Celebrating Artists – Beyond Book Covers

So today, I wanted to talk a little bit about some artists I love – and why I think as important as it is for writers to be plugged into a writer’s community, they should also strive to connect to the visual art community. And it’s not just so they have slamming art to use the next time they have a book cover coming up! (Although that is a positive side-effect…)

Tonight, I’m going to the reception for artist Yumiko Kayukawa, whose new show is opening at terrific Seattle gallery Roq La Rue. (She also graciously allowed me to use her piece, “Zen Cracker,” for this web site.) You can see some preview art for the show here. So many people talk about the SAM, the Seattle Art Museum, or maybe they mention the Henry Art Gallery at UW, which hosts some kickin’ literary events as well. Both deserve a visit, but this quirky downtown gallery always has something up on its walls that makes me wish I could afford to buy more art.

And soon, I’ll be reading October 21 at a reception for local painter Deborah Scott, whose fairy tale series “Waiting for Prince Charming” is a combination of subversive pop culture wit and traditional stunning painting techniques. Check out this review of her show here. It starts today as well – click here for more information about viewing her work! You can see why I’d like her work.

I’m hoping to meet up with the cover artist of my first book (Becoming the Villainess) Michaela Eaves, at the opening tonight, and I just wish I could follow Rene Lynch (the cover artist of She Returns to the Floating World) around because her exhibitions are always in fancy places like Germany and NYC.

I think poets have a lot in common with visual artists, whose work necessarily taps into the subconscious, whose images are often drawn from the same sources (history, mythology, pop culture) as ours. Yumiko’s work draws on old eighties record covers, Japanese anime, and ecological concerns; Rene Lynch clearly focuses a lens on fairy tale tropes, as does Deborah. Michaela’s pop-goth-with-a-twist sensibilities might suit, say, a speculative writer. I think we can benefit from hanging out with each other; poets can be inspired to write based on the striking visual input, and artists (maybe, hopefully) can be inspired by our writing. (Well, like I said, we can hope!) I think about Frank O’Hara, who used to write for fancy art magazines as well as book reviews and poetry, who wrote the poem “Why I Am Not a Painter.” I’ve loved this poem since I was a kid, and I swear I’ve actually had the conversation in the poem. “It needed something there.” “There should be so much more, not of orange, of words, of how terrible orange is and life. Days go by. It is even in prose, I am a real poet.” So today I encourage you poets to go out this weekend and find some local art and try to talk to a real live artist!