IN-PERSON: Learning. Life. Work

Abstract

In Narrative Architecture, Nigel Coates writes Frederick Kiesler designed spaces “that had a sense of time as well as place.” In Kiesler’s Endless House, exhibited in maquette form, visitors left one “psychological space” but “traces” of it stayed with them as they moved from room to room. How can the traces of space and time in place become the visual material of writing/artmaking? Which are visible to us and how do we bridge sense experience and cultural memory to make new work? In A Sense of Self: Memory, The Brain and Who We Are, Veronica O’Keane writes ‘What we call a sense is also a memory: seeing is both the immediacy of the sight of the object and the identification of the image.” In this presentation, I’d like to share writing/artmaking that traces what a lingers in place as visual object and medium for reimaging sense experience. I’ll focus on: • My mentor Elliott Coleman’s process for writing the poem “Chilton.” In 1979, Elliott moved to Chilton House, a 16th century manor house (remodeled 1740) with echoes of Buckingham House, which became a nursing home in 1945. The poem lingers in Chilton’s history and offers a visual rendering and reimaging of Chilton and Chilton House. • My visual rendering and re-imaging of Elliott as mentor and writer after visiting Soane’s Yellow Room (Soane Museum, Holborn). I’ll share how that space in that time offered me a sensing beyond reality and a sight-driven way to create a personal essay linked to color and memory.