The Mosaique Journey II gallery has just been released, and with it a new collaboration between poet and photographer has been created. The second part in the "Works On The Walls" series, MJ II marks a flipping of talents as it were, where the poet becomes the image maker, and the photographer becomes the poet in words.

This joining of two artforms, between Jemfyr and myself, actually started before we would ever meet in person. I had asked her if she would write some poems, chiefly haikus (a form she is greatly known and admired for), for a series of photographs I was making. Emails of images and poems back and forth proved to us we had a unique connection here. As a photographer, it is a wonderful privilege to have another artist, in another artform, provide an interpretation of your work. 

I was constantly surprised by both the beauty and depth of Jem's words. Like music in a film, her poems added a dimension to the images that brought them new life. We both loved the idea of writing the words "on the wall"  to accompany the hanging images. Thus, Mosaique Journey was born. We chose the name "mosaique" for our love of that particular art, which the dictionary defines as: "from Old French mosaique 'mosaic work,' from Italian musaico, from Middle Latin musaicum 'mosaic work, work of the Muses,' neut. of musaicus 'of the Muses,' from Latin Musa (see muse). Medieval mosaics were often dedicated to the Muses."  A bringing together of disperate pieces to create a cohesive whole. The first part of the series is a collection of my iPhone images created specifically for the project. But this time around, for MJ II, we decided it would be both fun, and a creative challenge to reverse roles and have the photographer lend a poetic interpretation of the poet's images. 

Jem has been creating incredible images on her iPhone with her unique eye for quite some time. I chose twenty of her recent images for this series, framing and mounting them, but adding nothing else to her processing. For my part, I was left to my own devices to interpret her images and write poems for them based on my own sensibility.  I don't fancy myself a poet on the level of Jemfyr, but pushing one's creativity in an artform that is not one's chosen one is at once revealing, challenging beyond measure, and offers another language to speak in. 

Poetry does not come easy to many, and neither does compelling photography. The fact that an art isn't easy, that it takes a great deal of effort to find and bring forth the subtlest of nuance; to communicate something of the ineffable, and to speak heart to heart, clearly and simply, makes it all the more worthwhile. Collaborations between artists, poets and musicians, sculptors and filmmakers, photographers and designers, should be approached with the understanding that something grander, something richer and of greater depth will be achieved than can be imagined by the single artist alone.

So go find another artist, someone from another discipline, and see what you can create together.....  

_______________  Jemfyr Says:  _________________

It was during the making of Mosaique Journey II, I grew as an artist.  I have always enjoyed snapping a pic here and there, capturing whatever it was that 'held me captive' for that brief moment of WOW!, WHAT?, IS THAT A...?, and perhaps one of the best feelings of the imaginative process... "Wait, I gotta take this pic, I have to!"  This would sometimes require the pulling over on the side of a road, leaning up against the wall (as in the last image titled "Mosaique Journey"), or getting down and dirty... getting low, on the ground... close up... You know, the clooooooose up without the blur!

So, yes... I have learned along the way to play photographer in my poet's tree.  I had the best teacher, Trace, to thank for his 'outside the classroom' of "just have fun with it" artistic persona!  I am honored to share my work with his poetry ~ imagine how nervous I was when we decided to flip roles from MJI; the photographer writing poetry and the poet taking the pictures.  Trace has over 30 years of photography under his artistic belt and is one of the most creative individuals I have ever met. 

It is with great pleasure we invite you to view Mosaique Journey II ~ come as you are... you are always welcome to journey with the works on our Walls.