I Heard God Talking to Me: William Edmondson and His Stone Carvings - Hardcover

Spires, Elizabeth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0374335281 ISBN 13: 9780374335281

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR), 2008

Synopsis

One night in the early 1930s, William Edmondson, the son of former slaves and a janitor in Nashville, Tennessee, heard God speaking to him. And so he began to carve – tombstones, birdbaths, and stylized human figures, whose spirits seemed to emerge fully formed from the stone. Soon Edmondson's talents caught the eye of prominent members of the art world, and in 1937 he became the first black artist to have a solo exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Here, in twenty-three free-verse poems, award-winning poet Elizabeth Spires gives voice to Edmondson and his creations, which tell their individual stories with wit and passion. With stunning photographs, including ten archival masterpieces by Louise Dahl-Wolfe and Edward Weston, this is a compelling portrait of a truly original American artist.

About this title

About the Author

ELIZABETH SPIRES, the recipient of a Whiting Writers' Award, is the author of six poetry collections for adults, and the children's book The Mouse of Amherst. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Reviews

Starred Review. Grade 7 Up—In 23 poems, Spires pays homage to a little-known folk sculptor, William Edmondson. Born on a former plantation outside Nashville in 1874, he was well into his 50s and had spent nearly a lifetime in a variety of jobs ranging from racehorse swipe to janitor when he heard God speaking to him. In the vision, God told him to pick up his tools and carve leftover bits of stone into a tombstone. This divine directive would lead Edmondson to create not only tombstones, but also sculptures and become the first black artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Each of Spires's poems is accompanied by a full-page, black-and-white photograph, either of Edmondson or of one of his works. Poems paired with photographs of the sculptor weave in some of the artist's own words to flesh out his biography. In poems paired with images of his works, the verse gives voice to the piece itself. The "Three Crows," for example, proclaim "'cause Will made us /cooler than cool, three crows/looking over your shoulder.'" Though this personification feels forced or simplistic in a poem or two, in others the simplicity matches the unassuming nature of the subject itself. All in all, Spires has presented readers with a delightful glimpse into the life and work of a relative unknown. This is a special book.—Jill Heritage Maza, Greenwich High School, CT
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Moved by a religious vision at age 57, Nashville janitor William Edmondson began carving tombstones and whimsical figures out of stone in 1931 and went on to attract the attention of international collectors, eventually becoming the first African American artist to have a solo show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. This handsome picture-book-sized poetry collection pairs full-page, black-and-white photos of Edmondson and his works with poems inspired by the images. A few poems incorporate Edmondson’s own words, and many of the most memorable selections imagine the sculptures’ thoughts, as in the lines accompanying the piece “Girl Thinking”: “Make me a girl, I wished. / A girl with a space of quiet around her; / a girl with time to dream her dreams. / And he did. He did!” Supported by an appended prose biography, these playful, thought-provoking poems introduce a fascinating artist, and like Jan Greenberg’s collections Heart to Heart (2001) and Side by Side (2008), they will encourage both youth and adult readers to explore the rich interplay between poetry and art. Grades 6-12. --Gillian Engberg

Edition details

• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0374335281
• ISBN 13: 9780374335281
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 64