The Uninitiated Fire

The Uninitiated Fire was a solo exhibition at Kresge Art Center in East Lansing, Michigan, that explored many genres of creative activity. I based all of the work off of poetry I had written–metered poems printed and made into books that visitors could carry with them as they viewed the pieces and experienced the show. In the books, I printed the text using letterpress and then silk-screened a negative image of my handwriting over them to contrast the qualities of each. The images may seem quite different in style and media, for example, the Family series is all etching, while the Birds are woodcuts, and the Last Ride of the Nephalum is a silkscreen. The reason for this is because each poem took on a life of its own and inspired the pieces differently. Adding another layer of sensory experience, the poems were recorded and then deconstructed into musical notes that corresponded with the spoken word. I commissioned two guitarists to play those notes during the show’s opening. The result was lovely.