poetry broadside
For this project, we partnered with the SDSU Poetry International Foundation. We were given a list of poems to choose from and we were supposed to create a broadside combining the text of the poem with related imagery that we were tasked with creating.
concept
I chose the poem "Standard Checklist for Amateur Mystics" by Li-Young Lee. The poem as the title suggests is really just a list. It describes various items one would use for spiritual or mystical activities. I thought about aesthetics that felt "witchy" or "magical." To me the psychedelic concert posters and art nouveau ephemera always have ethereal aura to them. Upon closer research I realized the illustration techniques of these styles were incredibly similar, it was just the color palette and content that really differentiated these styles. I decided to mash up these styles for my piece. Taking the color palettes from psychedelia, but using imagery found more often in art nouveau pieces such as birds and wildflowers.
process
I decided to letter the title of poem to create a textural element in my piece that blends into the girl's hair. In the course of creating this work I redrew the text over and over again. I kept altering the style from more 70's scripts to more ornamental letters from the early 1900's. Ultimately I settled on letters that held elements of both styles, but was more harmonious with the design. For the text of the poem it self, I wanted it to be an element of the illustration. I created winding text paths across the night sky so the individual letters look like stars or paths of mist and only upon closer examination can you see the poem.
