Gray Pirouettes
Gray Pirouettes started as a month long poetry challenge that led to a self-published book, an art exhibit, and a journey in meeting my depression. An intimate collection of poetry and original collage illustrations, Gray Pirouettes explores themes of mental illness, pressures of the modern world, and our relationship with time following the pandemic.
Read and in depth account of my journey here
It started with a month long challenge: 1 poem every day
Now, I am no poet. I’ve never gravitated towards poetry outside of Shel Silverstein and that was only because of his curious drawings, which would later inspire my love of illustration. The only poem I remember writing was a haiku about a mermaid in second grade. Even the word ‘poem’ felt untouchable. Writing a poem every day would be painfully difficult, and that’s how I knew it’s what I was going to do.
The Artwork
After completing the 30 day poetry challenge, I moved to the artwork. I did a week long artist residency at Sou’ Wester where I produced a collection of 10 collage illustrations using pieces of nature, water color, old postcards.
Exhibiting at Leu Art Gallery
Artwork for sale
Purchase 12x12 prints of the Gray Pirouettes collection.
The book
Finally, I got the book professionally edited and self-published it through Tablo. It was incredible to be able to finally hold the collection of art I had been working towards for over a year. You can purchase it on Amazon and other online retailers today.