Jeff Roberts

ArtFlit

North Andover, MA

17

11 Following 17 Followers

The original spark between artist, art, and audience is as whimsical and unpredictable as it is between humans. Who knows why we are initially attracted to a piece of art. As with people, the first reaction is usually to some physical feature: form, color, or subject— meeting some pre-programmed aesthetic criteria. Something either affects us or it doesn’t, and that is perfectly acceptable. We explore. We discover. We winnow. A poem or a piece of art needs to hit us somehow. To make us windmill our arms like Pete Townshend. It's what drives us to create.

I am first a poet. I make poems—some written—and some visual “poem objects” inspired by the masters: Cornell, Nevelson, Westermann, Duchamp, Schwitters, and countless others. I am self-taught and self-represented. I create from found objects and images, assembling to suit my whims at the moment. I usually create as I go rather than plan out a piece, as any plan quickly changes dynamically from what I see as I build.

I believe that any form of art is only successful if the work turns a common item or idea into an uncommon one—creating not only the poem or poem-object, but some form of emotional power chord. Or sometimes just the sense—or possibility—of that kind of alchemy.

I am a member of The International Society of Assemblage and Collage Artists, the Andovers Artists Guild, East Mill ArtSpace, the Academy of American Poets, and the New England Poetry Club. My first book of poems, Chatter in the Canopy, was published in 2009 and is available from Etsy and Amazon. It contains the poem Beach Glass, which first appeared in the Aurorean, and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2009.