Now See Hear has been connecting musicians with artists since 2015. Let’s mix in some poets, yeah?
by debora Ewing
It turns out I’m not the only person seeking out the confluence of art & music. Phil Ward’s collective project, Now See Hear, pulls creativity from all over, from soap to brownies — though not in the same pan. Now See Hear has been connecting musicians with artists, bakers, and makers-of-things since 2015. That was the year Phil handed out 23 “seed songs” by FAR-West musicians to a bunch of visual artists, craftspeople and artisans–amateur, professional, children, adults.
He said to the artists, “Can you create a new work of art (or a craft or whatever) inspired by this song I’ve given you?” And then, guess what? He gave that art to a bunch of musicians and asked the same:
“Can you create a new song inspired by this art I’ve given you?”
In February, the Now See Hear project received its 100th song from musician Bob Remstein, who was inspired by Ky Bise, student at Rancho Alamitos High School. Both pieces can be found in “The Thread with Leaves and Peanut Butter.” There are 23 threads in all, one for each seed song.
Phil Ward has spent his life refusing to choose between music and acting. He says: “…anybody who creates is doing it because there’s something in their blood that says ‘create this…’ The thing in my blood that I’m instructed to create is a song. I always fight the urge to say ‘Well it is poetry if you take away the music,’ but surely that can’t be true. I think poetry is out of my depth.”
Surely that can be true.
It’s all about trying to bring a message to people, right? I told Phil he can absolutely say that. Poetry and songwriting share a common backbone: distilling a story to its lowest common denominator, something rhythmic and repeatable.
Phil says, “I don’t think I have a message in my work; I’m just trying to make people laugh. I can understand poets saying, ‘Oh, writing a song is out of my depth,’ because it involves music. But the reason I think poetry is out of my depth is because I can use music as a crutch. If I can keep their attention with a catchy tune, my words don’t have to be as deep and meaningful as they need to be if you’re just writing poetry.”
So his message, then, is to find joy. Be happy for three minutes. This is a good message. It’s a worthy goal, even if the goal in the beginning is just to get the thing out – out of the blood, out of the head – you have to get it out.
I want to play this game. Because I’m a songwriter, a poet and a visual artist, I’ve asked Phil to surprise me with a seed-something.
“I’m going to give you something that needs a home,” he said. That’s perfect. I promise whatever I create will include teeth. Wisdom, eyes, canines, yes. Teeth.
Then Phil asked me a question: where would poets fit into this? Now See Hear is visual: everything from art to baking, but also Aural, with musicians and storytellers. “There’s no rule that says they can’t be on both ends of it…”
What do you think? Which end do you think poetry belongs on?
WHY NOT THE MIDDLE? Why not everything? To date, Now See Hear has one poetic collage by Sandra Moore, and two pieces by poets from Able ARTS Work. We’re underrepresented.
Write a poem to a piece of art. Record your voice. Make a performance video. I challenge you to have a look around the website & find something that speaks to you. Speak back to it.
Here are the songs, stories and art.
Hats off to poets, says Phil. Contact him with your thoughts: phil@nowseehear.org.
