Archaeology of Forgotten Narratives

Poems on the Art of David Olivant by Donald Levering

Saturday, August 12, 2023
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Free

Award winning poet Donald Levering will present poems inspired by the works of David Olivant (on display at the Strata Gallery August 4 through September 1). Levering will discuss the process of writing poetry from art in general and for these specific works. Olivant will be present to offer perspectives on the interchange between his art and Levering’s poems. The poet and artist will respond to audience questions.

Ekphrastic poetry, that is, poetry on works of art, goes back at least as far as Homer’s fanciful description of Achilles’ Shield in The Iliad. Among the more famous ekphrastic poems are Keats “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and Auden’s poem on Vermeer’s “Fall of Icarus.” More recent ekphrastics are Kevin Young’s take on Basquait’s “Cadillac Moon” and Mary Jo Bang’s poem on Bruce Pearson’s abstract painting, “Rock and Roll is Dead The Novel is Dead, God is Dead, Painting is Dead.”

Levering has written numerous ekphrastic poems and has taught workshops on the subject both online and in person. Of David Olivant’s paintings, he says, “I find them immediately stimulating to writing poetry. Their complex of images act on multiple levels at once—psychological, sociological, personal. Gazing at them, I feel compelled to make parallel narratives in verse.”

The notions of levels and parallels in David Olivant’s work is echoed in the critic Mark Van Proyen’s comment that Olivant’s paintings “invite their viewers to adopt the mindset of the archeologist who sifts through diverse iconographic clues to recover a forgotten and possibly suppressed narrative.”

Donald Levering is a former NEA Fellow and author of 16 books of poetry. His most recent, Breaking Down Familiar, placed 2nd in the 2023 National Federation of Press Women competition in creative verse. Reviewing this book, Vincent Czyz wrote, “He finds in the most mundane object or ordinary situation, the place where the universe opens up and gives us a peek.” Levering is also the winner of the Tor House Robinson Jeffers award, the Carve Poetry Prize, and the Literal Latté contest. Garrison Keillor has featured his work in his “Writer’s Almanac” podcast. Levering’s poems have appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, Bloomsbury Review, Commonweal, Hiram Review, Hollins Critic, Hunger Mountain, Notre Dame Review, Poet & Critic, Poet Lore, Southern Poetry Review, and Valparaiso. He lives in Santa Fe with his wife, the painter and poet Jane Shoenfeld.

A native of Great Britain, David Olivant has had solo exhibitions in Art Heritage Gallery, New Delhi and the Center for International Contemporary Art in NYC. Kay Larsson’s favorable review of his work in New York Magazine led to Olivant being represented by Stephen Solovy in Chicago. Olivant has periodically contributed reviews to Art Critical, Art Ltd, and Square Cylinder. His first teaching position was at Southwest Texas State University after which he accepted a post at California State University of Stanislaus in 1995, where he taught for 25 years before retiring in 2020 and moving to Santa Fe, NM, where he serves as President of Strata Gallery. 

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