In the heart of our artist incubator, Portrait of an Artist in a Safe Space, we invite you to join us each week on an exploration like no other. Together, we will shine a spotlight on a single artist, offering you a glimpse into their inner world. Get ready to be inspired as we reveal a curated selection of images from their archives, along with a backstage peek at their current projects.ðŸŽ
To kick off the series, we thought it'd be super cool to get to know our amazing artists a little better. So, we asked them to peak into their archives and some of their favorite promo images from over the years. 🤩 But that's not all! We also dug into their personal treasure trove of memories and perspectives.
Image Details: First off, where and when did these images come to life, and who's the creative genius behind them? We're all ears!
Image Context: Why did these artists pick these particular images? What's the story behind these visuals? Tell us all about it!
Personal Touch: And finally, what kind of memories or emotions do these images evoke for our talented artists today? We're dying to know the backstory, the inspiration, the whole shebang.
Let's jump right in! 💫
Teresa Harrison
Teresa is a Poet, Grappler, and Tilted-head Watcher based in Bellingham, Washington.
Created today (April 2023) in Bellingham by me. Lately, I have been using an image I originally used for HOWL a million years ago. I like using the same basic construct because it is my tribute to when typewriters were the lifeline of a writer (unless like Kerouac it was a scroll) The elements in the image tune me into the lineage of Ferlinghetti and all those Black Mountain inspired poets. Ted Li took the photo.
I like the feeling of a poet howling the truth. The top hat reminds me that there is always room for the ridiculous and burlesque. I want to use this image for the long poem I hope to develop here on CTC's site. The top hat I found in a thrift store in either Chicago or Austin and the typewriter in another in Austin. I was working on HOWL for the fringe festival in Austin before taking it to Boulder, memorizing it by saying sections out loud as I rode my bike to work in the hot weather. Asked a friend at the yoga studio I worked in at the time to take some shots I might be able to use as publicity since I was putting it all together, as usual, on the fly.
Ted Li took this in his wife's studio in Austin. It was for HOWL. I knew I wanted to mess with gravity and to have the nuclear clock there and to use Ferlinghetti's City Lights number four version of HOWL as the title. We ultimately used another photo for all the posters (one with my face howling over a typewriter), but I loved the elements of this one. It is what it felt like to be in the poem
It was one of the most difficult things I can remember. A very isolated process. I felt intensely lonely and down and angry at our culture as I researched, memorized, wrote supporting material, and staged the work in Austin and Boulder. I remember it was so cold and rainy in Austin and I was standing out back under an eve waiting to go on after another fringe show and thinking I could just walk away and no one would really notice or give a real fuck, but couldn't stand up the Bass player, so stayed. I don't think anyone noticed us anyway, but we showed up and knew that for ourselves. In Boulder It was terrifying every night to begin and I never knew what the next word was if I thought about it. I had to open up and trust Allen would give me permission to channel his poem and also to fully connect with the mind blowing pianist I was so lucky to be up there with. We were in a quasar together and would not make it out except to leap and not look back.
This is a candid from a rehearsal for a woman stage combat troupe before we went to the fringe festival in Scotland. I am pretty sure it was sometime in the 1800's. A long time ago. Used in some promo stuff as we raised money to go. It was a good representation of the quarterstaff in action. Also a fun premise of women fighting over gowns at a fire sale at Macy's.
The image has a strong effect on me. I worked with people I loved deeply on this project. The venue was fun and expansive, the music strong and the staging challenging and in the lineage I loved. As years have passed I look at it as a sort of cave painting in my personal cave. I have moved from place to place and found it hard to find land where I felt was home. The pink suitcase and the traveling suit leapt out as a real essence of me. Kind of always looking for what might be my authentic place.
Austin, 104 degrees by a friend, Asha, on a whim. I planned to use it on my website when I was doing floral design. The hat reminds me of my favorite uncle. Rick. He always seemed to see through the bullshit to the real me.
I remember the feeling of space and freedom when I was very young and first moved to Tennessee. I stayed at the barn all the time and rode horses or walked in the fields.
The image has a strong effect on me. I worked with people I loved deeply on this project. The venue was fun and expansive, the music strong and the staging challenging and in the lineage I loved. As years have passed I look at it as a sort of cave painting in my personal cave. I have moved from place to place and found it hard to find land where I felt was home. The pink suitcase and the traveling suit leapt out as a real essence of me. Kind of always looking for what might be my authentic place.
Naropa University MFA Theatre: Contemporary Performance’s devised production performed at the ATLAS Center, 32 Seconds on John Cage directed by Leon Ingulsrud and Barney O’Hanlon (SITI Company)
Asha experiment with sari. Austin 104 degrees.
Asha wanted to experiment with double exposure and I used it on my website in a section talking about somatic movement. In order to get the shape of movement he needed for double exposure I had to really move fast with the long long sari. In a cowboy hat and boots. In 104 degrees. In an alley behind a movie theater. What's not to love.
Bellingham on January, Friday the 13th. I used the old HOWL image with the howling poet and cut and pasted the line up and proposed 3 song dance party in the break onto it. Not sleek, but I liked the feel of it.
People from age 18 to 80 were there. A stand up bass. Honoring the land. An elder calling out anti-semitism. A woman speaking of her recovery from burns and the man who care for her. A young woman with POET tattooed on her arm. Laughter and tears. Every one of them glowed and we were all humbled and raucous in response. The power of a poet. So clear.
I wanted the image of the howling poet over a typewriter. Wanted all the really great poets in this small town to step up and be seen and heard. Want all poets to step up and be seen and heard not for the purpose of winning a slam contest and 100 bucks--but to honor the howl they have been given for the sake of something more. It was a call to arms. The evening was mind blowing. Every poet stepped up above and beyond. Musicians too. Wow.
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