Button, Bullough & Bones

 In Goldberg’s writing, the poems that were taken from a collection written by women who are developmentally disabled were interesting to read. I was imagining what their handwritten poems looked like, and wondered if they were similar to Jessica’s (a developmentally disabled woman I’ve worked with for years).  “Give Me a White” was funny, but I wondered what “white” meant to her when she wrote “Please give Marion Pinski a white”, and if white and write were similar or not. I’ve noticed in Jessica’s writing that she writes other words that sound similar to each other, like “bear” instead of “beer” or "six" and "sex." Those are just examples, not saying they are real life examples of hers or not. It doesn’t really matter though, because the poems are written without worrying of being grammatically correct, and to be able to write more free-flowing like that is great. I also liked how she talked about obsessions, how everyone has them, and how important it is to get them out of your system before writing the piece you want, and so you can be slowed down to pay attention to details. Similar to the Button reading, noticing details and being observant in a way that we normally aren’t is important in creating a piece of art.

I thought it was important for Taylor to educate himself on the biology of the plants, insects and fungi that he was painting. It connected him to them more because he understood the processes of how they coexist, and learn their life cycles of growth and decay, and even just understanding the age of the tree and how much history has happened during it’s lifetime. I liked how he moved on to water, and at the end mentioned observing the water "as if you have never seen it before." I wanted to see some of the water paintings and found this:

I’m also glad that I read Bullough’s before Botton because I had a hard time distancing myself from the Botton reading, and appreciating it, so I read it four times the past week. The way Botton wrote this on painting made me feel like I was there next to Taylor as he painted (once I was able to separate myself).  The transitions also didn’t feel rough the fourth time!