Sunday, November 13, 2011

Book Passages, Revisited

What have you read lately? That is how I started a blog post in February 2009. This began a visual journey in which I asked for and created visual interpretations from brief book passages submitted by readers of my blog, BacktotheZu News.

I am now privileged with the opportunity to exhibit this photographic series next year at Carroll University's Rowe Art Gallery. Bringing this photographic series into an academic setting like Carroll University has been a goal of mine since creating this work in 2009. A university gallery is the perfect setting for this series which draws on so many different creative elements allowing for departmental collaboration with potential assignments and important dialog. I am interested in developing another dialog through my blog by creating some new visual interpretations from book passages submitted here on my blog, by you. Unlike the first process in which I took the passages in the order they were received, I plan to choose a small selection from those submitted to include in the exhibit next October 2012.

Post your brief book passage below, include the title of the book and author. If I select your passage for a visual interpretation you will receive a print of my finished interpretation.

Visual Haiku (above image) is the title of the interpretation I created from a passage by M.S. Merwin, In the Language of Life by Bill Moyers. During the opening reception at the Tenth Street Gallery, Chris Flieller, Artistic Director at In Tandem Theatre provided dramatic readings of each book passage. This created another element to the communication and interpretation dialog involved in this creative process.



As stated by a Milwaukee Art Professor, The idea behind this body of work is the collaborative connection between
me and the person who selects the passage of writing and the original passage itself. A three way triangle. One person
sees and writes, one person reads and relates and an artist brings to light an idea of what the vision is. What do these
diverse connections tell the viewer about the nature of perception and life? The essence of this project is the
complexity of human communication. The beauty of this project is deeper and richer than just the pictures. It's in the
way that we each communicate our idea's and emotions to each other and try to understand how this world works.
It is ever changing and ever reinterpreted. As the artist, I became the interpreter and the director.