The Wall

 Distinction: 

Juror Michelle Grabner a Crown Family Professor at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, just juried my work “The Wall” into the 2016 “Alive In The Arts” exhibition at the Plymouth Center for the Arts in Plymouth WI. I am honored that Michelle Grabner juried my work into the exhibition I have been following her career for some time. About a year ago she co-curated an exhibition at the MOMA which I had the honor of viewing part of – and in one of the blogs I participate in we discussed at length your curating abilities. She was a challenge to discuss and I learned from the entire experience. Again I am honored to have her and her experiences in my life and that she chose one of my works for this exhibition.

“The Wall” is another work from my “Ladders and Fences” series. I have created a book with poems written for this series and hope that at some point I will be able to have a solo exhibition somewhere in Wisconsin exhibiting all these works. Wisconsin Poet Mary Wehner from Sheboygan wrote a poem to go with this piece. I am posting it below. Her poem is not at all like my thought process of the artwork but what a delight to read her version of what she saw in my work. Read the poem here.

“Blooming”

stones jeweled in the garden wall
some veined with history some polished new

an agate splashed backdrop for hollyhock
& climbing rose   brushstrokes of every hue

brought up from the black earth   held lightly
those petaled moments they won’t last

more than a season   what’s in the eye
never stops at a wall   It travels up & over

to the other side   visible even in the dark
every stem & blossom   droops and rests

ready for next morning’s glory   ribbons
of color running through the light-box of summer.

Mary Wehner