"It would be tragic not to realize the extent of man’s dependence on the arts."
—Wallace Stevens, "Relations Between Poetry and Painting"

Because most varieties of art inform and cross-reference each other—visual artists, for example, typically have other creative passions like gardening, classical guitar, writing—this month we celebrate National Poetry Month.

Check the Academy of American Poets’ website for NPM events and celebrations. Coming up April 17 is Poem in Your Pocket Day.

The Academy of American Poets has some great resources on its site, including a National Poetry Almanac that devotes a section to Poetry and Art. My favorite subject within this category is visual art’s (more specifically, Picasso’s) influence on Gertrude Stein. A friend of Picasso’s, and ever the experimental writer, Stein forayed into "verbal Cubism" in her 1914 book, Tender Buttons—poems modeled after visual effects she observed in the artist’s paintings.

If your plans find you in New Mexico next weekend, here’s something you might want to see: On March 29 (1-5 p.m. in Los Alamos, New Mexico), Karen West and Santa Fe artist Ke’vin Bowers will unveil Bowers’ newest work, A Slice of Monet—the largest pastel Bowers has created—which was commissioned by West. Here’s the story on its origins, according to the two:

“Ke’vin met Karen in October of 2007 at an Arts and Crafts fair in Los Alamos, where they began talking about his creating a work of art that would fill her 14 ft high wall. Her love of Monet’s water lilies was the beginning of a conversation that led to the commission. Karen had been admiring Ke’vin’s water lily series that Ke’vin had been working on.

“After several months of work, going up and down the scaffolding, A Slice of Monet was finally completed. For protection, it was covered with a piece of Plexiglas measuring 126x54 inches. It took three people to install the piece on the wall of Karen’s home; they stood back and gazed with great satisfaction: It definitely fills the wall and room making a dramatic statement.  

“Ke’vin video taped the time spent working on A Slice of Monet and plans to make a DVD showing the whole artistic process.”

Check out more of his process on his website.

Before inclement weather forces us to flee TPJ headquarters, we’re taking a moment to celebrate National Women’s History Month—particularly appropriate, considering our all-female staff.

The National Women’s History Project (NWHP) is the organization responsible for the observance of National Women’s History Month each March. NWHP chose “Women’s Art: Women’s Vision” as the theme for this year’s month-long celebration, and selected the following artists as the 2008 honorees: Judy Chicago; Harmony Hammond; Edna Hibel; Lihua Lei; Cecilia Rose O’Neill; Violet Oakley; Jaune Quick-to-See-Smith; Faith Ringgold; Miriam Shapiro; Lorna Simpson; Nancy Spero; and June Claire Wayne. Go to the NWHP site for details on events throughout the month—and to celebrate women in history all year long.

Speaking of Judy Chicago, her multimedia project, The Dinner Party, is now permanently on display at the Brooklyn Museum as part of its Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, so the next time you’re in New York, check it out. We got a look at a few works from the Brooklyn Museum Wednesday here in Cincinnati at the Taft Museum of Art; “From Winslow Homer to Edward Hopper: American Watercolor Masterpieces from the Brooklyn Museum” recently opened, and we weren’t about to miss it!

The exhibition features 70 watercolors from the Brooklyn Museum’s fantastic collection, chronicling the rise of the medium in America, and shifts in technique over the years. Anne even spotted some pastels in one of the earlier landscapes—Samuel Colman’s Late November in a Santa Barbara Cañon, California (about 1886-88). It’s truly a gorgeous show, on display through May 11.