About The Project

How many pictures is a word worth?

We are an age of imagery.  The best and worst of our feelings rise and fall with the sun.  People point to the rain and dance, simply because it is the rain.  We say we find God in the smile of a child, or in the landscape of a vast mountain-range.  Our soul delights in the visual stimulation of the world.

And to our great surprise, the world delights right back.

Conversely, people live for words.   Books, transcripts, emails, fill our daily lives.  People tweet with 140 characters or less.  We text, update statuses, comment and chat.  Truncated tales talk to us; we begin and end the meaning of our existence in the magic of man-made clichés.
 
“You have cancer.”
“Will you marry me?”
“I don’t ever want to see you again.”
“I’m pregnant.”
“You’re fired.” 

“I love you.”

Every word counts.

And our hearts know both languages – the soul sees a smile just as well as it hears a word.  It knows tragedy in a quivering hand as well as in a half-shattered voice.  The two expressions are one.

We do not live in a vacuum.  We are changed and moved by other people and other experiences – past and present.  And so too, is art.  When we read a book, view a painting, watch a play, or listen to a song, we take our own experiences and add it to the work.  That work becomes more than notes on a page, or colours on a canvas.  It transcends its scientific bound and becomes a unique entity all of its own.  And that entity only exists in that magical place where the viewer meets the viewed.

That’s Art.

A Tale of Two Artistries is an experiment of artistic expression.  Two artists using two different mediums to explore and reflect on that transcendental meaning.

Each week, one of us will post either a picture or a series of words.  Then, during that week the other will absorb the art and let it inspire us.  Then, we will create a partner work to go with it.  We will create a mirrored image of what we felt in the other’s work and post it the following week.  Neither of us will have seen the art prior to the posting, and each of us will create work fresh for this project.

It is our hope that our art will be grow by reflecting the passion of another medium and another artist, and be empowered to, in turn re-express something new.  When every 4 week period is finished, we will have a partnered piece – photography and a story.  Created independently but connected by inspiration to meld into one unique expression that they could not have achieved separately.

And we, as artists, can reflect back on what we’ve felt, and how it inspired us.

While our own hearts are always our first and most beloved audience, we’d very much like to bring yours along with us, which is why we’re web-publishing the project.  Comments are welcomed and encouraged – art does not exist in a vacuum.

We generally update every other Saturday and alternate the first poster.  See our 2015 schedule page for a detailed schedule.