Women’s contributions to almost everything have been neglected for millennia and I was glad to see the work of several women in this exhibition. I didn’t know if women had not been allowed to be part of that particular art scene or if they had simply not been talked about. I believe it was probably both.
This was part of the French Moderns exhibition. I had never heard of her and took these pictures as a note to myself. The pieces were small.
And, as I got closer, had some of that texture that some Post-Expressionists leaned into.
Last Fall, the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, SC had an exhibition of some of the French Moderns. I saw “Matisse” in the description and (of course) I wanted to see it. Columbia is about a 3 hours drive from me and that’s usually longer than I want to go for a day trip. But, I could stop off overnight on the way home to see my kid. So, I packed a bag and headed south.
It was a good exhibition and I’m glad I went. However, I found the museum’s permanent collection more interesting that the special one. I feel that I can show you some of what I saw there without risking the income of any of the artists.
My friend, Luke, who is @LessEthereal most places online, is a huge fan of micropoetry. In particular, haiku and haiga. He pointed me to a website that’s doing a haiku-a-day thing for February. (Shortest month for the shortest poetry. Ha!)
They have a page about what haiku actually is and it’s not what American schools teach. They are more interested in what is said than in the number of syllables. And the differences between the languages makes that ridiculous anyway.
Taken from the “Not 5-7-5” article on that website: “Specifically, a haiku tries to invoke the time of year with a word that is typical of that season, such as snow for winter, or frog for spring.” And…” traditional haiku include words that function like a spoken sort of punctuation. More importantly, they cut the poem into two parts, creating a sort of juxtaposition, not only grammatically but also imagistically. The point is to carefully pair two images together in such a way that a shift or disjunction occurs between them. The art of haiku lies in creating the right amount of distance between the two parts, so the leap is neither too far (and thus obscure) or too close (and thus too obvious).”
I have a new 1.5mm italic fountain pen that I can only use at home because I have to use ballpoint at work. And I have an empty journal that was lying around the house.
I’m trying to write one thing a day that can lead me into writing sophisticated haiku. If I ever write one that I think ticks all the boxes, I’ll share.
I am the Audience 