DRAWINGS AND CALLIGRAPHY, THOMAS INGMIRE;
POETRY, DAVID ANNWN
MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS, JOHN COWEY
Errant Inerrancies is a book that began with an idea…. an idea for something completely
different than what resulted. In an e-mail written by David to me in May 2013, he proposed
the following:
John Cowey and I wanted to ask you if you could send a new/older image in three stages of completion
so that we could create a fold out book in nine tall panels, (which when folded outward created a standing circle):
a homage to yourself. I saw such books in China and liked them.
I asked David if he could tell me more about his ideas on this. He replied in another e-mail.
What I meant was, do you have somewhere in your files an image which I haven't seen before
of which you have a first stage version, a second more complete stage and a finshed version which
you're happy with? (The images can be simple or complex, but perhaps a colour one would work better.)
What I have in mind is nine panels:
1. Your first draft of the image.
2. A responding poem by myself.
3. Musical notation by John.
4. Your second image.
5. Another poem
6. J's music
7. Your final image.
8. My last poem
9. John's music.
That these panels stand upright - as one folded strip - in a circle as a homage to your image-making.
This could be exhibited with a recording of J's music (from the musical notations) playing.
What do you think?
For some reason I had been missing the point about David’s idea, but I think after this last e-mail
I finally understood. I sent him the following reply:
I understand now. Sorry that has taken so long. Let me think of this for a while. If I am correct,
in your original e-mail with this idea, you suggested a series that would be made up of first sketch
or study, a more developed sketch, and then the final work. Is this correct? If this is right I will see
what I can come up with. Most of my work is pretty direct, without preliminary work. The main exception
would be some of the St. John's Bible pages. In these I often did a number of studies. If we used them
we would have to check to make certain about any copyright issues. But if this idea is correct I will
see what else I can find. (another project I just remembered was with a book having to do with the
5th Canto of Dante's inferno…the circle of lust…now that sounds better….or a book from long ago…
the alchemy of the word by Arthur Rimbaud). There were different studies and development stages,
but my records would be in my photos (if they exist) as opposed to the actual work.
My other interpretation of your proposal would be for me to send you something new where we would
begin the same back and forth process as before…except John would be inside at different stages.
This for me would have to be a bit of a longer term project, because of my current time issues,
but would be a good idea as well.
Let me know if I am "getting it" David. I will see what i can come up with.
In a brief response, David concurred that this was the idea.
That's the idea. The Dante & Rimbaud sound real possibilities in this regard.
I responded by sending David some images and the following e-mail:
POETRY, DAVID ANNWN
MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS, JOHN COWEY
Errant Inerrancies is a book that began with an idea…. an idea for something completely
different than what resulted. In an e-mail written by David to me in May 2013, he proposed
the following:
John Cowey and I wanted to ask you if you could send a new/older image in three stages of completion
so that we could create a fold out book in nine tall panels, (which when folded outward created a standing circle):
a homage to yourself. I saw such books in China and liked them.
I asked David if he could tell me more about his ideas on this. He replied in another e-mail.
What I meant was, do you have somewhere in your files an image which I haven't seen before
of which you have a first stage version, a second more complete stage and a finshed version which
you're happy with? (The images can be simple or complex, but perhaps a colour one would work better.)
What I have in mind is nine panels:
1. Your first draft of the image.
2. A responding poem by myself.
3. Musical notation by John.
4. Your second image.
5. Another poem
6. J's music
7. Your final image.
8. My last poem
9. John's music.
That these panels stand upright - as one folded strip - in a circle as a homage to your image-making.
This could be exhibited with a recording of J's music (from the musical notations) playing.
What do you think?
For some reason I had been missing the point about David’s idea, but I think after this last e-mail
I finally understood. I sent him the following reply:
I understand now. Sorry that has taken so long. Let me think of this for a while. If I am correct,
in your original e-mail with this idea, you suggested a series that would be made up of first sketch
or study, a more developed sketch, and then the final work. Is this correct? If this is right I will see
what I can come up with. Most of my work is pretty direct, without preliminary work. The main exception
would be some of the St. John's Bible pages. In these I often did a number of studies. If we used them
we would have to check to make certain about any copyright issues. But if this idea is correct I will
see what else I can find. (another project I just remembered was with a book having to do with the
5th Canto of Dante's inferno…the circle of lust…now that sounds better….or a book from long ago…
the alchemy of the word by Arthur Rimbaud). There were different studies and development stages,
but my records would be in my photos (if they exist) as opposed to the actual work.
My other interpretation of your proposal would be for me to send you something new where we would
begin the same back and forth process as before…except John would be inside at different stages.
This for me would have to be a bit of a longer term project, because of my current time issues,
but would be a good idea as well.
Let me know if I am "getting it" David. I will see what i can come up with.
In a brief response, David concurred that this was the idea.
That's the idea. The Dante & Rimbaud sound real possibilities in this regard.
I responded by sending David some images and the following e-mail:
I have not had success finding work that shows stages of development. The Dante stuff that I mentioned
doesn't seem quite right. I have attached some images that might work as an alternative idea. But I will
leave that up to you and at the same time I will continue to see what I might find. The images here are some
pages that I did with the thought of bringing words into them at some point. I have looked at them as book
pages but they could also be torn down and used separately as broad sides. They are not large…only 10" x 13".
I have included images of the separate pages as well as double page images.
If you wanted to work with one of the images or a double page spread (or the whole thing as a book for
that matter), we could consider them as first stage work. You could respond with a poem, and I could either
add to the sheets as a second stage, or could create new ones that would be a synthesis of your words
and the image. In a way I like the idea of adding to the sheets and returning them to you as a second
stage…with the idea that you would return them for an additional response. The risk of course is that the
sheets might become chaotic, but I tend to like to deal with that. John could work in his responses at each stage.
I guess if there is a problem at the moment, it could be fitting this into my work. Do you have a time plan for
the idea you presented to me? (the nine panel work). Because these works are small, would you assume
that the panels would be created photographically…by blowing up my originals? If I am working into the
images this could be quite interesting, since in the end there would only be one final image…the first two
stages "hidden" within it.
The following response from David:
Thank you for these amazing images. I'm very sure I can work with three of these and I'm sure
that John can respond as well. Then we can come back to you. Serendipitously, I'm seeing John
this Thursday, so we can initiate that stage of the project then. It is great to be working with your
visuals again.
More on this very soon.
and after seeing John:
I just wanted to let you know that we had a very enjoyable evening with John Cowey here
last night and he's very taken with the images you sent me, (he also noticed musical staves in some.)
He's very sure that he can write music in response to three of these, (perhaps more.)
I also showed him 'Tabula...' and he was struck to wonder by your images.
David sent the following e-mail with his poems attached:
I'm attaching three poems I've written in response to three of the the
mages you included with your e-mail 'some images and thoughts'on 25th May.
The first poem is a response to the second image going down the page, the
second to the first and the third one, the fourth. (I tried sending the
mages too but it came to over 32 MB).
These would be for the tribute to your work. I know that John is working on
music for your images too.
We like these images a great deal.
1.
A of the armature
undulating staves so sun's
grain blurred on strings
marks dripped
in the making's dissolved
feel; no flourishes'
skin is not another's
emerging, coming's
yolk to the orange way
orbit re-developing
morning through ellipse
another angled say
blazon trawling
scrapped effigies
of shape
a-rise
through notes
of strung
sway
tilted sides
& letters
of hazard in errancies
inerrancies.
2.
dream cloud-clearing vertigo down through dreamed crypto- half-heard
languages
all night's collusion clears
is it 'sent' or 'clear' or 'cellar' or 'sear' those receding
bangles of register drop away
downtown traffic smudged , the rain-blur and city comes up as it should
far-off
we see people as specks
an itinerary with music wired
into the far zones
of innermost
my staves of sight
flap
a space so vast & daunting
yet sparrows grouped
on lines flicker potential
languages
and signs of un-
language
for all of it
watch them
they are my hands
Soon after David’s poems arrived John sent two short musical compositions.
I began working with the poetry and thinking about words in the context
John’s music. For me the process involved making marks in response to the music
and then to think about how the character of the marks, as abstract drawing,
might connect to the poems. I also began to wonder what David, after having
heard John’s compositions, thought about his poems? Would he change them
in any way. Before doing more work myself, I posed this question to David.
He responded with the following e-mail and sent a new series of poems.
I have worked on the original poems for the Thomas Ingmire homage, mostly in
the way of simplification and cutting over-wordiness. (I like when the basic super-structure emerges).
Now I also feel that they sit more congruently with John's music & I like their
suggestive brevity Here they are as attachment. I hope you like these new versions.
Then I attached the poems below:
1.
(Image with musical stave at top and orange hues.)
making's dissolved
orbit re-developing
morning through ellipse
another angled say
blazon, effigies
of shape
strung sway
tilted sides
of hazard
swooping these
inerrancies.
2.
(Image with one great blurry set of a stave dominating the picture space)
crypto- half-heard
clears
register drops away
rain-blur and city come up
far-off
people, specks
itinerary
with music
sparrows grouped
flicker
languages
for all of it
watch them
fly
3. (Image with door-like rectangle at centre)
the wakeful
- an
opening
seen from above
miniature
curlicues
white calm
behind the door
blueprints
& characters
skewing
words seen through
from verso
rising
THE IMAGES BELOW ARE OF THE FINAL BOOK PAGES
doesn't seem quite right. I have attached some images that might work as an alternative idea. But I will
leave that up to you and at the same time I will continue to see what I might find. The images here are some
pages that I did with the thought of bringing words into them at some point. I have looked at them as book
pages but they could also be torn down and used separately as broad sides. They are not large…only 10" x 13".
I have included images of the separate pages as well as double page images.
If you wanted to work with one of the images or a double page spread (or the whole thing as a book for
that matter), we could consider them as first stage work. You could respond with a poem, and I could either
add to the sheets as a second stage, or could create new ones that would be a synthesis of your words
and the image. In a way I like the idea of adding to the sheets and returning them to you as a second
stage…with the idea that you would return them for an additional response. The risk of course is that the
sheets might become chaotic, but I tend to like to deal with that. John could work in his responses at each stage.
I guess if there is a problem at the moment, it could be fitting this into my work. Do you have a time plan for
the idea you presented to me? (the nine panel work). Because these works are small, would you assume
that the panels would be created photographically…by blowing up my originals? If I am working into the
images this could be quite interesting, since in the end there would only be one final image…the first two
stages "hidden" within it.
The following response from David:
Thank you for these amazing images. I'm very sure I can work with three of these and I'm sure
that John can respond as well. Then we can come back to you. Serendipitously, I'm seeing John
this Thursday, so we can initiate that stage of the project then. It is great to be working with your
visuals again.
More on this very soon.
and after seeing John:
I just wanted to let you know that we had a very enjoyable evening with John Cowey here
last night and he's very taken with the images you sent me, (he also noticed musical staves in some.)
He's very sure that he can write music in response to three of these, (perhaps more.)
I also showed him 'Tabula...' and he was struck to wonder by your images.
David sent the following e-mail with his poems attached:
I'm attaching three poems I've written in response to three of the the
mages you included with your e-mail 'some images and thoughts'on 25th May.
The first poem is a response to the second image going down the page, the
second to the first and the third one, the fourth. (I tried sending the
mages too but it came to over 32 MB).
These would be for the tribute to your work. I know that John is working on
music for your images too.
We like these images a great deal.
1.
A of the armature
undulating staves so sun's
grain blurred on strings
marks dripped
in the making's dissolved
feel; no flourishes'
skin is not another's
emerging, coming's
yolk to the orange way
orbit re-developing
morning through ellipse
another angled say
blazon trawling
scrapped effigies
of shape
a-rise
through notes
of strung
sway
tilted sides
& letters
of hazard in errancies
inerrancies.
2.
dream cloud-clearing vertigo down through dreamed crypto- half-heard
languages
all night's collusion clears
is it 'sent' or 'clear' or 'cellar' or 'sear' those receding
bangles of register drop away
downtown traffic smudged , the rain-blur and city comes up as it should
far-off
we see people as specks
an itinerary with music wired
into the far zones
of innermost
my staves of sight
flap
a space so vast & daunting
yet sparrows grouped
on lines flicker potential
languages
and signs of un-
language
for all of it
watch them
they are my hands
Soon after David’s poems arrived John sent two short musical compositions.
I began working with the poetry and thinking about words in the context
John’s music. For me the process involved making marks in response to the music
and then to think about how the character of the marks, as abstract drawing,
might connect to the poems. I also began to wonder what David, after having
heard John’s compositions, thought about his poems? Would he change them
in any way. Before doing more work myself, I posed this question to David.
He responded with the following e-mail and sent a new series of poems.
I have worked on the original poems for the Thomas Ingmire homage, mostly in
the way of simplification and cutting over-wordiness. (I like when the basic super-structure emerges).
Now I also feel that they sit more congruently with John's music & I like their
suggestive brevity Here they are as attachment. I hope you like these new versions.
Then I attached the poems below:
1.
(Image with musical stave at top and orange hues.)
making's dissolved
orbit re-developing
morning through ellipse
another angled say
blazon, effigies
of shape
strung sway
tilted sides
of hazard
swooping these
inerrancies.
2.
(Image with one great blurry set of a stave dominating the picture space)
crypto- half-heard
clears
register drops away
rain-blur and city come up
far-off
people, specks
itinerary
with music
sparrows grouped
flicker
languages
for all of it
watch them
fly
3. (Image with door-like rectangle at centre)
the wakeful
- an
opening
seen from above
miniature
curlicues
white calm
behind the door
blueprints
& characters
skewing
words seen through
from verso
rising
THE IMAGES BELOW ARE OF THE FINAL BOOK PAGES
With both sets of David’s poetry and John’s compositions I continued with my work on
the book. I wrote parts of both poems sometimes within my original drawings and
sometimes on sheets adjacent to the drawings. I did not attempt to match the poems with
the images that inspired them. I was more interested in creating new word image relationships.
I also continued to create marks and patterns in response to John’s compositions. While
working I questioned exactly what I was creating. My thinking turned to the idea of seeing
the book as a score and guide for a performance piece. My mark-making response to John’s
compositions could easily be seen as a modern musical score with David’s poems the words
to the music. My drawings within the “scores” could be seen as an expression of the the
atmosphere of the performance setting. It was this idea the served as my guide for the
development of the work.
Some concluding thoughts
In reviewing the process for the creation of this book, I recognize that it took a turn away
from David and John's original idea of developing nine panels. I appreciate their willingness
to participate in my digressions. I also am grateful for their enthusiastic poetic and musical
responses to my work. Their contributions challenge me and lead me in new directions
with my work. I feel like the book, while it is a completed entity, nevertheless represents
another important stage in our three way collaboration involving poetry, music,
and calligraphy.
And a "coda" from David:
John Cowey and I originally envisaged this work as a free-standing tribute
in admiration of the splendid art of Thomas Ingmire. I showed John a set of
small, free-standing screens of calligraphy which I'd brought back from
China as a possible point of reference. In working with the images which you
sent us, we were continuously struck by the levels of visual energy in view,
the subtlety, range and scoring of marks almost as if these already
possessed complex sonic identities.
John particularly drew my attention to the direct and oblique references to
musical staves and the orbs, circles and splashes of notes. As for the two
sets of poems, I'm grateful for the exuberance and light which Thomas's
images gave me -the opened-up architecture of signs - and the intricate
lucidity, the sense of flickering and measured sound in silence of John's
exacting and beautiful music.
I re-visited my words with these in mind.
the book. I wrote parts of both poems sometimes within my original drawings and
sometimes on sheets adjacent to the drawings. I did not attempt to match the poems with
the images that inspired them. I was more interested in creating new word image relationships.
I also continued to create marks and patterns in response to John’s compositions. While
working I questioned exactly what I was creating. My thinking turned to the idea of seeing
the book as a score and guide for a performance piece. My mark-making response to John’s
compositions could easily be seen as a modern musical score with David’s poems the words
to the music. My drawings within the “scores” could be seen as an expression of the the
atmosphere of the performance setting. It was this idea the served as my guide for the
development of the work.
Some concluding thoughts
In reviewing the process for the creation of this book, I recognize that it took a turn away
from David and John's original idea of developing nine panels. I appreciate their willingness
to participate in my digressions. I also am grateful for their enthusiastic poetic and musical
responses to my work. Their contributions challenge me and lead me in new directions
with my work. I feel like the book, while it is a completed entity, nevertheless represents
another important stage in our three way collaboration involving poetry, music,
and calligraphy.
And a "coda" from David:
John Cowey and I originally envisaged this work as a free-standing tribute
in admiration of the splendid art of Thomas Ingmire. I showed John a set of
small, free-standing screens of calligraphy which I'd brought back from
China as a possible point of reference. In working with the images which you
sent us, we were continuously struck by the levels of visual energy in view,
the subtlety, range and scoring of marks almost as if these already
possessed complex sonic identities.
John particularly drew my attention to the direct and oblique references to
musical staves and the orbs, circles and splashes of notes. As for the two
sets of poems, I'm grateful for the exuberance and light which Thomas's
images gave me -the opened-up architecture of signs - and the intricate
lucidity, the sense of flickering and measured sound in silence of John's
exacting and beautiful music.
I re-visited my words with these in mind.