'THE FLOW OF PROGRESS': Two Artists Unveil a Multimedia Symphony With Poetry & Photo
Charlie Schaefer and Paul Thomas invite audiences to their latest creative collaboration at 2 Roots Art & Wine Gallery, 'Inspires'
In a world often saturated with fleeting moments and endless digital content, two Chippewa Valley creatives have slowed down their art forms with the camera lens and pen. They invite audiences to linger in the hand-crafted world of analog photography and ekphrastic poetry.
Paul Thomas, the film photographer, and Charlie Schaefer, the poet, are set to unveil “Inspires: Poetry and Photography” on Nov. 16. The multimedia event, slated to begin at 6pm, will be held at 2 Roots Art & Wine Gallery (216 S Barstow St., Eau Claire).
The duo has collaborated on collections throughout the Chippewa Valley for several years, including displays at the regional airport, the Eau Claire courthouse and Paul's personal photo studio.
Charlie, with influence from Paul’s black-and-white film photography, has created a new collection of “ekphrastic poetry,” a form of writing which describes a work of visual art — whether that be a sculpture, photograph, or the everyday landscapes he surrounds himself with.
These poems, as Charlie shared, can offer an imaginative — or realistic — re-interpretation of the artwork and bridge the gaps between both visual and literary understandings. While he may not have “photographic expertise,” as he described it, Charlie offers reactions to images that may be most similar to a standard viewer.
“(Poetry is) a nice method for condensing my thoughts about a subject,” Charlie said. “Paul and I make an interesting partnership. There is a meshing together of the spoken word and visual image; it is something in the nature of an experiment.”
Charlie’s “naive eye” offers both a documentarian-style and nuanced retelling of the snapshots in time Paul creates with each film exposure. In their latest sequence of poems and photographs, Charlie and Paul have explored the themes and stories carried through music and musicians of the Chippewa Valley.
“It is very gratifying to be able to identify the essence of a particular image from my own point of view,” Charlie said. “My favorite kind of poetry is exactly what I do with Paul; look at (an) image and see what my reaction to it is.”
The “Inspires: Poetry and Photography” collaboration would not be possible without the musical talents who act as subjects in Paul and Charlie’s creative works: Sue Orfield and Randy Sinz, the Two Rivers ensemble, Lucas Fischer, Gregg Wheeler and Jennifer Hazen.
Each of Paul’s exposures — captured on vintage film cameras and developed by Paul himself — were taken on a Hasselblad 500 C/M camera made in 1983 and a Rolleiflex Automat MX from 1954, he shared.
“I am interested in shooting (photos of) people,” Paul said. “Eau Claire has such a rich music scene — it’s the elephant in the room if you are photographing things of interest in a time like this.
“(Film) is inconvenient and it is (a) delayed gratification. It is messy and cameras often fail or they're not good, and yet it's more popular than it's been for years. It's really astonishing,” he said.
At 2 Roots, Paul will display his photographs while Charlie will share live readings of the corresponding poems.
Area musicians, including some of the subjects themselves — Two Rivers, Jennifer Hazen, and Lukas K. Fischer — will perform their individual musical genres throughout the evening, with their tunes interwoven with the photo and poetry sequences.
Charlie and Paul have also created a physical zine of the poetry and photo collection to further emphasize the value of analog art. It will be available for purchase in person at the event.
The duo revealed this two-and-a-half-year project is just the beginning of their latest collaboration. Their most cherished moments, they each explained, involve collaborating and fostering artistic expression in every stage of life.
“I'd like to imagine over the next few years that there will always be more musicians to photograph,” Paul said. “If I look back on the things that I am proud of, it is ‘I did this (project) with (this person) — and those can be the most wonderful things.”
“I find that, with Paul, I can just totally speak my mind without any kind of reservation,” Charlie replied. “It is quite a treat to be able to do that. I see things and I comment on them; I hope I do that in a way that is interesting.”
Learn more about the “Inspires” multimedia event — and see Charlie and Paul’s collective works — on Nov. 16 at 2 Roots Art & Wine Gallery in downtown Eau Claire. Additional information can be viewed on the Facebook event page online.
