Ephemeral Conversations - to Stimulate the Universe!

Well, I'm on a word kick. Or rather, an "Ephemeral Conversations" kick.

"To Stimulate the Universe" 11" x 14" “We are poets! Our function is to stimulate the universe, hunting for warped songs and tertiary spacetime music.”
My latest mixed media/visual poetry experiment! This started as a DEMO piece for my materials and process students. It got me all excited to play with materials. ____________________________ I am continuing to work on a new body of work called "Ephemeral Conversations" - A playful merging of mixed media and ephemera that I've been collecting over the years, including images for art collages collected by my late mother who passed in 2011. The themes of the work dive into dream states, psychology and contemporary myth and fantasy.
It is also a play on words. Not only am I using the occasional ephemeral materials from found papers (old pharmacy notes, stamps, pamphlets, bits of wallpaper), but I'm also using words from reading materials. Some of the words are direct and meant to be viewed as a message from the artist to the viewer. Some of the words are subdued and half hidden by other media, meant to add visual atmosphere - reflecting the way you might hear (but not quite understand) snippits of conversation in a public place.
My collection of materials began when I in college. At that time, my mother had boxes of materials she would use for her own collage and assemblage work. She collected old and damaged books on medicine and industry, vintage magazines, childrens books, maps and pamphlets. I witnessed her thought process of during this time of collecting, sorting, cutting up and using these items. When I cleaned her studio after her passing, I kept every scrap she had saved. I have the same desire to hunt for items I can use in art, and continue to add to this collection. When I use materials both myself and my mother had collected for her own art, I feel I am having an (ephemeral) conversation with her spirit as I create.

"The Tempest Whisperers" 8"x8"
I have about 8 of these 8"x8" Ephemeral Conversations now, but I need to get good photos of them! Some of the Ephemeral Conversations (And Much More!) can be seen at the Columbus Learning Center in Columbus Indiana until may 7th. I am currently involved in a show called "A Look at Relative Art; A collaborative family exhibit" with art by my Father Robert, Mother Catherine and Myself.
I really need to make a separate post about this and talk about the art of my parents.

Carousing with Destiny Finally

CAROUSING with DESTINY

I have had this poem made from cut text (various old/damaged book sources) for months. (I think I created it sometime in MAY 2019) I had it sitting between 2 pages of card stock with a book on top to keep it from shifting. Thank goodness I didn't accidentally bump the table it was on or I might have lost this whole thing. (see the picture at the very bottom to see the words arranged loosely on a black piece of cardstock.)

I was waiting for the right surface to put it on. I envisioned a collage where I would paste it. I created the collage I had in mind, but once I finished it, I felt words would only disrupt the imagery I had.

(below is the collage I had created, of the same name)

See? Words would not have worked here. I tend to find success in abstract backgrounds for my 'found poetry'. So I looked through my pages of experimental backgrounds (which generally tend to pile up when I'm having a gelli plate session) - I found one that looked promising, and filled it out with some more colors and textures, finally satisfied with the look.

FINALLY, in October, I HAD A SURFACE.

Below is the poem:
____________________________

CAROUSING WITH DESTINY

The voice of urgency trudged up clouds of remembered intensity

... it flows quite different, 
her depths gleaming, lit by endless fires, 
her place, fern-like in this world - 
this rhyming world.

From the deep valleys to ancient mountains, 
from among the twisted roots to the open spaces 
where anything might be fulfilled.

She heard her escape on the wind
across the maze into the mirror.

Carousing with destiny was like falling into an icy sea. 

That very moment she snapped, and with shaking hands
opened her door to the planet's manifestation of desire
of dreams
and gently rolling S C R E A M S.

____________________________________________

Here is what it looked like when I had the loose words just sitting on a piece of black cardstock.
It can take days for a longer poem like this to fully form.