We invite you to come visit our exhibition Jane Olin: In the Company of Trees, on view until June 5, 2022, guest curated by Helaine Glick. Jane Olin’s photograph’s of trees convey an Intimate Conversation between artist and nature, and amplifies new research that reveals previously unknown information about tree’s complex social structures and ecological relationships. In celebration of Earth Day, we hosted a Family Art Day: Earth Day Poetry + Collage Workshop with Patrice Vecchione. We invite you to create poems and collages at home or at NUMU at our collage corner in our downstairs Lounge, inspired by Jane’s photographs and the nature around you in your every day life. Read below for some guiding reflection questions, tips for writing poetry and a step by step guide to collage. We hope you get inspired by the beautiful poems and collages created by the participants at NUMU on April 23 and Patrice Vecchione! Share what you make with us by tagging us on Instagram @newmuseumlosgatos.
Let’s get creative!
Patrice Vecchione’s “Rules” for Writing Poetry
What you write doesn’t need to make sense.
Don’t plan what you’re going to say.
Let yourself be surprised by your own ideas.
Trust your imagination.
There is no wrong way to write; there is your way.
Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, neatness. Those parts don’t come in the first drafts.
Reflection Exercise
When you write your poems imagine standing in front of one of the photographs and then imagine you’re standing in front of the tree in the forest.
Look closely, what do you notice in Jane Olin's photographs?
How does this image make you feel?
What colors do you see? These are technically black and white photographs but do you see other colors too?
Can you enter the tree with your imagination?
Who do you think might live in this tree?
What would you do if you were standing in front of the tree?
Do trees have feelings? What are they?
Jane titles her images "intimate conversations,” What might that mean? Who's having the conversation?
Could you have a conversation with the tree? Write both what you’ll say and the tree’s part too.
What do the roots of the trees say to the leaves?
Pretend the sky is talking to the tree and the tree is talking back.
If the tree were to talk to you, what might it say?
What do the birds say? The insects?
What would it be like to never be able to walk, to live in the same place for your entire life?
Do trees sleep?
What do trees think about?
Creating a Collage
Creating a collage is an easy and accessible way to make a vibrant piece of art at home. All you need is paper, glue and scissors. After writing your poem, try to create a collage inspired by Jane’s photographs.
Begin with a background: a sheet of paper to glue everything to.
Cut or tear paper, shapes, and text.
Arrange your pieces of paper together to create a composition.
Glue down your pieces to your background.
Share what you make with us by tagging us on Instagram @newmuseumlosgatos!
Jane Olin Photograph, “Intimate Conversation 31 (Aurora Luna)”, 2020
"A poem is a picture made out of words."
-Patrice Vecchione
Jane Olin, “Intimate Conversation 28 (The Dance of the Forest Spirits)” 2020
Getting Inspired
Need more inspo? Read through these poems selected by Patrice Vecchione.
Sleeping in The Forest
I thought the earth remembered me, she
took me back so tenderly, arranging
her dark skirts, her pockets
full of lichens and seeds. I slept
as never before, a stone
on the riverbed, nothing
between me and the white fire of the stars
but my thoughts, and they floated
light as moths among the branches
of the perfect trees. All night
I heard the small kingdoms breathing
around me, the insects, and the birds
who do their work in the darkness. All night
I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling
with a luminous doom. By morning
I had vanished at least a dozen times
into something better.
-Mary Oliver
Strange Tree
Away beyond the Jarboe house
I saw a different kind of tree.
Its trunk was old and large and bent,
And I could feel it look at me.
The road was going on and on
Beyond, to reach some other place.
I saw a tree that looked at me,
And yet it did not have a face.
-Elizabeth Madox Roberts
Winter Trees
All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.
-William Carlos Williams
Trees
You root deep,
And reach skyward.
Something you say to me
That is under the earth.
Something you say to me
That is over the earth.
What it is,
Perhaps the closed eyes know.
What it is,
Maybe the folded wings know.
-William Haskell Simpson
Trees
Pale grey and yellow limbs,
That never move
But step unceasingly in beauty,
You have come to me,
And all my thoughts are as a forest
With crystal-feathered birds.
-Hildegarde Flanner
Words Are Birds
words
are birds
that arrive
with books
and spring
they
love
clouds
the wind
and trees
some words
are messengers
that come
from far away
from distant lands
for them
there are
no borders
only stars
moon and sun…
-Francisco X. Alarcon
We hope to see you at our next Family Art Day! Happy creating!
Blog post by Michèle Jubilee, NUMU’s Education Programs Manager
