The Library received 36 submissions for the 2010 art award contest. Students were asked to respond to any work of art in the Library's internationally recognized collection. The responses were varied and included poems, essays, digital art, paintings, photographs, sculptures, and musical compositions. Judges looked for works that were not only inventive but also reflected a strong interpretation of a work of art in the library.
Hyoeun Kim's scratch boards, Orchard; Kept in My Light Bulb were inspired by Jim Lee's Receding Orchard. Kim's inventive, skillful use of scratch tools and ink pens, coupled with an environmental message, produced a powerful response.
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Christina Squitieri's poem Into the Skylight was in response to Maria Hartman's painting Skylight. Squitieri's poem is wonderfully imaginative, beautifully written, thoughtful interpretation of a challenging abstract work of art.
Into the Skylight The woman sighs from her bed. Footprints soft as ghostshine, A voyeur paints the smell of coffee grounds With the texture of dahlias; Palate knife flecks pale As the teeth in your mouth Glimmer like marzipan In the early air. Limbering into the skylight, Her curves wiry as cello strings, She gives only the frown Of a drooping bedsheet & depth of blinkless eyes. The Painter yawns a smile Thumb strumming her hips Soft As an open window Or a brush in worn hands' Hands that long to play corporal music' But dawn is rising, And the sun gives her Icarian wings. The woman's arms stretch, sing, As October shadows choir behind her Sewing coughs & A sipped cup of tea Into the ochre reflection of glass. The artist Watches, eyes calm, Painting lisps With a sprig of her hair. -Christina Squitieri, Jan 2010 Inspired by Maria Hartmann's Skylight (2000)
There was a split decision in the graduate student category. Both works are in response to William Kentridge's Dancing Couple.
Timothy Hospodar and Chloe Bass's video titled Dancing Couple Over Time is a very creative response with marvelous subtle touches.
David Friedman's sculptured cowhide rug titled Wedding is highly inventive. The color and technique reflects a thoughtful response to the Kentridge print.
Fran Agnone's song is remarkable for its lyrical beauty and expressive musical performance which evokes the laborious work on a farm. Her song was in response to Xu Bing's Vegetable Fields.
Farmland Audio: Lyrics: You are just a farmland Tended by the hand of man (2x) And the dirt is sown by hand and stone And the dirt is sown by plow and ox And the dirt is sown by machine and gasoline You are just a farmland Tended by the hand of man (2x) And the roots take hold once the seeds germinate And the Earth gives the dirt just the right taste And if weather and farmer cooperate this field will grow This bloom is not a bloom, this mist not a mist (3x) Your are just a farmland Tended by the hand of man (2x) And the Earth does give what it receives And let Man see, what man sees |