Poems & Pictures
This weekend a vision came true . . . it’s wonderful to have a gallery in “the family” and to have a friend who is an amazing calligrapher and painter. My dream would not have come true without Ned’s Square Halo Gallery and my artist friend Hannah Weston.
This January a friend encouraged me to try writing Tanke poems. She knew I wanted a challenge as I have been trying to grow as a writer and poet. Tanke poems have 35 syllables, divided into 5 lines (the syllables for each line are 5, 7, 5, 7, 7). The poem is to be one sentence and about one person, object, or idea. The first half the poet describes the object, and the second half is a “turn” where the poet shares their response to it.
I decided to go through the alphabet and choose an image for each letter. My goal was that each idea was personal/truthful in some way to who I am as a person. This challenge was very satisfying, and for while it was what took up a lot of my head space.
When I completed the alphabet, I asked my friend Hannah Weston to consider collaborating with me on a show at Square Halo Gallery. Ned is the curator, and so he said yes to my idea. And so did Hannah.
Hannah put an amazing amount of time and thought into the design of each piece. She thought of things I did not know to think about when planning how to present the work in the gallery. She chose 5 different fonts to use and made certain pieces next to each other were not the same fonts. She thought through size, frame color, and direction (horizontal or vertical when hanging?). And then she asked me questions about the poems to help her decide what to paint for each poem. It was quite gift to see how she interpreted my words.
I have honestly and happily told people that she took my poems, coming from such a beginner that I am, and made them come alive even more. I am really humbled by her work with me. Our time together from our initial planning sitting in a coffee shop to the night before the show as we hung the framed paintings with the help of our husbands has been a delight. During the summer, Hannah would text me images and her work as we counted down how many more she had to complete. And all I could do was text back with gushing words.
The show was Friday night, September 3, in the Square Halo Gallery. What a joyous time as many friends and family came and gave us both great encouragement and praise for the work we did. It was fun to have people tell me which poem they liked the best or made them cry, as well as exclaim over Hannah’s art work and interpretation of my words.
If you are in Lancaster October 1 for First Friday come to the Square Halo Gallery (6 - 9pm) or Art Walk Saturday and see for yourself. And right now, despite how many asked this, we are not planning on making a book. But keep your eyes open for information about prints. The originals are for sale for $400.00.
