Greetings, Poetry Lovers!
In the midst of the world's beyond-turbulent news, I'm always grateful for unexpected turns which can delight. In the past few days I've stumbled upon a few references to something I've always adored: handwriting.
If I remember the story correctly, as a second grader I was up at the front of the blended first- and second-grade classroom demonstrating cursive on the chalkboard. (No whiteboards back then!) I've danced with calligraphy through the decades, even taking a course with Peter Thornton back in the day (late 1980s, maybe?). This love is one reason I named my lilttle art business "artsyletters," and I'm knee-deep in projects and plans for more communing with words and lettters in my art.
I love sharing a passion for art and mixed media with many of you all, and your work always inspires me. Driving back and forth to Asheville Wednesday to hear son Seth preach, I listened to the "Friday Feature Artist" interview from the amazing folks at Take Two. [Warning - the online courses offered by Take Two are simply amazing, and beautifully shot. They are pricey, but I've taken three and all have been marvelous.] But you don't have to enroll to enjoy the artist interviews, as videos or podcasts. I like looking at images of the artists' work online before listening in my car.
Last Friday, Sophie Edwards brought us French artist Stéphanie Devaux, "whose practice moves between calligraphy, embroidery and artist books. Her work explores the space where text shifts from ink to stitch – where language becomes texture, gesture and form." The artist has a rich French accent, and I enjoyed to moments when she was searching for a certain word to describe some ephemeral but important concept, and had to speak in French. The whole interview was a "thoughtful conversation about materials, attention and the poetry between reading and seeing," and you can find it here.
She also briefly mentioned asemic writing, a frequent component of collage and mixed media pieces these days. ["Asemic" is a term which was coined by editor John Byrum and taken up by artists Tim Gaze and Jim Leftwich in the late 1990s to describe the practice of mark-making that resembles actual writing but does not include actual words. Here is a 2023 interview by Sam Woolfe with Tim Gaze, explaining the history of the recent movement.]
Back to my Wednesday.... On the way back home, my car, as usual, was drawn like a magnet into a great little vintage store called "The Garage on 25." I always find something there to separate me from part of the available balance on a credit card. Thursday, I walked out with the old wooden tray above, full of character itself, and also full of all kinds of mechanical pencil holders and packages of leads (most full and many unopened), a pen holder, various rusty nibs, and even an old Rapidograph pen. (I could never get one of those to work years ago, even in a brand new state.) I plan to ignore what these items would sell for individually on eBay and actually use them! The other item pictured is some gorgeous handwriting on a French legal document from 1898 (bought on Etsy). I found out the hard way that the beautiful onion-skin type paper is extremely fragile, but it's all right, as I'll incorporate pieces into collages. (I copied this excerpt onto vellum, too, for cardmaking, and I'll be more careful with the rest of this document!)
I wrote a haiku back in 2016 about using a dip pen, the year my daughter got married:
wedding invitations
the press and release
of the nib
©Robyn Hood Black
Third Honorable Mention, Harold G. Henderson Haiku Awards, Frogpond, Volume 39 Number 3, Autumn 2016
dust devils - THE RED MOON ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH-LANGUAGE HAIKU 2016, edited by Jim Kacian & The Red Moon Editorial Staff, Red Moon Press, 2017
I also found this touching poem by Wesley McNair, apparently also written in 2016:
My Mother's Penmanship Lessons
By Wesley McNair
In her last notes, when her hand began
to tremble, my mother tried to teach it
the penmanship she was known for,
how to make the slanted stems
of the p's and d's, ...
Read the rest here.
Finally, and what prodded me Thursday morning into fashioning this post, here's an NPR story called, "Cursive is back. But should students be learning the skill?" by Ava Berger on All Things Considered. My answer is an immediate, "Duh - yes!" but there are other opinions. I loved reading about a teacher's middle school cursive club in Virginia. What say you?
Please enjoy all of the poetic offerings this week at Tanita's blog, where she offers up the Poetry Sisters' March challenge as well as hosting. Thanks, Tanita!