For as far back as the times of Plato, writers have been inspired by art to create poetry true to the form of the original work, yet adding their unique poetic perspective. Art & Words is taking the model one step further by not just engaging existing artwork to inspire poetry, but by also using existing poetry to inspire artwork.
Art & Words consists of an exhibition of art and poetry— side-by-side — that includes artists and poets inspiring one another. Existing poetry was collected by 13 invited poets and artwork was curated from 18 artists throughout the Hudson Valley and New York Metropolitan area. Those artists and poets were given the opportunity to select poems or pieces of art that spoke to them from the submitted work and to create a new piece of art — be it a visual art piece or poem — based on the original inspiration.
Shelley Davis
Nest (2023)
Mixed media, 16" x 20"
click image to purchase
inspired by Nested Heart, Monica Teresa Fiorentini
jd weiss
leaving the nest & flying free (2023)
encaustic medium, photography, india ink, pan pastel/ on rice paper/panel, 12" x 18"
click image to purchase
inspired by Nested Heart, Monica Teresa Fiorentini
Debbie Auer-Breithaupt
Nested Heart (2022)
Acrylic and acrylic painted nest collage with a yupo paper "egg shell", 20
' x 16"
inspired by Nested Heart, Monica Teresa Fiorentini
Nested Heart
Nested Heart
break from your shell
undo those wings
I wanna hear your call
You sit up there
safe and hidden
hard with soft colors
seemingly forbidden
Nested Heart
break from your shell
undo those wings
I wanna hear your call
We can stack
sticks and stones
make a pretty home
to call our own
and, yes
You can still gaze
at ladies in flowy skirts
'n cotton shirts
keepin' your head close
to twilight’s haze
Nested Heart
break from your shell
undo those wings
I wanna hear your call
Don’t fly ‘til your ready
'cause I know
these first steps
aren’t always steady
but please break from your shell
undo those wings
I so want to hold your call
— Monica Teresa Fiorentini
Will Nixon
Hood Trees (2023)
Digital photography, 9" x 11"
inspired by the poem Winter Trees, Phillip X Levine
Regina Quinn
Scratching the Sky (2023)
Encaustic with India ink and oils over watercolor, 8" x 8"
inspired by the poem Winter Trees, Phillip X Levine
jd weiss
winter trees (2023)
medium format film/archival pigment print on panel, 20" x 20"
inspired by the poem Winter Trees, Phillip X Levine
Winter Trees
I like the trees best now
With their hands where I can see them
I like the white oaks most of all
Black brawn and brainy
These are the sadhus I know
Caught by the shocking strobe of season
Arms in frantic mad apology
Scratching the sky for one more sun
— Phillip X Levine
Lucinda Abra
Sun Dance
Encaustic, oil and collage on wood
24" x 24"
inspired the poem Star Crossed , Lucinda Abra
Star-Crossed
Inez focused on the slightest sliver of light that snaked under the closed door.
A lone tear trickled downwards, a darkened blotch amongst the field of pillowcase daisies.
Her uncle clawed and raked.
Again. Again. Again.
He disparaged riddles and worries while their bodies merged. One quite willing, hungry even. The other, rigid.
He whispered they were like Romeo and Juliet.
And they were, star-crossed.
She tried to speak, to tell her mom. But inside Inez's mouth, stubborn knots of words refused to dislodge.
They sat there unused, dirty, swollen tangles banging against her braces.
Her menstrual cycles had just recently begun.
So easy to not notice a skipped month or two.
Her uncle arrived punctually every single Saturday to keep Inez company. Ever grateful for family nearby, her mom ran through town doing weekly shopping and a few sundry chores.
She even stopped for a bite with her closest friend, enjoying a little downtime.
A third month, 90 days late, brought alarm.
Inez fainted in class.
Knowing her condition, the school nurse summoned an ambulance.
Her parent fought against revulsion, anger, and fear as the physician expressed her remorse. The hospital could not give the girl her next series of chemotherapy. It would harm the fetus.
Inez, feverish and weak, did not yet understand that her childhood had ended.
She would be a mother by her fourteenth birthday.
That is, if leukemia didn't kill her first.
– Lucinda Abra
simplicity of life
henry thought
taking a walk
down memory lane
would ease his pain
that wakes him
daily
going back
to the 2 room cottage
air perfumed
by lavender
that bees busily buzzed
did he
truly miss this
simplicity of life
no one nagging
well
his mom
every evening
ha
he laughs now
that wasn’t nagging
she wanted him to succeed
follow his dreams
leave the simple life behind
put his head to the grindstone
be better
be grander than this
see what life could offer
marry
buy the big house
fill it with kids
a dog and a cat
maybe come back
for a visit
before her last breath
her smile haunts him
for he missed that day
to busy to take a break
a wife that nags morning and night
nothing seems to be right
she needs more than he can do
when did he lose his way
when did he stray
from his true beliefs
henry
didn’t resist
this last opportunity
unpacking his bag
he found his grounding
in
the 2 room cottage
air perfumed
by lavender
that bees busily buzz
he no longer misses
the
simplicity of life
— Gwynneth Green
Lucinda Abra
Hard (2023)
Paper on rice paper
27.5" x 27.5"
inspired the poem:
Dust
The government was handing out 160-acre parcels.
We hoarded every precious penny for a fresh life.
Determined, Samuel insisted we head west after hearing a real estate agent brag on the guarantee of the rain following the plow. By pushing the farrows soil deep, moisture was created.
Plenty of land was just waitin' to be conquered with dig and seed. One of those Oklahoma plots had his name right on it. His name
My husband often opined how the vast expanse of grain took on a purple hue at dawn. That's the closest that man ever came to being poetic. About wheat!
I birthed babies.
Four died at childbirth.
Franny made it to five before the consumption took her.
Nearly killed me, burying my little ones.
The ground demanded everything, even the entombment of hope.
All this was the before times, not the after.
Then came hell on earth.
The heavens did not, would not, offer one drop of rain.
Samuel took to staring at cloud patterns, citing to no one, except maybe the emaciated horse, that he was sure that the vault of heaven was just about to open up.
During a two-day dust storm, the barn disintegrated as it plummeted by the tempest.
Millions of pounds of earth we had so toiled upon blew from our
aspirations to as far away as Chicago.
Then like the tale of Job, our suffering only increased.
The earth heaved and thrashed.
I could not see my husband, though we stood only feet apart.
An enduring hunger left us empty with longing.
Samuel put salt on his boot and shoved it greedily into his parched mouth. They killed him, those farm shoes.
Dirt coursed through the papers ma had sent me. As I read those recipes, my fingers traced aside the fine particles of blowing turmoil, imagining satisfying tastes like that of a baked potato. I ate them papers, chewing them slowly.
Uselessly I worked my broom in a dreamish frenzy, resolved to conquer the warrior terrain. Finally, one corner of the house was left, along with a chair, my broom, and the good book.
The land was as barren as I was.
From dust, we all return.
— Lucinda Abra
Debbie Auer-Breithaupt
Kitsune (2021)
Acrylic and watercolor market on canvas
11" x 14"
Kitsune inspired the poems
kitsune
summer sweet grass,
breath, slow as a
tender whisper, with
friendship on it’s tongue,
she and I promises kept,
we have journeyed as one
soul, from our simple births,
precious butterflies carry our
love, from palm safely
to aqua citrine sky
— Michelle DeCicco
Sophia
Sophia
sought solace
in the flowery field
closing her eyes
images of a broken heart
not once
but thrice
sadness
hung heavily
releasing a deep sigh
falling into a meditative state
a magical spirit materialized
a guide
reminding her
to listen
be patient
be aware
be cautious
nudging her
Sophia stirred
still there
she held out her hands
he removed
her broken hearts
— Gwynneth Green
Kitsune
—based on a painting by Debbie Auer Breithaupt
Kitsune, little fox, my friend,
you hand me three cracked hearts
whose hues and shapes, like
bleeding heart blossoms,
tear at my own heart,
since we lived close together
as friends and companions.
Kitsune, little fox, my guide,
messenger from Inari,
goddess who descended
from Heaven to Japan
in the midst of famine
riding a white fox:
patron of bladesmiths and merchants,
you’ve brought me luck and good fortune
throughout the years.
Kitsune, little fox, my lover,
with a whoosh
of one of your nine tails
you changed me to being male
and changed yourself to female—
we had a son, and at the same time
my dog had a pup, which, as it grew,
got jealous of you, became
more and more hostile to you:
you begged me to kill it
but sadly, I refused, and one day
the dog attacked you so viciously,
you turned back to your vulpine shape,
leapt over a fence and fled.
Bereft, I called after you,
“You’re the mother of my son
and I will always love you.
Come back.” And every evening
you steal back
and sleep in my arms
as a woman, but at daybreak
you leave as a fox.
So you are never fully mine
and I am never fully yours.
Now you look beseeching
as I gaze at each of the three
cracked hearts you gave me,
and I feel my heart breaking,
for I still feel we are one:
I am in you and you are in me,
Kitsune, dear little fox,
my friend, guide and lover.
– Elizabeth Shafer
Debbie Auer-Breithaupt
Lullaby (2021)
Acrylic on canvas, 20" x 20"
Lullaby inspired the poem
Lullaby
sounds vibrate, from
space of heart,
energizes, vocal cords,
lull, wee one to
slumber,
with melody, equal to cardinal’s
all nature feels anew
– Michelle DeCicco
Debbie Auer-Breithaupt
Timeout (2022)
Acrylic, watercolor on scrathcboard
Timeout inspired the poems
Escape
A pointy chill, seeping in through the big window, sat her up in bed. The soft bear absorbed her dark fear. They saw each other in the red light: Dragon with his curved horns and spiky teeth, Girl in her fuzzy sweatsuit, bear fur pressed under her nails. I am afraid she said. I am afraid too, he said. Their eyes, in the violet shadows, heated the air of the room until a mountain range of fire swept the wall behind them, flickering each other's eyes. They sat as the rest of the house burned: the gray walls, ugly wallpaper, indifferent furnishings. They heard the rest of the household shouting, running away from the crackling fire growing louder. The big window siphoned smoke into the greater dark. Girl noticed the feathery white tips of Dragon’s wings, intricate gold and red streaks – embroidered flames. Dragon saw how Girl made sure to miss Bear’s eyes as her hand gently swept over his head and arm. I am afraid she said. I am afraid too, he said. Strips of black wallpaper slid to the floor as the shouts and fire receded, the air brightening to a clear yellow. Will you take us away from this place? she asked. Yes, said Dragon, offering Girl the strong curved horns of his back, his soft wings.
— Ana C.H. Silva
The Dragon & the Queen
Long ago,
a dragon made a deal with a Queen.
He’d let her rule the world, if he’d remain unseen.
There was only one of his kind,
He’d be killed if they could find,
The monster from the sea.
Though he was just like you and me.
He roamed deep.
Fathoms below.
Deep as the disbelief,
That a dragon could love.
With his snake-like body and wings like a bat,
teeth like a tiger and eyes of a rat...
The townspeople would find him,
Too ugly for love,
Unfit to live.
Although he could fly,
he ‘d stay below the sea,
Knowing no one could believe,
He was just like you and me.
But the Queen knew better,
That’s why she was Queen,
She kept her promise,
and all it would mean.
Come morning, she was bowed down by the King.
The squire, the jester-- every living thing!
Twas evening when the curtains were drawn,
Come virgins and maidens to fan her till dawn!
She’d wake for fresh air,
and summons them all to retire.
For at night she was refueled,
by the dragon’s spitfire.
He kept his promise,
and stayed down below,
He would only appear,
for her in dark shadows.
Risking his life, for the guards were in sight,
She watched where his shadow,
appeared in the moonlight.
Quietly she escaped,
to the edge of the sea,
Then he guided the forces,
that danced with her delight!
He could tip-toe on the water,
Sending ripples far below
And shoot up like a cannon
Sending waves to her toes.
He made her love, when she was cold.
He kept her young, while she grew old.
He made her laugh, when she cried.
He made her live, when she died.
No one ever knew,
of the bond they had.
When the dragon sank low,
she was all he ever had.
There was a kingdom at her feet,
and fire in her soul,
She could command her army, but
love she could not control.
One day in battle, the Queen was dethroned,
and left for dead, by the side of the road.
While tucked away deep, in the sea he called home
He felt a cold shiver, from his head to his toe,
through his skin and his bones.
The dragon sensed trouble and rushed by her side,
And held the Queen in his wings, Just before she died.
He carried her high, into the sky.
Higher and higher,
To the stars,
They did fly.
While kingsmen below,
throughout the countryside,
Threw down their swords,
bowed their heads and cried.
No one ever knew of the friend
that stuck by the Queen to the end.
All the while,
they walked by her side,
Yet no one saw her, from the inside.
Except the dragon who had to hide, for he was feared and misunderstood.
Now the hand of fate, has left the dragon alone.
Through the seven seas, sadly, he did roam.
Centuries passed as he searched for a home,
looking for a love to call his own.
When he cried, his tears overflowed the seas,
He often thought of his fire-breathing Queen.
She kept her promise and allowed him to live,
but for whom did he now have his spit-fire to give?
Life became overwhelming for a dragon so unique.
Once upon a time, he wanted to fly.
To show the world he was like you and I.
He was ugly, yet, he could smile.
He was feared, yet he knew love.
He chose life over freedom, so he would remain,
But without the Queen, life wasn’t the same.
There was a time,
when he would give it a try,
Now he wanted to die.
Long ago,
a Dragon made a deal with a queen,
She allowed him to live if he’d remain unseen.
Now she was in heaven and he was again all alone.
But she wanted to be near his heart and his home.
Then from the heavens,
a miracle was sent.
The dragon found love, and wisdom,
and all that it meant.
Part-angel, part-dragon,
part-queen breathing fire.
He took her to his wings,
through eternity they would fly.
It was a gift from above,
for remaining true to love,
and their words, and deeds,
and all the good seeds
they planted in their journey through life.
There was only one dragon,
and only one queen,
who loved with a love,
the world had never seen.
If you open your eyes,
and look to the light,
You’ll see them shining in the sun,
and
dancing in the stars at night.
Showing the world, it is worth the fight.
Truth, promise and love---
If you can get a piece of it,
Embrace it with your life.