Episode 67: Responding To Poetry

In this episode, Rebecca speaks with us again from the Ballinglen Arts Foundation in County Mayo, Ireland where she is on a 3-week painting residency. Today she’s going to talk a little about the residency in general and specifically about a project she is working on there, a series of paintings based on a poem by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney. www.rebeccacrowell.com www.squeegeepress.com www.facebook.com/messystudiopodcast A little background about Ballinglen /an artist residency est. in 1992 to bring established artists and younger artists of recognized ability from Ireland and internationally to North Mayo. The benefit to the community was recognized from the beginning—an area of economic downturn, population dwindling. The latest development is the construction of the Ballingeln Museum of Contemporary Art to house the collection of art donated by fellows and to host curated exhibits. Fellowships—6 weeks (can be divided) and include housing and a studio. 4-5 artists at a time/quite competitive esp. as profile getting larger w/museum construction Since 2013 also hosting week-long workshops led mostly by current or former fellows. Typical day for me—in the studio most of the day with time out for a walk. About a mile and a half to the beach; other good places to walk also Early to bed/no wifi or other distractions in the cottages. Enjoy socializing with other artists when that happens; but everyone works very hard and are focused on their work My project: Invited into a 2/person exhibit with Jerry to be based on the theme of response to poetry/poetry of our choice, no mother parameters. Not a big poetry reader myself but have been drawn to the work of Seamus Heaney B. Northern Ireland 1939/died Dublin 2013 The Nobel Prize in Literature 1995 was awarded to Seamus Heaney "for works of lyrical beauty and ethical depth, which exalt everyday miracles and the living past." His work contains many references to his rural upbringing as well as to modern day Ireland—sometimes very down to earth, other times spiritual references, sometimes shifting within the same poem. Dualities of material/transcendant, life/death. Topics of memory, journeys, transformation I chose his long poem in four parts: Squarings—reference to marbles/ “anglings, aimings, feints and squints you were allowed before you’d shoot” overall shifting perspectives throughout the poem on many levels The 4 sections are Lightenings (which he explains as the “phenomenal instant when the spirit flares with pure exhilaration before death.”) Settings (referring both to places and the act of anchoring things, memory) Crossings (journeys/transitions) and Squarings. Written after the death of his parents and themes of memory and the journey of life are throughout. Seems like a search for meaning in life. The whole poem has a particular structure such as 12 lines in each poem within it, 12 sections in each of the 4 parts, which he said came to him intuitively. Not much analysis written about the poem—I looked—but that was good actually because I’ve had to really study it. It keeps revealing more every time I read it. (Reassuring to me that I can still read deeply in this age of quick reads and overload of info.) So the reading and re-reading is part of the whole process, every day. How to respond to the poem which is very complex, full of imagery yet also ,much that is hard to pin down. Decided to do 12 paintings but beyond that not to confine myself to numerical structure of the poem. It is actually very freely constructed with poems in one part referring to other parts. Certain moods and images struck me from the work and these I keep in my mind in a general way but trusting that some essence of the poem will come through without forcing. Not illustrations but free interpretations. I’ve finished 7 so far— In terms of form and content: An open-ended feeling—what techniques will capture the content? Emphasis on line—related to the act of writing poetry? My own use of line Flat, graphic quality, some remind me of prints—they are done on paper which I will eventually mount but these aspects of form also relate to poetry in book form Some symbolic drawing into the surface related to specific images from the poems Strong shapes and contrasts—relate to the dualities of his themes The abstract artist Sol Lewitt did a series of drawings to accompany the poem in 2003. Heaney said of these: “ They have the right balance of complete confident pounce, and momentary delicate shimmer.” Very different than my own—his are based entirely on the grid and contain no imagery; but I aspire to the same goal-- Very interesting project /eager to extend to more poems before the show and who knows after that. Working with poetry seems to open new doors for how I approach the work.