Detail of a grade school self-portrait by Marie Ulmer, pencil and watercolor

The small exhibition focusing on her early work was organized by U Arts alumnae Candace Karch and Janel Rivera Frey who have taken on the job of cataloging Ulmer’s work.  It begins with a hand full of grade-school drawings including one particularly haunting pencil and watercolor self-portrait on lined writing paper (above).  Three later self-portraits show a similarly serious young woman with sharp features and a notable gap between her front teeth.

Marie Ulmer Self-Portrait c.1941 gouache

The bulk of the work was produced during her time at art school and just afterward and includes portraits, self-portraits, a number of illustrations and several prints.  The later include two charming wood engravings, one an ex libris plate. The illustrations have the romantic style common to picture-books of the 1940s.  Ulmer favors figures in movement and atmospheric landscapes, real or imagined.  In one, untitled illustration two horses gallop through a star-flecked sky as a young woman plays guitar for a child who has just noticed a tiny being (a fairy?) in the foreground.

Marie Ulmer detail of a record cover for Mendelssohn’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ gouache

The most complex is an lp record cover for Mendelssohn’s Midsummer Night’s Dream. The foreground is filled with details of life on the forest floor: speckled mushrooms, a snake, caterpillars and butterflies.  A group of tow-headed maidens dance in a circle in the middle ground, observed by several supernatural beings, and two couples in period dress inhabit the background.

Let’s hope these are just the first of the surprises to come from Ulmer’s studio.

Limited edition poster for' Poem/Posters; fifteen small presses' at Kelly Writers House

Broadsides are printed with text on one side only and were originally intended to be posted in public, rather like flyers or posters.  In modern form they have become a genre favored by practitioners of letterpress (the sort of type used by Guttenberg, which is experiencing a revival of sorts) and are usually produced in limited editions.  Some have illustrations accompanying the text and the form is particularly suited to poetry.

Megan O’Connell (l.) talks with KWH curator Kaegan Sparks at the 'Poems/Posters' fair

On Tuesday, Sept. 29 Kelly Writers House at the University of Pennsylvania held a fair of work from some of the fifteen presses from across the country represented in the exhibition Poem/Posters, which continues through Oct.  30, 2009. The presses used a variety of means and effects, including handmade paper created from a poet’s tee shirts, hand-written texts, and a variety of expressive layouts.

Megan O’Connell detail of a broadside based on the writing of Luce Irigaray

Two of the artists came with their wares: Megan O’Connell of Dead Skin Press, Portland, ME and Aaron Cohick of NewLights Press, Oakland, CA, and of all the presses theirs pushed the broadside format and printing technique to the fullest.  O’Connell is a long-time friend and I’ve watched through the years as she mulls over texts which interest her and interprets them with typography, layout and the occasional image. Her broadside based on Luce Irigaray’s words about woman’s self-creation and search for form (above) is paired with an ink-blot created from spit and pigment which looks remarkably like the female reproductive organs.  In the exhibition O’Connell is showing six from an eventual 33 double-page spreads of Agile Reactions: 33 Bean Games by Alison Knowles, which the two have collaborated on.

Aaron Cohick of NewLights Press

Aaron Cohick brought a variety of editioned and unique books to the fair and is exhibiting three broadsides based on a complex technique in which he uses letterpress to create a template then cuts the background paper away from the letter-forms which become inked through handling with inky fingers.  Cohick thinks through type.  Several of his books and broadsides deal with the tension between printing and erasure and his must be one of the rare presses which employs exacto knives as readily as type.

detail, ‘91% Battery Power Remaining’ (2009) New Lights Press with text by Justin Sirois

Kelly Writers House was giving away the limited edition, letterpress poster (above) created to announce the exhibition, and if you get there in time, may be offering them still.

The ArtsEdge residencies will provide shared living and working space for an “emergent” writer and artist for a year. The goal is to inspire interdisciplinary exploration (and to bring the action close to Penn’s campus in West Philadelphia).

The application is due by Aug. 8, 2008.

Here’s more info from the press release:

Residencies last for one year and include a dedicated studio for each writer/artist, shared living space, and close affiliation with the writing and artistic communities at Penn. During the course of their residencies, writers and artists will be encouraged to develop at least one collaborative project with the Writers House or Fine Arts Department. Qualified applicants may also be considered to teach one course at Penn in the spring semester.

Terms: artist and writer will each pay $500 (+ electric) per month; rent will include shared living space, private work space, and all other utilities. Writers House and Fine Arts Department will subsidize remaining rent.

To apply: send letter of interest, bio or artist statement, and portfolio (10 pages of written work or 20 images minimum (PDFs, PPTs, CDs, DVDs are all acceptable) to residencyproject@writing.upenn.edu . Please include personal contact information and the names and contact information of at least two professional references. If you would like to be considered for a course, please also submit a brief description of your teaching experience or qualifications.

Submissions may be made electronically, or sent to:

ArtsEdge Residency
Kelly Writers House
3805 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19139

Application deadline: August 8, 2008.
Project start date/move-in: October 1, 2008.

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David Kessler, who does the magic on our video series Look! It’s Libby and Roberta is having a screening of his heartbreaking Shadow World videos tomorrow night, Tuesday, Sept. 18 at Kelly Writers House. Shadow World, which documents people who live or work or hang out in Kensington under the El, is riveting when seen small on the internet. The short pieces (a ten-minute clip showing several episodes will screen) will be very powerful when projected large. The series tells much about a part of the city and its inhabitants most people never see. Shadow World is on a double bill. Sarah Christman’s “Dear Bill Gates” will also screen. Get there early for seats. The place is small.

Kelly Writers House
3805 Locust Walk
Philadelphia, PA 19104
215.573.WRIT