|
|
Welcome to The Houston Literary Review Fall 2007 Featured Artist Page
THLR launches this quarterly page to draw attention to one artist who captured the minds and imaginations of THLR staff. In this inaugural page, we are proud to single out the visual imagery and fresh, soul-washing poetry of C. Albert.  We have laced Albert's poems among her collages -- with much difficulty since her poetry as her collages work in any space, any format. Albert is a collage artist and poet. Poet Don Zirilli was duly impressed with Albert's work. He writes: When you look at one of her collages, you see first a powerful image. Only then do the pieces become visible. They are pieces, not fragments, because they do not seem broken. You forget that other images were torn apart to create this new one. Everything is where it belongs.
Albert's poems work in a similar way. Each has its own statement to make, but a close reading will reveal it to be a collage of individual pieces, allowing the reader to delight in the details without ever losing grip on the whole story.
Artist Poem In a quiet room images cascade
as seeds
from my fingertips
Settle through the restless hours
Words, fabrics, papers, lace
compose juxtapose, light dark
golds and silvers
Through dreams remember feeling
Fall away, catch
begin, touch
lines curve into roundness
Glue holding
ripe melons
hands reaching
eyes peeking through petals
Wings C. Albert
Her collages with poems have recently been exhibited at Hugo House Gallery, Secret Garden Bookshop (Seattle), Woman Made Gallery (Chicago), and the National Collage Society (Florida).
Some of the works viewed in The Houston Literary Review first appeared in Women Made Gallery and Mannequin Envy publications. Artist Poem was first published in Woman Made Gallery Her Mark Datebook, 2008. The Meaning of Roundling and Flora the Poet were first published in Mannequin Envy, 2007.
Oval Tenderness and Recipe for Healing first appeared online in the Size Matters Show at Woman Made Gallery (Chicago). Oval Tenderness was also included in the Mannequin Envy feature in 2007. Albert's blog offers more background detail on the works presented here along with additional works: www.runawaymoon.blogspot.com
| Summer evening raining green
The collages here explore the motif of roundness; I call them roundlings. Creating this collage, I thought of my dear friend who recently died. Accepting the spectrum of genders, he preferred to wear dresses –encouraging me to do the same. The poem of the same title is under the glass baubles.  summer evening raining green
looking for step down to the door
the home that disappeared
the bed still hides
under the clover C. Albert
Oval Tenderness
An experiment in minimalism, the original is only 1 1/4" x 1". There are also prints that are blown up larger.  Recipe for Healing 1/2 cantaloupe
(seeds removed)
1 tsp sweet tears
Weep and catch
the tears in a spoon,
gently sprinkle melon
Inhale my ripe-dew flesh
then serve on a bed
of wilted lettuce
In a china bowl
with a few deft
lines of blue
Whispers like
I love you
just as you are
C. Albert
Serves four
Despite the small scale, my collages all take a long time to complete. This piece is no more labor intensive than the others although it gives that impression. The original is on a white board and raised, showing a lovely shadow behind it.
| Flora the Poet Looking to nature as inspiration and life source, Flora the Poet was also inspirated by the 16th century painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo.
metallic moon face upside down in a spoon
servant to one tongue
gripped by hand
plunged into icy orange dresses
I am not that servant anymore
I am rooted in earth cakes
sprinkled with gold dust
C. Albert
Last Stage of Crystallization
I meant to express gentle humor about phallic imagery and also explore cubism. The title comes from a recipe for candy.
Terra Heart
This collage is intensely personal, yet also expresses my concerns about the global environment.
Thanks for viewing our featured artist page. THLR welcomes comments, suggestions, and critiques from readers. Please write to: publisher@thehoustonliteraryreview.com
|
|