November 12, 2022 - January 28, 2023

“Blue Like a Rainbow” documents Art Enables artists’ exploration of poetry as muse and visiting poets’ response to visual art. Over the course of several months, artists translated images conjured for them by words into drawn and painted visual imagery. At the same time, a handful of guest poets—Raga Ayyagari, Jaime Banks, Veneta Masson—contributed verses inspired by Art Enables artwork. This exhibition marries the two art forms, with poems handwritten on the wall next to accompanying images. Words by famous writers from past centuries are also at play, as well as those written by Art Enables artists, many in a color-themed poetry workshop with poet and professor Naomi Ayala. In this space, Wordsworth’s heart dances with the daffodils, and Mara Clawson illustrates her found poem about sea slugs with words pulled from an old National Geographic. Dennis Quillin’s “Sunflowers” recalls a lost loved one to Veneta Masson, and Jay Bird illustrates how he feels “…blue, like a rainbow, like a bowl of coins” in both words and watercolor. 

See the exhibition in person on weekdays from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., and join us for a poetry reading on the evening of November 30.

Participating Art Enables artists: Marrimarra, Jay Bird, Maurice Barnes, Mara Clawson, Debora Green, Michael Haynes, Mike Knox, Toni Lane, Raymond Lewis, Helen Lewis, Joel Martinez, Charles Meissner, Vanessa Monroe, Gary Murrell, Dennis Quillin, Jamila Rahimi, Eileen Schofield, Sarah Swan, Imani Turner

Title handwritten by Mike Knox.

Artwork:

Dennis Quillin, Hills and Valleys (FRAMED), 2018, colored pencil on paper, 18 x 24 in., $200

Poem by Jamila Rahimi

Click video above to play a compilation of clips from our November 30, 2022 poetry reading.