F. L. MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Inspired by The Contemporary Museum's exhibit of Lesley Dill's work, in which the artist examines the relationship of words and clothing to identity, youngsters like Katja Karczwski wrote their own poems on vellum, from which they created clothing.
Poetry and art WHO AM I? The fundamental question touches all humanity, from the baby discovering her toes for the first time to the old man whose life flashes before his eyes on his deathbed. The issue of identity is addressed from the loftiest heights of holy writings to the mundane act of identifying oneself on the telephone.
talk together
A yearlong series of workshops
Program rooted in 'Star Poets'
explores the relationshipBy Joleen Oshiro
joshiro@starbulletin.comYet, as any teen-ager can attest, who we are is as much what we conjure up as it is what we have inherited by nature and nurturing. At The Contemporary Museum, an exhibition by Lesley Dill explores that theme: the way people express their identities through clothing and language. The show provided the perfect starting point last Saturday for "Poets in the Gallery," a yearlong series of free writing workshops inspired by the museum's exhibits. The workshops are taught by poet Susan Lee St. James.
"Art and poetry are frequently connected," St. James said. "Poetry has been written about art, and art has been inspired by poems.
"Dill's exhibit is particularly interesting. She was inspired by the poems of Emily Dickinson, and she incorporates words into her works. We're lucky to have this particular exhibit for our first workshop. The artist herself makes that connection between art and words."
F. L. MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Lesley Dill's "I Had Given My Whole Life to Words" is, literally, a suit cut up into words. Accompanying the work is verse by Salvador Espriu: "I have given my whole life to words / chewed this dog hunger into a long meal."
Dill finds commonality between the function of clothing and language, St. James said, in that "words, like clothes, can be an expression of the soul, or a barrier to it. The workshop looks at how she's made those connections."
Where: The Contemporary Museum, 2411 Makiki Heights Drive 'Lesley Dill: A 10-Year Survey'
Times: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays, and noon to 4 p.m. Sundays through Jan. 12
Admission: $5 adults, $3 seniors and students, free to children 12 and under. Also, free admission on the third Thursday of each month.
Call: 526-0232THE DAY began leisurely as a group of about 10 elementary-aged children and several adults wandered through Dill's exhibit, a 10-year collection of paintings, prints, sculptures and photographs. Then, gathered together in the gallery, they listened to St. James explain the ties between language, clothing and identity. Later, they would write their own poems on paper that they would turn into a garment.
St. James began by describing being on the mainland and identifying local folks by hearing them say "Howzit." "That told me where they were from," she said.
"When a person wears a uniform, it identifies them. But it doesn't tell you about the person inside. In fact, it can hide who they are," she continued.
Then the group was listened to questions encouraging them to ponder their own identities.
"If your soul had a label, what would it say?" St. James asked. "Does your spirit shout? Or speak softly?
"What are the colors of your soul? Natural colors? Neon? Brights?
"What does your soul look like?"
Fortified with ideas, the group set out to express their inner selves on paper. They were led to tables with containers filled with words and began poring over nouns, verbs, adjectives and lines of poetry from Dickinson.
Words linked together must appeal to the aesthetic, St. James instructed. They should be able to be visualized.
It was not long before Christina Laguens, 8, of Montessori Community School, had composed: "Starlight magic beams gold streams."
F. L. MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Poetry should be appealing to the aesthetic and visual, teacher Susan Lee St. James said. Dustin Wagner, above, wrote of "brick red pickled mango."
"It's a place no one has ever found," she mused, as she transcribed her poem onto a vellum sheet cut into the shape of a skirt.
Cal Muramaru, a 6-year-old Iolani student, considered his work written on a pair of vellum shorts: "In the middle of the Pacific junkyard swims a purple dragonfly."
"I like junkyards because they're dirty," he said. "I can just see the dragonfly swimming around in circles."
Emma Smith, an 8-year-old from Lanikai Elementary, composed a full-bodied verse:
My soul is like Kona winds evening song"It's a feeling I have," she said, "that you need someone with you. You have to have someone else, like a friend."
You are indigo ripples sad song
Together we are a light
I am pirate
You are mate
Without us two together
We would be an empty bank
SUCH WORK speaks to the meaning and insight the arts add to our lives, St. James said.
F. L. MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
"Hindi Dress," 1995, is a photo silkscreen with oil paint on cotton, fabric and thread on Indian newspaper.
She recalled a poem by William Carlos Williams, "Between Walls," in which the poet describes the surroundings of a dismal hospital:
The back wing"Language shapes our perception of things," St. James said. "In writing about a pile of trash, Williams' description of those broken pieces of green bottle shows that he thinks they're beautiful. When we're aware of words and their connotations, it shapes how we see things.
of thehospital where
nothingwill grow lie
cindersin which shine
the brokenpieces of a green
bottle"And the way we see the world shapes the way it becomes. Words shape the way we relate to each other. The images and words we use can create violence, or peace."
Free writing workshops at the Contemporary Museum by Susan Lee St. James 'Poets in the Gallery'
>> Feb. 8: In conjunction with "Surf Culture: The Art History of Surfing"exhibit, participants will use "words that can carry us on a breaking wave."
Recommended age: 6 and up.>> May 10: In conjunction with "On Wanting to Grow Horns: The Little Theatre of Tom Knechtel" exhibit. Participants will create dream poems that examine the surreal and unreal. Recommended age: 12 and up.
Call: 526-1322 to register
Note: Children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.
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F. L. MORRIS / FMORRIS@STARBULLETIN.COM
Lesley Dill used tea-stained paper, cast paper, ink and thread to created "Leaf Radiance," in which words adorn the thin leaves.
Program rooted
in ‘Star Poets’"POETS IN THE GALLERY" has its roots in "Star Poets," a 3-year-old poetry contest for school-aged children that was created through the joint efforts of Windward Community College and the Starbucks Foundation.
"When we started the contest and saw the entries that were being submitted by teachers, we realized that teachers weren't familiar with how to teach poetry," said Libby Young, an associate professor of English and Journalism at WCC.
Entries of "M-O-M"-type poems, in which each letter became a word describing Mom -- "Marvelous/ Optimistic/ Modest" -- were often the kind of works classrooms sent in.
Instead, said Young, "poetry should be tactile, something that can be visualized.
"But everyone found that poetry was a great vehicle for the students to express what they were feeling that was important to them. They wrote about things they might not ordinarily have expressed."
So WCC applied for a grant from Starbucks to finance a poet to help teachers, and SusanLee St. James, who had participated in the Poets in the Schools program, was brought on board. She quickly expanded her outreach beyond the schools, into the community.
"Susan likes to combine different fields of expression," Young said. "She made the connections with The Contemporary Museum, and now they're involved, too."
To enter "Star Poets," call Young at 235-7396 or Jill Wheatman at 396-7571. Or e-mail Wheatman at jwheatman@hawaii.rr.com. The deadline for entries is Jan. 15.
Joleen Oshiro
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