I'm Nobody

Exhibition runs June 3-21, free; artist talk and benefit reception, Sun., June 7, 2-5 p.m., $25; Crane Arts Building, 1400 N. American St., 215-232-3202, cranearts.com.

by Holly Otterbein

	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: May 26, 2009

visual art

It's no wonder artist Susan M. Hess used Emily Dickinson's poetry as therapy. The famous recluse had a way of making ennui feel fun, or at least funny — in the poem "I'm Nobody" (which inspired Hess' exhibit), she jokes, "How dreary to be somebody! How public, like a frog." Hess' needlework, precious and proper, depicts Dickinson's words. Next to the stitched-out poem "A Great Hope Fell," which explores how despair sucks you in like a rip current, Hess sewed a rosy pink blind, shut tight without a speck of sunlight coming in. And there's nothing funny about that.

My City Was Gone
nEW Festival
Ribbons of War
Freudian Slip-Up
Liquid Dreams
Kaleidoscope
Hide and Seek
83rd Annual Competition
The Meatpackers Book Club
Bread & Puppet Theater