The following collection of Carole’s artwork is from a past annual exhibit called The Poet/Artist Collaboration. The show was held at the former Crossings at Carnegie in Zumbrota, Minnesota. Crossings for many years hosted a jurried show combining poets and artists. Poets submitted poems and Artists submitted examples of previous works. A jury then selected about 25 poets and 25 artists. The process began with the poems and then the artists identified several favorites. From there the poems are paired with the artists. Artwork is created using the poems as inspiration. The poets and artists never met during this creative process. The poems and unique artwork were displayed together during the month of April which is National Poetry Month. I have always viewed the poetry as a spring board for my artwork. Rarely has my inspiration been a literal interpretation of the poem.
“A Bluebirds Prairie Flight”
Ⓒ 2003 Poet/Artist Collaboration 2
Poem: “Bluebirds” by: Nancy Shih-Knodel
Medium: Original Scratchboard
“A Bluebirds Prairie Flight” In Carole’s former Oronoco backyard there was a small prairie with bluebird houses. This illustration draws on that view from her kitchen window. The scratchboard is a white clay coated board , drawn on with black India ink and white lines scratched from the black areas with a sharp bladed tool.
“Slug…ish”
Ⓒ 2005 Poet/Artist Collaboration 4
Poem: “The Studio” by: Deborah Seelinger
Medium: Original Pastel
I’m drawn to natural science subject matter. In my studio you’ll find flowers, wasps, chrysalises, butterflies, grubs and slugs, too. Their intricate constructions fascinate me. Every detail of this one-footed gastropod is lovely- yet slimy.
“Heart of Stone”
Ⓒ2006 Poet/Artist Collaboration 4
Poem: “The Studio” by: Deborah Seelinger
Medium: Mixed
My artwork starts where he poem leaves off. I imagined the rock sinking, water bubbling, light shifting and the colors swirling. I selected this rock from my collection for its significance in the poem as well as its aesthetic appeal.
“Baited Breath”
Ⓒ 2007 Poet/Artist Collaboration 6
Poem: “The Cabin at Lost Lake” by: James C. Henderson
Medium: Original Mixed Medium
My illustration of a pike was inspired by a dream-like feeling evoked by the poem. The windows into the water give a glimpse of the fish- before it’s caught and eaten for lunch.
“Serendipity”
Ⓒ 2008 Poet/Artist Collaboration 7
Poem: “Another Cancer Poem” by: Susan Thurston Hamerski
Medium: Original Mixed Medium
“In a garden of summer perfected roses the poem I expected to write today did not include a butterfly.” This was the inspirational line in the poem that inspired “Serendipity”. Serendipity, is the faculty of making valuable discoveries by accident. I felt all along that the poet while grappling with a difficult topic, cancer, was also open to the beauty of a butterfly. While the rose and butterfly are realistic- combining the two, the way I did, is surrealistic. The rose, deliberately muted, emphasizes the colors in the monarch butterfly. I used gouache, pastel and colored pencil on Canson Mi-Teintes paper. Just imagine discovering this in your garden! I encourage you all to take a closer look.
“Suicidal Centipede”
Ⓒ 2009 Poet/Artist Collaboration 8
Poem: “Suicidal Centipede” by: Carolyn McDonald
Medium: Original Acrylic on Wood
While my centipede looks like something out of a science fiction comic book I assure you it is based on a real Myriopod called a Scolopendrid centipede. This colorful centipede has poisonous claws, 2 jointed legs per segment, 2 sets of 4 tiny eyes, and can grow up to 12 inches long. It lives in dark moist places in parts of South America. It’s been enlarged, and equally large specimen pin inserted, and hung askew, I’ve titled it “C.S.I.”
My artwork, “C.S.I.” (Centipede Suicidal Illustration) was inspired by John Baldessari’s Ⓒ 2000 “Specimen” -after Albrecht Durer’s Ⓒ 1505 “Stag Beetle”. I saw “Specimen” at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Albrecht Durer’s original “Stag Beetle” was 5 9/16 x 4 1/2 inches while John Baldessari’s “Specimen was 14 1/2 x 11 1/2 feet.
Was a crime committed here? The only crime would be if you didn’t take a closer look at my centipede- and that’s a fact.
“Alight”
Ⓒ 2010 Poet/Artist Collaboration 9
Poem: “The Gardener Sweeps the Path” by: Alice O. Duggan
Medium: Original Mixed Medium
This poem references tulip trees. While researching tulip trees I discovered, to my delight, that there’s a tulip tree moth! I got close, really close, and focused on the light on the trunk of the tree. Then I imagined a tulip tree moth alighting on the bark.
“Praying Mantis-
the Enigma”
Ⓒ 2011 Poet/Artist Collaboration 10
Poem: “Eggplant Summer/ The Enigma”
Medium: Original Watercolor
This image is influenced by a line in the poem: “….why the predacious mantis is ever compelled to play his fiddle…” Rumor has it that the male praying mantis prays the Lord’s Prayer prior to mating because he knows the female will bite his head off and eat it. Bizarre as it sounds there’s a physiological reason for this. It’s hard to understand or explain. It’s an enigma. Perhaps instead he could play the fiddlehead fern? what does a praying mantis sound like? I still don’t know but if I were him, I’d be careful- very careful!
“Hi Coo…”
Ⓒ 2016 Poet/Artist Collaboration 15
Poem: “Now We Will Speak in Flowers” by: Nicki Blenkush
Medium: Original Mixed Medium
At the time when I created this piece I was working for a florist. I used to frequently speak in flowers. As I tried to capture the essence of the poem “Now We Will Speak in Flowers,” I focused on the pigeon’s breast feathers appearing as zinnia flower petals. My next emphasis was on how to render words and communication. How would I illustrate sound waves? It was important to show this both in a transparent and opaque manner. Words were there, lost and regained in the poem. My illustration, “Hi Coo…” reveals a pigeon with a flower petal breast, on the telephone with sound waves floating through it. Only for The Poet/Artist Collaboration would I ever come up with such an idea!
“Air Male”
Ⓒ 2017 Poet/Artist Collaboration 16
Poem: “Mail Call” by: Angela Hunt
Medium: Original Acrylic on Wood Plate
This poem reflects on the loneliness of a soldier and mentions the highlight of their day as getting mail. They wrote getting mail is better than looking forward to Dung beetles in their underwear.
To the poet, you had me at Dung beetles”. How did I take a poem about a service person reading a letter during the Gulf Wars to a plate painted with black and white Dung beetles and a ball of poo? I knew I wanted a circular surface to dish up my idea. Artist, M.C. Escher’s “Butterflies,” a black and white wood engraving, influenced me and the fascinating Dung beetles kept me on a roll!
“Against the Grain”
Ⓒ 2018 Poet/Artist Collaboration 17
Poem: “Corvi” by: Kenneth McCullough
Medium: Original Mixed Medium
The poet wrote: “…two black tail feathers on the steps…” This reference inspired me to visualize 2 feathers on wooden steps. I was a guest visiting friends at the end of Paseo del Ocaso Road while working on this piece. It was the perfect time and place to be. At the end of Paseo del Ocaso the crows come calling. My first version was too literal and I needed to stretch the boundaries for this version of “Against the Grain.” By rendering the wood grain in the steps as fluid lines I released movement and energy to contrast with the two black feathers.
Never have I had a poem that gave me so many reminders to get busy! Crows are everywhere and even when you can’t see them you can hear them. My subjects were calling!
What’s my inspiration? Nature definitely. What’s my process? It’s not always a straight line. Sometimes I have to start over.
Pierre-Henri de Valencienne’s quote from the 1800’s is just a relevant today: “The artist should not attempt to paint a portrait of insignificant, inanimate nature: He should portray it as it speaks to his soul.”
“Between the Lines”
Ⓒ 2019 Poet/Artist Collaboration 18
Poem: “Empty” by: Marcia Ratliff
Medium: Original Mixed Medium
The following words from the poem “Empty” guided my artwork: “…shells borne up in the wind…” “Between the Lines” illustrates 3 views of the same shell turned over revealing its emptiness. I imagined putting the shell to my ear and hearing the sounds of the ocean. These sounds are represented with color and wavy lines. There is a contrast between the emptiness of the shell and being full of sound, full of life.
“Sunlit Swallowtail”
©2020 Poet/Artist Collaboration 19
Poem: “The Soul is Rife With Contradiction” by: Liz Weir
Medium: Acrylic on Canvas
Being a gardener myself and having raised swallowtail butterflies, it’s no wonder this poem was my first choice. The poet expresses a gardeners frustration at the caterpillars eating their flowers but yet still enjoys butterflies in their garden. This larger than life painting shows a newly emerged butterfly drying its wings in the sunlight - thus preparing for its first flight.
“We Are Stardust”
2021 Poet/Artist Collaboration
Poem: “Too Late” by: Marie Gery
Medium: Mixed, ink, pastel, gouache
My creative process started with an image conjured by the poet:
“Your atoms and mine helix, somewhere in the universe, stars begin singing.”
This poem felt like a love song to me. I conjured an image and a feeling by using gold ink in a stippled fashion, pastel for the color in the night sky, and finally white gouache for a Milky Way effect. By encircling the nude with a curve, I conjured the focus to be on her form. Her figure seemingly flowing into the cosmos. The vastness of the universe surrounds her body.
“Up In Smoke”
2023 Poet/Artist Collaboration
Poem: “Campfire” by Ed Brekke-Kramer
Medium: Original pastel
It was the smoke and my memory of a Moreton Bay fig tree in Santa Barbara that sparked my imagination. “Up In Smoke” illustrates a tree twisting and turning- its massive buttress roots just beginning to ignite.