Cultural and personal narratives of art

[Palba_Noruda]

1. Do you have any favorite artists, either fictional characters or real live people?

2. How does that person's creative process compare to YOUR creative process?

 

[Palba_Noruda]

I'll start!

I've been thinking of two fictional artists lately. One is Chris from the television show Northern Exposure. He is the town's DJ with a propensity for reading poetry over the radio and he is also a sculptor. He is creating a sculpture that if memory serves is called Aurora Borealis. It is a large metal structure with elements of found crap stuck on to it. It is rather a ramshackle thing and it is located near his trailer near a river outside of town.

I like the idea of Chris working on this sculpture that very few people ever see. There is one episode where another character comes out and looks at the thing and they talk a little and it isn't a big deal, but still, there is something going on for Chris and this sculpture that is very special and worthwhile.

I like to do found-word poems, and I think the way Chris has collected all this metal and junk shows how some art is an expression of what the artist has been able to get his hands on, so to speak. Chris may be trying to say something very specific with his sculpture, but I think it is really him saying where he is and how he is spending his time. He's in Alaska! He welds! He's got his hands on all this metal! He's put it together a certain way! That's what I like to think my writing is about, too.

The other fictional artist I like is the girl in the movie White Oleander. Her mother is a poet. At the end of the movie, she moves to Europe with her boyfriend and she makes these pieces of "suitcase art." It's been awhile since I've seen that movie, (and even longer since I've read the book!) but I remember feeling like she started making the suitcase art as a way to process all the traumas that had occurred to her throughout her life, as if the art was just what her life led her to do...

I like that idea of art, that a person is intuitively led into making it and they've followed that intuition... I believe that's true for me to a degree... I think at first I was more interested in getting rich and famous or something through writing, but the longer I've been at it, my goals have changed and now I look back and wonder if my initial interest in some kind of notoriety was just something I told myself to justify such strange behavior as writing LOL!

I guess you could say that Chris and the girl from White Oleander are my fictional artist spirit guides, for the time being, anyway. I know I'll think of others in time. Do you have any favorites?

 

[Angeline]

1. Do you have any favorite artists, either fictional characters or real live people?

2. How does that person's creative process compare to YOUR creative process?

When I was a college English major I did a two year honors study on Charles Dickens. I got very close to him lol, after spending countless hours reading and thinking and writing about the novels and characters and what broad thematic things I could conclude from all that and how I could defend it in my writing and blah blah blah. One night my roommates even swung a ghosty looking thing with a pic of Dickens face taped to it by my window. Startled the bejesus outta me, but at that point it would have been great to just ask him what the hell did you mean anyway?

Dickens was far more prolific than I'll ever be and his writing is way fuller and denser than I ever want my poetry to be, but I do have a deep admiration for him, primarily his great perception and narrative power and his social compassion and activism. Oh and his creative process seems to have involved a lot of superstition (like he had to have his bed facing a certain direction at night or he couldn't write the next day--actually nowadays I guess that's called obsession hah). That is very unlike me.

I also deeply admire William Butler Yeats and John Lennon as artists, for different reasons, but they are top of the list for me. I don't know much about their creative processes (though I know Yeats had some pretty intricate spiritual beliefs that drove the process for him). Oh and Lester Young is another one I admire, but given that he was a big alcoholic well I love his originality, I'm not into drinking and writing.

How about you? Who are yours?
ETA:Oh you answered already!

 

[Palba_Noruda]

When I was a college English major I did a two year honors study on Charles Dickens. I got very close to him lol, after spending countless hours reading and thinking and writing about the novels and characters and what broad thematic things I could conclude from all that and how I could defend it in my writing and blah blah blah. One night my roommates even swung a ghosty looking thing with a pic of Dickens face taped to it by my window. Startled the bejesus outta me, but at that point it would have been great to just ask him what the hell did you mean anyway?

Dickens was far more prolific than I'll ever be and his writing is way fuller and denser than I ever want my poetry to be, but I do have a deep admiration for him, primarily his great perception and narrative power and his social compassion and activism. Oh and his creative process seems to have involved a lot of superstition (like he had to have his bed facing a certain direction at night or he couldn't write the next day--actually nowadays I guess that's called obsession hah). That is very unlike me.

!

Oh come on... You don't have any writing superstitions? What about rituals or things to make the writing environment just so? A favorite pen? Chair? Music?

I know I get secretly crabby when somebody is sitting at "my" table at the library. And I only write on computer at home but on paper at the library.

 

[Angeline]

Oh come on... You don't have any writing superstitions? What about rituals or things to make the writing environment just so? A favorite pen? Chair? Music?

I know I get secretly crabby when somebody is sitting at "my" table at the library. And I only write on computer at home but on paper at the library.

I'm really not superstitious and never have been. I do have preferences like I always write at the keyboard, but that is because I'm left-handed and my hand drags and smears and I hate it. So I use the keyboard. That has actually helped me a lot as a writer because now my hands can usually keep up with my thoughts.

And I almost always listen to music when I write, but not anything with voice because that distracts me. I prefer jazz or classical. I guess that's sort of a ritual with me though I can write without music playing. I just prefer it because I write about music often and it helps me understand and find the right words. Also the rhythm helps me get a natural rhythm with my words if that makes sense.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

I'm really not superstitious and never have been. I do have preferences like I always write at the keyboard, but that is because I'm left-handed and my hand drags and smears and I hate it. So I use the keyboard. That has actually helped me a lot as a writer because now my hands can usually keep up with my thoughts.

And I almost always listen to music when I write, but not anything with voice because that distracts me. I prefer jazz or classical. I guess that's sort of a ritual with me though I can write without music playing. I just prefer it because I write about music often and it helps me understand and find the right words. Also the rhythm helps me get a natural rhythm with my words if that makes sense.

I adore Salvador Dali's artwork I sometimes think there is a poem inside me waiting to be written with all the intricacies and not quite of 'this world' outlandishments (is that a word? if not it should be!) of what he portrays in his pictures. It's so hard to explain and even harder to write

 

[WickedEve]

I adore Salvador Dali's artwork I sometimes think there is a poem inside me waiting to be written with all the intricacies and not quite of 'this world' outlandishments (is that a word? if not it should be!) of what he portrays in his pictures. It's so hard to explain and even harder to write

Ah, another Dali lover! I've been a fan since my teens.
Through the years his work has influenced some of my poetry. There are elements of Sleep in my poem Leaving The Funeral.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Ah, another Dali lover! I've been a fan since my teens.
Through the years his work has influenced some of my poetry. There are elements of Sleep in my poem Leaving The Funeral.

There now ..... you've done it I knew it could be I just couldn't string the words together properly. I'm glad you shared that on this thread I enjoyed it tremendously

 

[Epmd607]

1. Do you have any favorite artists, either fictional characters or real live people?

2. How does that person's creative process compare to YOUR creative process?

Satan is my favorite fictional character. I think we share a creative process, spontaneity of creation maybe. God is ordered, planned creation like Vlad Nabokov or Auden. Satan is organic creation like Pablo Neruda or Jack Kerouac.

 

[Tzara]

1. Do you have any favorite artists, either fictional characters or real live people?

2. How does that person's creative process compare to YOUR creative process?

By far the most significant artist in my life in terms of influencing my thought (though not so much how I actually try to work) is John Cage. If I had to name some characteristic of his that is similar to how I try to work, I suppose I would mention his curiosity and experimentation, though I think that's more just my personality than something I adopted from him.

Cage did write poems, of a sort, called mesostics, though I've never tried writing one.

For poets I've admired that might have influenced me a bit, I'd name Kenneth Koch (particularly for his sense of humor, which can be silly but is always rather sweet) and Alan Dugan (for his sense of humor, which no one would consider sweet).

Among visual artists, I've written a number of poems based on paintings by Eric Fischl, whom I think (probably incorrectly) was influenced by the great Italian filmmaker Michaelangelo Antonioni. They were bad poems, of course, but blame the carpenter for that.

There actually have been a number of poets here at Lit who have influenced me, usually because they do something very well that I am very bad at. The only one I'll name is Ms. Swirls and her uncanny ability to splat her emotions over the page in a way that is engaging and universal and true. I can't do that, but I sometimes try because I wish I could.

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Be good if you could do a more explanatory teach in of the mesostic, suffice to say I don't really get the Wiki one very well

 

[Tzara]

Be good if you could do a more explanatory teach in of the mesostic, suffice to say I don't really get the Wiki one very well

Never written one, m'dear, but as I understand the form, it's like an acrostic, except the word runs down the middle of the poem. You also can't use the letter in the acrostic between where it appears and the letters preceding and succeding it. So, if the acrostic word is "SEX," you could not use the letter "S" on the first line, nor on the second before you cross the "E." It would be fair game anywhere else. You couldn't use the letter "E" between the "S" above it and the "X" on the line below it. And so on.

I've thought about trying one before, but I don't think I have a way to do the columnar control it requires on the forum at Lit. You really need a fixed-pitch font, so that everything lines up. You could do one as an image, but that seems too much work.




Hey. Congratulations on (apparently) winning the Poetry Survivor thingie, BTW.

Good, that woman!

 

[UnderYourSpell]

Never written one, m'dear, but as I understand the form, it's like an acrostic, except the word runs down the middle of the poem. You also can't use the letter in the acrostic between where it appears and the letters preceding and succeding it. So, if the acrostic word is "SEX," you could not use the letter "S" on the first line, nor on the second before you cross the "E." It would be fair game anywhere else. You couldn't use the letter "E" between the "S" above it and the "X" on the line below it. And so on.

I've thought about trying one before, but I don't think I have a way to do the columnar control it requires on the forum at Lit. You really need a fixed-pitch font, so that everything lines up. You could do one as an image, but that seems too much work.




Hey. Congratulations on (apparently) winning the Poetry Survivor thingie, BTW.

Good, that woman!

thankyou I've not heard anything official so will you be 'burning my ass' on the next one?

 

[Palba_Noruda]

Underscores to the rescue

... a way to do the columnar control it requires on the forum at Lit. You really need a fixed-pitch font, so that everything lines up. You could do one as an image, but that seems too much work.

______ I gUess
______ _oNe
_____coulD
______ usE
______ ouR
______ leaSt
____ ____Considered,
____ __ mOst
____ ___ fRowned upon,
lazy-douchE
________ Solution

 

[Palba_Noruda]

I adore Salvador Dali's artwork I sometimes think there is a poem inside me waiting to be written with all the intricacies and not quite of 'this world' outlandishments (is that a word? if not it should be!) of what he portrays in his pictures. It's so hard to explain and even harder to write

Why do you think you're attracted so to Dali's work? Is it frustrating to have a poem waiting inside of you like that?

Ah, another Dali lover! I've been a fan since my teens.
Through the years his work has influenced some of my poetry. There are elements of Sleep in my poem Leaving The Funeral.

I agree with UYS, that is a very nice poem. I like how you worked in the image from Dali with something more personal. I think it's great. How did you get the idea?

Satan is my favorite fictional character. I think we share a creative process, spontaneity of creation maybe. God is ordered, planned creation like Vlad Nabokov or Auden. Satan is organic creation like Pablo Neruda or Jack Kerouac.

Interesting answer Epmd... So you see your creative process as more spontaneous, like Satan? Why do you think your process is that way instead of ordered?

By far the most significant artist in my life in terms of influencing my thought (though not so much how I actually try to work) is John Cage. If I had to name some characteristic of his that is similar to how I try to work, I suppose I would mention his curiosity and experimentation, though I think that's more just my personality than something I adopted from him.

I see what you mean. It's kind of a chicken or the egg thing, eh? Is experimentation something you try to do systematically? Or you feel like you're basically always trying something new? Why do you think that is?

 

[Tzara]

thankyou I've not heard anything official so will you be 'burning my ass' on the next one?

Was I "burning your ass" previously? That doesn't sound like my phrasing, but on some days the referent might fit.

I doubt I'd want to participate in another contest, if that's what you're asking. At least unless the rules are radically revised.

Hmmm. Burning your ass.

Sorry. Distracted.

 

[Tzara]

______ I gUess
______ _oNe
_____coulD
______ usE
______ ouR
______ leaSt
____ ____Considered,
____ __ mOst
____ ___ fRowned upon,
lazy-douchE
________ Solution

At least on my screen, underscores are not rescuing anything.

Your mesotic is rendered on my screen as an aberrant chimney of ill-placed bricks.

Proportional fonts. They're a bitch.

 

[Tzara]

I see what you mean. It's kind of a chicken or the egg thing, eh? Is experimentation something you try to do systematically? Or you feel like you're basically always trying something new? Why do you think that is?

I just like to goof around with stuff, is all. No competence, no agenda.

I just like to play.

 

[EroticOrogeny]

For visual art I can get into M.C. Escher, not great art, but fascinating.
In Music Bach is my favorite (and I generally prefer harpsichord over piano.
My favorite book of fiction is Lewis Carrol's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. been so since I was young.
Several poets - Yeats, Auden, ...

I agree with Angeline that music is good to have when writing - for me classical.
Don't like the idea of sitting in the library. Was really glad when when much of that went on line and didn't have to fetch and copy stuff from the stacks. As a smoker its nicer to work (poetry or other things) where one can smoke. One summer I was working on a term paper in the U of Chicago's library and they did have places on the floor where one could smoke. I also heard shortly thereafter they had fires in the library - not sure if related.

 

[Palba_Noruda]

At least on my screen, underscores are not rescuing anything.

Your mesotic is rendered on my screen as an aberrant chimney of ill-placed bricks.

Proportional fonts. They're a bitch.

I like my aberrant chimney of ill-placed bricks.

 

[EroticOrogeny]

At least on my screen, underscores are not rescuing anything.

Your mesotic is rendered on my screen as an aberrant chimney of ill-placed bricks.

Proportional fonts. They're a bitch.

You can use a fixed font (at least my browser does - may need to go advanced) but it still strips spaces, so layout is screwed. Getting my concrete poem for Survivor was quite an exercise.

 

[Tzara]

You can use a fixed font (at least my browser does - may need to go advanced) but it still strips spaces, so layout is screwed. Getting my concrete poem for Survivor was quite an exercise.

Yes, but who changes the default font in their browser?

I don't think (I may certainly be wrong, though) that there is any way in the script available to us in the forum to force a fixed pitch font on the reader.

At one time you could embed HTML, I think, which would solve the problem. I don't think that you can do it anymore, though.

And I do not want to write a mesostic, anyway.

Really.

 

[Palba_Noruda]

I just like to goof around with stuff, is all. No competence, no agenda.

I just like to play.

Yes, but who changes the default font in their browser?

I don't think (I may certainly be wrong, though) that there is any way in the script available to us in the forum to force a fixed pitch font on the reader.

At one time you could embed HTML, I think, which would solve the problem. I don't think that you can do it anymore, though.

And I do not want to write a mesostic, anyway.

Really.

Well, I'm not claiming that mine is anything to write home about. In fact I know it's a bunch of worthless single-word lines. I know it's aberrant chimneys. Okay, I'll admit I know nothing about embedding HTML or fixed pitch fonts for that matter. I wish that I did. Harummmmph. I just like to play.

Well, I think you're destined to write a chimney poem now.
-Amiga 500

 

[Tzara]

I like my aberrant chimney of ill-placed bricks.

Hey! Frowny face!

Did I say I disliked your aberrant chimney of ill-placed bricks?

Absofuckinglutely not. Just said it didn't solve the problem. Probably did for EO, who mucked with his browser settings to select a fixed pitch font. I'm lazy, though, and a complaining type, so found it much easier to bitch about life and formatting and everything.

Personally, I like aberrant chimneys. And bricks.

Or not. I mean, they're dorky and structurally unsound. Sorry. I'm must be me being honestly in architecturness.

Try a GIF, hey, whydoncha?

 

[Palba_Noruda]

Hey! Frowny face!

Did I say I disliked your aberrant chimney of ill-placed bricks?

Absofuckinglutely not. Just said it didn't solve the problem. Probably did for EO, who mucked with his browser settings to select a fixed pitch font. I'm lazy, though, and a complaining type, so found it much easier to bitch about life and formatting and everything.

Personally, I like aberrant chimneys. And bricks.

Or not. I mean, they're dorky and structurally unsound. Sorry. I'm must be me being honestly in architecturness.

Try a GIF, hey, whydoncha?

LOL if you say so... /shrugs shoulders moves head about a bit/