BY ADRIANA POPA

In print | Published October 9, 2008

On Sunday, Oct. 5, New Mexican poet and artist Susan Gardner enchanted Swarthmore College with a mix of visual and spoken art as she presented Spanish and English creations from her recent books “Box of Light—Caja de Luz” and “Stone Music.”

Gardner first introduced her work by defining her artistic credo, relating a story in which a Korean monk told her, “The difficult thing is to look around with open eyes and see what is right in front of you. Not what you wish was there, not what you expect, but what is.”

In her own words, Gardner uses a blend of poetry, photography and painting influenced by her interest in various cultures in order to try and capture “a moment in time, a transparent glimpse of reality. The work reflects the sense of the present.”

With this goal in mind, Gardner spoke on how her artistic evolution has been a perpetual and personal process of understanding and growth, marked by her self-confidence and determination. “You must try to awaken yourself. No one can do that for you,” Gardner said, “I was told I didn’t have talent, but I never abandoned art.”

Gardner’s reading selections from her two books invested her voice with both the warmth of her lyric expression and the melody of the English and Spanish languages used in her poetry. Her bilingual presentation not only gave a charming duality to our perception of her art but also conveyed a multi-faced image of the world. The bilingual form of Gardner’s poetry is a choice which reflects her perception of language: “Poems are spoken songs. I have tried to capture the sense and the music of the language. Sometimes a poem starts in English, other times, in Spanish.”

In her quest for new artistic forms, Gardner has explored incorporating modern techniques in her style as naturally as possible since she considers digital possibilities to be both green and able to “leave room for the unexpected.” Gardner believes that far from turning paintings and photography into non-art, the computer remains a tool for the artist and she insists on the distinction between the tool and the idea.

Gardner’s work is deceptively simple yet has enjoyed wide success, perhaps due to the fact that Gardner holds the audience as such an important part of her artistic creation process. She considers a piece of art unfinished until it is “communicated” and transcended to the public. Associate Dean for Student Life Myrt Westphal, who introduced Gardner, believes that “the combination of visual stimulation and read poetry builds a unique atmosphere” that appeals to lovers of all forms of art.

Audience member Michael Duffy ’11 believed Gardner’s work to be “remarkable for its simplicity and distinctiveness, unadorned and yet individual, quietly observed and uniquely expressed.”
This “quiet” nature of Gardner’s work is deeply rooted in her understanding of the artistic meaning—with the world being a very noisy place, Gardner believes that “an artist has two choices: be louder or be quiet.” Gardner’s work embodies the type of penetrating “quietness” that cannot be ignored and that fulfills its purpose of delivering the message to the reader or viewer.

In a world where everyone shouts, Susan Gardner has chosen to be silent and let her art speak for her with astonishing effects.

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