NewsUpper SchoolPre-K to 8
Trustee Purchases Poem-Interpretive Art for Display on Campus
Aug 1, 2000 8:00 AM
By Stefan Eady - Faculty
Darlington trustee George Johnson ’54 recently purchased a series of thirteen works of art based on the Wallace Stevens poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.”
The works, each of which illustrates one stanza from the poem, were done by Atlanta visual artist Beverly Key and originally hung at the Beverly Libby Gallery in Atlanta.
“[This series] is user-friendly and suitable to a diverse and wide range of viewers,” Beverly K. Libby, owner of the Gallery said. “This cannot be said for all art.”
So that the pieces may be viewed and enjoyed by students, the paintings will likely be exhibited in the library.
“George Johnson is a fine trustee,” David Powell, Chair of the English Department, said. “He really understands the power of the arts, and this is a great purchase, as it slams the two art forms together in a way that the students can look at. It’s one artist commenting on another’s work through her own. Both the poem and the paintings are hard to understand, let alone teach, but the two actually make each other easier to understand.”
The works, each of which illustrates one stanza from the poem, were done by Atlanta visual artist Beverly Key and originally hung at the Beverly Libby Gallery in Atlanta.
“[This series] is user-friendly and suitable to a diverse and wide range of viewers,” Beverly K. Libby, owner of the Gallery said. “This cannot be said for all art.”
So that the pieces may be viewed and enjoyed by students, the paintings will likely be exhibited in the library.
“George Johnson is a fine trustee,” David Powell, Chair of the English Department, said. “He really understands the power of the arts, and this is a great purchase, as it slams the two art forms together in a way that the students can look at. It’s one artist commenting on another’s work through her own. Both the poem and the paintings are hard to understand, let alone teach, but the two actually make each other easier to understand.”
