Words in Air
Inspired by the language of painting and poetry and the powerful ways in which each art form communicates distillations of experience, Edward E. Elson Artists-in-Residence Jennifer Caine and Rachel Hellmann have constructed a site-specific installation that combines the visual and verbal and embodies ideas of collaboration and creative exchange. Comprised of a series of floor-to-ceiling painted, sewn, and hand-cut paper “pages,” the piece resembles a human scale artist’s book—a porous container of light and color that not only invites viewing but also encourages movement in, around, and through it.
Transcribing a selection of poems by 20th century American female poets—letter by letter—in an invented shorthand of simplified marks, the artists blend a chorus of poetic voices into a single visual response. Addressing ideas of light and color in both their choice of poems and in the ways they restructure them, the artists marry form and content. Woven together, layered, and suspended in space, the “words” are united through cast shadows and reflected color to create a visual experience that is cohesive and solid, but at the same time shimmers and shifts in conversation with the ever-changing light and movement of people within the gallery. (Photos by Neil Evans)
Read MoreTranscribing a selection of poems by 20th century American female poets—letter by letter—in an invented shorthand of simplified marks, the artists blend a chorus of poetic voices into a single visual response. Addressing ideas of light and color in both their choice of poems and in the ways they restructure them, the artists marry form and content. Woven together, layered, and suspended in space, the “words” are united through cast shadows and reflected color to create a visual experience that is cohesive and solid, but at the same time shimmers and shifts in conversation with the ever-changing light and movement of people within the gallery. (Photos by Neil Evans)
