Walk with Me.....

January 9 - February 18, 2012

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Opening remarks

Walk with Me

A collaborative exhibition featuring the artwork of Sheila Davis and the poetry of Jean Kallmeyer.

The painter’s interest lies in obscure areas of the environment. Texture and colour encourage the viewer’s eye to look deeper, to see beyond the obvious, to become aware of those areas of nature necessary to existence, to see beauty in the mundane. 

The poet enters the landscape and draws from it inspiration to express yearnings, memories, faith, desire and imaginings in a series of love poems.

 This is a love story, a walk through time and seasons, joy and sorrow. 

 Come….Walk with me…

The Painter

Sheila Davis has been a professional artist for over 15 years. Her interest lies in obscure areas of the environment as seen on the periphery of daily vision. Sheila works in oil, preferring large panels. Using dynamic brushstrokes and saturated colour, she captures the friction and play of texture and temperature where surface planes meet, challenging the eye to look deeper, to see beyond the obvious, to become aware of those areas of nature necessary to existence, to see beauty in the mundane. An elected member of the Society of Canadian Artists and the Ontario Society of Artists,  Sheila’s work has been featured in magazines, on television and is included in private and corporate collections around the world. She is represented by various galleries in Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia and participates in select exhibitions throughout the year.

The Poet

Jean Kallmeyer has been writing poetry and verse as long as she can remember but took it up seriously only after she retired. She began by studying for four years in a workshop led by the award winning poet A.F. Moritz, who was encouraging and helpful. This experience lent her the confidence to join her daughter, artist Sheila Davis, in an art and poetry show called Two Ways of Seeing in 2003. A member of the  The Ontario Poetry Society, (TOPS) she is a regular contributor to Verse Afire, a tri-annual TOPS publication. Its local branch has distributed pamphlets, published a book containing poems by the members, and often holds readings in public places. She has been involved informally in many poetry events and workshops.

WALK WITH ME

In spring, through violets

and rain, white cherry

blossoms on the breeze

Past shimmering streams

in summer’s heat, through fields

of flowers, airless, still,

Through heaps of golden

autumn leaves when maples

blaze upon the hill

O, follow me

through virgin snows

& winter- frosted balsam trees

Together, we will range the seasons through.

Come, walk with me, as I remember you.

First Touch - O/P 72 X 30

DEEP IN THE WOODS

Deep in the woods

A pool of sunlight

Spills across the clearing

A promise

That beyond these shadows

Life and joy still gleam

And I am drawn

As moth to yellow flame

To seek you there

Beyond these Shadow O/P 42 X 62

SOMETHING WAITS

The air is heavy; sun shines

Silver-grey through

Vapour-laden cloud.

A haze creeps ‘round the larches

Blurring the fringes

Of the frothy green.

Alone, I feel a presence

In this glen,

And breathe your name.

Something Waits O/P 36 X 48

Brushing the brow

of the adjacent hills

the morning sun slants

through these autumn woods

silvering the birch,

its frost-tipped leaves

feather the air,

drift to the forest floor

layering the misty path 

beneath my feet.

O, how I long to share this glade with you.

Silver Glade O/P 40 X 48 ●

WHISPERING MIST

The sun glints

through this grove

of lingering green

its scattered twigs

thick-strewn along the trail

White birch stand stark

against the deepening wood

amidst its shadows dark

still mysteries lie

here in the whispering mist

I feel you near

Whispers in the Mist O/P 40 X 48

WHERE YELLOW IS

Even in rain these yellow leaves will shine

incandescent through the mist and gloom.

In yellow, hope abides—these woods in Fall,

in Spring forsythia blooms, in jonquils,

daffodils and dandelions— Yellow can cheer

the dreariest of days, sun muffled deep

in mournful clouds. O, love,

I sense your spirit here, where yellow is.

A Light Within O/P 42 X 42

KISS ME HERE

Amid a veil of tender green

small leaves of red like blushing lips

cascade to hide a hollow

shady bower beneath the trees

The shadows shelter elfin shapes

I sense enchantment in this place

A spectral mood– I close my eyes

my love, and feel your touch

Kiss me Here O/P 36 X 36 ●

EMBRACING SPRING

Through budding boughs

the gracious sun bends down

to warm  the fragrant soil

beneath the trees

the rich black earth erupts

in glorious greens and random

shoots of yellow pimpernel

soft grasses sway in concert

with the breeze awaiting

daffodils to trumpet Spring

Bless all the fallen leaves

of yesteryear that nourish

flowering glories of today

nothing in nature ever

truly dies I hear you say…

Embracing Spring O/P  33 X 54

WOODLANDS

Drenched in green,

these woodlands,

steeped in green,

greens multi-hued —

lush ferny undergrowth,

dark cedar, lofty

poplar, verdant pine

new shoots of celadon,

a stalk of jade,

and here a leaf of teal

reflects the sky —

If I were Daphne, rooted

in these woods, green tendrils

for my hair, O, would you weep

and weave a wreath of laurel

for your brow?

In These Woods O/P 48 X 48

SUMMER’S TOUCH

Mirrored all ‘round, dry grasses

rim the stream, under

a cobalt sky

Peaches are ripe, the summer

wheat is in, the vines

are plump with promise

Autumn beckons

at the gate, and still,

touches of summer linger

Ah, love, your season’s

done, and from this shore

I harvest memories

Summer's Touch O/P 40 X 48

DREAM ALONG

This is my dream— A fairy-forestland

With crayon-coloured trees and dancing leaves

Charmed limbs that twist into exotic shapes

And tiptoe quietly into the mist

A light fantastical beams on a brook

Who laughs along her merry way—and so

If somehow you should magically appear

I would not doubt my eyes

But thank my stars and wish—

That we two never would awake—

Dream Along O/P 48 X 36

   A Lift of Spirit O/P 48 X 60       

And Sings my Soul O/P 48 X 60

TALL TREES

Tall cedars frame the scene

Old peeling bark

Reveals the mottled trunk

The balding pate

Bare branches weave

A brittle barrier

Beyond lies sapphire

Brushwood, living green

White birches, yellow

Songbirds, surely, love

There’s sun and shadow

Life and death          and you

Tall Trees of peace, their Vigil Keep O/P 48 X 60

AT WATER’S EDGE

They lean on one another

Once proud trees

Their fragile branches

Interweave a web,

A spider’s warp and weft

Of brittle limbs,

As they grey down to death

At water’s edge.

The wind wafts through

A thicket on the shore

Carrying your name

As on a sigh.

at Water's Edge O/P 48 X 48

FOLLOW ME

Ice blue, the shadows

On the deepening drifts

Huddled against the boulders

On the hill

Snow sifts through leafless birches

White on white

And fills the spreading aprons

Of the pines

Here in the naked beauty

Of these woods, no footfall

Breaks the silence; you are near

Nesting in the quiet of my heart.

a Distant Cool O/P 48 X 36

AFTERWORD

And if I were to seek you

In these woods, I’d choose

December dusk, Sol’s

Dying flame

Burnishing the bark

Of towering trees,

Copper columns

Reaching for the heavens

Then would your soul speak

Were I to seek

Last Glance O/P 72 X 30

Indifferent O/P 42 X 42