Elena, age 11, responds to Jen P. Harris
Posted on August 24, 2016
Trapped
I’m trapped inside this wooden block.
I’ve been trapped in here for centuries,
Centuries of lonely night,
No one for company but my shadow.
Sometimes I feel as if I’m going insane.
Insane from all the loneliness.
Sometimes I talk to my shadow.
It never replies.
Sometimes I try to find a way to escape.
I never do.
Sometimes I cry.
I cry so much, I’m afraid I’ll drown in a river of my own tears.
I don’t remember any time before the block.
It is my prison but also my home.
I’ve been in here so long that I wonder if I ever do escape,
Will I just crumble to dust or fade away?
Elena, age 11
Jen P. Harris’s work has been presented throughout the US at venues including Daniel Cooney Fine Art (NYC); John Davis Gallery (Hudson, NY); Artplace (Los Angeles); CSPS Hall (Cedar Rapids, IA); Baltimore Museum of Art; and Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (Wilmington). She is the recipient of an Iowa Arts Council Project Grant (2016), Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship (2015), and New York Foundation for the Arts Painting Fellowship (2012), among other awards. Harris received a BA in Studio Art from Yale University (1999) and an MFA from Queens College of the City University of New York (2008). She currently lives in Iowa City, IA.
ART SPARKS IS A COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE IOWA YOUTH WRITING PROJECT AND PROMPTPRESS, CULMINATING IN AN ART SHOW & AUCTION BENEFIT FOR THE IYWP http://iywp.org
THE SHOW WILL FEATURE VISUAL ART BY 26 IOWA ARTISTS AND CORRESPONDING CREATIVE RESPONSES GENERATED BY CHILDREN AND TEENS FROM THE IOWA YOUTH WRITING PROJECT'S SUMMER CAMPS.
RECEPTION & SILENT AUCTION WILL BE HELD
AUGUST 26 2016 | 6-8 PM
SHOW WILL HANG AUGUST 23 - 26
