The annual ArtPoems event, which is held on Sanibel and Fort Myers, will include three women who live on Pine Island - an artist, poet and African drummer.
ArtPoems is a culmination of art, poetry and music that is performed during a stage performance by 12 artists and 12 poets.
The artists and poets randomly draw a person's name. Once the name is drawn, the artist or poet provides the other with five paintings or poems to chose from to interpret in their own way.
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Poet Marsha Perlman, master drummer and dance choreographer Ndakhte Ndiaye and artist Peg Cullen will participate in ArtPoems 2012 on Feb. 24 and March 1 showcasing their talent in a stage performance.
The first performance will be held Feb. 24 at BIG ARTS Schein Hall, located at 900 Dunlop Road on Sanibel. Admission is $10.
The second performance will be held at the Alliance for the Arts, 10091 McGregor Blvd. March 1 with a $10 donation.
Both events will kick off with a reception at 6:45 p.m. with the program following at 7:30 p.m.
Fact Box
If You Go:
What: ArtPoems 2012
When: Feb. 24 at BIG ARTS Schein Hall, 900 Dunlop Road on Sanibel, and March 1 at Alliance for the Arts, 10091 McGregor Blvd., in Fort Myers
Information: Lorraine Vail
239-395-3479 or lorraineavail@msn.com
Peg Cullen said this is the second year she has been invited to participate in ArtPoems.
"It is one of the few art things that challenges me," she said of the event.
Cullen said poet Sandy Greco ended up choosing her painting coined "She Hated the Heart Attack."
She said it was a very raw painting.
"She wrote this poem and I sat and cried because she was able to write how I felt," Cullen said. "Just from the painting she was able to put into words of how I was feeling."
As Greco reads the poem, Cullen's painting will be shown on a screen for everyone to see.
ArtPoems also provided Cullen with the opportunity to create a painting from a poem that Jesse Miller, Florida Gulf Coast University creative writing professor, wrote, "My American Gospel." She said since the poem was complex, she created a huge collage.
When the painting "Birds Don't Need Ornithologists to Fly" is on display and Miller reads the poem, Cullen will play old-time gospel music on the fiddle in the background to pull it all together.
She said ArtPoems provides something different for individuals to experience that is thought provoking.
"It shows people it (art) touches different mediums," Cullen said.
Although poet Marsha Perlman attended the event last year, this is the first time she will participate in the event.
"I was overwhelmed by the talent and presentation, it was really outstanding," she said about ArtPoems.
Perlman shared that she would enjoy participating in ArtPoems, which earned her an invite to the event this year.
"I have a lot of respect and admiration for their talent," she said. "So I am very pleased to be a part of it."
Perlman said she drew Cheryl Fausel's name and wrote a poem about her painting "Champagne-filled Crystal."
Perlman said Fausel allowed her to bring home the painting she chose, so she could hang it on the wall in order to see it and feel how it influenced her.
"It is my interpretation and feeling of her painting," she said about her poem.
She said Doug McGregor drew her name and did a painting on her "Tangled Roots" poem.
When McGregor chose "Tangled Roots," he asked Perlman to read her poem to give him a feeling of how she emphasized certain parts of the poem.
"It is a big project - interpreting someone else's artwork is a challenge," she said. "I really enjoyed doing it and hope I will be invited again."
Master drummer and dance choreographer Ndakhte Ndiaye will also participate in the event for the first time this year. She said ArtPoems was first suggested to her last year by Cullen and again this year by Perlman due to their involvement in her African drumming classes.
This year Ndiaye will perform two collaboration pieces and a grand finale that will serve as a recital for her Pine Island students John Geib, Marilyn Hedlund, Anna DeMeo, Brady Bushholtz, Diana Sundstadt, Jonna Bouchard, Darlene Bender, Connie Cline and Janet Shephard.
The first performance was inspired by ArtPoems event founder Lorraine Vail's poem "Beauty."
Ndiaye said the 19-line poem was written in vilanelle, a 19th century style of poetry composition with French influence.
"In Africa there are a group of highly respected people known as 'diellis,' who are the keepers of history and wisdom. They are also master musicians, who over the past one thousand years, have fashioned that history and wisdom into 111 songs, which have been handed down and are played exactly as they originally were," she said. "Even today, the diellis travel from village to village visiting families' compounds and recounting stories and history as entertainment for which they get paid. Often paid with goats, rice, dates, oil or clothing."
When the diellis travel on foot to visit, their arrival is announced with the call of drums.
"They wait for a response also made with drums and move forward calling again this continues until they finally arrive, at which time a three-day celebration begins," Ndiaye said.
The rhythm that is played is called "Dielli Don," which is a rhythm of the storytellers that Ndiaye and 25 of her students will play on hand-carved authentic Djembe Drums as their first performance.
She said the second piece, "Safara," which is a challenge rhythm, is often played and practiced for a year at a time in preparation for playful competition among drummers and dancers, challenging each others intricate solos.
"The students have been taught a solo, which has been practiced for two months in class," Ndiaye said. "Safara will be played during the event's film collage, which will showcase all of the art works from this years event."
