The Great Conversation
I was sitting in Timothy Westbrook’s studio this afternoon. It is a few days after his first successful gallery showing and already the man is back at work. While Timothy constructed new fabric joining cassette tape and wool I listened to the repeating slick/slack/creak/crack sound of his loom in motion. With the new dress in the works I sat thinking about the ongoing, timeless, human dialogue we seem to have termed “The Great Conversation.” This may seem strange or lofty material to be considering at work, but when surrounded with artwork on every wall you do feel like you’re having a regular dialogue with the artists. In this case, when Tim is working, you can have a conversation. Sitting in this artist’s studio/gallery, the below is something I observed. Considering, and offering to, that great conversation.
Timothy Westbrook rendering at his hand and foot powered loom.
The art created
these many human years
the sculptures
composed symphonies and jazz,
finger paint family portraits.
All of our literature,
film and photography
dance and theatre and
elaborate costume
The Dadas, the punk rockers
the Impressionists
and the Rococo
Even cave paintings and
Damien Hirst too
Every work
is a flare shot into the clouds
of a dark star-speckled sky, a prayer,
a boomerang flung quietly in to the ether,
Hopeful
that on the other end
they make contact
and are returned
by someone who
grins and responds,
“Me
too.”
