During the month of March, Maine artist and poet Marnie Reed Crowell will exhibit images with poems in a show entitled Fusion Surimono: Songs of Seeing. She created the pieces to reach out to people injured, going through medical treatment, and possibly having to spend a lot of time in bed recovering, realizing the need when recovering herself from traumatic brain injury. The public is invited to a talk that Marnie will give on the subject on Saturday March 24th at 2:00 PM, in which she will demonstrate making artwork on the iPad.
Marnie’s idea is that people recovering from certain injuries and treatments can be easily overwhelmed and limited in their abilities to handle life, but at the same time very receptive to artwork and images. Her pieces are inspired by the ancient Japanese art of Surimono, which combined wood block prints with poetry and, in Marnie’s case, photographic images with poetry. Anyone who visits the show and would like an archival quality print may have one in exchange for a donation to the library.
Marnie is also making her images available as PDF downloads during the month of March from the library’s website, free to caregivers and patients in hospitals, cancer care centers, hospice, etc.
Marnie is an artist, conservationist, biologist, natural history writer and poet, and lives on Deer Isle. After her injury, she found herself unable to pursue her artwork but by getting an electronic tablet was able to do digital painting and photo editing, and a whole new world opened up to her. The pieces in this show are the result of this work.
The show will be in the library’s Britton Gallery and Roland Howard Room, available for viewing during library hours subject to the Howard Room schedule. For more information contact the library at 374-5515.
