

Sunday, December 24, 2017

Art for Advent 2017: Fourth Sunday


Art historian James Romaine presents for this Fourth Sunday in Advent the painting Christ and His Mother Studying the Scriptures (c. 1909-1910) by Henry Ossawa Tanner. Located in the collection of the Dallas Museum of Art, the oil on canvas takes for its models Tanner's wife Jessie (Virgin Mary) and son Jesse (Christ as a boy); Tanner used a photograph of his wife and son as reference. Romaine suggests that the tender family portrait leaves it to the viewer to determine whether the child is learning to read or is instructing his mother—or perhaps both.




Dr. James Romaine, Professor, Lander University; Lecturer on Faith and Visual Arts; Author*


Association of Scholars of Christianity in the History of Art (ASCHA)

* James Romaine's most recent publication, co-edited with Phoebe Wolfskill of Indiana University, is Beholding Christ and Christianity in African American Art (Penn State University Press, August 2017). The book focuses on the biblical subjects and themes in the works of Romare Bearden, Edmonia Lewis, Archibald Motley, Henry O. Tanner, and James VanDerZee.

Also see the Advent series at The Bible Project.

Thought for the Day


Blessed is the season which engages the whole world
 in a conspiracy of love!
~ Hamilton Wright Mabie
_____________________________

Quoted from Hamilton Wright Mabie, My Study Fire (Dodd, Mead & Co., 1890, 1893), page 54

Hamilton Wright Mabie (1846-1916), American Essayist, Editor, Critic, Lecturer

Thursday, December 21, 2017

New Artist Watch Feature at Escape Into Life



Hua Nian, Piano Lesson, Paper-Tearing, 12" x 12"

Copyright @Hua Nian

PLEASE DO NOT COPY IMAGE


I have chosen for my last Artist Watch column of 2017 the highly expressive paper-tearing art of Hua Nian of Illinois.

Hua, a member of the International Society of Acrylic Painters and the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, has lived in the United States since 1992. Her award-winning paintings are exhibited widely and found in numerous collections around the country. Her colorful paper-tearings, which always feature children, are colorful and full of feeling and are especially appropriate to feature at this time of year.

You will find in today's Artist Watch images of seven of Hua's paper-tearings (they are of various sizes), her Artist Statement, and her biography.

Holiday Poems from Seasons Past

On  this, the first day of winter, it seems appropriate to share some holiday poems and a Dear Santa letter that have appeared on this blog in seasons past. Name your favorite holiday poems or share your own in the comments section.

* * * * *

Thomas Nast Santa Claus Illustration


What Are You Doing
New Year's Eve, Up on the House
Top, Santa Baby?


Holiday Haiku 2014

Christmas Day Haiku 2013

Holiday Haiku 2012

* * *

Dear Santa,

The Night Before Christmas probably is too late to be e-mailing but in our Little Town of Bethlehem, We Three Kinds of Orient Are the only postal service open late, and they refuse to guarantee even this Little Drummer Boy that his letter will reach you before NORAD begins tracking your every move.
      Continue reading "Monday Muse Writes to Dear Santa".

* * *




Geertgen tot Sint Jans, Nativity by Night


I her namesake wait,
the one
in solemn darkness
broken in threads of light
borne of tiny pillars of white
held up and out and all around me,
expectant, pegging the midnight hour
to the last drop of wax
soft as my heart is, opening.
      Continue reading "With the Berryville Monks on Christmas Eve".

* * * 



Wind-chafed hands      gnarled not
in tinseled wool      hold-
outs on a sidewalk flecked silver
as the moon rimmed with the sun's halo
      Continue reading "Christmas Listening Posts".

* * *

Whistle
and I'll come

you
to merry make

a midnight story
tell

before roaring fire
warm

hearts cold kept
spectral

voices louder grow
scream

this evening Christmas
past.
      Continue reading "Barchester's Ghosts or The Supernatural Demise of Archdeacon Haynes".

* * *

Pictures
I have of you
a heavy red and blue fringed blanket
brought from Arizona,
that deep-dish casserole from France,
and the last hug after the last ride with you
down a Venice boulevard.
      Continue reading "To Break  the Hold".

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Thought for the Day

I am living in the late season,
but it has its songs, too. . . .
~ Jorie Graham
________________________________


Art for Advent 2017: Third Sunday


For the third Sunday in Advent, the Seeing Art History series, written and narrated by Dr. James Romaine, presents Henry Ossawa Tanner's oil painting Flight into Egypt (1899). As Romaine explains, Tanner drew on his experiences as an African American, a Christian, and an artist to visualize the Holy Family's full-of-peril journey to Egypt to escape persecution; his approach invests the painting with multiple layers of meaning and deepens its depiction of enduring faith. Tanner created some 15 works on the theme. The 1899 version described in Romaine's video can be found at Michigan's Detroit Institute of Arts.




Also read Laurel Gasque's visual meditation on Flight Into Egypt at Artway.

Dr. James Romaine, Professor, Lander University; Lecturer on Faith and Visual Arts; Author


Saturday, December 16, 2017

Saturday Short

Today, Saturday Short brings you the preview for the Kickstarter campaign for the 90-minute documentary Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts. The film examines the life and art of the famous self-taught creative, who was born into slavery in Alabama in the early 1850s and died in 1949, leaving behind more than 1,000 drawings and paintings.

The documentary, directed, produced, and edited by Jeffrey Wolf, will premiere at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, D.C., during next year's exhibition "Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor"; the retrospective will be on view from September 28, 2018, through March 17, 2019. The museum owns a dozen Traylor works that will be included in the show. Leslie Umberger,  curator of folk and self-taught art, plans a major book on the artist.







Allison Meier, "Tracing the Life and Times of Self-Taught Artist Bill Traylor in a Documentary", Hyperallergic, December 12, 2017

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

Grace and Love (Poem)



Grace and Love

Waiting, I watch the spread
of silver-backed stars,

their flickering like the careless
tremolos of screech owls

settling for the night in Tamarack
trees. I wait for the silencing

of the birds' bouncing notes,
for the up-raised voicing of song

by the sheep-less shepherds
soon to mob the manger

in Bethlehem. I prepare to join
Wise Men, to follow the one

light meant to burn brightest
through all of Israel's house.

So long I wait for journey's end,
in grace and love, for Him again.

 © 2017 Maureen E. Doallas
___________________________________________

 Some of my other Advent-related poems:

"Numbered Days" (2013)


"Light to Come" (2012) 


"Joy-Waiting in Advent" (2009)

Sunday, December 10, 2017

Art for Advent 2017: Second Sunday

Continuing his 2017 Seeing Art History series for Advent, Dr. James Romaine examines for this second Sunday in Advent Henry Ossawa Tanner's painting The Holy Family (1910), noting, in particular, the artwork's composition and use of light. The oil painting resides in the Muskegon Museum of Art in Michigan.


Dr. James Romaine, Professor, Lander University; Lecturer on Faith and Visual Arts; Author


Thought for the Day


To write so that a hungry man /
might think it’s bread? //
First feed the hungry man, /
then write so that his hunger /
is not in vain.
~ Ryszard Krynicki
______________________________

Quoted from Ryszard Krynicki’s Poem “How to Write?” in Piotr Florczyk’s Review of Krynicki’s Magnetic Point: Selected Poems, 1968-2014 (New Directions, 2017), Trans. by Clare Cavanagh, in World Literature in Review, November-December 2017, page 86

Ryszard Krynicki, Polish Poet of the ‘New Wave’, Editor, Publisher, Translator

Clare Cavanagh, Professor of Slavic Languages and Lteratures, Northwestern University

Piotr Florczyk, Poet, Essayist, and Translator

Piotr Florczyk on FaceBook

Sunday, December 3, 2017

Art for Advent 2017: First Sunday

Dr. James Romaine's Seeing Art History series presents for this first Sunday in Advent Henry Ossawa Tanner's The Annuciation, an 1898 painting visualizing the Virgin Mary's moment of spiritual transformation, when the angel Gabriel tells her that she will bear God's Son. The painting, which Tanner entered in the 1898 Paris Salon exhibition, resides in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.


Dr. James Romaine, Professor, Lander University; Lecturer on Faith and Visual Arts; Author


Thought for the Day


. . . Love is the finest of silences, . . .
~ Jaime Sabines (Trans. W.S. Merwin)

__________________________________

Quoted from "The Lovers" by Jaime Sabines, as Translated by W.S. Merwin, in The Essential W.S. Merwin, Edited by Michael Wiegers (Copper Canyon Press, 2017), page 30

Jaime Sabines (1926-1999), Mexican Poet

W.S. Merwin, Poet, Translator, Environmental Activist, 2010 Poet Laureate of the United States

Sunday, November 26, 2017

Thought for the Day


I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received.
~ Antonio Porchia (Trans. W.S. Merwin)
____________________________

Quoted from Voices (2003) by Antonio Porchia, as Translated by W.S. Merwin, in The Essential W.S. Merwin, Edited by Michael Wiegers (Copper Canyon Press, 2017), page 16

Antonio Porchia (1885-1986), Argentinian Poet

W.S. Merwin, Poet, Translator, Environmental Activist, 2010 Poet Laureate of the United States

Thursday, November 23, 2017

A Time of Thanksgiving (Poem)



A Time of Thanksgiving

The trees have removed their branches' bracelets;
          that clanging of falling leaves has ceased.
Cold has swept in on nature's stiffest brush,
          preparing us for the harder ground to come.

          In such days grown short in time's own hands,
we lack for light beyond our cut-short shadows,
          listen for this year's presidential proclamation,
in gratefulness await the pardoning of yet another

          turkey. Soon enough we'll gather round our tables,
grip hands in prayer perfected for the holiday,
          pass our plates forward in answer to the question,
light or dark?

          Pumpkin pie will satisfy the traditionalist (there's
always one), and someone later call for coffee, bored
          caffeinated children coralling the cat in the corridor
as mother and daughters retreat to the kitchen, their men cheering

          or berating the fast or fatal final move down left field.
Once the last drop of Pinot Noir is washed down, the glasses dried,
          the chatter will turn to Black Friday specials and old debates
about buying local. No one can wait for the Christmas sales.
  
© 2017 Maureen E. Doallas
_____________________________

Please enjoy once again these poems of Thanksgiving:

"Tradition" (November 28, 2013)

"Called to Thanksgiving" (November 22, 2012)

"We're used to giving" (Escape Into Life, November 23, 2011)


Also:

"November, and the pollen" (November 12, 2013)


And this, because as I wrote then, "Thanksgiving does not exist only on a November day. . .":

"Uncommon Community" (November 16, 2009)

Sunday, November 19, 2017

Thought for the Day



Cover Art

Freedom is a foreign feeling housed in an overused word —
nothing of life can be taught by anything less than living....
~ Nicelle Davis

___________________________________

Quoted from Nicelle Davis's Poem "An Etymology Lesson" (Section VII) in Her Excellent Chapbook Elephants (Business Bear Press, 2017), page 24. The wonderful illustrations in the chapbook are by Cheryl Gross. 

Nicelle Davis, Poet, Performance Artist, Instructor

Cheryl Gross, Writer, Illustrator, Motion Graphic Artist

Thursday, November 16, 2017

New Artist Watch Feature at Escape Into Life



John Wentz, Untitled No. 8, 2017
Mixed Media on Wood Panel, 16" x 12"
Copyright © John Wentz

PLEASE DO NOT COPY IMAGE


It is with great pleasure that I introduce in today's Artist Watch column at the online arts magazine Escape Into Life the work of award-winning painter John Wentz.

John, who was born and raised in San Francisco's Bay Area, has pursued his interest in art since age 6 and now exhibits not only in his hometown but throughout the United States and internationally. 

Today's Artist Watch offers images of eight of John's recent mixed media works, all from his summer 2017 solo exhibition, "Navigation Unknown", at Hashimoto Contemporary. Also included are John's Artist Statement, a brief biographical profile, and links to John's galleries and social media sites.

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Marie Craven's & Lucy English's 'Quiet Sounds'


From The Book of Hours, the film poem collaboration of Lucy English and Marie Craven, comes the beautiful Quiet Sounds.

The video concept and editing are by Marie Craven; the poem was written and is read by Lucy English. Carol Blyberg provides the images; the sounds come from Freesound.


Lucy English on FaceBook and Twitter

Marie Craven on FaceBook and Twitter

Sunday, November 12, 2017

Thought for the Day


I believe fear is kind of an evil twin to faith. Whereas faith is
the evidence of things unseen and the substance of things
hoped for, fear is also the evidence of things unseen, but 
the substance of things not hoped for. . . creating
 art is a step of faith. . . .
~ Joe Sutphin
______________________________________________

Quoted from Ned Bustard's Interview "Doodles from Hutchmoot" at CIVA [Christians in the Visual Arts] Blog, October 24, 2017

Joe Sutphin, Writer-Illustrator of Children's Books 

Joe Sutphin on FaceBook and Instagram

Saturday, November 11, 2017

Saturday Short

Today's short is the book trailer for Dare Not Linger: The Presidential Years (Farrar Strauss & Giroux, October 24, 2017), the story of Nelson Mandela's years as president of South Africa. The book draws on Mandela's memoir, the unfinished draft of which was completed by South African writer Mandla Langa at the request of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Graca Machel, Mandela's widow, contributes the prologue to Dare Not Linger.




Read an excerpt from Dare Not Linger.

Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013

(My thanks to the FSG blog Work in Progress for the video link.)

Thursday, November 9, 2017

Interview with Artist Donna Z. Falcone (Part 2)


Interview with Artist Donna Z. Falcone
Part 2


Cover Art for A is for Azure Written by L.L. Barkat
and Illustrated by Donna Z. Falcone


Yesterday, in Part 1 of my in-depth interview with emerging artist Donna Z. Falcone, illustrator of the recently published T.S. Poetry Press title A is for Azure (2017), an alphabet book, I discussed with Donna her background as an early childhood educator, her career change, her personal views of creatives and art-making, and the media, tools, materials, and techniques she uses in her artistic practice. Today, Donna and I talk specifically about her artistic collaboration with author L.L. Barkat — how that project came to fruition and what it has meant to her — and how she created the ink-on-tile illustrations for the book. Donna shares some first reactions by adults and children to the book and also lets us in on her dream artistic project. (This interview has been edited for clarity and length. All ink-on-tile images are courtesy of T.S. Poetry Press or the artist.)

Maureen Doallas: How did your collaboration with writer and poet L.L. Barkat come about?

Donna Z. Falcone: After my mother Pat died (in April of this year), I shared with L.L. and a few team members at Tweetspeak Poetry some photos of artworks I had created as an act of prayer and meditation while Mom was in hospital 1,000 miles away. L.L. was inspired to create a children's book around these paintings. She worked up a few sample pages, which included a dedication to Mom, and once my travel and Mom's funeral were behind me, shared them with me. She wondered if I liked her idea [of combining my artworks with her text to create an early reader], and asked if I wanted to work with her to make the book a reality. Of course, as you know, I said yes. 

Consequently, my decision resulted in my painting Poppies for My Mother as She Lay Dying becoming the letter "A" in A is for Azure, as well as the cover selection. A second artwork, You Are My Sunshine, became the letter "T", for "Tangerine". [Paintings for all the other letters in the alphabet followed, as Donna explains elsewhere in our interview.]


The Letter A: Azure
(Selection from A is for Azure Illustrated by Donna Z. Falcone)



The Letter T: Tangerine Sun
(Selection from A is for Azure illustrated by Donna Z. Falcone)

MD: What about the project proposal appealed to you?

DZF: I was deeply moved by L.L.'s desire to create this book; by its dedications to my mother and L.L.'s daughters — these felt like art in my heart, with so many connections overlapping; and because the project was both beautifully conceived and excruciating to undertake. I sensed immediately that this project was going to become very important as I moved through a period of fresh grief, and that it would always give me a beautiful place to land when moving in and out of my aching for Mom. It's difficult to make sense of these two realities: one, that Mom would have loved this book and, two, that the book would not exist but for Mom's death and absence. The project forced me to walk with and embrace two completely incompatible ideas. That's very powerful, and it is unanswerable. That is life. That is art.

MD: What are some ways that you worked with the author to make the 58-page A is for Azure?

DZF: This collaboration was such fun! At first, L.L. asked me to upload all my images, which I provided on pages of thumbnail snapshots. From those L.L. selected the paintings that would work with her concept, matching each one to a letter of the alphabet. This step then showed us what letters were unaccounted for.

L.L. next sent me color swatches, each paired with a color name that coincided with the necessary letters of the alphabet. Many of these were completely new to me, and some were familiar but not as color names. This collection of swatches revealed a kind of "to-do list" of paintings, though with no particular subjects in mind. My goal was to "paint something beautiful"; L.L. would know the right painting for each letter when she saw it. It was a fascinating, creative leap of faith, our quest; I would paint something and e-mail the image to L.L., and she would let me know if it worked or not.

MD: For A is for Azure, you created ink-on-tile illustrations. Describe what that artistic process entails (for example, how did you learn of the process; what materials do you use; how much time does it take to create a single illustration using that process; what happens if you make a mistake).

DZF: The process is very fluid, which is not meant to be a pun. Because alcohol inks are so free-flowing, when I am using them, I have to think journey, not destination. During this project, I started to think of the inks as my friends and, on some level, resorted to asking them what they wanted to do. As my experience using them grows, I am learning how to use brushes to nudge the inks in a certain direction or to smooth out a line but, mostly, I don't use tools directly with the inks.

I am fascinated by the way an ink moves and interacts with other inks on a tile. I do a lot of dripping and then move the ink back and forth by tipping the tile in one direction and then another, or spinning the tile quickly on my lazy Susan while I drip ink from its bottle. One of my favorite ways to move ink is with forced air — I created my own machine for just that purpose! It's a funny-looking gadget made from a reverse-engineered hand-held vacuum, a long rubber hose, and my mother's old cake tip! I created the grasses and stems in the book's cover image from the bottom up, using forced air to blow the ink across the tile. Oh, that was such fun!

Fire is another process that I like to use, though I get nervous telling people that I use open flames because they can be dangerous and I don't want anyone to try this process unsupervised. (Please, don't try this at home, folks! Not without proper training!) I created the poppies for the book's cover using flames on red ink. 

I don't worry about making mistakes. I use the unexpected turns a painting can take to learn more about the inks and the process I'm using, and my resistance to the inks' nature. 

Because the medium contains alcohol, it dries very quickly, which means I need to work very quickly. Maybe that's why I like the process so much; there is not a lot time for wringing of hands! Sometimes I think I am finished with a piece only to change it a dozen more times before I am really finished.

I imagine that the way I interact with the inks and tiles feels like paired improvisational dance must feel: if suddenly there is a leg in your right hand, well, you just keep moving with the music. The more synchronous you become, the fewer mistakes are made because every step is part of the whole.

When I paint a  tile that I don't particularly want to keep, I wash it off, although I am doing that less and less these days because I've learned that these are the tiles others want. . . as with bananas [see explanation below]. . . or the painting for "C", for "Cranberry". I washed off that tile as soon as I took a photo of it and, as it turns out, this became one of L.L.'s favorite pieces of mine. The expression "One man's trash is another man's treasure" applies perfectly.

MD: What influenced the style you used to illustrate L.L.'s text?

DZF: Because I didn't know what L.L. was looking for in each illustration, other than color, I felt free to just keep creating in my own style and, based on her feedback, adjusting. It was a leap of faith, to simply begin and see what happened on each tile. L.L. was very supportive of my process, which seemed to fit well with hers. My sense was that we both were seeking inspiration through our collaboration, trusting that the work would all come together if we stayed true to our own styles.

It was very important to maintain an attitude of playful exploration, as opposed to searching for a particular thing. In fact, when I was trying over and over again to re-create a particular painting of bananas that L.L. had seen in my old photos, which no longer existed, I found it impossible! The only existing image was blurry. But L.L. really loved those bananas and wanted them for the letter "Y", for "Yellow". After several attempts, frustration began to creep in—this was not a direction I wanted to go. . . in frustration, I mean. I decided to "let go" of the bananas for a while and play with the color yellow. When I stopped trying to "force bananas", the word "lemon" popped into my head and that color soon found its way onto a 6" x 6" tile. When I sent L.L. a photo of my lemon via e-mail, she wrote back within minutes, telling me she really loved  that lemon. Attached was a photo of the page for "Y": "Y is for Yellow. Hello, Yellow!" I have shared this little story with a group of kindergarteners, who thought it was very funny that a bunch of bananas could become, in fact, a lemon!


Sunflowers by Donna Z. Falcone

MD: How many illustrations did you create for the book? Did any particular color-word present a challenge to you as illustrator?

DZF: I created six new paintings. The painting for "Y is for Yellow" had us going bananas for a while but that for "I is for Iceberg" stands out as the most difficult to do. An interesting shade of blue, the color was hard to hold in my mind and difficult to find in available inks. The image for the painting for this page in the book went through several iterations, including several versions of nests of birds' eggs, an actual iceberg, dragonfly wings, and ocean waves. Eventually, a stream flowing through a pine forest caught L.L.'s imagination and I created "I is for Iceberg, an Iceberg stream." That was the last image we needed for the book.

It wasn't until A is for Azure was published that I finally saw L.L.'s beautiful words assembled with every painting. To this early childhood professional, the book was perfect. As an artist, I was thrilled. As a grieving daughter, I found it such a tender tribute. 

MD: Of all the illustrations you created, which are your favorite(s), and why?

DZF: My favorite painting is H is for Heliotrope. The colors are striking and the tile, a 10" x 14" vertical tile in "real life", has a majestic look to it. A trio of heliotropes standing tall, with one off to the left, possibly only having just bloomed. . . it reminds me of the artistic women in my family: my mother Pat, my sister Peg, and me. Three in a row. . . I'm not sure who that is peeking in but I think it's I, since my mother and my sister have been artists for as long as I can remember and I am what is called "a late bloomer".


The Letter H: Heliotrope
(Selection from A is for Azure Illustrated by Donna Z. Falcone)

The painting for the letter "A" in A is for Azure — is another favorite, because it started the whole project and began as a prayer for Mom just two days before she died. To me, this is her painting, as is "T is for Tangerine". The latter was painted hours before Mom died. . . I still 1,000 miles away. I felt that I could be with her in art and maybe, in a way, I was.

MD: The alphabet book includes, among other supporting materials, a color key. What makes the color key, an unusual addition, necessary?

DZF: L.L. took great care to provide children with novel and beautiful words representing many different colors. Those words may be unfamiliar to most of us (they were were to me), and the subtle differences among the various shades of a color, let's say yellow, are important. The colors brass, yellow, and xanthic are all related, for example, but definitely are not the same. The key provides parents and children with necessary guidance in how to pronounce each word and encourages readers to seek out the subtle color differences, all this in one place. Precision matters; it adds another layer of authenticity and challenge to the experience of reading the book. People have made a point of telling me how grateful they are for this page at the end of the book, for putting to rest any guessing about how to say a word.

MD: There are innumerable children's alphabet books on the market. What makes A is for Azure stand out from other such books, including those you might have used or recommended in your earlier role as educator?

DZF: As I mentioned, A is for Azure is an alphabet book to experience, not simply read. For example, there are color-coded letters embedded in the text on every pair of pages. Children instinctively grab the color from the first letter of the color word, which is also the first word on the page, and scan the opposite page to find its match.

MD: How did your background as an early childhood educator best serve your work on this project?

DZF: My love of children is what served me best. Since the author's concept was her own, it did not influence me. I was not aiming for "children's art"; I was simply aiming for "beautiful".

MD: What was your first reaction on seeing the book in print for the first time?

DZF: When my copy arrived in the mail, I opened it via "LIVE on Facebook". I was overwhelmed by its beauty and the synchrony of each and every page. When I read the dedication to Mom, I cried.

Another thing I did "LIVE on Facebook" was pronounce incorrectly the word "azure". When I realized my mistake, I was mortified. . . but only for a few seconds! I laugh now when I tell this story, because it really illustrates the need for that color key at the end of the book.

MD: Have you witnessed children's reactions to the book, and especially to your illustrations?

DZF: When my sister shared the book with my four-year-old great-nephew, he had the most satisfying reaction: he turned the pages one by one, saying "ooooooo" followed by "wow!" Yes, that is the best review ever!

When I read the book aloud to a first-grade class, the children became very excited every time we came to a letter that was at the beginning of their own name. One little boy proudly informed me that if the word "denim" started with a "v" it would be "venom"! Those children were very excited.

MD: If you were trying to persuade children's parents to purchase the book, what would you say?

DZF: I would assure parents that this is a book that even they will learn from, so reading it will not be boring! I also would tell them that their kids will be so empowered by knowing all the really cool color words. Just imagine whipping out A is for Azure at Grandma's, turning to the page with the word "xanthic" on it, and pointing to the image of a yellowish golden moon.

MD: What have you learned from your collaboration on A is for Azure and how might that influence any future artistic project?

DZF: It's important to do the things we don't know how to do. It's also important to seize opportunities when they arise instead of waiting for the perfect time and proper mood. Taking such an approach gives me a lot of courage and freedom; it's an invitation to think bigger than I'm used to thinking.

MD: Can you share any information about your next art project?

DZF: I have just been invited to offer a full gallery show at a local museum and art gallery. The show  [see Save the Dates! below] is to be titled "From Azure to Zaffre" and will feature all the art from the book in either its original form or as gallery-quality reproductions.


Zaffre Feathers by Donna Z. Falcone

While it's true that I have no idea how to put on a gallery exhibition, it's also true that I never knew how to be an illustrator before this project. If we always only do the things we have done before, we will never do anything new! Life is too short to be landlocked by my own insecurities. The only way I have found to overcome my insecurities is to challenge them by doing the very thing I never thought possible.

MD: Imagine and describe your dream art project.

DZF: I have unlimited funds and unlimited space. I create alcohol ink images that are transferrable to large panels of clear glass and hang the panels in front of an enormous window. The light carries the images downward, where they appear on the floor, or over to a clean white wall. As the sun crosses the sky, the images shift and move. All the colors of the inks call out for light—that is where the magic is.

(Ironically, the inks are not light-fast, which is why, in this dream, the images are transferrable.)

Imagine! If I could fill a room with that kind of light. . . well . . . I would probably cry.

____________________________________

Donna Z. Falcone hails from the small town of Spencerport, New York, which she describes as "up north on the Erie Canal, complete with towpath and a lift bridge." She and her husband Joe, who met in graduate school, are the parents of two sons and caretakers of "our rather large dog 'Gruffy' who suffers from the delusion that he is a Pomeranian." They have moved their family hither and yon—first to the warm(er) clime of North Carolina and then to Tennessee. After five years in the South, in 2000, they decided to relocate again, and packed up their belongings and headed to northeast Pennsylvania, where they spent the next 16 years until, faced with an empty nest but a still-to-fill dog bowl, Donna and Joe headed off with Gruffy to plant a few new roots in South Georgia. Their now-grown children are content to "hold down the fort" in Pennsylvania.

Donna's work in early childhood education spanned 30 years and four states. In 2009, when Lyme disease and multiple co-infections "brought my career to a screeching halt," she turned to her "earlier love of writing" and gave her dreams of becoming an artist room to develop and grow. 

In addition to creating visual art with "a playful splash of alcohol inks and paint," Donna has published poetry in Poetry Nook (Vol. 3), When Women Waken (see "If Hearts Had Handles", Issue 3), Every Day Poems, and wordcandy.me. Her work also has appeared alongside that of other artists at the Websites for Inanna House (see "The Works of Donna Falcone", November 2013), Makes You Mom, and Tweetspeak Poetry blog. Now "living far south of Atlanta," Donna takes "my chocolate dark, my coffee light, and my tea touched by stevia. As for wine, please make mine Merlot," she adds.

Donna blogs at Painting Goodbye. Also see The Brighter Side: Living with Lyme.

Donna Z. Falcone on FaceBook

Sign up for the artist's newsletter, Inky Updates from Donna Z. Falcone. She'll be offering demos, classes, and more.

A is for Azure at TweetSpeak Poetry


Save the Dates!

Donna's solo exhibition, "From Azure to Zaffre", is planned for September through December 2018 at Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College's Georgia Museum of Agriculture & Historic Village, Tifton, Georgia, part of the University System of Georgia. Planning for the exhibition, which you won't want to miss, is underway. It promises to be a very special event for children.


On Zazzle. . . .

A variety of products bearing some of the artist's and author's favorite images are available to purchase from the Zazzle Store, including:


2018 A is for Azure Calendar


Mugs

Plates


Playing Cards



Puzzles

Also of Interest. . . 

Stuart Taylor, "A is for Azure: Tifton Artist Works on Children's Book", Tifton Gazette, September 21, 2017


L.L. Barkat, "Learn to Read! Beautiful Art for a Predictable Sentence Chart", TweetSpeak Poetry Blog, August 4, 2017

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Interview with Artist Donna Z. Falcone (Part 1)


Interview with Artist Donna Z. Falcone
Part 1



Cover Art by Donna Z. Falcone for A is for Azure 

Debut illustrator Donna Z. Falcone collaborated with writer and poet L.L. Barkat to create for T.S. Poetry Press the children's alphabet book A is for Azure (2017). Curious about her professional and personal transformation from childhood educator to artist, I invited Donna to do an in-depth interview with me via e-mail, to discuss both her new career and, more specifically, her artistic collaboration with L.L. (I know both women.) Donna graciously responded in the positive. In today's post, she and I explore her background, her personal views of creatives and art-making, her media, tools, and techniques, and other more general aspects of art. In Part 2, we talk about Donna's project with L.L. Barkat and how it came to fruition, as well as possible future art activities. (This interview has been edited for clarity and length. All ink-on-tile images are courtesy of T.S. Poetry Press or the artist.)

Maureen Doallas: Donna, you have a background in early childhood education. You now devote your time to art-making and are the illustrator of the recently published T.S. Poetry Press title A is for Azure, a children's alphabet book. What got you interested enough in art to change careers?

Donna Z. Falcone: My career change came about because of unfortunate circumstances. After 30-plus years as an early childhood educator, I found myself forced out of both classroom and workplace because of long-misdiagnosed Lyme disease. Ongoing physical constraints and relapses prevented me from returning to teaching.

During a difficult, sometimes nearly hopeless, period of treatment and recovery, I began dabbling and out of that grew my art-making. I spent my days on the sun porch of our family home in Pennsylvania learning about web design, poetry, photography, and, eventually, alcohol inks and tile-painting. Once I began using the inks (more about that later), I found it impossible to stop.


The Letter C: Cranberry
(Selection from A is for Azure Illustrated by Donna Z. Falcone)

MD: What did your experience as an early childhood educator reveal to you that you subsequently have applied to your art?

DZF: In a way, being a childhood educator laid an important foundation for my own artistic process. Having learned the value of freedom in creative endeavors, which I had guarded vehemently for the young students and children in my care and having worked with teachers to get them to do the same, I got to experience for the first time in my life what such freedom could do for me—and it was wonderful!

Who knew that in all the years I concerned myself with children's readiness, I secretly was developing my own?!

MD: Have you studied art formally or are you primarily self-taught?

DZF: I am mostly self-taught, although I have found some wonderful artists online and in the physical and virtual communities I frequent who are more than happy to share their knowledge, especially about the use of alcohol inks, an unusual and relatively unknown material. We learn from each other.

MD: What comes to mind when you hear the word artist, especially as it applies to you?

DZF: I think of someone who brings forth something unique and soul-touching. . . someone who immerses herself in the act of creation almost all the time. . . who not only creates art whenever she gets the chance but who, even when she is not physically making something, is thinking about art, whether while seeking out other artists, noticing the play of light, wondering how this shade or that tone can be created, or developing new ways to use a medium. Anyone dedicated to the practice of art elevates her skill level to the point of outgrowing it and then wanting to do more. . . pushing the material to grow with her.

MD: Who is your favorite artist or children's book illustrator and why?

DZF: Hands down, my favorite illustrator is Eric Carle. His work is so free and bold, colorful and creative. I really love his mixed media, how he uses collage and paint. His work is abstract, and that appeals to me, too.

MD: Do you think children are natural artists and, if yes, do you think that makes your job as illustrator of a children's book any more challenging? In what ways?

DZF: Well, not exactly, which may surprise you, given my career in early childhood education; however, I do think children are naturally creative and that they are natural explorers of whatever they happen to find in their surroundings.

I believe deeply that art materials should be available to children in all learning environments and in multiple ways, so that children can use them to make discoveries. Art materials are tools, as important as, if not more important than, anything else in the classroom. When art materials are made available, children might discover that they love to create with paint or clay or collage or, over time, find out that art-making's not for them. They might be drawn to different creative endeavors, which is wonderful. They might, for example, develop an intense interest in human anatomy; it's not difficult to see how experiences with form, color, shape, layering with paint, sculpting with clay, or running yarn through glue and affixing it to pieces of wood and paper tubes can support appreciation of the intricacies of how muscles, bones, and nerves all layer and connect beneath our skin. You see, even if a child is deemed "very artistic," his focus might shift and change over time but still be supported by or underlie his early discoveries through art. As my son once so eloquently put it, at the ripe old age of 8, "Mom, just because I'm good at something doesn't mean I have to be it."


The Letter H: Heliotrope
(Selection from A is for Azure Illustrated by Donna Z. Falcone)

MD: Do you make art a daily practice, at a particular time of day, for a set number of hours, for example, or whenever inspiration strikes? Do you need to work in particular conditions (for example, alone, in quiet) to make your art?

DZF: I don't make art every day, although I am always working on art in my mind, while learning something new, or when involved on a project that has emerged because of my art-making. For example, currently, I am not in the studio because I am preparing for my first juried art show and sale. There is a lot of work in that; it just goes with being an artist.

There are times, however, when I work in my studio every single day for weeks or months!

When I am making art, I prefer to work in one of two environments: in perfect quiet or with music, usually soft, meditative music with no lyrics, playing in the background.

One of my favorite times to paint is before the sun comes up, when I maybe light a candle or  two and set music to playing softly (for example, music such as Native American flute players perform).

A rigid commitment to create art every day leaves me feeling confined and pressured. Allowing myself the freedom to create or not create is, I think, central to my desire to return to my studio and become immersed for a while.

Now, none of this is to say that an idea doesn't sometimes wake me up in the middle of the night, making me drag myself out of bed and into the studio. That happens, thankfully! It's one of the most exciting times for me to create!

MD: What most inspires you to make art?

DZF: Sometimes my mood drives me and I turn to inks to express myself; mostly, however, it's the simple drive to create and play that inspires me to make art. Sometimes I'm curious about materials or want to experiment with something that has popped into my head. . . can it do this? What will it do if I do that?

MD: What does your art-making space look like?

DZF: My art space is color-stained and comfy!


Art-Making Space of Artist Donna Z. Falcone

My formerly white plastic folding table is covered with streaks of ink and smears of acrylic paint, and I like it that way. It reminds me that I can do whatever I want in this space.

My inks are organized meticulously by color (in ROY G BIV fashion) on two multi-tiered storage racks intended for use as nail polish holders. I've stacked clean ceramic tiles of various sizes on a table to my right, within arm's reach, and filled bins with extra materials on the table beside my inks. Also near to hand are a lighter for burning ink, a spray bottle, a glass eye dropper, a large white plastic bottle filled with 91 percent alcohol, and, for extra-messy experiments, rubber gloves. A lazy Susan (which I swiped from my spice cabinet) sits in the center of all this, waiting to hold and turn any new tile artwork I'm making. A bright red sofa covered in pillows (it opens up to a bed for company) gives me a nice place to stretch out and rest, think, or listen to music.

MD: What media and techniques do you use regularly?

DZF: Although I am learning how to sketch and draw, I have never been very interested in realism. My mother was a very talented artist whose flower and nature paintings were exquisite and so realistic. But, for me, I love inks, because they invite me to work and play with their properties. The flow of ink and the way it behaves while I'm tile-painting are magical.

To create my artworks, I generally use fire (yes, real flames), forced air (from a hand-held vacuum that I've reverse-engineered), centrifugal or other forces (I use that old lazy Susan I swiped from my spice cabinet), and gravity to move inks around on tiles. I sometimes use brushes to coax an ink to travel in a particular direction or to add a bit of detail but mostly my pieces seem to come into being without my using any real tools at all.

MD: Do you have an art mentor or someone who champions your art-making?

DZF: I am truly blessed to having such loving support for my art, starting with my husband Joe, who, by providing encouragement, feedback, and ink(!) — we laugh when I tell him he is my chief financial investor — definitely champions my art-making.

My sister is directly responsible for introducing me to alcohol inks. She kept sending me little pictures of tiles she had painted when she first discovered this magical medium. It's as if she had been sitting on my shoulder and telling me, "Come on. . . try it. . . you know you want to!"

My parents also have been very supportive. As I noted earlier, my mother was a beautiful artist — A is for Azure is dedicated to her and to L.L. Barkat's two daughters.

And writer L.L. Barkat? She has been instrumental to my artistic life. It was her ongoing support and enthusiasm that led to A is for Azure in the first place. 

____________________________________________

Donna Z. Falcone hails from the small town of Spencerport, New York, which she describes as "up north on the Erie Canal, complete with towpath and a lift bridge." She and her husband Joe, who met in graduate school, are the parents of two sons and caretakers of "our rather large dog 'Gruffy' who suffers from the delusion that he is a Pomeranian." They have moved their family hither and yon—first to the warm(er) clime of North Carolina and then to Tennessee. After five years in the South, in 2000, they decided to relocate again, and packed up their belongings and headed to northeast Pennsylvania, where they spent the next 16 years until, faced with an empty nest but a still-to-fill dog bowl, Donna and Joe headed off with Gruffy to plant a few new roots in South Georgia. Their now-grown children are content to "hold down the fort" in Pennsylvania.

Donna's work in early childhood education spanned 30 years and four states. In 2009, when Lyme disease and multiple co-infections "brought my career to a screeching halt," she turned to her "earlier love of writing" and gave her dreams of becoming an artist room to develop and grow. 

In addition to creating visual art with "a playful splash of alcohol inks and paint," Donna has published poetry in Poetry Nook (Vol. 3), When Women Waken (see "If Hearts Had Handles", Issue 3), Every Day Poems, and wordcandy.me. Her work also has appeared alongside that of other artists at the Websites for Inanna House (see "The Works of Donna Falcone", November 2013), Makes You Mom, and Tweetspeak Poetry blog. Now "living far south of Atlanta," Donna takes "my chocolate dark, my coffee light, and my tea touched by stevia. As for wine, please make mine Merlot," she adds.

Donna blogs at Painting Goodbye. Also see The Brighter Side: Living with Lyme.