Congratulations to unFound on officially opening in Stockton at Central UMC on Friday, 9/5!!Abby and I arrived in CUMC at about 11:30 a.m. and we worked for hours setting up the space. One of the most amazing and challenging portions of the set-up was when I worked with the poem The Undoing. Abby had the brilliant idea of writing the text of the poem on the floor of the exhibit space, but b/c we couldn't actually write on the concrete, the text was written on contact paper, and Abby had to very tediously cut out portions of the poem. Putting the poem back together took forever -- complicated by the fact that I do not memorize (gasp!) my poems.
It was easy to identify the stanzas and to string together the primary words in each line, but w tripped me up were the articles, conjunctions, punctuations. It also took quite a long time to remove the contact paper backing and apply the words to the ground.
This particular step was helpful for me. It was literally a cut-and-paste revision. In my head, I was able to identify the unnecessary filler words that could be cut to pare the poem down to its essence. Something about the fiscality of cutting and pasting words on the ground really helped. It was amazing to see the poem cut apart into jumbled puzzle-pieces, then pieced together into meaningful lines that spiraled on the ground. We really immersed ourselves in "the undoing" of the poem!
Even though the Stockton heat was unbearable -- even with four fans blowing full blast in the hall -- we still had a great turn out. People walked in and out of the installation, looking carefully and looking hard for the tiny details found in the embroidered poems, in the hand-drawn outlines, and the ironed pages of books.
During the reading and presentation, I was amazed to see their open, attentive faces nodding in response to poems that were being read out loud. It was worth it just to see their reaction. And, I hope, their understanding of the poems will deepen their understanding and appreciation of the installation.
I can't possibly end this post without mentioning our host for the evening. The entire event at CUMC would not have happened without Alan's organization, management, hosting, and inspiration. We had great set-up and great food. The details were perfect, right down to the beautifully arrayed napkins and batik table centerpieces. We owe it all to Principal Alan Cook extraordinaire.
unFound: a poetry and visual art exhibition
Artwork designed by Abby King Kaiser
Poetry written by Hoang-Anh Tran
Hosted by Alan Cook!
1 comment:
Abby & Hoang-Anh:
I can't even begin to describe how utterly impressed and amazed I am by what you two have put together, and what you have gone through in order to get to this point. Truly, you surrendered to something greater than yourselves, and in doing so have given us glimpses of the depth and magnitude of what we experienced together as a group in what seems like a distant memory.
You powerfully remind us that the journey has not "ended." The discovery, finding, (un)finding, and (u)founding of old/new things continues.
Thank you.
MALT
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