Time Jail and the Mental Glock

Red Wing Arts, Depot Gallery, Red Wing, MN
April 17 - June 8, 2026
Opening: April 17
Poetry Readings: April 26 & May 17, 2 - 4 pm

My current exhibit is this wonderful collaborative exhibit that has been running for 25 years. 25 poems were juried into the show by author Jeanne Lutz. These poems were then shared with 25 artists, juried in by artist James Turner. The artists chose their three favorite as potential poems to be inspiration for art. I read all the poems, but when it came to selecting I suggested they give me the very last poem available. I assume that is what happened. And it ended up being just the right poem.

I was assigned a poem by Hannah Kosek titled How Do You Envision Time? It is a poem that hit me solidly. I create a weekly calendar of activities that I am following every day. The calendar includes the printed meetings I have for my day job as a public art administrator and in the evening and weekend hours I write in, by hand, the things I need to do for my art career and repairs and chores around the house. Sometimes I feel like a prisoner of my agenda, which the poem references.

For my artwork, I took six weeks worth of my weekly calendars and doodled imagery on them conjured up in my mind by the poem. I drew with the pens that I use every day to track my progress and add items to the calendar. I also included words and phrases from the poem. “Mental glock” is one of the phrases in the poem, thus the gun. The six pages were submitted on my clipboard, which I clip my calendar pages to and use every day. The clipboard was then propped up on a pedestal next to the poem. The art piece is titled Work Calendar.

The opening was well attended. There will be two afternoons of the poets reading their poems and the artists talking about their corresponding work. There are so many poems that the readings are spread over two events. The first is Sunday, April 26, 2 - 4 pm and Sunday, May 17, 2 - 4 pm. The poem How Do You Envision Time? will be read by Hannah and I will talk about my work at the May 17 event. I hope to see you there, if your schedule permits.