Found Poetry

Artist's Statement:

Jillian Wight

Andreson

Foundations of Art

May 12, 2020

To create my found poems, the first step was to find a book that I could draw inside. Once I had selected one that I wasn’t reading as much anymore, I flipped through a bit to get the lay of the land. The book I selected was “The Code of the Warrior” by Rick Feilds, it was a perfect choice. Not only were the pages large and the text clear, but the words themselves were intriguing, unique, and provided some great materials to work with. Once I had selected a page that was filled with text and didn’t have too many line breaks (except in the case of the last poem, which I used a “notes” page from the back of the book for) I went through with a pencil and lightly sketched out my ideas, circling the words I wanted to use. This step was the one that required the most experimentation. It was difficult to find a poem that made sense and was intriguing enough to provide a base for creativity, but after I had played around a bit with possible words, I went through with a pen and drew boxes around the text I wanted to use. In some cases, I came up with a poem beforehand and then used single letters and words to recreate it. I found that this method gave great results. Once I had finalized my poem, I used a pencil to sketch out the design that I wanted to accompany it. In most cases, I tried to make this design relevant to the poem and also fill the page effectively and creatively use the space I had. I think my efforts were very successful in the end! After tracing this design in pen, the final step was to go through the poem and design and add finishing touches. In some cases, this meant color, although I tried to go lightly on this aspect because I wanted the pen work to stand out. In other cases, this meant adding definition/shading around words and adding lines to create a cohesive connection between the poem and design, as well as suggesting the order in which words should be read. After I had completed this step, I erased all the leftover pencil sketches to complete the page. I would say that these poems evolved from vague ideas to cohesive, complex pieces of art. In other cases, they evolved from ideas and messages I wanted to convey verbally to a visual message that was just as powerful.

Over the course of this project, I utilized a number of different elements of art and my work incorporates many principles of design. For example, I used lines to shade and define my subject and words, and to connect the design to the words and illustrate a sequence. By adding these lines between text and by layering linework to create complex illustrations, I used lines to create movement and emphasis in my poems. I also used color a bit, simply to define important aspects of my poem. By highlighting words and outlining flowers, I used color to emphasize certain aspects of the pages. Space was also important in my artwork. I used space to determine the layout of the page, and how the text would interact with the design. I wanted the pages to be full but show depth, and also to not be overly busy. I think that may control over the space between flowers, pearls, viruses, and droplets illustrated this, as well as my choices when it came to word and letter placement. My utilization of space created a balanced effect. Finally, I used form to enhance each figure or item that I drew. Form was important because it elevated the design and took it to another level. Overall, my use of form, color, space, and line consistently between poems created unity between a;l four works of art. I am proud of my success in this department!

The story behind my poems is very specific to the poem itself. Wilderness focuses on the value of our earth and the beauty of nature, while Dreamland has a fictional, fairytale quality and focuses on the idea that not all problems can be physically fought. Quarantine focuses on the shared experiences of this lifestyle we are all string with, and The Painter explores the way an artist sees society. In all of them, common themes are present. They are all sensical and relevant to today's world, and all share a similar tone. The illustration are all in the same style and relate directly to the theme of the poem. These poems relate to my life because they are all, firsthand or secondhand, about me. I am an artist, I am interested in the wilderness,I am in quarantine, etc. They explore visually the ideas inside my head, my thoughts dreams, and hopes. In my [eoms, I am proudest of the realistic way in which I was able to represent the subjects. I found that my flowers, viruses, droplets, faces, pearls, etc. were effective, shaped and shaded well, and overall successful. I wasn’t expecting them to come out very well, and so I’m proud of the result. However, I did struggle along the way. The main difficulty I had to overcome was the words of the poems themselves. I was unsure of how to put my ideas onto the page effectively and in a manner that made sense, but I overcame this problem by writing out my poems beforehand and then making minor adjustments to fit the page I also added lines to make sure the structure was cohesive. I loved this project and I’m proud of my outcome!

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