On a sunny Saturday afternoon in September, I travelled to Great Village to learn more about how Elizabeth Bishop’s visual art informed and inspired her poetry.
On arrival, we were welcomed into the dining room and
invited to take a chair in the circle. The dining room table was piled high
with Bishop books and sketching materials, and the nearby kitchen table offered
cookies and cake, strawberries and watermelon. The tea kettle was on and the
coffee was brewing. A cozy start to the day.
We were a varied group. We had three participants from the
village—one long-time member of the Society plus two sisters, who as daughters
of founding members of the Society, Lois and Alan Bray, felt a deep connection
to the house. A local fibre artist who creates rugs inspired by Bishop poems
joined our circle, as well as two people new to Bishop’s poetry, who as
painters themselves were eager to learn about both her poetry and art.
Our facilitators were Society board member and writer,
Rosaria Campbell; author of A Pocket of Time: The Poetic Childhood of
Elizabeth Bishop, Rita Wilson; and illustrator of this beautiful picture
book, the multi-talented Emma FitzGerald. We were in good company!
Emma opened the workshop by introducing us to samples of Bishop’s artwork, using Objects & Apparitions, a small but beautifully illustrated art book from a 2012 exhibit of Bishop’s paintings. She also shared fascinating details from an essay by Joelle Biele (editor of Elizabeth Bishop and The New Yorker: The Complete Correspondence), quoting Bishop’s advice to her Aunt Grace, who had just recently taken up painting. Bishop emphasized direct observation, the pleasure of looking at the world’s smallest details. In a letter to her aunt, Bishop comments, “It is fun isn’t it—I’m always completely happy when I do get around to paint a small picture—whereas writing is hell, most of the time.” The essay goes on to describe some of the ways Bishop used drawings as outlines for poems, even illustrating letters to her mentor, Marianne Moore. Bishop labeled her own paintings “primitives” because of her emphasis on detail. Biele says, “Much like her poems, watercolours and pastels, her drawing’s understatement urges one to ‘Watch it closely’.”
And then it was our turn to ‘watch it closely’. Emma distributed new sketchbooks to each of us and we spent the next hour pencil to paper. Exploring blind contour drawing was a fun and freeing way to start drawing, especially for us somewhat reluctant less-experienced sketchers. We drew hands, light fixtures, and inspiring objects from the house. And we continued this “untidy activity” as we used our new books to sketch and make notes during Rita’s and Rosaria’s part of the program.
Rita began by sharing her initial inspiration for writing the picture book, A Pocket of Time: The Poetic Childhood of Elizabeth Bishop. After showing us a few of the original word and picture maps she had made to outline her ideas for the book, Rita created a beautiful collage of Bishop’s Great Village childhood by skillfully weaving excerpts from poems and stories about village life, the house, and life with the beloved Bulmer grandparents. We could clearly see how Bishop’s descriptions are like drawings, and she was, as Marianne Moore put it, “three-fourths painter” in whatever she writes.
To wrap up the afternoon, Rosaria shared how Bishop’s poetry inspires her practice as a poet and a prose writer. She talked specifically about Bishop’s sense of attention, her skill with containment (and how no two of her poems were the same), her keen memory, and her sense of context and place. Rosaria read “Sestina”, “Manners” and we had a lively discussion of each. Rosaria then shared two poems of her own. The first poem was begun at a previous workshop at the EB House, and the second, “Sestina’s for October’s Order” is published in the Society’s 2025 souvenir booklet “life shadows in a glass”: Poems inspired by Elizabeth Bishop.
The afternoon ended with a shared reading of “The Moose,” in
which all participants and facilitators read (beautifully) stanzas from the
iconic poem. This was followed by another lively discussion. It was at the same
time a poignant and energetic reading, and a perfect way to end the workshop.
We all left the house feeling grateful and inspired. As participant Lorraine Endicott shared— “It was so wonderful to sketch together and to listen to fascinating and moving stories read aloud about and by Bishop. And to be introduced to her poetry! What a gift.”
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