OCR Text |
Show Local Poet Katherine Coles and artist Maureen OHara Ure collaborate on Natural Disasters installation by Ann Gambrino Forum staff writer Katherine Coles and Maureen 0Harq' Ure have united their artistic talents to create Natural Disasters, an exhibition now on display through Friday, March 26 at the Finch Lane GalleryArt Bam, 54 Finch Lane in Reservoir Park in Salt Lake City. Natural Disasters features the paintings and sculptures of Ure with text by Coles. The idea for the collaboration began about a . year and a half ago with the theme of disaster. A collaboration is as much about defining boundaries as it is about breaking them down. In this one.which examines the idea of natural disasters, we are exploring each others images and words, both as they appear in our work and as they emerge in conversation. In the studio, at the keyboard, over coffee under the trees, we are butting heads, puzzling each other, tossing out and tossing away phrases and drawings, exam- ining common obsessions and complaints like violence, goodness, truth, charm, fire nature, fortunes, and finally, the ways we turn ourselves into" lines on a page, said ' rnw and Ure ' - : ' The exhibit opened on Sunday, Feb. 21 , with a reception for the artists. On Thurs- day, Feb. 25, the artists Welcomed a captivated audience of family, friends, students and art enthusiasts as Coles read her poetry, which relates toUres images. This project This is a love poem written for my husband, said Coles. It took three years to write, because if you arc happy, what is there to write about? I showed my husband the first draft and he said, Theres not enough physics in here! Therefore, Coles titled her next ' reading, The Physics of Love. Maureen told me that Hegira was a flight away from civilization into the desert, especially Mohammeds flight into the desert,1 said Coles of the next reading. The title poem for the sequence, Natural Disasters, was written in four sections. I dont know why Maureen has me writing these long poems,! said Coles, but its all her fault. The poem is an elegy for Thco Pilkington, a cardiologist at Duke University who died of a heart attack in January on his way to work. The last poem, Fear of Falling, was written for Coles parents. It is an elegy for their friend, a Swiss mathematician, who has been a great deal of fun for me, said died in a climbing accident in Zions National Coles, as well as a lot of trouble along the Park. Theres that time in life when you start them and they stop worrying way. It took me a long time to sense where worrying about her Ures work left off and mine started. I about you, said Coles. After the readings, Coles and Ure shared wanted to do new work that really mattered to me. We both wanted to do work that stood their personal thoughts with the audience on its own, but it was so integrally related. about the creation of Natural Disasters. They explained how difficult it was in the beginIm still writing poems for this project! ning trying to combine their two different art Coles first reading was All of the Above, a poem written very early in the project It is forms and continue to be separate. Ure said, The paintings were not done for the illustraabout a conversation that I had with my for friend,MargaretRostkowski. We talked about tions, and the illustrations were not done the paintings. They were meant to stand on multiple choice examinations, said Coles. The next poem, Lifting Weight, was their own. Toward the last three months of the project, Ure said, Katie had poems that written when I ended up with thoracic outlet Ures art syndrome, said Coles. My fingers went were the titles of my paintings! contains birds that are actually carrying Coles numb, and the doctor said I had to lift weights because I had scholars stoop! Coles said poetry in their mouths. Meaningfully, Ure has titled one piece, We turn ourselves into the poem was dedicated to all her students. The History of the Garden, Coles next lines on a page. Coles said, I am not interested in single reading, was written in numbered sections and alternates back and forth between Salt words, but I am interested in how words come Lake City and Paris. My husband and I together. The titles of Ures images were went to Paris last fall, said Coles, and how we came together on this. Ure exempliVera is a polygamists daughter who lived fied Coles interest by creating the piece, She parsed her sentences. It consisted of by us. cut-owood letters on a board. The letters After this poem The History of the Garden, I found out I was not quite fin- formed the words from Coles poem, Allsen-of ished with Vera, said Coles. She was the the Above, and said, She parsed her I wont tences into perfect portions, elegant and emdaughter of one of the patriarchs say which one! She lived with her mother phatic, selective, just. The painting is more abstract than speakuntil her mother died, and then she lived in her mothers house. She never married. ing or writing ... the verbal was work for me, said Ure. This was the most consciously Coles continued with the sonnet Vera, involved project I have ever done ...Truth which was written for her. and Beauty is the anthem for the pieces. It is Coles said, I create poems for my whole family and friends, but this one is for my dog. rather arrogant, but meaningful. Coles is an assistant professor of English He is extremely big very big about 130 lbs., and we thought we lost him! I wrote this at Westminster. She has just completed her it was a first novel. Heart Failures , and her first book next poem when I thought we did of poetry, The One Right Touch, was pubbit premature. Elegy for a Dog, Bigger ' lished in November 1992. Ure is currently a than Life begins with an epigraph by Francis Bacon, 'The true aethiest is he whose hands visiting professor in the arts departmental the are cauterized by holy things. University of Utah and in 1990 wasthcartist-in-residcnc- e at the Sundance Play writes Lab. Coles wrote her next poem, Death ValNatural Disasters is funded by grants from ley, in direct response to a painting by Ure. It is about family vacations in cars, said the Sal t Lake City Arts Council, the Utah Arts Coles. Maureen and I found that we had at Council and Patrick J. OHara. least one thing in common! The poem is ' A mixed media display by local artist written in five sections: At the Homeless Susan Beck is also on display at the Finch Shelter School, Family Vacation: Dantes Lane Gallery. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 pirn, and View, Family Vacation: Last Chance Range, Artists Pallet and Winter Solstice. Sunday from 1 to 4 p.m. Admission is free. ut March 9, 1993 forum Page 9 |