Lidia Chiarelli is an eminent and dynamic artist and poet of our time. She has authored poetry books, anthologies and is one of the founders of the artistic literary movement, Immagine and Poesia. She is also an award winning poet of various Italian poetry contests, Pushcart Prize nominee and a judge in poetry competitions and Art festivals. Here goes an interview with an inspirational author and artist from the lovely Mediterranean country, Italy.
Lidia Chiarelli
Vatsala
Radhakeesoon: Born and brought up in
Italy, the land playing a crucial role in the fields of Art and Literature, please
tell us about your background and actual life?
Lidia Chiarelli : Being born in Italy and being surrounded by various forms of
Art and poetry have certainly developed my love for both. During my university studies, however I turned my interest to English and American Literature and Art. As a teacher of English I taught creative writing courses. In my workshops, I led my students to transform their emotions into short poems and with the help of an Art teacher , turn them into images too. Today I am operating mostly online in my Immagine & Poesia association, coordinating the work of hundreds of poets and artists from different countries, creating exhibitions and helping to organize poetry competitions.
Vatsala:
You are both an artist and a poet, which of those creative disciplines came
first in your life?
Lidia: Poetry. My first encounter with poetry dates back to the 70s when I went to London for an English summer course for foreign students. One of the teachers suggested a kind of poetry competition and my poem ‘Rhythm of Life’ was very successful. Several years later, I met British poet Aeronwy Thomas (Dylan Thomas’ daughter) in Torino and her principle of cross-fertilization among poets and artists’ works opened up new perspectives by making it clear how Art and poetry might interact.
Lidia: Poetry. My first encounter with poetry dates back to the 70s when I went to London for an English summer course for foreign students. One of the teachers suggested a kind of poetry competition and my poem ‘Rhythm of Life’ was very successful. Several years later, I met British poet Aeronwy Thomas (Dylan Thomas’ daughter) in Torino and her principle of cross-fertilization among poets and artists’ works opened up new perspectives by making it clear how Art and poetry might interact.
Vatsala:
What really prompted you to become a
poet and an artist (that is , your source of
initial inspiration )
Lidia : I started as a translator of English poems into Italian, then, remembering the successful London experience, I tried to write poems myself.
Some American friends, including editor-publisher , Stanley Barkan of
Cross-Cultural Communications, suggested to go on and to publish my first twenty poems. In my debut collection of poems Immagine & Poesia – The Movement in Progress (CCC, New York 2013) a few artists completed my poems with their artworks. The image of my installation of poetry tree was the conclusion of the book.
Lidia : I started as a translator of English poems into Italian, then, remembering the successful London experience, I tried to write poems myself.
Some American friends, including editor-publisher , Stanley Barkan of
Cross-Cultural Communications, suggested to go on and to publish my first twenty poems. In my debut collection of poems Immagine & Poesia – The Movement in Progress (CCC, New York 2013) a few artists completed my poems with their artworks. The image of my installation of poetry tree was the conclusion of the book.
Vatsala: Is there any particular subject or theme that you usually love to explore in your paintings and poems?
Lidia: ‘Poetry is emotion recollected in tranquility’ – this
sentence by William Wordsworth is the key that prompts me to write poems. My
poems are usually inspired by nature in its different aspects, but also by
urban views – the same perspectives that had attracted the attention of Allen
Ginsberg in his poem ‘Supermarket in
California’.
Poetry
is usually the source of inspiration of my visual art. I create artworks
starting from poems by famous authors and recently from my poems too.
Vatsala
: Which poets and artists are your
favourites and have had an influence on your works?
Lidia :My second book, Sunset
in Cup (Edizioni
Esordienti E-book,Torino, May 2017)
is a collection of poems that pays homage to 12 women writers of English or American Literature dear to me:
from Virginia Woolf to Emily Dickinson, from Christina Rossetti to Katherine
Mansfield.
By
each of them, I was inspired both for my poems and for my digital collages.
Vatsala
: What are the sequences involved in your writing of a poem and your working on
a painting respectively?
Lidia
: In
some cases it is a sentence or a phrase
in particular to arouse my inspiration. After writing the poems, I try to turn
words into images and I create the digital collages.
Vatsala: You are one of the editors of the online anthology, Immagine and Poesia, published annually. Please tell us about it and your other works (poetry books and paintings)?
Lidia:
Since
the inception of the Movement Immagine
& Poesia
(Torino Italy, 2007) , I have tried to put into practice the principles of our manifesto and through the web I have encouraged poets and artists around the world to join us with their works.
(Torino Italy, 2007) , I have tried to put into practice the principles of our manifesto and through the web I have encouraged poets and artists around the world to join us with their works.
To
date , with the help of Canadian editor-poet-artist Huguette Bertrand, an anthology has been published annually for 4
consecutive years. Lawrence
Ferlinghetti, icon of the American Beat generation has been one of the
contributors in the issues of 2016 and 2017.
Vatsala : What impact does the fusion of poetry
and Art have on the human mind, soul and society as a whole?
Lidia: “Beauty
will save the world” says Prince Mi┼бkin in a famous novel by
Dostoevskij. Well, I think that these words can be true in the difficult times that
we are experiencing. The beauty of poetry and Art can help us to build a better
world.
Vatsala: What type of poet and artist
would you best describe yourself, the versatile one, the feminist or any other
particular type?
Lidia:
I
think of myself as a versatile poet and artist. I am particularly an eclectic
artist. My works range from
installations, to paintings to digital collages.
Vatsala:
How can both poetry and Art be used for
the betterment of humankind?
Lidia:
One
of the points of our manifesto says that the interaction of poets and artists
can improve understanding and respect
among themselves. And I do believe in this principle. Art and poetry can
bring together people of different cultures, nationalities and religions and
lead them to cooperate with reciprocal esteem. We hope that in the near future people will be
more tolerant and mutually appreciative through the channels of the written
words and visual images.
Vatsala: What advice would you give to young and emerging poets and artists?
Lidia: As to poetry I should say, read poetry,
select your favourite poets and build a list of mentors. Get inspired by the
environment or by the persons you know. Use concrete imagery. Let me quote
Wordsworth again when he writes that ‘all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’.
Similar passages for Art, first study Art movements, start with an ideological basis and then
select the best medium for illustrating that point.
Vatsala: As an experienced teacher, poet
and artist, what message would you like to give to the world?
Lidia:
Every
year we take part in World Peace Day
on September 21 with an installation of poems and little artworks on cardboards
coming from different countries. Our peace
tree is a real symbol of peace. I would like to recall the famous
message of John Lennon and Yoko Ono ,“give peace a chance”.
This echoes with my message to the world as well.
This echoes with my message to the world as well.
Vatsala: We sum up this lovely conversation with one of
your poems and some artworks uniting Art and poetry
 |
| Vatsala Radhakeesoon |
“Poes├нa es lo imposible
hecho posible.
Arpa
que tiene en
vez de curda
corazones y llamas”
Federico Garcia Lorca
Send
me words of love
and
together
we
will build
paths
to Peace
Send
me words of hope
and
together
we
will fill
thousands
of blank pages
Our
voices in unison
will
become
the
sweet sounds of a harp
prayers
carried
by the wind
they
will be
a
new song
in
the deep blue of a sky
that
will not switch off
in
the dark of the night
Lidia Chiarelli, ANTI - TERROR AND PEACE: IFLAC ANTHOLOGY
Kindle
Edition
Artworks
