Annie Dillard art exhibit featuring young writers celebrated at The Studios of Key West: Special Preview Party on January 3

On Thursday, January 3, The Studios of Key West invites the public to celebrate Annie Dillard and her exhibit of oil paintings with a special opening reception in the Zabar Lobby from 6:00pm -8:00pm. The exhibit features more than two dozen portraits on pine shingles of not-yet-recognized writers “when they were young and just ordinary people,” says Dillard, the artist best known for her work as a writer of novels, poetry, literary theory, non-fiction narratives and essays, and a memoir.

Dillard’s small-scale paintings reveal a sure sense of line, color, and exuberance that is “assured, perceptive, and sometimes dazzling,” as noted by veteran art critic and writer Ann Landi.  Yet Dillard is dismissive, writing “These aren’t art; they’re just illustrations,” echoing the sentiment of former Key West poet Elizabeth Bishop, who protested that her paintings were “…Not Art—NOT AT ALL.”

But what is an illustration if not art?  What does one call Shel Silverstein’s award-winning drawings? And what of Tennessee Williams’ paintings?  Or the work of any celebrated author crossing genres?  By definition (from American Heritage dictionary, of which Dillard serves on its usage panel), Dillard is right, even if we can subjectively argue that both are correct.  Illustration /i-lə-ˈstrā-shən/ n 1. a picture or image used to clarify a text 2. an example used to explain something. In this case, it’s Dillard’s desire to demonstrate that “appearance has nothing to do with genius or talent or originality or anything else important.”

“Appearance is misinformation,” she says.

“No one knows what those young writers looked like when they were doing their crucial work,” says Dillard, who used rare photographs found on the internet to help her sketch out the young face. “My hope is that future young writers will not despair that they look ordinary. Almost everyone does.

Categorize her work as you will, they are made from the hand of an artist whose primary medium helps millions of readers see the extraordinary in the ordinary. Dillard’s 1975 Pulitzer Prize-winning “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek” became a modern classic and iconic meditation on the natural world and the nature of consciousness, helping catapult her to future Guggenheim and NEA fellowships, an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a National Humanities Medal awarded by Barack Obama in 2015 “for her profound reflections on human life and nature.”

Despite those and other accolades, Dillard consciously put her pen to rest after publishing “The Abundance” a year later, replacing it with a paintbrush, the proceeds of her work benefitting “Partners in Health,” which provides medical services in Haiti in Africa. But make no mistake; painting is not new to Dillard, as revealed by her memoir “American Childhood,” where a young Annie embraces drawing as a hobby, then later paints (and writes short stories and poems) after graduating from Hollins College. Decades after her famed publications, she continues to portray the human condition through her paint and sketches, remaining the prolific seer she is known to be. In the end, Dillard’s storyteller and painter are one and the same.

“I had pine shingles because part of a neighbor’s bee colony broke from its hive and started new colony in an empty summer house I owned on Cape Cod,” she writes. “The bees’ owner broke in to retrieve his colony, and he left a big hole in the outside wall.  He bought a bunch of shingles with which to repair the hole, and then apparently lost interest in the project.  After we repaired and painted the wall, many shingles remained.”

If you’re still and quiet enough when you visit her exhibit, you just might hear the faint hum of bees beneath the loping scrawl of pens.

Dillard’s exhibit is free and open to the public throughout the month of January. Sponsored by Archeo and Grace on Frances.  For more information, contact The Studios at 305-296-0458 or visit TSKW.ORG.  The Studios of Key West is located at 533 Eaton Street, with gallery and box office open Tues-Sat, 10am-4pm.

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A young Willa Cather is one of Annie Dillard’s celebrated subjects at The Studios of Key West on Thursday, January 3, from 6:00pm -8:00pm in a special exhibit featuring more than two dozen portraits on pine shingles of not-yet-recognized writers “when they were young and just ordinary people.” Dillard’s exhibit is free and open to the public throughout the month of January. For more information, contact The Studios at 305-296-0458 or visit TSKW.ORG.

 

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