Amy Meng, Arts and Tech Editor
@amengcourant
When you first think of surrealism, what pops into your head? Does your mind flit to floating dreams, reflecting rays of light, or pink bubbles that bob up and down? Perhaps you’ve seen the famous oil painting by Spanish painter Salvador Dalí, “The Persistence of Memory”, with its strangely-shaped clocks as if time itself had been warped. The combination of earthy colors and dream-like objects clash together to create an imagistic scene.
Whatever you may think of, we often relate the surrealist experience to our dreams, where the unreal can turn into reality.
This past January and February, I had the honor of attending one of Kenyon College’s Young Writers Winter Online Workshops, held online and taught by highly-certified and well-known writing instructors from across the country. The workshops were available to juniors and seniors around the world, and each accepted student attended a creative writing class with a specific theme .
I attended the workshop “Writing Our Surreal Reality” taught by American poet Mathias Svalina, in which we explored how surrealism can be incorporated into our writing. As a poet who loves to play around with imagery and unique word combinations, I was more than excited when I was accepted, stepping into a world of surrealism and dreams. The workshop was held every Saturday afternoon for six weeks, where the students and instructor would discuss their thoughts on certain written pieces –many having been published in the Kenyon Review– and contribute their fresh ideas to the discussion.
Each class was led by a few prompts, and students had the freedom to write about anything they wanted to as long as they believed that it conformed to the themes. Through writing analysis, weekly prompts, and engaging discussion, I was introduced to a variety of writers and styles as well as had opportunities to explore my own writing. I improved as a writer and felt more connected to others in the writing community. Hence, I’ve decided to share a few of these short stories and poems that were discussed in my workshop, and my interpretations of them in a short blog series. (Please note that the descriptions of the following works are not necessarily the thoughts of their creators, but of my own.) They were a pleasure to read, and I hope that you find interest in them as well.
My workshop instructor Mathias Svalina started the first workshop class with a striking painting by Spanish-Mexican artist Remedios Varo, who created numerous surrealist works in her lifetime. Prior to the workshop, I had never seen the painting “The Creation of the Birds”, or “La Creación de Las Aves”, but was immediately stricken by the amount of detail put into the piece, and how misplaced these elements seemed. In other words, the painting was like a typical dream, with objects so bizarre that you would never see them together in the real world.
In the painting, a bird-like creature, seemingly human-sized, is creating birds with tools. The colorful birds then take off through the windows and into the night. A triangular magnifying glass is used to reflect the moonlight outside, like rays of inspiration that help the bird-like creature produce its work. Perhaps this scene is also symbolistic of Varo’s identity as an artist, with both a sense of randomness and consideration that puts together a story.
Here are a few more of Varos’ works that display her artistry and journey with surrealism:
