Art in Common Places: Judy Levine and Jeanne Marie Beaumont

It's one thing to conceptualize a project pairing artists and poets to create a work together and quite another to find people who can successfully collaborate in this way. But Leslie Butterfield, Teresa Carson and Cynthia Burnell -- the founders of Art in Common Places -- are up to the task. Case in point: the wonderful work created in tandem by artist Judy Levine and poet Jeanne Marie Beaumont.   

Judy Levine is well known in Sarasota as both an artist and an arts educator. Always up for a new challenge, she was a perfect choice for an Art in Common Places collaboration. But who would her companion poet be? The moment Carson walked into Judy's studio, she knew poet Jeanne Marie Beaumont and Levine would be a great fit. The objects in Judy's workspace for use in her intricate assemblages reminded her of Beaumont's own collections. (It helped that Carson is friends with the NYC-based Beaumont.)  And so the match was made. 

Click here to read Beaumont's Broken Dolls Day

Judy prepared for her first conversation with Jeanne by reading some of her poetry. "When I Am in the Kitchen" immediately spoke to her with its references to generations of family. (Click here to read the poem.) My own favorite phrase is "when I pull out the drawer/like one in a morgue/I visit the silverware of my husband's grandparents.")  When the collaborators met for the first time on Zoom, Judy wore her mother's "duster" and wielded her grandmother's whisk. I love it. 

Their conversation flowed easily as they found much in common, including their shared affinity for Frida Kahlo, Mexican art and folk art. They learned they had the same doll when they were young. They both create collages and assemblages. And they both collect items from the past. They decided their combined work would revolve around the concepts of memory and keeping what you have lost. 

Detail of bottom box in Judy's assemblage

Judy began to gather objects to include in her "memory keeper." The head of a 75 year old doll from her childhood became the focal point. An old fuse box doubled as a suitcase commemorating the journey both Judy's and Jeanne's grandparents made to America from Europe. An autograph book with a Victorian-style hand at the top was added as a nod to Jeanne's website, which includes gold Victorian hands at the top of each page. Jeanne shared an autograph book circa 1870 from her collection; Judy's memory keeper includes one of its pages signed by "an unknown friend." Judy's assemblage also contains tiny scrolls with passages from Jeanne's poems. 

Jeanne was similarly inspired by Judy's stories, the objects to be included in their combined work and pieces from the past incorporated in her existing memory boxes. Images came to Jeanne's mind that found their way into the poem. For instance, Judy's grandfather was an upholsterer, and she has somehow kept a box of his pins all these years. Judy used a few of them in her assemblage; Jeanne references "the pins once held in the mouth" in her poem. It's just one example of how well this collaboration worked. 

In order to to fully appreciate the power and beauty of the collaboration, you must of course read Jeanne's poem. It goes:

                                                            To Keep

                                            Take the smallest survivors --

                                            the pins once held in the mouth,

                                            emptied matchbox, rundown watch -- 

                                            and let them speak silently

                                            of one who was lost, whose hands

                                            salted soup, combed a child's hair, 

                                            who tossed keys out windows, sticks

                                            to the dog, pennies in wells, dice...

                                            one who clutched a worn suitcase and

                                            went a long way, who signed time's

                                            autograph book -- your unknown friend, 

                                            who loved pears, collected stones, 

                                            one who woke and listened to rain

                                            rinsing the face of the earth...

A huge thanks to Judy and Jeanne for sharing how their collaboration evolved with members of Arts Advocates. (Arts Advocates is a non-profit established to "inspire creativity, advance education and connect the community to the arts." Click here for more information.) And kudos once again to Butterfield, Carson and Burnell for their dedication to bringing art to the residents of Sarasota through the Art in Common Places program. (For some background on the program, click here.) I'd love to be a fly on the wall watching people come across this broadside and peer into Judy's boxes and read Jeanne's poem. Perhaps a little undercover work is in order...