I'm kind of joking. But kind of obsessed! These classes are just pushing my thinking buttons so hard. And that's nice. I like a well-engaged thinking button.
ANYWAY. The work for this week (and for life as an artist, no?) is to start thinking about our visual voices. Visual voice. It turns out, I have one. What I can see so far is that, in part, it has kind of a dreamy, Romantic, nature vibe to it. Which, when I think about my jewelry designs, doesn't seem that odd. (It also has a goofy vibe, which also is not surprising.)
One of my classmates is a novelist, and she and I started a casual sort of exchange about how/whether our visual voices line up with our writing voices. I think my voices line up pretty directly in some ways, and inspired by Johanna's self portraits, which often incorporate words, I decided to play with a photo I would have written off, except that it made a perfect backdrop for a prose poem (or lyrical fragment, as I generally prefer to call them) I wrote a while back. I had several people in mind when I wrote this, but mostly, it was for my dad. And now I realize it makes a pretty good note to self as well.
I don't love the technical execution of this photo/writing conglomeration. It still feels more conglomeratory than composed, but partly that's because editing photos on Picnik has some technical limitations (possibly operator-generated technical limitations, but still). Also, I do not love that this experiment resulted in line breaks--there was no getting around it, so I just tried to break the lines in ways that suggest they were not meant to be poetically chosen line breaks. The original piece is very much a block of text, and I much prefer that. Oh well. The goal here wasn't finalized, perfect art, anyway, but rather exploration and discovery. (If you can't read the words, you can click on the photo to enlarge it.)
I love this love spell, Ame. It's a poem. There, I said it. xox
ReplyDeleteOu! Shiveringly beautiful words. (line breaks or no!)
ReplyDeleteoh, that's so beautiful! It is challenging to put words and images together huh? I struggle with that very much--finding a way to unite the two, while honoring both.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh - Amy - I've got tears running down my cheeks here in CO! The last line along with the photo is a clincher. Now you've made me think I'd like to try one of these myself. I always use words and photos together but perhaps mine are not so entwined in spirit as yours. I think your "lyrical fragment" - POEM is very special.
ReplyDeleteI love pairing words and images (though not so much putting them into a single image as just matching in general). It's one of my favorite things. :)
ReplyDeleteThat is a powerful note to self, especially the last line.
just beautiful! and it is a poem! yet i like the the combination of the words "lyrical fragment." yum.
ReplyDeletexo
Thanks everyone--your comments are lovely to read, and much appreciated. And I know it's a poem, I just like it as a block-of-text prose poem, that's all. ;-)
ReplyDelete(G and Elizabeth, so nice to see you both here!) xo
It's so very beautiful, it moved me to tears too...and I agree with Elizabeth and Barb, the last line is especially moving. Powerful stuff, thank you Amy xxx
ReplyDeleteHi Amy....it's fun getting to know you at YaYoM...I appreciate all your heartfelt comments...nice to meet you here too on your blog!
ReplyDeleteSo so lovely x
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