Dear Photographer friends:
I have been developing a presentation called "Poetry, Dance, & the Patterned Glory of the Universe". It is a combination of lecture, dance demonstration, and powerpoint. I'd like to enlist your help in improving the powerpoint presentation.
Would you be willing to donate a photograph or two so that I can make this into a powerful visual experience as well as an engaging lecture and entertaining demonstration? I can't pay you anything, but I will put your name on the powerpoint and will write a blog post thanking all the photographers involved and giving their website, so you'll get a tiny bit of publicity out of this small collaboration.
I am looking for images of the following:
- a heartbeat shown on a EKG monitor
- footprints
- an illustration for this legend: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pursuit_of_Diarmuid_and_Gr%C3%A1inne
- rain falling
- a ship at sea
- an illustration for "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" by Shakespeare
- an illustration for a love sonnet set in a garden
- a musical score
- a picture of the 9/11 skyline
- comedy & tragedy masks
- ocean waves
- a fist punching
- illustrations for "sonnet," "villanelle," "sestina," and "rondeau"
- a chambered nautilus shell
- a pine cone
- the head of a daisy or sunflower
- the Parthenon
- Venus de Milo
- dancers in a circle
- patterns cut in ice by the blades of ice skates
- a kingfisher
- vaulted arches & buttresses in Gothic architecture
You can download the powerpoint as it is in its cheesy clip-art phase by going to www.iambicadmonit.com/books and scrolling down to the .pdf. Thank you very much to Rosie Perera for donating photos of a spiral staircase, and to Kent Smith for directing me to the spiral image that appears on his website.
Feel free to email me (iambic dot admonit at gmail dot com) with any questions -- or with your photos! And please forward this post to any other photographers you know. Thanks!!
~ Sørina
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31 March 2012
28 March 2012
Image Journal goes digital!
IMAGE (the premiere quarterly journal of Christianity and the Arts) is adding a digital edition. You can download their first digital issue for FREE here. Info about digital subscriptions will be available in the near future, but they will for sure be less than print subscriptions. If you've considered subscribing to IMAGE but thought it was too pricey, now you can get it more affordably. And enjoy this FREE edition regardless.
Ekphrasis Report #15
So as you know if you follow this blog, I came back from New York City on fire with ideas for Ekphrasis to take over the world. Aaaaand... I shared my ideas with my brilliant and sensible and talented and realistic fellow Ekphrasians, who debated over the first idea (purchasing advertising in the programs of local arts events) for AN HOUR, and then decided to go with only a modified version. Look for free advertising venues.
That's grand. I love my Ekphrasians, and they're right. We're not ready to monetize. So I've made a nice poster advertizing Ekphrasis, and we'll start hanging it around town sometime. Probably not until the fall, though, because there are only two more meetings (April & June) before our schedule goes whacky for the summer. I guess we'll stay as we are until autumn. And that's lovely.
Our March meeting was well attended, with JH, MD, JF, SG, MB, EG, AL, MS, & SH present. You don't need to know that, because if you were there, you know, and if you weren't, you don't care: so I guess we're recording for posterity, after we've stopped debating and taken over the world!
We began by watching a video of a Country Dance from Jane Austen's era performed by members of Ekphrasis (with some help by a few others) at my POETRY, DANCE, & THE PATTERNED GLORY OF THE UNIVERSE event at Living Hope Church that had occurred just the evening before this meeting,on March 4th. You can watch that video here.
Then I shared with the group some of the insights from my trip to the International Arts Movement meeting in NYC.
And THEN we finally got into the workshopping for the evening.
EG presented her poem, "The Stranger" that explored her relationship with her grandfather.
MB read another chapter in her forthcoming bestseller "Meg's Adventures in Fairyland". (Ok, that's not really the title).
MS briefly presented the book "Art that Tells the Story" that presents the Story of the Bible through works of art.
AL MB presented AL's dramatic dialog between Perpetua, a young Roman woman and convert to Christianity and her father.
SG presented "Hoth", a monologue that explores the interaction between election and free will.
Thanks to JF, who took notes on our meeting so I could type up my own rambling version therefrom!
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That's grand. I love my Ekphrasians, and they're right. We're not ready to monetize. So I've made a nice poster advertizing Ekphrasis, and we'll start hanging it around town sometime. Probably not until the fall, though, because there are only two more meetings (April & June) before our schedule goes whacky for the summer. I guess we'll stay as we are until autumn. And that's lovely.
Our March meeting was well attended, with JH, MD, JF, SG, MB, EG, AL, MS, & SH present. You don't need to know that, because if you were there, you know, and if you weren't, you don't care: so I guess we're recording for posterity, after we've stopped debating and taken over the world!
We began by watching a video of a Country Dance from Jane Austen's era performed by members of Ekphrasis (with some help by a few others) at my POETRY, DANCE, & THE PATTERNED GLORY OF THE UNIVERSE event at Living Hope Church that had occurred just the evening before this meeting,on March 4th. You can watch that video here.
Then I shared with the group some of the insights from my trip to the International Arts Movement meeting in NYC.
And THEN we finally got into the workshopping for the evening.
EG presented her poem, "The Stranger" that explored her relationship with her grandfather.
MB read another chapter in her forthcoming bestseller "Meg's Adventures in Fairyland". (Ok, that's not really the title).
MS briefly presented the book "Art that Tells the Story" that presents the Story of the Bible through works of art.
AL MB presented AL's dramatic dialog between Perpetua, a young Roman woman and convert to Christianity and her father.
SG presented "Hoth", a monologue that explores the interaction between election and free will.
Thanks to JF, who took notes on our meeting so I could type up my own rambling version therefrom!
27 March 2012
Caduceus "Book Tour" #6
Since I received my copies of CADUCEUS five weeks ago, I have given eight poetry readings of various kinds in a wide variety of venues. Each had a kind of theme or focus, so I'd like to report briefly on each one.
POETRY, DANCE, & THE PATTERNED GLORY OF THE UNIVERSE
Grace Church Congregational
11 March 2012
This was a variation of the third reading I gave, and was by far the most fun of all I've done yet! Thank you to all the wonderful people who came to see me, listen, read, talk, sing, dance, & eat! Some of you I hadn't seen for twenty years or more. And you were all really fun audience members!
Seriously, this crowd was the most in-tune with my reading: laughing, sighing, groaning, and exclaiming at all the right moments. I felt you were all on the edge of your seats, taking in every word, understanding, pondering, applying all I shared.
There were a couple of stellar moments I really need to share so that those who did not attend can experience this, and so that those who did can re-live the best times! The first was the fact that three young people volunteered, at the last minute, to join me in learning & performing a dance demonstration. Here we are learning "The Duke of Kent's Waltz":
The next marvelous thing was that our own lovely violinist, Betty Barbour, offered to play prelude music to us. She even chose Bach and other Baroque piece that fit my theme for the evening:
I. POETRY READING FROM CADUCEUS
OK, so then after the musical prelude, I read from the book. As at Living Hope Church, here agian I naturally chose the most obviously theological poems from my collection. I began, as usual, with "Dramatis Personae." Then I read “Idol-Making, ” “Sounds of the Sculptor,” “Cosmology,” “Presence,” and “Communion.”
Then I pulled out my old powerpoint with lovely photographs to go with the seven-poem series “The Voice of God.” You can view the powerpoint here by scrolling down and opening the .pdf file.
I ended that section with “On Patmos,” a meditative sønnet in the voice of the Apostle John.
II. DISCUSSION & DEMONSTRATION OF METER, MUSIC, & FORM/PATTERN
Then things livened up even more than they usually do at this point! I began talking about meter in poetry, & the whole audience clapped along with the meter of “Sir Patrick Spens.” Then I talked about how meter calmed down a bit by Shakespeare's time (although actors probably accentuated the iambic pentameter in a way that would sound “artificial” to our 21st-century ears).
Then I shared about the musical pitch-scale of vowels, the psychological effects of various sounds, and the emotional content associated with poetic forms. And THEN, my wildly talented, hard-working, opera-singer, coloratura Mezzo-Soprano sister NADINE KULBERG performed a Rondo (Rondeau) to fit the theme about poetic forms. She sang "Che farò senza Euridice" by Gluck, explaining how the repetitive form expresses the character's grief. Her explanation alone was enough to bring tears to my eyes, never mind once she began to sing!
It was glory personified.
Finally, as a visual demonstration of poetic form, Nadine and Betty volunteered to read my villanelle, "Wanderlust," with me with the choreography.
III. A DANCE and/or A DANCE DEMONSTRATION
Now, I didn't cart Betsy Gahman along with me to call English Country Dances, so I got by on my own, along with the three marvelous volunteers mentioned above. We performed “The Duke of Kent's Waltz” in order to demonstrate that the visual effect of the dance was the same as the visual effect of the poem: whoever started at the front ends back at the front; between sections, everybody circles around each other; the pattern is regular and repetitive and symmetrical; etc.
And then the best part! We finished dancing, and I said to the crowd: "Well, that's it, we're done...unless YOU ALL want to DANCE!" And they did! We did a fantastic, super fun circle dance to the song Marie's Wedding by the High Kings -- I can't find video of the dance itself, but it's super lively and basically teaches itself as people's feet fall into the pattern. Yippee!
Please consider purchasing Caduceus on amazon. If you do, maybe you can write a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
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POETRY, DANCE, & THE PATTERNED GLORY OF THE UNIVERSE
Grace Church Congregational
11 March 2012
All photos in this post are by Carole Quinn
demonstration of "The Duke of Kent's Waltz"
This was a variation of the third reading I gave, and was by far the most fun of all I've done yet! Thank you to all the wonderful people who came to see me, listen, read, talk, sing, dance, & eat! Some of you I hadn't seen for twenty years or more. And you were all really fun audience members!
Seriously, this crowd was the most in-tune with my reading: laughing, sighing, groaning, and exclaiming at all the right moments. I felt you were all on the edge of your seats, taking in every word, understanding, pondering, applying all I shared.
There were a couple of stellar moments I really need to share so that those who did not attend can experience this, and so that those who did can re-live the best times! The first was the fact that three young people volunteered, at the last minute, to join me in learning & performing a dance demonstration. Here we are learning "The Duke of Kent's Waltz":
The next marvelous thing was that our own lovely violinist, Betty Barbour, offered to play prelude music to us. She even chose Bach and other Baroque piece that fit my theme for the evening:
I. POETRY READING FROM CADUCEUSOK, so then after the musical prelude, I read from the book. As at Living Hope Church, here agian I naturally chose the most obviously theological poems from my collection. I began, as usual, with "Dramatis Personae." Then I read “Idol-Making, ” “Sounds of the Sculptor,” “Cosmology,” “Presence,” and “Communion.”
Then I pulled out my old powerpoint with lovely photographs to go with the seven-poem series “The Voice of God.” You can view the powerpoint here by scrolling down and opening the .pdf file.
I ended that section with “On Patmos,” a meditative sønnet in the voice of the Apostle John.
II. DISCUSSION & DEMONSTRATION OF METER, MUSIC, & FORM/PATTERN
Then things livened up even more than they usually do at this point! I began talking about meter in poetry, & the whole audience clapped along with the meter of “Sir Patrick Spens.” Then I talked about how meter calmed down a bit by Shakespeare's time (although actors probably accentuated the iambic pentameter in a way that would sound “artificial” to our 21st-century ears).
Then I shared about the musical pitch-scale of vowels, the psychological effects of various sounds, and the emotional content associated with poetic forms. And THEN, my wildly talented, hard-working, opera-singer, coloratura Mezzo-Soprano sister NADINE KULBERG performed a Rondo (Rondeau) to fit the theme about poetic forms. She sang "Che farò senza Euridice" by Gluck, explaining how the repetitive form expresses the character's grief. Her explanation alone was enough to bring tears to my eyes, never mind once she began to sing!
It was glory personified.Finally, as a visual demonstration of poetic form, Nadine and Betty volunteered to read my villanelle, "Wanderlust," with me with the choreography.
III. A DANCE and/or A DANCE DEMONSTRATION
Now, I didn't cart Betsy Gahman along with me to call English Country Dances, so I got by on my own, along with the three marvelous volunteers mentioned above. We performed “The Duke of Kent's Waltz” in order to demonstrate that the visual effect of the dance was the same as the visual effect of the poem: whoever started at the front ends back at the front; between sections, everybody circles around each other; the pattern is regular and repetitive and symmetrical; etc.
And then the best part! We finished dancing, and I said to the crowd: "Well, that's it, we're done...unless YOU ALL want to DANCE!" And they did! We did a fantastic, super fun circle dance to the song Marie's Wedding by the High Kings -- I can't find video of the dance itself, but it's super lively and basically teaches itself as people's feet fall into the pattern. Yippee!Please consider purchasing Caduceus on amazon. If you do, maybe you can write a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
Tweet
24 March 2012
Caduceus "Book Tour" #5
Since I received my copies of CADUCEUS three weeks ago, I have given eight poetry readings of various kinds in a wide variety of venues. Each had a kind of theme or focus, so I'd like to report briefly on each one.
photo by Greg T. Desmarais
ANDREW DEVRIES FINE ART INTERNATIONAL
10 March 2012
Andrew DeVries is a remarkable sculptor with an international reputation. I had the very delightful privilege of interviewing him for the "Where Are We Now?" series last year. Well, now I have added to the the very, VERY great honor of reading in his beautiful gallery space!
It was a lovely day, the first really spring day in The Berkshires. The sun poured in through the glass walls of the "sun room" in Andrew's perfect little gallery, right in the heart of historical downtown Lenox, MA (my hometown).
When I arranged my books on the pedestal of one of his sculptures, I thought I might just melt into oblivion with the joy: I never imagined my work would share a space with his. A dream come true that I never even rose to dreaming!
Because this reading was in an artist's space, I read all the poems from the book that were directly inspired by a work of visual, dramatic, or musical art:
"Psyche’s Sunlight"
"Venus & Cupid"
"Meditation: Chopin in the Snow"
"Mappa Mundi"
"Sounds of the Sculptor"
"Carmen Rehearses Her Monologue"
"Tantalus in Love"
There were about 15 people present, and it was a delightful, lively, funny group. One listener asked questions, even interrupting a poem once and asking for a line to be repeated. I loved that! I really want these events to be interactive, and sometimes I'm not sure how to get that started. So I totally embraced the chutzpah.
Here's a funny story. "Tantalus in Love" requires two reader: one to read the "stage direction" stanzas, one to read the lines spoken by Tantalus. Well, there was a family of beautiful people there: a mother, son, and daughter. The son, Greg Desmarais, was taking photographs. He stepped out of the room for a moment, just when I was asking for a volunteer to read with me. His sister Emily volunteered him in absentia. When he came back in, he found himself recruited to perform who knows what without his consent. But he stepped up to the challenge, only warning "I read really loudly." As he joined me up front, Andrew hollered, "Watch out, Greg; she's married!" Then I asked him if he wanted to read the stage directions or the part of Tantalus, offering to read the guy's part if he wanted. "I think I make a good guy" was his snappy response. So, he read it! And let me tell you, that's a weird poem if I ever wrote one. He got quite the applause at the end, and well deserved it.
I can hardly express the graciousness of Andrew and his wife Patricia. He baked scones. They provided coffee, tea, red wine, white wine. He contacted Joshua Needleman of Chocolate Springs Cafe; Joshua donated a work of art of his own:
Chocolate, art, poetry, sunlight, friends, family--All in all, a day to remember!
To read poems mentioned in this post, you'll have to purchase Caduceus on amazon. If you do, please consider writing a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
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photo by Greg T. DesmaraisANDREW DEVRIES FINE ART INTERNATIONAL
10 March 2012
Andrew DeVries is a remarkable sculptor with an international reputation. I had the very delightful privilege of interviewing him for the "Where Are We Now?" series last year. Well, now I have added to the the very, VERY great honor of reading in his beautiful gallery space!
It was a lovely day, the first really spring day in The Berkshires. The sun poured in through the glass walls of the "sun room" in Andrew's perfect little gallery, right in the heart of historical downtown Lenox, MA (my hometown).
When I arranged my books on the pedestal of one of his sculptures, I thought I might just melt into oblivion with the joy: I never imagined my work would share a space with his. A dream come true that I never even rose to dreaming!Because this reading was in an artist's space, I read all the poems from the book that were directly inspired by a work of visual, dramatic, or musical art:
"Psyche’s Sunlight"
"Venus & Cupid"
"Meditation: Chopin in the Snow"
"Mappa Mundi"
"Sounds of the Sculptor"
"Carmen Rehearses Her Monologue"
"Tantalus in Love"
There were about 15 people present, and it was a delightful, lively, funny group. One listener asked questions, even interrupting a poem once and asking for a line to be repeated. I loved that! I really want these events to be interactive, and sometimes I'm not sure how to get that started. So I totally embraced the chutzpah.
Here's a funny story. "Tantalus in Love" requires two reader: one to read the "stage direction" stanzas, one to read the lines spoken by Tantalus. Well, there was a family of beautiful people there: a mother, son, and daughter. The son, Greg Desmarais, was taking photographs. He stepped out of the room for a moment, just when I was asking for a volunteer to read with me. His sister Emily volunteered him in absentia. When he came back in, he found himself recruited to perform who knows what without his consent. But he stepped up to the challenge, only warning "I read really loudly." As he joined me up front, Andrew hollered, "Watch out, Greg; she's married!" Then I asked him if he wanted to read the stage directions or the part of Tantalus, offering to read the guy's part if he wanted. "I think I make a good guy" was his snappy response. So, he read it! And let me tell you, that's a weird poem if I ever wrote one. He got quite the applause at the end, and well deserved it.
I can hardly express the graciousness of Andrew and his wife Patricia. He baked scones. They provided coffee, tea, red wine, white wine. He contacted Joshua Needleman of Chocolate Springs Cafe; Joshua donated a work of art of his own:
Chocolate, art, poetry, sunlight, friends, family--All in all, a day to remember!
photo by Greg T. Desmarais
To read poems mentioned in this post, you'll have to purchase Caduceus on amazon. If you do, please consider writing a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
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23 March 2012
Caduceus "Book Tour" #4
Since I received my copies of CADUCEUS three weeks ago, I have given seven poetry readings of various kinds in a wide variety of venues. They were soooo much fun! Each had a kind of theme or focus, I'd like to report briefly on each one.
BOOK LAUNCH PARTY & INAUGURAL READING
Lehigh Carbon Community College
8 March 2012
I've figured out my purpose in life: I love to make things beautiful. Words, people, flowers, houses, landscapes, food -- I love to make them all beautiful. When I get going on some manual or mental project that involves taking lots of little pieces and putting them together into a beautiful shape, I can just focus on that alone, for hours. I can work at the kitchen counter for a full long day, from dawn until long after dusk.
What does this have to do with my Book Launch Party? Well, see, a friend & I did all the cooking, and glorious mess and monstrous glory it was! We made:
Rose-and-Current Scones
Sweet Cream Current Butter
Rose Scones
Rose Meringues
Rose-and-Cream Meringues
Roasted Red Pepper Dip
Olive Tapenade
Smoked Salmon Dip
Current-and-Cream Meringues
Ummm-hmmmm! And I got gorgeous wine-colored roses, and white table cloths, and set the whole place looking great. :) Then everyone came, dressed to stun! And my colleagues said super sweet things about me, exaggerating my good qualities and completely ignoring my flaws. And they bought books. And I read poems. And 8 talented young people from POTS performed three of my sonnets. A truly memorable evening! I am very blessed!
Please consider purchasing Caduceus on amazon. If you do, maybe you can write a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
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BOOK LAUNCH PARTY & INAUGURAL READING
Lehigh Carbon Community College
8 March 2012
I've figured out my purpose in life: I love to make things beautiful. Words, people, flowers, houses, landscapes, food -- I love to make them all beautiful. When I get going on some manual or mental project that involves taking lots of little pieces and putting them together into a beautiful shape, I can just focus on that alone, for hours. I can work at the kitchen counter for a full long day, from dawn until long after dusk.
What does this have to do with my Book Launch Party? Well, see, a friend & I did all the cooking, and glorious mess and monstrous glory it was! We made:
Rose-and-Current Scones
Sweet Cream Current Butter
Rose Scones
Rose Meringues
Rose-and-Cream Meringues
Roasted Red Pepper Dip
Olive Tapenade
Smoked Salmon Dip
Current-and-Cream Meringues
Ummm-hmmmm! And I got gorgeous wine-colored roses, and white table cloths, and set the whole place looking great. :) Then everyone came, dressed to stun! And my colleagues said super sweet things about me, exaggerating my good qualities and completely ignoring my flaws. And they bought books. And I read poems. And 8 talented young people from POTS performed three of my sonnets. A truly memorable evening! I am very blessed!
Please consider purchasing Caduceus on amazon. If you do, maybe you can write a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
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22 March 2012
Poetry Tweet Party!
I have been invited to be the spotlighted poet for @tspoetry's Poetry Tweet Party tonight (Thursday, March 22nd) from 9-10 pm (EST). Please consider joining me! Here are the instructions. Basically, you go to the @tspoetry Tweetchat room, the moderator tweets out prompts from my book "Caduceus", and you write tweet-length lines of poetry in response!
Please do join!
If you have trouble with twitter, call or email me tonight right before the party begins: 4848662147, iambic dot admonit at gmail dot com.
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Please do join!
If you have trouble with twitter, call or email me tonight right before the party begins: 4848662147, iambic dot admonit at gmail dot com.
Tweet
21 March 2012
Inklings Lecture Video
I spoke in New York City about the Inklings last week, at the LOOK! Arts Group. I'll be reporting on the whole event as part of my little series on Caduceus readings (because I got to read from my book after the lecture was over). Meanwhile, you can watch a video of the lecture, recorded by Adam Tyson. Enjoy!
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Caduceus "Book Tour" #3
Since I received my copies of CADUCEUS three weeks ago, I have given eight poetry readings of various kinds in a wide variety of venues. Each had a kind of theme or focus, so I'd like to report briefly on each one.
POETRY, DANCE, & THE PATTERNED GLORY OF THE UNIVERSE
Living Hope Church
4 March 2012
This has rapidly become my favorite event! I think I will make it my signature performance and try to take it on the road. If you know of a school, church, book club, artists' group, dance class, or other gathering that would enjoy this event, please let me know; I would love to share it with anyone and everyone.
This event usually breaks down into three sections (or, as Car Talk says, three halves), as follows.
I. POETRY READING FROM CADUCEUS
At Living Hope Church, I naturally chose the most obviously theological poems from my collection. I began, as usual, with "Dramatis Personae" and a discussion of the writer's dilemma: how taking on various personalities can be a slightly crazy process. Then I read
“Idol-Making, ” “Sounds of the Sculptor,” “Cosmology,” “Presence,” and “Communion.”
Then I pulled out my old powerpoint with lovely photographs to go with the seven-poem series “The Voice of God.” You can view the powerpoint here by scrolling down and opening the .pdf file.
I ended that section with “On Patmos,” a meditative sønnet in the voice of the Apostle John.
II. DISCUSSION & DEMONSTRATION OF METER, MUSIC, & FORM/PATTERN
Then things livened up a bit. I don't know about you, but I can only sit and listen to so much poetry at once without some kind of visual, musical, or other interdisciplinary interaction. As you read through this post, you can continue to follow along with the powerpoint here by scrolling down and opening the .pdf file.
So I began talking about meter in poetry, & the whole audience clapped along with the meter of “Sir Patrick Spens.”
Do you know of a great YouTube musical setting of “Sir Patrick Spens”? Or have you recorded it? If so, let me know!
Then I talked about how meter calmed down a bit by Shakespeare's time (although actors probably accentuated the iambic pentameter in a way that would sound “artificial” to our 21st-century ears).
Then I shared about the musical pitch-scale of vowels, the psychological effects of various sounds, and the emotional content associated with poetic forms. As a visual demonstration of poetic form, three of my friends volunteered to read a villanelle for me. Here is the text of the poem:
Wanderlüst
When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea,
When the wind tosses gray on the clouds or the foam,
Then away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
With the song long unheard of the deep sacred stream
Comes a wanderlust strong with a calling to roam.
Then away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
When a flicker or stab of that Joy comes to me,
When the horns of the elves call in clear silver tones,
When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea,
Then I must, oh I must, set my shoes to the street,
Set my mind to the wandering long dusty road,
And away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
When the wind in defiance torments the tall trees
And the billowing leaves or the white frothing foam;
When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea
Then my soul in its heavenward cry to be free
Longs for truth far away where its longings may feed:
Where the land is reality under my feet;
Where my eyes can feast long on the sky and the sea.
Here's the visualization/physicalization of the form, with the “choreography” written in:
Wanderlüst
Reader 1:
When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea,
1 goes to back; 2 comes forward
Reader 2:
When the wind tosses gray on the clouds or the foam,
2 goes to back; 3 comes forward
Reader 3:
Then away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
3 & 1 to back, circling w/2 so 2 comes forward
2: With the song long unheard of the deep sacred stream
Comes a wanderlust strong with a calling to roam.
2 goes to back; 3 comes forward
3: Then away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
3 & 1 to back, circling w/2 so 2 comes forward
2: When a flicker or stab of that Joy comes to me,
When the horns of the elves call in clear silver tones,
2 goes to back; 1 comes forward
1: When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea,
1 & 3 to back, circling w/2 so 2 comes forward
2: Then I must, oh I must, set my shoes to the street,
Set my mind to the wandering long dusty road,
2 goes to back; 3 comes forward
3: And away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
3 & 1 to back, circling w/2 so 2 comes forward
2: When the wind in defiance torments the tall trees
And the billowing leaves or the white frothing foam;
2 goes to back; 1 comes forward
1: When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea
3 & 1 to back, circling w/2 so 2 comes forward
2: Then my soul in its heavenward cry to be free
Longs for truth far away where its longings may feed:
2 goes to back; 3 comes forward
3: Where the land is reality under my feet;
3 goes to back; 1 comes forward
1: Where my eyes can feast long on the sky and the sea.
III. A DANCE and/or A DANCE DEMONSTRATION
OK, then Betsy Gahman (a local amateur English Country Dance teacher) and seven other young people walked through a dance, “The Duke of Kent's Waltz,” without music. The whole point was that the visual effect of the dance was the same as the visual effect of the poem: whoever started at the front ends back at the front; between sections, everybody circles around each other; the pattern is regular and repetitive and symmetrical; etc.
Then the group performed the dance! You should be able to view the video here.
Finally, Betsy took over and led the entire audience in an hour and a half of fun, lively, classy English Country Dances!!
To read poems mentioned in this post, you'll have to purchase Caduceus on amazon. If you do, please consider writing a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
Tweet
POETRY, DANCE, & THE PATTERNED GLORY OF THE UNIVERSE
Living Hope Church
4 March 2012
This has rapidly become my favorite event! I think I will make it my signature performance and try to take it on the road. If you know of a school, church, book club, artists' group, dance class, or other gathering that would enjoy this event, please let me know; I would love to share it with anyone and everyone.
This event usually breaks down into three sections (or, as Car Talk says, three halves), as follows.
I. POETRY READING FROM CADUCEUS
At Living Hope Church, I naturally chose the most obviously theological poems from my collection. I began, as usual, with "Dramatis Personae" and a discussion of the writer's dilemma: how taking on various personalities can be a slightly crazy process. Then I read
“Idol-Making, ” “Sounds of the Sculptor,” “Cosmology,” “Presence,” and “Communion.”
Then I pulled out my old powerpoint with lovely photographs to go with the seven-poem series “The Voice of God.” You can view the powerpoint here by scrolling down and opening the .pdf file.
I ended that section with “On Patmos,” a meditative sønnet in the voice of the Apostle John.
II. DISCUSSION & DEMONSTRATION OF METER, MUSIC, & FORM/PATTERN
Then things livened up a bit. I don't know about you, but I can only sit and listen to so much poetry at once without some kind of visual, musical, or other interdisciplinary interaction. As you read through this post, you can continue to follow along with the powerpoint here by scrolling down and opening the .pdf file.
So I began talking about meter in poetry, & the whole audience clapped along with the meter of “Sir Patrick Spens.”
Do you know of a great YouTube musical setting of “Sir Patrick Spens”? Or have you recorded it? If so, let me know!
Then I talked about how meter calmed down a bit by Shakespeare's time (although actors probably accentuated the iambic pentameter in a way that would sound “artificial” to our 21st-century ears).
Then I shared about the musical pitch-scale of vowels, the psychological effects of various sounds, and the emotional content associated with poetic forms. As a visual demonstration of poetic form, three of my friends volunteered to read a villanelle for me. Here is the text of the poem:
Wanderlüst
When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea,
When the wind tosses gray on the clouds or the foam,
Then away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
With the song long unheard of the deep sacred stream
Comes a wanderlust strong with a calling to roam.
Then away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
When a flicker or stab of that Joy comes to me,
When the horns of the elves call in clear silver tones,
When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea,
Then I must, oh I must, set my shoes to the street,
Set my mind to the wandering long dusty road,
And away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
When the wind in defiance torments the tall trees
And the billowing leaves or the white frothing foam;
When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea
Then my soul in its heavenward cry to be free
Longs for truth far away where its longings may feed:
Where the land is reality under my feet;
Where my eyes can feast long on the sky and the sea.
Here's the visualization/physicalization of the form, with the “choreography” written in:
Wanderlüst
Reader 1:
When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea,
1 goes to back; 2 comes forward
Reader 2:
When the wind tosses gray on the clouds or the foam,
2 goes to back; 3 comes forward
Reader 3:
Then away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
3 & 1 to back, circling w/2 so 2 comes forward
2: With the song long unheard of the deep sacred stream
Comes a wanderlust strong with a calling to roam.
2 goes to back; 3 comes forward
3: Then away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
3 & 1 to back, circling w/2 so 2 comes forward
2: When a flicker or stab of that Joy comes to me,
When the horns of the elves call in clear silver tones,
2 goes to back; 1 comes forward
1: When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea,
1 & 3 to back, circling w/2 so 2 comes forward
2: Then I must, oh I must, set my shoes to the street,
Set my mind to the wandering long dusty road,
2 goes to back; 3 comes forward
3: And away from my land turn my eyes and my feet.
3 & 1 to back, circling w/2 so 2 comes forward
2: When the wind in defiance torments the tall trees
And the billowing leaves or the white frothing foam;
2 goes to back; 1 comes forward
1: When I catch just a glimpse of the sky or the sea
3 & 1 to back, circling w/2 so 2 comes forward
2: Then my soul in its heavenward cry to be free
Longs for truth far away where its longings may feed:
2 goes to back; 3 comes forward
3: Where the land is reality under my feet;
3 goes to back; 1 comes forward
1: Where my eyes can feast long on the sky and the sea.
III. A DANCE and/or A DANCE DEMONSTRATION
OK, then Betsy Gahman (a local amateur English Country Dance teacher) and seven other young people walked through a dance, “The Duke of Kent's Waltz,” without music. The whole point was that the visual effect of the dance was the same as the visual effect of the poem: whoever started at the front ends back at the front; between sections, everybody circles around each other; the pattern is regular and repetitive and symmetrical; etc.
Then the group performed the dance! You should be able to view the video here.
Finally, Betsy took over and led the entire audience in an hour and a half of fun, lively, classy English Country Dances!!
To read poems mentioned in this post, you'll have to purchase Caduceus on amazon. If you do, please consider writing a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
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20 March 2012
Caduceus "Book Tour" #2
Since I received my copies of CADUCEUS three weeks ago, I have given eight poetry readings of various kinds in a wide variety of venues. Each had a kind of theme or focus, so I'd like to report briefly on each one.
Writers' Vocational Meeting
Redeemer Presbyterian Church
New York NY
27 February 2012
Redeemer Presbyterian Church hosts a wonderful type of "small group" function known, collectively, as the Center for Faith and Work. The idea is that these groups draw people together based on their vocations. Redeemer says it much better here. If you live in Manhattan, or any of the five boroughs, I recommend that you consider attending one of these inspiring meetings!
This time around, everyone met (I think for the first time?) in Redeemer's newly purchased and renovated space: a former parking garage transformed into a sanctuary, fellowship hall, and five storeys of meeting rooms. One of the pastors gave a talk about our "priestly" roles in our vocations. I was a bit distracted by thinking about my upcoming talk, trying to catch the eye of an old friend who was sitting across the sanctuary not answering her phone or checking facebook, and making room in the pew for a new friend--whose musical compositionsI recommend for your listening pleasure.
Then we broke up into groups based on our vocations, and I headed to the Writer's Vocational meeting. There, I spoke for a while about how writers can speak vicariously, on behalf of someone else -- can, in other words, be a voice for the voiceless. Some members shared the journalism or other nonfiction work they do to speak out on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves. We talked about how we're speaking for someone else whenever we take on a fictional character.
Then I shared the method I use when I wrote my "persona poems," seven of which are in Caduceus. Here's the method:
1. First, a story takes hold of me, and I want to tell it. In most cases, the story was that of a friend of family member, and I wanted to speak on behalf of that person.
2. But you, as a reader, don't necessarily know my friends, so if I just named the poem after, say, Andrew, that wouldn't convey much to you. So the next step was to choose an archetypal character from myth, legend, etc., some of whose characteristics you might know. In each case, the archetypal character leapt into my mind as a representative of my friend almost immediately.
3. Then I chose a poetic form to use for that composite character. A villanelle, for instance, often suggests loss, or a sense of entrapment. A pantoum tells a story that repeats, cyclically, with no hope of escape. Free verse (which I consider just one more of the forms) is more conversational, good for expressing anger. I invented forms for some of these.
4. Then I wrote the poem in first person, speaking through the mouth of the archtypal conglomerate character.
While this may sound pedantic, the result (I do believe) is immediate and emotional. Take this one, about Wotan, for example. It is not one of my best, and I didn't read it at Redeemer, but it's online, so you can access it easily.
After talking about my process and reading a few poems, I set the group an exercise. First, I told them to brainstorm, quickly and without pause, a list of 6 to 10 people whose stories they would like to tell. These could be friends, people in the news, historical figures, or categories of people (such as "the homeless").
Then a few people shared who they had on their lists, and we talked about that a bit.
Next, I told them to start matching up each person on their list with an archetype. This proved a little harder, but I went around chatting with each and helping them come up with ideas. Characters abounded, such as The Snow Queen and Salome.
We discussed that for a bit, then we went off on a tangent in which I explained Charles Williams' concept of Exchange or Substitution to them, because that relates to speaking on behalf of someone. You can read about that concept here and here.
Finally, I just said "WRITE!" and they did. For a good fifteen minutes and more, heads down, pens and pencils and iphones sending out soft noises, they just wrote bits of poems and prose in the first-person voice of their composite characters. One lady they shared hers, and it was an awfully good first draft. I was hoping some folks might send me their end results, but no one has quite yet. We'll see.
It was a marvelous evening, full of inspiration and good work. To read the other persona poems in my collection, you'll have to purchase Caduceus on amazon. If you do, please consider writing a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
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Writers' Vocational Meeting
Redeemer Presbyterian Church
New York NY
27 February 2012
Redeemer Presbyterian Church hosts a wonderful type of "small group" function known, collectively, as the Center for Faith and Work. The idea is that these groups draw people together based on their vocations. Redeemer says it much better here. If you live in Manhattan, or any of the five boroughs, I recommend that you consider attending one of these inspiring meetings!
This time around, everyone met (I think for the first time?) in Redeemer's newly purchased and renovated space: a former parking garage transformed into a sanctuary, fellowship hall, and five storeys of meeting rooms. One of the pastors gave a talk about our "priestly" roles in our vocations. I was a bit distracted by thinking about my upcoming talk, trying to catch the eye of an old friend who was sitting across the sanctuary not answering her phone or checking facebook, and making room in the pew for a new friend--whose musical compositionsI recommend for your listening pleasure.
Then we broke up into groups based on our vocations, and I headed to the Writer's Vocational meeting. There, I spoke for a while about how writers can speak vicariously, on behalf of someone else -- can, in other words, be a voice for the voiceless. Some members shared the journalism or other nonfiction work they do to speak out on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves. We talked about how we're speaking for someone else whenever we take on a fictional character.
Then I shared the method I use when I wrote my "persona poems," seven of which are in Caduceus. Here's the method:
1. First, a story takes hold of me, and I want to tell it. In most cases, the story was that of a friend of family member, and I wanted to speak on behalf of that person.
2. But you, as a reader, don't necessarily know my friends, so if I just named the poem after, say, Andrew, that wouldn't convey much to you. So the next step was to choose an archetypal character from myth, legend, etc., some of whose characteristics you might know. In each case, the archetypal character leapt into my mind as a representative of my friend almost immediately.
3. Then I chose a poetic form to use for that composite character. A villanelle, for instance, often suggests loss, or a sense of entrapment. A pantoum tells a story that repeats, cyclically, with no hope of escape. Free verse (which I consider just one more of the forms) is more conversational, good for expressing anger. I invented forms for some of these.
4. Then I wrote the poem in first person, speaking through the mouth of the archtypal conglomerate character.
While this may sound pedantic, the result (I do believe) is immediate and emotional. Take this one, about Wotan, for example. It is not one of my best, and I didn't read it at Redeemer, but it's online, so you can access it easily.
After talking about my process and reading a few poems, I set the group an exercise. First, I told them to brainstorm, quickly and without pause, a list of 6 to 10 people whose stories they would like to tell. These could be friends, people in the news, historical figures, or categories of people (such as "the homeless").
Then a few people shared who they had on their lists, and we talked about that a bit.
Next, I told them to start matching up each person on their list with an archetype. This proved a little harder, but I went around chatting with each and helping them come up with ideas. Characters abounded, such as The Snow Queen and Salome.
We discussed that for a bit, then we went off on a tangent in which I explained Charles Williams' concept of Exchange or Substitution to them, because that relates to speaking on behalf of someone. You can read about that concept here and here.
Finally, I just said "WRITE!" and they did. For a good fifteen minutes and more, heads down, pens and pencils and iphones sending out soft noises, they just wrote bits of poems and prose in the first-person voice of their composite characters. One lady they shared hers, and it was an awfully good first draft. I was hoping some folks might send me their end results, but no one has quite yet. We'll see.
It was a marvelous evening, full of inspiration and good work. To read the other persona poems in my collection, you'll have to purchase Caduceus on amazon. If you do, please consider writing a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
Tweet
19 March 2012
Caduceus "Book Tour" #1
Since I received my copies of CADUCEUS three weeks ago, I have given eight poetry readings of various kinds in a wide variety of venues. Each had a kind of theme or focus, so I would like to report briefly on each one.
INTERNATIONAL ARTS MOVEMENT REGIONAL CATALYSTS' CONFERENCE
New York City
26 February 2012
I have already reported on the little presentation I gave at the IAM conference, but now I want to focus in on the poetic theme of my talk and on what I read from Caduceus.
For the theme of this reading, I chose INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS. I decided to talk about the ways in which poetry can imitate, simulate, and interact with other arts. So, I began by reading "Carmen Rehearses Her Monologue," which is one of my persona poems. It in, an opera singer talks about preparing and performing the role of Carmen and about how she does and does not lose her own identity in the process. The narrative voice slides in and out of Carmen's and the singer's perspectives, both in first person. Before I read, I played a recording of the Overture to Bizet's Carmen, and kept it playing in the background as I read. I was pleased to hear how the changes of music (the overture, as you may recall, presents all the major themes of the opera) sort of fit with the changes in the poem. So my point there was that the reading of a poem could hint at music, could fit with music, could be set, could be sung, could be acted out.
Then at the end I read "Mappa Mundi," which you can read online in an earlier version.
This poem weaves together a few themes. One is the Medieval idea that there are four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Each of the four dragons represents one of these. Another theme is the idea that the Holy Spirit somehow directs, inhabits, and permeates all the stuff of earth. Another is the visual suggested by the winds at the four corners of ancient maps. Another is the dragons drawn on the Chinese Checkers board game!
But I'm also just playing with sounds in this poem, too. It was inspired by a line of Hopkins: "As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame." I just loved the sound of that, and the multiple ideas spun off of the sounds.
To enhance the sounds, then, I like to get four volunteers to help me read this poem. Each of them chooses an "element," and reads the lines associated with that dragon. They stand at the four corners of the room, surrounding the audience. So I begin, reading the stanzas, and the four readers each read one line of the "chorus," then, in succession, so the voices resonate around the room.
This is how I read it, with four friends, at the IAM meeting. And as I said in my presentation, I hoped that this would hint at ways that poetry can relate to music, dance, and drama. Now an illustrator (one of the four readers) wants to illustrate this poem, too! Marvelous!
For the latest version of "Mappa Mundi," and for the text of "Carmen Rehearses her Monologue," you'll have to purchase Caduceus on amazon. If you do, please consider writing a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
Tweet
INTERNATIONAL ARTS MOVEMENT REGIONAL CATALYSTS' CONFERENCE
New York City
26 February 2012
I have already reported on the little presentation I gave at the IAM conference, but now I want to focus in on the poetic theme of my talk and on what I read from Caduceus.
For the theme of this reading, I chose INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTS. I decided to talk about the ways in which poetry can imitate, simulate, and interact with other arts. So, I began by reading "Carmen Rehearses Her Monologue," which is one of my persona poems. It in, an opera singer talks about preparing and performing the role of Carmen and about how she does and does not lose her own identity in the process. The narrative voice slides in and out of Carmen's and the singer's perspectives, both in first person. Before I read, I played a recording of the Overture to Bizet's Carmen, and kept it playing in the background as I read. I was pleased to hear how the changes of music (the overture, as you may recall, presents all the major themes of the opera) sort of fit with the changes in the poem. So my point there was that the reading of a poem could hint at music, could fit with music, could be set, could be sung, could be acted out.
Then at the end I read "Mappa Mundi," which you can read online in an earlier version.
This poem weaves together a few themes. One is the Medieval idea that there are four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Each of the four dragons represents one of these. Another theme is the idea that the Holy Spirit somehow directs, inhabits, and permeates all the stuff of earth. Another is the visual suggested by the winds at the four corners of ancient maps. Another is the dragons drawn on the Chinese Checkers board game!
But I'm also just playing with sounds in this poem, too. It was inspired by a line of Hopkins: "As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame." I just loved the sound of that, and the multiple ideas spun off of the sounds.
To enhance the sounds, then, I like to get four volunteers to help me read this poem. Each of them chooses an "element," and reads the lines associated with that dragon. They stand at the four corners of the room, surrounding the audience. So I begin, reading the stanzas, and the four readers each read one line of the "chorus," then, in succession, so the voices resonate around the room.
This is how I read it, with four friends, at the IAM meeting. And as I said in my presentation, I hoped that this would hint at ways that poetry can relate to music, dance, and drama. Now an illustrator (one of the four readers) wants to illustrate this poem, too! Marvelous!
For the latest version of "Mappa Mundi," and for the text of "Carmen Rehearses her Monologue," you'll have to purchase Caduceus on amazon. If you do, please consider writing a little review on amazon or on your website -- and please let me know that you have done so. Thanks!
Tweet
09 March 2012
Five-Minute Ray
Here's another "five-minute book review"; I have piles of books I'm supposed to review on this blog, but very little time in which to do it. So, I'll just write my first thoughts about the book really fast now and then and share them with you.
Enjoy!
“Five-minute” review
American Masculine by Shann Ray
This collection of ten short stories is astonishingly powerful. I give it the highest praise I can think of: it is real literature.
Shann Ray feels like a male Flannery O'Connor from the American West. His sense of place is impeccable, his plots brutal and gritty, his prose unique. The forms of his stories are experimental, deftly manipulating fluid chronologies for maximum emotional impact.
Then men and women in these stories are seriously broken -- addicted to drugs, sex, porn, alcohol, violence -- and still beautiful. In their deaths, their grief, and their slow groping towards a love so strong it will break and remake them, a realistic redemption just barely shines through. These stories are hard.
Well, the volume starts out really hard. Violent, ugly, painful. Then it gets softer. A women plans an affair, but ends up going home to husband and baby. A rock-hard rodeo man softens, terrified, towards marriage. People are going to make a go of it in these stories. And we desperately hope they will.
And they are us. These stories are sad, but as I read them, I was uplifted into that kind of piercing mental exaltation that great literature brings, whether comic or tragic. And that's how I knew Shann Ray has what it takes. This is real writing.
Read it!
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Enjoy!
“Five-minute” review
American Masculine by Shann Ray
This collection of ten short stories is astonishingly powerful. I give it the highest praise I can think of: it is real literature.
Shann Ray feels like a male Flannery O'Connor from the American West. His sense of place is impeccable, his plots brutal and gritty, his prose unique. The forms of his stories are experimental, deftly manipulating fluid chronologies for maximum emotional impact.
Then men and women in these stories are seriously broken -- addicted to drugs, sex, porn, alcohol, violence -- and still beautiful. In their deaths, their grief, and their slow groping towards a love so strong it will break and remake them, a realistic redemption just barely shines through. These stories are hard.
Well, the volume starts out really hard. Violent, ugly, painful. Then it gets softer. A women plans an affair, but ends up going home to husband and baby. A rock-hard rodeo man softens, terrified, towards marriage. People are going to make a go of it in these stories. And we desperately hope they will.
And they are us. These stories are sad, but as I read them, I was uplifted into that kind of piercing mental exaltation that great literature brings, whether comic or tragic. And that's how I knew Shann Ray has what it takes. This is real writing.
Read it!
Tweet
05 March 2012
My IAM presentation
As you know if you follow this blog (or my website or my twitter feed @IambicAdmonit, or if we're friends on facebook), I spent last weekend in NYC at the IAM Regional Leaders' Conference -- a weekend in the urban Eden.
While I was there, I gave a 15-minute presentation about my own creative work and the work & goals of Ekphrasis: Fellowship of Christians in the Arts. I'd like to try to reproduce this presentation here. A video of it should be available eventually; when it is, I'll link to it on the website.
I. I began by passing around handouts, including the flyer advertising a Poetry & Dance event, to illustrate my interest in interdisciplinary & collaborative arts:
I also shared the vision statement for Ekphrasis, which you can download & read at your leisure.
And I shared one poem from my new book, Caduceus: you can read that poem here.
II. Then I began my demonstration/discussion of interdisciplinary arts by playing a recording of the Overture to Bizet's Carmen and reading, over the music, a poem of mine entitled "Carmen Rehearses her Monologue." This poem is spoken in the persona of an opera singer who is trying to process the difficult emotions involved in performing the role of a promiscuous woman, while the singer's family watches the show!
III. Then I gave a talk. I reproduce my script for the talk here.
"Good afternoon. My name is Sørina Higgins; that poem was from my brand-new, hot-off-the-press, one-week-old collection entitled Caduceus. I am also the host of a regional group called 'Ekphrasis: Fellowship of Christians in the Arts' that meets in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Ekphrasis is a Greek word that translates: 'to speak out, to express, enunciate, detail, phrase, signify.' It has traditionally been applied to poetry about the visual arts. In our group, we expand it to mean making art about life—in other words, subcreation.
I chose that particular poem because it illustrates something into which my group, some of my students, and I have accidentally stumbled: interdisciplinary arts. Interdisciplinary arts, mixed media, genre-crossing, and collaboration: these are some trends in contemporary 'Western' art, and they are a little bit of a theme in my group. Think of interdisciplinary arts as metaphor as macrocosm: expressing something in terms of something else in order to get at something else again, deeper, and more profound. Metaphor as macrocosm. This is how we are trained as young practioners of our arts. We are told: Make your poetry more musical. Make your music more dramatic. Make the piano sound like an orchestra. Make your voice sound like a cello—like butter—like caramel. We say: 'Wow, look at that sunset; it looks like a painting!' 'Wow, look at that painting; it looks like a photograph!' 'Wow, look at that photograph; it looks real!'
All right, now all of this sounds very lofty. Let me bring it down to earth for a few minutes by just talking quite concretely about what my group, Ekphrasis, is, what is does, and what some of its dreams, goals, and problems are.
1. monthly workshops for critique
2. occasional events that are open to the public
3. explicitly Christian vision statement
4. Good relationship with area churches:
a) Multiple churches represented (8)
b) unofficial relationship w/Living Hope (encouragement, space, promotion)
c) Players of the Stage, E. C. dance, choreologos presented at church
5. Difficulties & Goals:
a) how to grow? (average 10 members; 24 max)
b) how to become more professional? (mostly college students)
c) how to involve the whole church?
d) GOAL: to be THE place where ALL Christians-in-the-Arts in the Lehigh Valley workshop their pieces & performances—and to produce some of THE great masterpieces of our time!
Now I've slipped back into the lofty again—and many members of my little group do have lofty goals and are accomplishing great work. One is involved in a non-profit film company that is making a documentary movie about underpriviledged teens in Philadelphia. One directs a youth theatre company that donated $11,000 last year to the Allentown Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter and rehab center for men in transition. A dance teacher and I are creating an interdisciplinary event called 'Poetry, Dance, and the Patterned Glory of the Universe' — a lofty title for a community event hosted by my church and promoted by our outreach committee.
So you see I've also slipped back into talking about collaborative, genre-crossing arts again; so let me close with one more poem that is pretending—or aspiring—to be more than just words on a page. I hope that it hints at how much more could be done to push poetry onto the stage and into other categories. Four people have very kindly volunteered to perform it with me to give you the full poetic, dramatic, antiphonal, musical, and geographical effect."
IV. And then we performed a poem entitled “Mappa Mundi,” which is about the four Medieval elements -- earth, air, fire, & water -- personified as four dragons, and considered as aspects of the Holy Spirit's creative work in the world!
As a result of this presentation and of hearing dozens of other presentations, I came away from the weekend just bursting with ideas for ways Ekphrasis will take over the world! Please share your thoughts!
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While I was there, I gave a 15-minute presentation about my own creative work and the work & goals of Ekphrasis: Fellowship of Christians in the Arts. I'd like to try to reproduce this presentation here. A video of it should be available eventually; when it is, I'll link to it on the website.
I. I began by passing around handouts, including the flyer advertising a Poetry & Dance event, to illustrate my interest in interdisciplinary & collaborative arts:
I also shared the vision statement for Ekphrasis, which you can download & read at your leisure.
And I shared one poem from my new book, Caduceus: you can read that poem here.
II. Then I began my demonstration/discussion of interdisciplinary arts by playing a recording of the Overture to Bizet's Carmen and reading, over the music, a poem of mine entitled "Carmen Rehearses her Monologue." This poem is spoken in the persona of an opera singer who is trying to process the difficult emotions involved in performing the role of a promiscuous woman, while the singer's family watches the show!
III. Then I gave a talk. I reproduce my script for the talk here.
"Good afternoon. My name is Sørina Higgins; that poem was from my brand-new, hot-off-the-press, one-week-old collection entitled Caduceus. I am also the host of a regional group called 'Ekphrasis: Fellowship of Christians in the Arts' that meets in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Ekphrasis is a Greek word that translates: 'to speak out, to express, enunciate, detail, phrase, signify.' It has traditionally been applied to poetry about the visual arts. In our group, we expand it to mean making art about life—in other words, subcreation.
I chose that particular poem because it illustrates something into which my group, some of my students, and I have accidentally stumbled: interdisciplinary arts. Interdisciplinary arts, mixed media, genre-crossing, and collaboration: these are some trends in contemporary 'Western' art, and they are a little bit of a theme in my group. Think of interdisciplinary arts as metaphor as macrocosm: expressing something in terms of something else in order to get at something else again, deeper, and more profound. Metaphor as macrocosm. This is how we are trained as young practioners of our arts. We are told: Make your poetry more musical. Make your music more dramatic. Make the piano sound like an orchestra. Make your voice sound like a cello—like butter—like caramel. We say: 'Wow, look at that sunset; it looks like a painting!' 'Wow, look at that painting; it looks like a photograph!' 'Wow, look at that photograph; it looks real!'
All right, now all of this sounds very lofty. Let me bring it down to earth for a few minutes by just talking quite concretely about what my group, Ekphrasis, is, what is does, and what some of its dreams, goals, and problems are.
1. monthly workshops for critique
2. occasional events that are open to the public
3. explicitly Christian vision statement
4. Good relationship with area churches:
a) Multiple churches represented (8)
b) unofficial relationship w/Living Hope (encouragement, space, promotion)
c) Players of the Stage, E. C. dance, choreologos presented at church
5. Difficulties & Goals:
a) how to grow? (average 10 members; 24 max)
b) how to become more professional? (mostly college students)
c) how to involve the whole church?
d) GOAL: to be THE place where ALL Christians-in-the-Arts in the Lehigh Valley workshop their pieces & performances—and to produce some of THE great masterpieces of our time!
Now I've slipped back into the lofty again—and many members of my little group do have lofty goals and are accomplishing great work. One is involved in a non-profit film company that is making a documentary movie about underpriviledged teens in Philadelphia. One directs a youth theatre company that donated $11,000 last year to the Allentown Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter and rehab center for men in transition. A dance teacher and I are creating an interdisciplinary event called 'Poetry, Dance, and the Patterned Glory of the Universe' — a lofty title for a community event hosted by my church and promoted by our outreach committee.
So you see I've also slipped back into talking about collaborative, genre-crossing arts again; so let me close with one more poem that is pretending—or aspiring—to be more than just words on a page. I hope that it hints at how much more could be done to push poetry onto the stage and into other categories. Four people have very kindly volunteered to perform it with me to give you the full poetic, dramatic, antiphonal, musical, and geographical effect."
IV. And then we performed a poem entitled “Mappa Mundi,” which is about the four Medieval elements -- earth, air, fire, & water -- personified as four dragons, and considered as aspects of the Holy Spirit's creative work in the world!
As a result of this presentation and of hearing dozens of other presentations, I came away from the weekend just bursting with ideas for ways Ekphrasis will take over the world! Please share your thoughts!
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IAM Regional Leaders' Conference
Before I get into reporting on my impressions of and perspective on this weekend, let me give some context. The International Arts Movement is a broad, grass-roots movement dedicated to being a third space hospitable to all people regardless of their faith, where everyone who shares a commitment to human flourishing can meet. At the heart of IAM's vision are people of various faiths, or no religious faith, making vital contributions to the movement. Even though many of the current regional leaders are Christians, and many are working in specifically Christian contexts, that is not the primary focus of the movement. In fact, there are people who do not consider themselves to be Christians, but who are very much part of IAM.
Because this blog focuses on faith-and-the-arts (specifically the Christian faith and the arts), I have rather emphasized my Christian response more than someone else might. There are even moments in here that might suggest an "us vs. them" mentality--which is not IAM's perspective at all. Indeed, it is hardly my perspective at all. My desire is to minister TO and FROM the Christian community--both into the church and out into the communities in which I find myself, whether artistic, academic, social, or whatever--rather than to emphasize stark differences between a putative "us" and "them."
I just spent a heavenly weekend in New York City. That's one of my favorite places to visit -- although I know I've said that about Jerusalem, Oxford, New Orleans, London, and maybe even Boston. I imagine I'd say the same if I had dear friends showing me around all the artsy sights, churches, or universities of, say, Chicago, Moscow, Berlin, or Timbucktoo.
I was in NYC to meet with 51 other "arts promoters," all leaders of regional groups affiliated with the International Arts Movement, to represent my regional group, Ekphrasis. The weekend consisted of inspiring talks by Makoto Fujimura, motivational presentations by each regional leader about his or her own art and/or what that particular regional group is doing, Edenic conversations with like-minded Christians about all things artsy and faith-related, and simply delicious (mostly homemade) food.
This all took place in IAM's Space 38/39 (38 W 39th street), where Mako had hung some of his works:
I am astounded by his generosity. Let me tell you a bit about these works. They are priceless. They are irreplaceable. They are glorious. In their presence, I thought they were more than glorious: I thought they were Glory itself made solid, made physical, and shimmering in my sight, near enough to touch, transforming the space and the people around them. They are painted on silk, made in the traditional way by a silkmaker who is no longer alive and who took his particular traditional methods of making the silk (include raising the silkworms himself) with him when he died. So it is now impossible to get silk just like that any more. And then Mako painted on them with his distinctive style: a unique blend of the ancient Japanese Nihonga tradition and modern abstract painting. And you know what he used? He used gold. Yes, the metal, gold. He grinds precious metals and minerals, and paints with them. His paintings shimmer as the Old Testament Temple must have done.
I have blogged about some of his other projects here and here, and discussed one of his books here. I thought I had reviewed his "Four Holy Gospels" exhibit, too (which I had the great privilege of seeing last August), but I guess not. Too bad.
Anyway, Mako's luminous work astounds me. It transports me. And I do think that it was one of the biggest factors in making this weekend a heaven-on-earth experience that I will never forget.
The other factor was just the people. I was talking with a colleague when I got home, and I was raving about the amazing people I had just met. I said, " Ha!
But seriously. I felt almost a little motherly towards these new friends. All but maybe 8 of the 52 are under the age of 40, and they felt like college kids who have actually already accomplished something with their lives. You know how college kids can be full of fire, revved up, ready to go, burning with dreams, bursting with energy to change the world: this group was like that. So I felt a bit worried, nervous about how life is going to be hard on them, kill their dreams, douse the flame of passionate ambition, crush them with disappointment and failure.
But you know, we are not in our teens and early 20's. We have already lived, a lot. We're not naive. We're not untouched. Most of us, I'm sure, have already been crushed and doused and dampened -- and we're still at it. We're still on fire. We're still going to change the world. They can reject our manuscripts, let our books go out of print, boo our concerts, negatively review our plays, misunderstand our exhibits, close our studios, lay us off, fire us, evict us, break our hearts, leave us, divorce us, bereave us -- and we'll still keep making art. We'll still keep starting initiatives. We'll still change the world.
(an example of the kinds of notes that get passed at an event like this. Bryan: "please define liminal." Me: "in the space between boundaries; the undefined space; limbo." Hooray for nerds.)
Because this blog focuses on faith-and-the-arts (specifically the Christian faith and the arts), I have rather emphasized my Christian response more than someone else might. There are even moments in here that might suggest an "us vs. them" mentality--which is not IAM's perspective at all. Indeed, it is hardly my perspective at all. My desire is to minister TO and FROM the Christian community--both into the church and out into the communities in which I find myself, whether artistic, academic, social, or whatever--rather than to emphasize stark differences between a putative "us" and "them."
I just spent a heavenly weekend in New York City. That's one of my favorite places to visit -- although I know I've said that about Jerusalem, Oxford, New Orleans, London, and maybe even Boston. I imagine I'd say the same if I had dear friends showing me around all the artsy sights, churches, or universities of, say, Chicago, Moscow, Berlin, or Timbucktoo.
I was in NYC to meet with 51 other "arts promoters," all leaders of regional groups affiliated with the International Arts Movement, to represent my regional group, Ekphrasis. The weekend consisted of inspiring talks by Makoto Fujimura, motivational presentations by each regional leader about his or her own art and/or what that particular regional group is doing, Edenic conversations with like-minded Christians about all things artsy and faith-related, and simply delicious (mostly homemade) food.
This all took place in IAM's Space 38/39 (38 W 39th street), where Mako had hung some of his works:
I am astounded by his generosity. Let me tell you a bit about these works. They are priceless. They are irreplaceable. They are glorious. In their presence, I thought they were more than glorious: I thought they were Glory itself made solid, made physical, and shimmering in my sight, near enough to touch, transforming the space and the people around them. They are painted on silk, made in the traditional way by a silkmaker who is no longer alive and who took his particular traditional methods of making the silk (include raising the silkworms himself) with him when he died. So it is now impossible to get silk just like that any more. And then Mako painted on them with his distinctive style: a unique blend of the ancient Japanese Nihonga tradition and modern abstract painting. And you know what he used? He used gold. Yes, the metal, gold. He grinds precious metals and minerals, and paints with them. His paintings shimmer as the Old Testament Temple must have done.I have blogged about some of his other projects here and here, and discussed one of his books here. I thought I had reviewed his "Four Holy Gospels" exhibit, too (which I had the great privilege of seeing last August), but I guess not. Too bad.
Anyway, Mako's luminous work astounds me. It transports me. And I do think that it was one of the biggest factors in making this weekend a heaven-on-earth experience that I will never forget.
The other factor was just the people. I was talking with a colleague when I got home, and I was raving about the amazing people I had just met. I said, " Ha!But seriously. I felt almost a little motherly towards these new friends. All but maybe 8 of the 52 are under the age of 40, and they felt like college kids who have actually already accomplished something with their lives. You know how college kids can be full of fire, revved up, ready to go, burning with dreams, bursting with energy to change the world: this group was like that. So I felt a bit worried, nervous about how life is going to be hard on them, kill their dreams, douse the flame of passionate ambition, crush them with disappointment and failure.
But you know, we are not in our teens and early 20's. We have already lived, a lot. We're not naive. We're not untouched. Most of us, I'm sure, have already been crushed and doused and dampened -- and we're still at it. We're still on fire. We're still going to change the world. They can reject our manuscripts, let our books go out of print, boo our concerts, negatively review our plays, misunderstand our exhibits, close our studios, lay us off, fire us, evict us, break our hearts, leave us, divorce us, bereave us -- and we'll still keep making art. We'll still keep starting initiatives. We'll still change the world.
(an example of the kinds of notes that get passed at an event like this. Bryan: "please define liminal." Me: "in the space between boundaries; the undefined space; limbo." Hooray for nerds.)02 March 2012
Beauty and Fraud in The Big Easy
As any faithful readers of this blog know, I spent my Christmas vacation in New Orleans, gobbling up food, music, and culture. I've already written about my visit to the New Orleans Museum of Art, and about how disgusted I was by the Vogel Collection.
Well, now I've had a slightly more official article published in Curator. I know my claims in it are controversial, and would love to hear from any of you who have seen any of the Vogel Collection, at NOMA or elsewhere.
Your thoughts are welcome!
Well, now I've had a slightly more official article published in Curator. I know my claims in it are controversial, and would love to hear from any of you who have seen any of the Vogel Collection, at NOMA or elsewhere.
Your thoughts are welcome!
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