The most recent challenge was issued in May. After much procrastination, and an extended deadline, a few of us completed the task. The task: to create something based on a phrase, poem, or other written word(s) that was inspirational.
Ms. P wrote this about her work...
I chose to work from a musical composition, Samuel Barber's
Knoxville: Summer 1915. Are you familiar with it? It is gorgeous!
Anyway, the image I made is based on a photograph of survivors of the
Chinese earthquake camping outside in the rubble. The image really
spoke to the line in Barber's piece (the words are taken from a James
Agee essay) that reads, "who shall ever tell the sorrow of being on this
earth, lying, on quilts, on the grass, in a summer evening, among the
sounds of the night." I used a variety of stuff in the drawing-
markers, pen, watercolor pencils...
I decided to try my hand at musical composition based on one of my own poems, titled Music. One day, I would like to record the piece to post it here.
Filled with promise and hope
The world is a song, so I'm told.
Isn't that what life is about?
Feeling each moment as if being played like a note
On a bar, in a measure of the heart?
Passing by are days that I want back,
To Live again in a better way.
What can I do? What do I say?
The melody has been smothered.
My eyes are cloudy to the notes,
And the tune is muted to my ears.
What's left?
My fingers can sense it,
The vibrations...
Some how, the essence of the rhythm seeps through my skin
To become a whisper on my heart.
I know it's there, lingering in the dark.
If only I could just grab hold
Of the music that is life.
Ms C. created a painting based on the poem entitled George Gray.
I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me --
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire --
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
Edgar Lee Masters
I really feel like we were all just a little scared to face this challenge, because I think it meant reaching into our souls to touch something that usually is hidden in the shadows, never being shared with others. For me, sharing my poem was a huge thing. My whole being feels completely vulnerable when it is out there. But for some reason, I knew deep down that if another person's work was my inspiration, then I wouldn't have made the same kind of effort, the same kind of reach to something as challenging to me as composing.
Ms. M started this challenge with gusto, but somewhere along the way, she lost steam. I hope that someday she'll finish this one...it seems like such an important step in her life, as I know it was in mine.
It is my belief that Ms. D became a bit overwhelmed by the challenge, not knowing which words to choose for her piece, and thus surrendered to doing nothing. We all have those moments when you just freeze. Can't go backward, forward or up and down, so you just stay and BE.
Our next challenge: Self portrait! Talk about digging deep:-) good luck all...
Ms S
BTW-My BFF out west wondered if she might be able to join in the challenges with us. What do you all think?
