By: Yohana de la Torre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poetry and art are the voice of this age. Together, this voice couldn’t be stronger. And ArtPoems is the birth of this strong voice in Southwest Florida.

The concept to this merge of talents is to increase the attention paid by individuals to the skill of poetry and art, to living poets, enthused artists, to our poetic heritage, and to the works of provoking creators.

Artists and poets alike want to share their works. And with the art of manipulating words and sounds, both skills fuse together to bring out the beauty in a literary sense, but also in a visual impression.

“Each poet and artist brought five pieces of their work to a meeting,” says Award-winning Poet and ArtPoems Chair, Lorraine A. Vail. “Then, randomly selected: a poet drew an artist’s name; an artist drew a poet’s name. Each chose one piece from the five to work with. Artists took poems with them to read and think about them and then made their selection.”

The idea can be called poetic justice through the eyes of an artist. That is because poetry is like a piece of art— the language of the soul. And symbiotically both forms of expression are an understanding of being.

But the idea is more than simply being. It’s about being in the moment and savoring every word and every stroke of the inspired.

ArtPoems brought together 12 artists and 12 poets in a transmedia collaboration which celebrates the best of both worlds. And the sense to the joining of forces is that of poetry in motion, a moving gallery, being that the artwork and the prose will relocate within local galleries in town.

The works currently on display are a broad spectrum of mediums— watercolor, collage, oils, acrylics and more. The subjects vary widely from love and infatuation to good and evil. Some poems like Getting Directions in Rural Florida open simple, yet extraordinary moments of truth and humor in our lives. While others form introspective views with an unforgettable mix of thoughtful words and vivid visions like in the poem Cross Road.

Poets and painters possess a keen perception of the world around them. These artists and poets took a textual look at something and made a visual come to life, and vice versa.

The poets knitted words to clarify an idea.

The artists created a mirror, an imaginative reflection to words.

 

And together they melded inspiration unlike any other art.

Both mediums have many familiar and sometimes unfamiliar metaphorical meanings attached to them. But the joining of the two carries a positive and powerful resonance.

For the 24 involved, the idea couldn’t be more stimulating. As a poet, Vail explained that writing to the visual concept of an artist requires work. She describes how she really looked at the details in the artwork, “the concept that strikes a chord that generates the emotional center of the poem.”

Language expresses ideas and themes in poetry. It is changeable and gives voice to the silence of an image.

When looking at a painting, one should remember that there is a painter inside that painting looking at us. Every color, every shape, its composition, they all make a difference.

In mixed-media artist Bea Pappas Cross Road, the emotion seeps through her colors and strokes. She explained the painting was called “Holy Place” and was the start of a Southwestern color-theme series, painted while thinking of sacred Indian grounds.

Yet, for Vail the painting evoked a series of questions about life and death, and what the cross roads would leave in eternity.

“The ArtPoems collaboration was a challenge for poets and artists,” Pappas says. “I do enjoy a challenge! Being able to show our work together is a joy. We go through the same creative process to write and paint. And I hope that our audience will be blown away by the talents at work.”

ArtPoems proves that poetry and art are ripe for re-evaluation. And with this collaboration, one seamless project having a beginning but no end is an expression of the freedom both talents posses.

“My hope is that ArtPoems will help the community see with “fresh eyes” the art and poems created and that they will see that one enhances the other,” Vail adds. “[I hope] that this will generate and renew interest, enjoyment and appreciation of these two art forms.”

- Enjoy ArtPoems at the following locations: Hirdie Girdie Gallery in Sanibel, FL from March 28 – April 25; Tower Gallery in Sanibel, FL April 8 – 30; Ferrari Gallery in Cape Coral, FL from April 12 – May 1; and BIG ARTS in Sanibel, FL from May 14 – September 20!