Yesterday I enjoyed presenting a (zoom) workshop in which we spent time talking about “How do you get there…?” For artmakers who desire to go deeper and have more depth to their work, this is an ongoing challenge. And sometimes a struggle.

(Many thanks to the members of Art Quilters Unlimited in Ft. Myers for the invitation. It was great to share with a group of motivated, curious and creative quilters.)

Everyone who creates art goes about this a little differently. Some journal. Some work sketchbooks. Some draw from music. Some write. Some do all those things.

As part of this discussion, I put in a plug for reading poetry. I find that when I’ve immersed myself in some good poetry, I start to notice things more acutely. I try to choose my words more carefully.

So I was very interested earlier this year when I read about an online exhibit sponsored by Arts Benicia in Califormia: “Get the Message” – artwork inspired specifically by words. They allowed song lyrics, poetry, prose or other works to be the inspiration. The application required artists to include the text as well as some words of explanation.

I loved this idea. I had one work that was specifically inspired by a Margaret Atwood poem and another inspired by a Mary Oliver poem. Both works were selected for exhibit.

The whole exhibit is visible online from November 14 – December 31. It’s an interesting mix of work. I encourage you to visit. (When you get to the home page, you can scroll down to thumbnails of the artists’ works. Click on the ones that interest you to see it larger and to read the words that inspired it.)

Here’s the link, and here are the works I entered:

THE EXHIBIT IS HERE:
 https://artsbenicia.org/get-the-message-words-and-images/ 

“Remembering The Burned House”

“In the burned house I am eating breakfast. You understand: there is no house, there is no breakfast, yet here I am.” From the poem “Morning in the Burned House” by Margaret Atwood.

Atwood’s powerful images of a fire and burned house are metaphors to convey intense loss and loneliness. A melted spoon. A melted bowl. Soot. No people visible. “Everything in this house has long been over.”

 “What the Waterlilies Sing”

“The old creek began to sing in my ears.”  Mary Oliver, line from the poem “Trout Lilies”

Oliver’s poem, about a very different kind of lily, came to mind when I photographed these waterlilies near my home. I love the concept of music from the water, and the healing power of its memory. (As, in Oliver’s poem, “There was a light that lingered, for hours,,, that made a difference.”)

I would love for you to read and savor each of these poems in their entirety. I don’t have reproduction rights to the poems and don’t want to violate the poets’ copyright. But, I have found them in other places online, and have printed the links here. Enjoy!

https://poets.org/poem/morning-burned-house

https://randomactsofwriting.wordpress.com/2013/04/25/wildflower-week-trout-lily-2/

PS… I really want to give a shout-out of appreciation to Arts Benicia for presenting this virtual exhibit. And to the other galleries I’ve had the chance to exhibit in recently – Visions Art Museum in San Diego, Touchstone Gallery in DC, BIG Arts Gallery in Sanibel, Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, NY -  what you are doing to find your audience virtually and to promote artists with accessible exhibits during the pandemic is WONDERFUL.  I am very grateful.

PPS… One final thought about reading. Recently I received some second-hand copies of a few bestselling novels in the genre of adventure/lawyers/espionage/good-guys-bad-guys. I’m about to finish the fourth. Then. Really. I must stop. In the same way that reading wonderful works – and poetry – deepens my soul and enhances my thinking, reading these turns my brain to mush. I wanted a little fast-reading and mindless escape, and I got it. I’m so glad I ‘m almost done, so I can find something else to be the focus of my attention.

Cheers. Happy creating.

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi

bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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