art | Shawn L. Bird

Review- Art of the Fold February 21, 2019

Filed under: book reviews,Poetry,Writing — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:16 pm
Tags: art, Art of the Fold, book, poet, poetry, resource, review., video

A fantastic resource for poets and book artists to make beautiful chapbooks.

I have a writer-artist friend on Pender Island who posted this book that she got for Christmas. I was so impressed that I bought a copy of my own! With great thanks to Andrea Spalding, I’m delighted to share this book with you.

Hedi Kyle & Ulla Warchol have compiled a variety of techniques in Art of the Fold. This is a GORGEOUS book! It will teach you how to make amazing folded art books that you can use with beautiful papers to create stunning, one of a kind, art books for your poetry and other special words. Here’s a video of me showing some of the little practice books I made, while learning the techniques, with a peak at the book itself.

The beauty of this book is how Kyle and Warchol give you the bones of the books, but the scope of how you can apply the examples to make your own project is unlimited. I am SO excited to buy special paper and make some lovely art books to give to special people in my world. What a great resource for learning techniques of book folding. I am so excited to use these with my English students!

You can buy Art of the Fold on Amazon, and you really should!

(I’m an Amazon Affiliate, so buying from the link gives me a penny or two for the recommendation).

(My dog decided to wrestle his bed all over the living room while I was recording the video , excuse his enthusiastic growls and brief appearances in the background! lol He finally abandoned it against a chair. Silly boy.)

Comments (2)

poem- performance art July 22, 2017

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 7:24 pm
Tags: art, audience, belief, connection, Mary Poppins, performance, poem, poetry, Shuswap Theatre, theatre

I know,

that sometimes my performance faltered.

I reached down or up for notes that would not be seized.

I fumbled at times with pitch, tune, entrances, but

every time

I believed.

I believed I was selling crumbs to birds

who were going to die horrible deaths

without them.

I believed that every person

within the sound of my voice should buy

just a small bag for the ‘ungry young ones.

My voice trembled with my belief, as I gazed out at the faces,

beseeching each and every one to part with a tuppence.

.

You believed.

Stranger, how you clung to my arm,

when me met on the sidewalk, months later,

eager to tell me how you’d heard my voice

in your head weeks afterwards. How beautiful it was.

How it made you wept.

I, who knew every vocal fault,

struggled to believe

that my believing,

had been enough to reach past my inadequacy.

Thank you

for reminding me,

it’s the only thing that connects

in the end.

.

Image (c) Evan Buhler used with permission. “Feed the Birds”. Mary Poppins Shuswap Theatre 2016.

Me, being The Bird Woman November-December 2016.

I met a fan of the show yesterday and struggled once again to come to terms with the fact that our art has its own life and power. It can transcend us to speak poignant messages to receptive ears.

Comments (8)

quote- creations June 15, 2017

Filed under: Poetry,Quotations — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:20 pm
Tags: art, creation, creatures, life, Louise Penny, quote, writing

“Creations are creatures, and they have lives of their own.”

Louise Penny. The Nature of the Beast.

I’m reading this Inspector Gamache novel, and Ruth made this comment about a play. The line after indicates that the play was the playwright. It seems both powerful and succinctly true. When we create something, it comes from us, often reflect deep truths about us, but it also becomes itself. It speaks to those who view/read/listen/watch with its own voice (filtered through or reflecting their voice). I am often fascinated to hear what readers have taken from my work. Sometimes they find things I put there, but often they find things that are completely different, and just as valid. Once the book or poem left my hands, it became its own entity. It’s an interesting experience. It reminds me of the first time an adult mentions they know your child- they’ve interacted with them in a way that is unconnected to you, and you realize they have their own independent lives. Children are creations, too. They’re equally part of us and completely themselves. Ah. Creation is a complex thing!

From a writing point of view, what a perfectly crafted sentence for this character. Ruth is a poet, and doesn’t the line sound like a poem? Louise Penny is my hero.

Comments (3)

poem- shaped May 9, 2017

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:50 am
Tags: art, macrocosm, microcosm, poem, poetry

Your portion of this landscape

reinterprets the shape

follows the lines

but makes them into

something new.

Microcosm makes

macrocosm.

.

Current project in art class. Each student has a square that contains a scene up close, but when assembled with others, reveals a larger scene (or in this class, spells out the initials of the school.

Comments (10)

Poem- folded April 13, 2017

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:59 pm
Tags: art, book sculpture, life, metaphor, poem, poetry, story

You’re creating a story

folded into the pages of the book

It’s not the story the author intended.

It’s not what people expect to see.

But your folds and cuts

tell your story,

and your story

is enough.

Comments (9)

poem-art June 10, 2016

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 2:37 pm
Tags: art, Art as Experience, John Dewey, poem, poetry, wordplay

Art is artificial

when our artifacts

leave factual for artless artifice.

Draw artful parts;

articulate the artful into artillery

throbbing through the arteries:

bum, bum, bum.

Be the genuine article,

artisan.

Be

art.

.

(Reading John Dewey’s Art as Experience today. My head might explode.)

Comments (4)

quote-teach April 25, 2016

Filed under: Poetry,Quotations,Teaching — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:19 pm
Tags: annie liebovitz, art, artist, teacher

“You can’t be an art teacher until you’re an artist. Duh.”

~Annie Liebovitz

Comments (9)

poem-curled October 30, 2015

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 11:11 pm
Tags: alliteration, art, assonance, charcoal, consonance, drawing, Elaine Holmes, figure, landscape, metaphor, personification, poem, poetry, portrait

You are landscape:

hills curled around valleys,

shoulder arced over head

thighs a rounded panorama.

You are pushed up against darkness,

it puddles beneath your breasts,

but waken, beauty.

Light lingers on your glistening skin;

dawn caresses your body,

an invitation to fall in love with day.

.

I’m admiring the art on my wall again. This poem is written about this drawing: https://shawnbird.com/2015/02/21/poem-the-light-returns/ How thankful I am for Elaine’s skills. The artist in me greets the artist in thee! Namaste.

Comments (4)

poem- The Light Returns February 21, 2015

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 9:30 am
Tags: art, drawing, Elaine Holmes, grief, light, personification, poem, poetry, word play

.

Through mourning,

the light returns

brushing softly

touching tenderly

with morning.

.

“The Light Returns” by Elaine Holmes
Charcoal on board 4X6 feet
From collection of J&S Bird

.

We just hung this large, stunning drawing in our house. Elaine Holmes is an artist and teaching colleague from down the road. I fell in love with the piece at an exhibition in the Salmon Arm Arts Centre called “Dark Nights” 10 artists celebrating the solstice. We’re delighted to own it! It just asked for its own poem. 🙂

Comments (13)

poem- choose pink December 7, 2013

Filed under: Poetry — Shawn L. Bird @ 6:11 pm
Tags: art, blue, child, colouring, expectation, learning, mother, parents, pink, sky, sunset

“No, honey!” the mother said

reaching across that table and plucking

a crayon from her daughter’s hand.

“The sky isn’t pink. Here,

use this blue crayon.”

The little girl blinked tears.

The teacher leaned over,

and studied the picture.

“What a beautiful sunset

you’ve drawn!” she said.

.

For Charlotte, who is teaching crafts at the art gallery, and is amazed at some parents.

Comments (23)

Shawn L. Bird

Original poetry, commentary, and fiction. All copyrights reserved.