Southwestern College Santa Fe, NM
Prime Movers:
The Annual SWC Staff and Faculty Exhibition
On Thursday, January 12th, the Wild Heart Gallery had its first opening night gala of 2017: Prime Movers: The Annual Southwestern College Staff and Faculty Exhibition. A “prime mover” can be considered many things, in many fields – mechanics, biology, philosophy, etc. – but aptly describes Southwestern College faculty and staff when defined as “someone who has a major influence on the starting or development of something; a person or thing that initiates or gives power and cohesion to something, as an idea, endeavor, or organization.” The Wild Heart Gallery proudly presented a reproduced artist statement from work in this exhibition.
“Growing Paradise” by Ann Filemyr et al. Photo by Maq Eleazer.
A collaborative book art project:
Poems by Ann Filemyr, Ph.D. Ann is the fourth President of Southwestern College following four and a half years of service as the Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean. She also serves as the Director of the Ecotherapy Certificate.
Illustrations by artists Piero Fenci, Elizabeth Akamatsu
Created by master printmaker Charles Jones of LaNana Creek Press
Title: Growing Paradise
This series of 19 poems was inspired by fruit as a symbol of longing for fulfillment, for total completion or realization, for satisfaction and pleasure in all of its forms. Desire drives each poem. Whether it is desire for friendship, love, union with Creation, or the desire to understand, to belong, to be seen as we are truly are, desire is a potent and mysterious force in all of our lives. Underlying these fruit poems is hunger. Hunger can be a catalyst for personal transformation. Hunger can also be very personal. These poems honor the hunger I sometimes experienced as a child yearning for fresh fruit, that expensive, beautiful food that my family could rarely afford unless we grew it ourselves. Two artists illustrated the poems. We did not discuss them. They only had the words on the page to guide their creative responses. Each image is a collaboration between two artists, Piero Fenci and Elizabeth Akamatsu. The entire project was then hand set, letter by precious letter, hand printed, hand sewn and hand boxed in handmade oyster boxes. The entire creative project was led by the fearless founder of LaNana Creek Press, master printmaker Charles Jones of Nacogdoches, Texas. This is one book in a limited edition of 15. One copy is in the Special Collection of the IAIA Library and another is in the modern art collection of the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts in Santa Fe.
About the Moderator
