Speech outline for Larry Calkins, Northwest Collage Society Talk

Speech Outline for Artist Larry Calkins

Northwest Collage Society Talk

[About the organization: http://www.nwcollagesociety.org/ ]

June 11, 2015

Collage as Haiku

I. Introduction (Greeting, attention getter, thesis and preview)

[Thank the host, recognize significant people in the audience.]

Thank you ________ for the introduction and thanks to the leadership of the Society for inviting me.

It’s an honor -- and my pleasure -- to speak to you today as we gather to celebrate of the art form of collage. 

Good to see my friend ___________ and _________....  [Mention or recognize any dignitaries or “important” people in the audience].

I look out at you here today and see a collection -- or collage -- of friends and likeminded art lovers who remind me why being a part of the Seattle arts community is so worthwhile.

I know that collage is becoming a popular element used by many of our most innovative artists and it is a favorite element of my own artwork for many years.  It is really one of my favorite subjects.

For me the artist is like the antenna of civilization, anticipating faint signals hovering in the cultural atmosphere. 

The artist’s job is to give a body to those fleeting signals --to communicate the ineffable – to bring into consciousness -- to get us to notice what is really important. 

In addition to a love for collage, recently I’ve gained a passion for poetry, especially haiku.  I’ve even been inspired to write some of my own.

My mission as an artist could be expressed by this poem by the ancient Japanese Haiku poet Basho.

“I like to wash, the dust of this world
In the droplets of dew.”

If we think of paint and ink as droplets, then the poem fits well with the purpose of art.

We all need to be refreshed, renewed and enlightened by new perspectives, by new ways of seeing.

In my view the best art, the best collage, will be like a carefully crafted haiku poem.

Today I’d like to show you three features of haiku that are shared by visual art.

To show you what I mean, let us take a look at some historical examples of collage art.

Then I’d like to show you some of my own work that makes my collage-as-haiku case.

At the end, I will take questions.

There are three characteristics of Haiku that are analogous to the kind of art I admire. 

First, in haiku there is a crystalized punch or minimalism in which a big idea is said with few words.

Second, each poem usually has two meanings or a dualism. There is a surface meaning and a deeper meaning.

And third, there is a blending of the familiar and the eternal  -- or what we could call imminence in transcendence.

Let me give you an example from a haiku that I wrote.

The lonely mule

Standing next to the other lonely mule

February rain.

As you can see, the poem is short and compact.

A double meaning of commenting on marital discord (not that that is happening at my house of course). 

Then the familiar weather signals something deeper about our existential contention as mortals living in a harsh world.

Now, let’s see how the three features are present in collage art.

II First point.

First we can begin with minimalism.

Have you ever heard the cliché that “less is more”?

It is a truth we need to grasp.

In our world is filled with a kaleidoscope electronic distractions -- finding an image that slows us down to contemplate what is really important is desperately needed.

Picasso once said that 'Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.'

[Need a story or example from your family history about placing value on having less.  Something like, “Some of the best meals I remember growing up were the simplest. …” Or “As a child playing on my family’s wooded property in Corvallis, Oregon, we could entertain ourselves for hours playing with sticks found on the ground.” A funny story would be excellent here. Must be brief.”

More than any other, the Japanese aesthetic – in art, literature, architecture, in garden or flower design -- reminds us of the beauty in simple things.

This is so true of haiku.

[Could recite a favorite haiku here]

The essence of Haiku is minimalism.

It is to make our vision as crisp as possible. 

Han Hoffman, the German abstract expressionist, once said that “The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”

Here are examples of collage art that illustrate the principle of eliminating the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak. …. [show and comment on slides. Give the name, title and date of each piece].

Here are examples of art that are not simple to show you the contrast.  [You could skip the negative example]

In my view the simple compositions are better.

III Second point.

What about the second feature of the haiku way? 

I’ve noticed that great art -- and literature -- seem to have depth of meaning.

There may be a surface meaning, but the more you contemplate it, you realize there is another deeper meaning. 

This is what I call dualism – two meanings.

Here subtlety comes into play.

My grandfather always said: “Don’t pitch the hay too close to the cow. Make them work for it.”

In the same way, the artist or poet will invite the viewer to engage in a deeper contemplation of meaning.

A Haiku poem could have a surface about the weather but a deeper meaning about mortality.

In the same way collages will engage the viewer to see a deeper – although perhaps ambiguous -- meaning.

For example…. [show and comment on slides. Give the name, title and date of each piece].

See what I mean?

So far we have looked at minimalism and dualism.

Finally, let’s turn to how artists combine the familiar with the eternal.

III. Third point.

Imminence means that which is close by. These are everyday experiences that humans share and are often the subjects that artist choose to paint.

Transcendence, on the other hand, means those things that are far off and everlasting.

Art in my view should communicate a feeling that the piece has an enduring authenticity that is larger than the immediate setting.

This could be what the mystic Thomas Merton meant when he said: “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”

The subject of our artwork may speak to our own time and place, but will at the same time suggest an enduring or transcendent value.

Two hundred year old antiques or 1,000s of years old museum artifacts become precious because they transcend time.

Here are examples of collage art that deal with imminent and familiar subject, but at the same time speak to a deeper meaning that is transcendent. [Show slides]

Finally, let me share with you some of my own art that shows all three features.

[Show examples, say how your art is minimal, has a dual meaning and is suggests an enduring reality]

IV Conclusion.

In summary then, this morning I’ve given you a comparison between Haiku and collage. We’ve seen that minimalism, dualism and transcendence are features of both art forms.

This is my challenge for each of you: The next time you go to a gallery, a art museum or log onto Pinterest, try to think like a Haiku poet.

Learn to appreciate the combination of the simple and the profound, and the everyday and the everlasting.

The haiku way could open your eyes to enjoy art as never before.

Then you too will be able to

“wash the dust of this world
In the droplets of dew.”

[Slow down the last five words like retard in music. Pause.]

And now I would like to take any questions.