Theresa Williams's artwork that led her to an epistolary poem

[Nancy Bell Scott]

Here is the art (but not the poem):

This is such a thought-provoking, mysterious, and visually appealing piece, by itself;  and here is a postcard she included that is related to the art and its concerns (and also to the epistolary poem I'm not at liberty to post because Theresa is having some accepted and some still considered for publication):

Front of pc:And back, which I get something out of in either direction, but here it is vertical:I see Theresa's mail art as a combination of raw and graceful.  She has an interesting and unpredictable turn of mind, and is always surprising me.

These pieces came in an envelope stamped with figures and also the stamped warning "WATCH PUNCTUATION," which gave me a laugh.  As a former and now burned-out editor, I'm always trying to let go of some of the countless rules of editing (and teaching too, no doubt).  For some years, until recently, when on the computer I ignored capitalization completely:  freedom!  It was great to find that Theresa's epistolary poem, partially in the form of a letter to me, also ignored capitalization ... but not punctuation, which is more important.

The pieces were wrapped in red tissue.  As usual, Theresa's mail art was presented as a gift.  And that it is, and I'm touched by it.  Thank you very much, Theresa. 

 

[cheryl penn]

Nancy - lucky you :-) - you get ALOT of Theresa's work - I'm holding thumbs for the publishing! Great blog too

:-) X

[De Villo Sloan]

Cherry Blossom likes it too! I wanted to say something about the lower portion with fish & oranges - talk about imagism - the images are selected an arranged like an imagist poem - that kind of intense and economical focus. I would have to call it a use of visual syntax.

[Marie Wintzer]

Oranges (and fish?) at the window, I like it!!

[De Villo Sloan]

Wow and WOW again! I love this work by Theresa. Yes, the images are so mysterious - a keen eye indeed it took to select them. This is an instance where you can see the intensifying effect of layering. To me, the asemic writing over the snow is stunning. There is a murky line between visual poetry and collage. I think Theresa has crossed over to vispo in this. I will think of it as a poem.