What exactly is art; who defines it; who makes it, and where in Atlanta do poets, thespians, and artists congregate and create? We’ll use this space to catch up with a few for a few…some you may know; others we hope you’ll be pleased to meet their acquaintance.
Both poet Stephen Wing’s and photographer Luz Wright’s appreciation for all things nature and Atlanta led them on individual pastoral journeys. But when their paths eventually crossed, the result is a new coffee table book, Wild Atlanta: Greenspaces & Nature Preserves of ‘The City in the Forest‘.
As they prepare to celebrate its release, we caught up with Luz and Stephen on a short break from their explorations in and around Atlanta’s many natural habitats. When not foraging in the woods, Stephen is a self-declared “urban hermit” and is “holed up in a cave” in the comfort of his home. Luz, who resides in Brookhaven, spent many years in the artsy enclave of Pine Lake, has been a photographer for 15 years, and can be found in one of her favorite parks: Arabia Mountain, Mason Mill, or Henderson.
When did you fall in love with your specific art form, and how did you know it was what you were meant to do?
SW: The first poem I wrote that was not a class assignment was a revelation – I had never realized I could write about personally meaningful things. It happened to be a poem about my first love – cross-country hitchhiking. Not that it was any good, but it set the direction. When I met my wife and settled in Atlanta after 12 years of wandering, I had enough hitchhiking poems to publish a book of them.
LW: In my early 20’s, I moved from Barranquilla, Colombia, to Paris, France. I was captivated by the beauty of the city. I was given my very first camera as a birthday present and felt the urge to capture the city’s essence.
Can you share how Atlanta inspires you and your work as an artist?
SW: I’ve lived in cities all my life, and my lifelong ambition was to live in the country, but I married a woman who’s in love with Atlanta, so now I am married to yet another city. Luckily, I found a refuge in its many protected greenspaces, starting with the one at the end of my street, the Lake Claire Community Land Trust. The land there has drawn people together to create a community rather than the other way around. After Dawn and I discovered it, we were lucky enough to buy when our neighborhood was still affordable. The Land Trust is represented in Wild Atlanta, along with 22 other urban wild spaces set aside as sanctuaries – or, as one of my Land Trust poems puts it, “an asylum for the sane.”
LW: Atlanta’s multi-ethnic richness cultivates an environment of extensive artistic expression. Atlanta’s magnificent trees inspire me to connect deeply with nature, and the need for caring for its well-being grows with my artistic expression.
Talk about Wild Atlanta. How did the idea come about? How did you decide which landscapes you’d photo?
SW: For about ten years, I hosted my Earth Poetry workshop each season in a different park or nature preserve, inspired by my study of the age-old relationship between poetry and nature. To my amazement, I kept discovering new places we could visit, and I still have a long list of new places to explore. After each workshop, I sit down and knit the scribbled notes I’ve brought home into a poem, sometimes more than one. I realized the urban wild space theme tied them into a potential book as they accumulated. Including photographs of each place would be ideal; when I met Luz, she was just as excited as I was about discovering all these pockets of wild nature across the city. Finding a publisher was a bigger challenge. As a last resort, I applied for and received an Artist’s Project grant from the city’s Office of Cultural Affairs.
LW: I met Stephen at a fund-raising event to benefit The Land Trust Community at the First Existentialist Congregation of Atlanta. At the time, he was looking for a photographer to include photos in his Earth Poetry project. When he described the nature of his work, I immediately agreed. Being in the middle of a natural preserve, green areas, and community gardens offer many possibilities for me to connect profoundly with my surroundings. Light and shadows projected on a series of trees create an infinite path toward a tunnel at a distance. A butterfly landing on my hands seconds before it dies; the body of a cricket lit up by the sun navigating the branches of a rose bush; dead leaves resting on a rock.
What’s your favorite quote about creativity or art, and how does it apply to your work?
SW: Gary Snyder’s poem “How Poetry Comes to Me”:
It comes blundering over the
Boulders at night, it stays
Frightened outside the
Range of my campfire
I go to meet it at the
Edge of the light
Snyder’s work reminds me that the imagination is our conduit to the wild part of ourselves, the part that is still connected to the undomesticated and ultimately unconquerable natural world. Our broken relationship with the rest of Creation sets us up for an ecological apocalypse. Suppose civilization is going to be turned back from the brink of disaster. In that case, it will take everyone stepping up and doing their part. Poets have connected human society with the natural world since before the invention of writing. So, I see it as part of a poet’s job to share my connection with nature, though I also write on other subjects.
LW: “We need to remember that we are all created creative and can invent new scenarios as frequently as they are needed.” – Maya Angelou
I am an artist directing my energy to every experience I unexpectedly face. I am in constant movement and transformation. Life constantly reminds me to be flexible, make the necessary changes, and accept unexpected outcomes.
Can you share your thoughts on what Atlanta offers artists to support and enhance their creativity?
SW: Though I did a fair amount of open mics before settling in Atlanta, my focus since living here has been environmental activism, though different from the standard kind. Before starting my poetry workshops, I used to organize interfaith celebrations of the Solstices and Equinoxes on the theory that respect for Creation could be a unifying force among the world’s religions. Then I got involved in anti-nuclear work, which is still a major focus, and around the same time, joined the board at the Land Trust. I also coordinated the recycling at two local alternative businesses and still work one day a week as a recycler a few years into retirement. It’s quite an overload for an urban hermit.
LW: I came to Atlanta seven years ago and have had opportunities to visit many diverse artistic areas, such as Pine Lake and The Land Trust Community. These surroundings have shown me the importance of creating a community lifestyle that supports artists and many different human expressions.
Stephen and Luz’s book, Wild Atlanta: Greenspaces & Nature Preserves of ‘The City in the Forest,’ will launch on Saturday, June 3, at 3 p.m. at A Cappella Books.
