“Some Mornings” a solo exhibit of my most recent paintings, inspired from poems by Linda M. Robertson, opens at Northwind Art Grover Gallery in Port Townsend on March 17, and runs through May 30.
You’ve seen evidence of this new direction over the past year. In fact, in December 2020, I talked about the first explorations in the blog post entitled “Here’s Your Hat, What’s Your Hurry”. As I mentioned in that post, with wonderful encouragement from my artist group – and, necessity – I have learned much about slowing down, allowing unfolding, listening to the work, to my voice.
The work comes directly from my life. Although I had been teaching my Painting From Poems class at Northwind Art School for a few years, I had not used poems directly as a source for my own studio practice. When I ran into Linda on the beach near my home, it started a conversation and an artist/poet exchange. I used a couple of her pieces as examples in my class. I asked for more. She sent more. I asked for more. Her poems touch the heart of transience, grief and the comfort of the natural world.
I was in need of comfort. At the time, my husband was critically ill with cancer. The sense of loss, of heartbreak, of compassion was quietly but deeply visceral. For the first time in my work, I consciously brought forth my inner felt experience. Linda’s poems were my touchstone to evoke those places. And it helped. Time in the studio was solace, was catharsis. And, even as the year went on, and Joe responded well to a trial drug – this new way of working was transformational. Moving away from physical representation towards emotional expression. I can see so directly the connection between the spaces in poetry and the silence in art.
Although I felt I traveled this evolution singularly, in truth, this way of working is not at all new. Joan Mitchell, Elizabeth Murray, Grace Hartigan were all painters who worked with poets to convey internal expressions through gestural abstraction. I carry this legacy forward – connecting internal to universal and acknowledging the natural world’s presence in this comfort.
My hope for this exhibit is that by experiencing the painting and the poem together, the viewer is alive to that spaciousness. That solace and connection is conveyed in the juncture between words and gesture. I believe the paintings and the poems each stand alone, but that together there is sweet alchemy.
Don’t miss!
March 19, 3pm-5pm. MEET AND GREET THE ARTIST at Grover Gallery. Join me to hear more about the work and the process. And help me celebrate!
March 23, 7pm. ARTIST TALK, moderated by Northwind Art Exhibits Director Kathleen Garrett. Watch the recording of this event here.
April 2, 3pm. POETRY READING by Linda M. Robertson at Grover Gallery. Listen to the poet read her work, and hear about her responses to the paintings.
Exhibition book and poem broadsides will be available for sale at the gallery.
Upcoming classes:I will be teaching “Paint from Poems” workshop – as mentioned above – on May 5 & 6; “Mindfulness Practices for Art Making” on June 28; plus “Make It Abstract” as a “Summer Night Art Camp” workshop August 22-26. Register early, small class sizes mean they fill fast.