April News
April News
In this April 2008 Newsletter, I’d like to focus on the exciting collaboration of poetry and visual art that I am happy to be a part of this year. But first, a little personal background….
The poet T.S. Eliot wrote “April is the cruelest month…” as the starting line to his long poem, “The Wasteland” . Back in freshman English class, I was so taken by Eliot that I actually memorized a lot of the passages of this poem. It is not exactly the kind of poetry that makes for great pickup lines, except maybe to other English majors, but it definitely fit my self-image at the time. I wanted to be a poet like T.S. Eliot. So did everyone else I knew. At the time, Buffalo was flush with the best of the best poets, writers and artists in all fields of art. It was the ‘60s. The University was a hotbed of creativity, and a great place to be for a young and hungry mind. My love for poetry and all things literary began in that moment. It was not until much later and many other moments of inspiration and learning that I was able to apply my love for words with my inclination for creating visual art statements. Along the way, I have had the great fortune to be in the same room with individuals, friends and teachers, whose experiences and talents I have been able to learn from. Even when you think you are giving birth to something that’s never existed before, the experience of creating a work of art is always a collaboration with those who have been there before you.
More than a few years after college and many shifts in persona later, I met my talented partner (now wife of 30 years) known at the time as Trudy Dreamer. We lived on Cottage Street on Buffalo’s west side, next door to Debora Ott & John Daley. Being writers and poets, they had this idea to start a live reading series that could take place in the bohemian neighborhood where we lived. They called it “Just Buffalo”. It was a natural, with all the talent in town. Trudy and I would make “broadsides”, a traditional poster form with words and illustrations that would highlight the reader’s work and be for sale as collectable art to the audience. It was just the inspiration Trudy and I needed to set up a small silkscreen printshop in a friend’s basement. The rest, as they say, is history. After producing many, many broadsides and event posters, we were in business. And the Just Buffalo Literary Center is now one of the most well known literary centers in the country.
So here we are, light years ahead, on a rainy, melancholy day in early April, 2008, announcing the latest collaborative work in poetry broadside form. This year, Trudy started a monthly poetry reading series at her tea house and I have been back in action as an illustrator and broadside print maker. Life is a work in progress…isn’t it?
This month’s poem, by my dear friend, Jimmie Margaret Gilliam, is entitled Woman / Mountain. It is nothing like Eliot’s poem. It is more personal and intimate. Fits my mood today. I was happy to add a visual image as part of our collaboration. You can see for yourself by clicking here. You may also like to see some of the other broadsides we’ve made this year, and even purchase them, by browsing through the Broadside pages. At the end of the series, the work will be assembled as a portfolio collection. I will keep you posted.
The poetry series at Tru-Teas Tea House and Arts Café, features Jimmie Margaret Gilliam as the anchor reader this coming Sunday, April 6th at 4pm
When you are in town, be sure to visit New Buffalo Graphics’ new Studio & Gallery at 1417 Hertel Avenue, Bflo,NY 14216