I remember there being something about the presence of art as a green light for being yourself - there's just something about it…your studio - this is where things are emerging, this is where you were sort of sharing your inner process and so I could bring things that I was working on and thinking about in my inner process into the conversation. - Tiaju Geri Willimek on inspiration to share ideas upon visiting Marley Kaul’s art studio
Painter Marley Kaul and poet Taiju Geri Willimek have collaborated on a visual and literary art experience they call For Now. Their new book couples 20 of Kaul’s paintings with 20 of Willimek’s poems and inspires the reader to engage in the moment, respond to the work and feel more connected, aware and alive.
...it pulls me into reality in a way, like the reality that counts, the reality that I'm alive, the reality that I'm alive and kicking and moving and flowing. You know, that's the reality that I, I wake up to when I when I pare it all down...the brush strokes, the breath, pare it all down and then you can blossom out into an appreciation on a whole different level of reality... - Taiju Geri Willimek
In this Area Voices segment, Kaul and Willimek discuss the dawning of For Now, meditation practices, artistic process, and how a lemon meringue pie on Father's Day inspired the painting "Invitation to Listen".
...the painting is really about the relationship between Sandy and myself, plus all those years that I remember - fifty eight years of being together - and pie. - Marley Kaul
Willimek's poem accompanying the painting is as follows:
Two chairs
by the cold fire
angled toward one another
seem friendly and
perfectly at ease.
Unoccupied.