The “Silver” Exhibition is in collaboration with award-winning poet Barbara Smith who is based in Dundalk. Bridge Street Studios commissioned Barbara to compose a poem solely for this one-off exhibition. The artists have created and interpreted their artworks in response to this poem.
My response to Barbara Smith’s poem ‘Silver’ began with the registration of emotions as you wake in the morning, those second by second realisations as a new day dawns. I decided to return to making figures to express each stanza of the poem.
Each stylised figure has a thoughtful expression, and the breast is decorated with a line drawing with gold and platinum lustres to represent the visuals in the poetry. I added ornate headdresses to give these serene human forms some otherworldly movement.
‘Silver’
for the artists at Bridge St, on their anniversary
The slow, silver heartbreak of another day,
Tarnished reflections in the grey.
Gossamer webs of autumn
spun across branches of our lives,
reflect motes that gather
urgent hints
at hidden things, entwining strings
which disappear in an unexpected gleaming,
revealing new silver dew drops,
steaming
as the sun reveals the tendrils
of morning — a new day.
by Barbara Smith
