‘Collision’ of words, pictures at Mistlin Gallery

Photography and poetry collide again in an art exhibit opening next week at the Mistlin Gallery in Modesto.

“Collision IV” features 16 pairs of photographers and poets whose mash-ups reflect their combined talents. About 45 to 50 pieces make up the exhibit, which will debut Aug. 18 at the Central California Art Association’s Mistlin Gallery; an artists reception and performance will be held during the Aug. 20 downtown Third Thursday Art Walk.

“This is a show that actually started back in 2008 with (former Modesto poet laureate) Sam Pierstorff and myself,” said exhibit co-organizer and photographer David Schroeder. “We kind of sat down and figured out what we could do to pair poetry with photography ... creatively taking into account someone else’s point of view.”

What that confab turned into is a collaboration between the two artistic genres in which paired photographers and poets create from each other’s works, with either being the inspiration piece. Each pair of artists was challenged to come up with a unified work that expresses a subject in words and image.

“It’s a way of getting two artists with differing points of view to come up with a single piece,” Schroeder said. In some cases, the poets and photographers found they had already created works that related and could be merged.

As the exhibit’s title suggests, this is the fourth “Collision” since that 2008 brainstorming. The first two were at the now-shuttered Photographer’s Gallery, which Schroeder curated when it was nexr to former longtime downtown Modesto business The Camera Center. The third show was also at Mistlin Gallery. Schroeder’s co-organizers this year are current city poet laureate Gillian Wegener, poet Stella Beratlis and photographer Diane Moody.

Wegener said the show offers “two artistic mediums coming together to play off one another.”

“Seeing the photographs displayed alongside the poems gives new depth and perspective to both,” she said in an email interview. “And it’s always interesting to see how two different artists interpret and work with each other’s work.”

During the Art Walk reception, poets will read their poems while the corresponding photographs are projected on a screen behind them, Schroeder said.

The hanging exhibit includes photography with corresponding poems printed onto the picture as well as solo photos with their poems separately mounted alongside.

The poets and photographers are local, with some having participated in past “Collision” shows and many others new this year to the event, Schroeder said.

Pairing the artists was challenging.

“David Schroeder and Diane Moody gave Stella and I a list of photographers with a couple of descriptors next to their names like ‘edgy’ or ‘abstract’ or ‘landscape’ or ‘urban,’ and we sat around a table and paired them with poets,” she said. “Choosing the poets was difficult, as we know and love the work of so many area poets.”

Poet and photographer pairs this year are: Gillian Gray with Diane Moody; Linda Scheller with David Garcez; Linda Prather with Rebecca Harvey; Lillian Vallee with Lorraine Nilson; Elizabeth Sousa with Breana Trigueiro; Paul Neumann with Lisa Smith; Gordon Preston with Shirley Stevens; Tom Myers with Michael Mangano; Kathleen Ennis with Jeremy Center; Tina Curiel-Allen with Bill Harris; Mark Nicoll-Johnson with David Schroeder; James Weaver with Dennis Wister; Samuel de Lemos with Larry Lew; Stella Beratlis with Janelle DeRuose; Sandy Stark McGinnis with Sandy Menard; and Gillian Wegener with Andy Alfaro.

The Art Walk event offers a live expression of the collaboration.

“It will be great to have the photos projected as their poems are read as both forms will be emphasized and celebrated,” Wegener said. “The photos and poetry will be displayed around the Mistlin Gallery, so people will be able to see and read the works as they see fit. It’s part of the monthly Art Walk, and is simply a great way to continue to celebrate art and culture in our area.”

This story was originally published August 11, 2015 at 3:48 PM with the headline "‘Collision’ of words, pictures at Mistlin Gallery."