By Hugh Hazelton
for Ginette
entering
is passing from Flatland
to ten dimensions
paint brushes and
miniature rollers
bright-coloured water
in silent glasses
on a tiny sink
giant transparent bags
of shredded newsprint
waiting to be turned
into papier-mâché
for brightlypainted broaches
and enamelled hairclasps
among rings loops metal circles ovals
gold filigree wire tweezers and minipliers
lying next to shouting acrylic globs
from last week’s painting
and the shaded layers
of today’s watercolour
or yesterday’s felt pens ofmanyhues
fanning out over their case and cover
balls of multicoloured yarn wool coarse or fine
knitting needles thimbles scissors of every size
lace and beads
anonymous sacks of cloth
silksatindenimcorduroy
the sewing machine humming
brrrrrr brrrrrr brrrrrr brrrrrr
as you invent spiralling embroidery
on white cotton
with the ancient cabinets
that climb to the ceiling
overflowing with more cloth and
found yarn sweaters cut into strips
to be knitted together into new forms
jars of buttons of every geometric shape
and clasps that hook and hold in a thousand ways
the sunlight filtering in through the morning windows
their bottom panes covered with cut paper snowflakes
windowsills with seashells pebbles sea urchins leaves
and then the rough-hewn balcony and folded hammock
and two appletrees beyond
your art books and ornament magazines
and crates of ostrich eggs with the yolks removed
waiting to be transformed
into baroquely painted lights
on wooden stands
the old screen with carved Indonesian
village scenes left here years ago by the Peruvian traveller
who went to the Canary Islands
and never came back again
and around it the deep green multileaved plants
growing and flowering in the luminescent inundation
over your grandmother’s ancient sewing machine
heavy as factory machinery
concealed in a table with a reversible stand
infinite drawers hiding unending tiny treasures
the piled-up pillars of boxes and tins
waiting to be covered with patterned paper
or painted with designs as whimsical
as everything that is transformed
from matter to fantasy
within this warm room
of you
The Importance of Art, Culture & the Creative Process
I’ve spent my life working with comparative languages, literatures, histories, music and art. The humanities are more important now than ever before, as we bring forward with human creations in the face of an automatized civilization.
What was the inspiration for your creative work?
Living with the creative world of my lifelong partner.
Tell us something about the natural world that you love and don’t wish to lose.
I have travelled a great deal in my life, from Newfoundland and the Yukon to the Amazon, Australia and the Congo, observing how different cultures live with Nature, either cultivating or destroying it, or trying to preserve it, especially as the Indigenous cultures of the world are reviving and showing us how it can be respected and safeguarded.
