Laura LeHew
Eugene, OR

On This Our 10th Anniversary

$250

To purchase this work please contact Laura at 23 Sandy Gallery.

Through my work, I investigate politics, war, protest and death. The work is about the paradox of witness. The intent is to create works that are formally and aesthetically engaging while conceptually connecting with the everyday; to reify the ordinary into the extraordinary; to question social and political realities. Research projects include investigations the human cost of occupation, casualties in Iraq, American military casualties, vet suicides per day and US Service Members killed since May 1st, 2003. In all the work, the intent is to find the connections between concept, object, interaction and environment.

As a writer and an artist, I am constantly thinking of new ideas and themes to convey in my work. Art comes from within; the thoughts that are taken from life experience and personal research; witnessing the world around me. This is what drives the pieces I create. Writing is a way to explore and understand those ideas which frustrate and confront me. “On This Our Tenth Anniversary” is written in fragments. Perception is fragmentary. The only punctuation I’ve used is the vertical bar symbol | which is known as a pipe in Unix operating systems. The pipe works as a set of processes such that the output connects as input all at the same time (emulates parallelism). The tenth anniversary is said to be the first milestone anniversary. Gifts given in celebration of the 10th anniversary are the daffodil and tin. The daffodil symbolizes rebirth and new beginnings, but the single daffodil in the poem foretells misfortune. Tin is easily shaped. The font I chose for the title is “All Over Again,” a messy, script that looks like someone wrote something, screwed it up and had to start all over again. The body of the poem uses Plakkaat a fat brushed font that is both fearless and easy to read. I printed the poem on bright white linen paper (for purity) but then ripped into individual fragments. The fragments are place along the left coast of America. The lower 48 states are cut out of the globe and etched in gold. Inside, coming out, are soldiers. Soldiers climbing over, entwined in ribbon. To further the paradox, I wrote the poem “Recounting the Dead” which pools at the descending soldier’s feet, listing the ways the 7,000 soldiers died accompanied with their names, ranks, and places of birth.

Paper, plastic, ribbon, approximately 17.75 inches tall by 14.5 inches wide/deep, 2011.

Artist Biography

Laura LeHew is an award winning poet with over 350 poems appearing in over 150 national and international journals and anthologies such as Criminal Class Press, Eleven Eleven, Filling Station, Gargoyle Magazine, PANK, Uncanny Valley and Vagabondage Press’ Lyrotica anthology. LeHew received her MFA in writing from the California College of the Arts, writing residencies from Soapstone and the Montana Artists Refuge, and interned for CALYX Journal. She is the President of the Oregon Poetry Association and is on the steering committee for the Lane Literary Guild,

LeHew was a guest editor for The Medulla Review. Currently she edits Uttered Chaos, Uttered Chaos produces 4 books/chapbooks a year plus an anthology. She’s produced works by Charles F. Thielman, Sharon Lask Munson, Joy L. McDowell, M. E. Hope, Colette Jonopulos, Catherine McGuire (forth coming). Anthologies include The Quizzical Chair and Original Weather, a full color, perfect bound book. LeHew, together with Robert Tomlinson a local artist, put together a gallery show dedicated to—the connection between the conception of an artwork and the response of poetry called Original Weather. The exhibition includes drawings by Tomlinson and poems by 9 poets. A local videographer created a video of this project. The exhibition debuted at the Crossroads Art & Cultural Center in Baker City, Oregon, March 4, 2011.