Art Moment: Janet Dale's ghosts passing through

In this new series I'm calling "Art moments," I'm going to be sharing some piece of art I've encountered and a piece of art it inspired me to make. 

Today, I'm thrilled to kick off this series on the launch day of my good friend's new mini-chapbook! Janet Dale's ghosts passing through is available on Amazon from Alien Buddha Press. Janet's poetry is very cool and I recommend you check out this piece called "I Go Back to October 2018" for some ghosty vibes I think we might be seeing more of in the chapbook. Awesome perk of that link is that you can either read the poem or listen to Janet read it to you. 

Also, take a quick look at the blurb on the back of the chapbook. 

Janet Dale's debut chapbook ghosts passing through is haunted, yes, by the recursive presence of a speaker's lost beloved, their fate "always to be apart." But more than haunted, these poems are haunting--somehow spare and capacious, ethereal and incisive. Dale deftly merges physics with poetics in this elegant conceit, seeking a language that captures essence, until "not even words remain."

--Julie Marie Wade, author of Just an Ordinary Woman Breathing and Skirted

Haunting? Ghost(ing)? Physics? You can clearly count me in here. 

Also, according to Janet herself, this mini-chapbook is 70% new material, so these are poems we can't read anywhere else. I'm so excited to get my hands on it. (It should arrive Friday!!!)

While I wait though... some ghosts passing through inspired art! 

I received this postcard in the mail this weekend and the black and white image and serif text reminded me a lot of the local newspaper I've been reading recently. Having just moved across the country and given away all my treasured collage clippings and found items, I haven't yet sat down to make a collage here. I've wanted to... I just haven't felt... ready? 

That changed when I saw this postcard though. Something about the combination of text and image and knowing the hard work Janet has put into getting this chapbook out into the world was just the kick I need to get to collaging. 

I ended up sourcing all the images and texts from several issues of Willamette Week and the collage came together quicker than I expected. Here's what I came up with.  

Since all my materials came from newsprint today, the contrast is a little lower than I'm used to. It was a great stretch for me, creatively. My style is more loud and shiny than matte and muted. But I think that also aligns more with Janet's cover and the image of Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, GA photographed by Allison Renner.

They're both a little dark, a little mysterious. Inviting contemplation in a ghostly environment that is both natural and engineered. 

So a big thank you to Janet, for the inspiration to get me back into collage today! And a huge congratulations on the launch of ghosts passing through!

If you are reading this and interested in more of Janet's work, info about the chapbook or upcoming readings, and even more, check out her linktree here.  And let me know in the comments if you've read Janet's work or better yet, were inspired to make something too!