May 13, 2008

Life has been craaaazy this week! It's all good. I've just been busy in my artroom, juggling projects and ignoring everything else in my apartment. Just don't look in the kitchen.

Recently I joined my first round robin; that is, ten bloggergals, including me, are collaborating on a project. The theme is Royal Confections and each of us have started our own sketchbook along with the beginnings of a doll based on a royal figure. Our round robin includes all of royal society whenever, wherever, from scullery maid to Queen. Once we've started our doll and sketchbook, we mail them to the person who is after us on the list. That person adds something to the doll and creates a page in our sketchbook. Then she mails it on to the next person on the list who does the same. We do this until everyone has contributed something to everyone's sketchbook and doll. In a year's time, I should be getting my original sketchbook back filled with artwork and my little doll should be complete.

My nine round robin companions are talented artists, all with different mediums and styles, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what they've created. They are... Holly, Susan, Sandy, Constance, Beth, Monica, Cat, Elizabeth, and Stephanie.

My doll and sketchbook was inspired by Canadian Author Jane Urquhart's poem, The One Before. It's from her book, The Little Flowers of Madame de Montespan, published by The Porcupine's Quill, Inc., 1995. The poem was later republished in Urquhart's beautifully-written book, Some Other Garden, published by McClelland & Stewart, 2000.

The One Before by Jane Urquhart

The one before
walked in these rooms
gazed in these mirrors
and searched her thighs for flaws

opening his cupboard
pouring this decanter
her mind set sail for landscapes
where you might stop
to choose a gift for her

a snowdrop pressed inside a book
birds frozen in a cage

the hours filled with
preservation of her flesh
her hair and face and muscle
till laying down her brush
she felt your absence speak

as though you hadn't nodded when
you passed her in the garden
or kept a place
beside you at the table

now I fill these rooms
and search the mirrors
I listen to the sound of strings
caressed by fountains

those imperfections in the glass
her face       thighs
lost in silver

the ghost travels with me
to your chamber

*

I love how visual this poem is...it's like a little film for me. I imagine a young woman entering a king's private chambers and seeing the "ghosts" of the women who came before her in the way objects are arranged on a table. She knows that her being in this room is, like the objects, temporary, that she may be asked to leave at any moment. It all has to do with pleasing that Someone Else so she takes extra care with how she appears in that beautiful room.

On the dress of my doll, I sewed little flat glass beads that remind me of a chandelier's crystal. Underneath are black and white photographs of me during my twenties. The photographs distort under the glass beads. The head of the doll is a black and white photograph of my twin sister (don't read into that. She's been one of my favourite - and willing! - models since I took up photography. Plus it's impossible to take a terrible photo of M. Well, there is that one photograph...She'll be calling me the second she reads that sentence...hee hee!). Anyway, I thought by placing her photograph in a round frame, slightly off-center, it would give the idea that M is looking at us rather than at herself through a mirror. I've left the arms and whatever else up to my fellow round robiners.

The sketchbook has that same portrait of M on the front and on the first page is a grainy black and white photograph of a reception scene I took years ago when I was doing wedding photography. The large painting on the wall and the drapes are the main image with a blurry, ghost-like image of a woman on the far right edge of the photograph. Then there are loose pages for my fellow round robiners to do whatever they'd like to on them. The last page is a black & white closeup of an old tattered couch. That's for the "ones before", the contributors to my book, to sign. 

Comments

[swampgirl]

how delightful!
thanks for the education about "round robins."

my belly still hurts from laughing on saturday ...

and yes to june 11th~~~

[eb]

oh Susanna - so lovely!

just savoring your whole process

and your thoroughness

xox - eb.

[karen cole]

OK.....I thought it was you until I read your entry. You are both beautiful. No more dissing yourself.

You have an amazing creative gift, Susanna. what an incredible start. I will be waiting, not too patiently, to see the final results.

We should have a round robin coming out party.

[Britt-Arnhild]

What an interesting round robin project. I look forward to follow as it unfolds.

[michelle ward]

swooon! susanna - this is a lovely beginning. i love the idea of the "ones before" couch...so clever. AND i love that M's face isn't centered, and your perfect narrative for why.

that karen - she can find a reason to make a party out of thin air :)

[le petit cabinet de curiosites]

I can't wait to see the end of this project !
This poem is wonderful , and so true

[rochambeau]

Hi There,
Such beauty, such talent. I do look forward to this. It's a fun and intriguing adventure into the imagination!

Great to see you yesterday friend.
xo
C

[Gillian]

Lost in silver indeed. What a beautiful poem and your soft, silvery beginnings look perfect. x

[stephanie]

Susanna,
Thank you for sharing your thought process here, so rich, beautiful and special...

x...x
steph

[teawithdemeter]

What a GREAT idea!

[laurie]

I lllike it!
I have met Jane Urquhart before... and her husband Tony who is a painter... I think he teaches at Guelph so perhaps Maria knows him. Super nice, both of them!

[bird tweet]

i really enjoyed hearing your own interpretation of the poem and how it inspired you to create this particular image. what a wonderful collaboration you are engaged in. i will look for updates along the way.
thanks for visiting me today susanna!
your friend, bird tweet robin from down the road

[Yoli]

What a great idea! I am sure it is going to be gorgeous.

[maddie]

layers and layers to your work my dear:)
and that doll is ....so so alluring
~ love the distorted portraits of you
beneath the glass buttons...
love the different narratives you have
going with this project ~ and it will
be incredible to see how she is returned
to you....

i love your mind ~ you are a true original:)

[collette ~ all over the map]

May I simply say you are a creative genius. I wanted to reach into the screen and touch the doll, look closer and just admire your originality.
What a great project to be involved in. I, too, look forward to seeing what the end results are. I hope you share the links of all the ladies participating so we can see what they are doing.
I'm in awe of your work.
xo

[susanna]

Thank you, Collette. You have me blushing tonight! :) I think your idea of providing links to my fellow round robiner's blogs is an excellent one. Why didn't I think of that?! I just added their links to the post. Thank you for the tip!

[monica magness]

Oh how Xciting to see the start and be a part of the process! A fun, fun party to be had here, I'm delighted to also join in this adventure... also, my first RR. Now, that dress on your doll is fantastic! I really am looking forward to holding her in my hands...

*goosebumps**

Art on, Monica :)

[Dawn Smith]

I found my way here from Art Tea Life, one of your RR collaborators. I love your concept and what you have done so far.