What Sparks Your Art?

Hanna Andrews

“I tend to gravitate toward poetry which complicates my instinctive understanding of the world’s natural order. And it has, for whatever reason, been mostly women poets who have influenced and encouraged my building a home on this strange terrain. Having those particular concerns fused with the vastly different inclinations of the two other editors has created a serendipitous, triple perspective. Somehow, all three of us know when we’ve stumbled upon a ‘Switchback book.’ It’s an incredible feeling to put these books out into the world, and even better that my feminist politics and my artistic interests can be part of the process.”

Emily Davis

“In looking at my own struggles with money, I discovered that I had a kind of unconscious mythology around it already. I believed money would save me. I thought it was punishing me when it was withheld. I was treating it like a god. So, I decided to get archetypal, literal, and dramatic about the problem and solve it with my art! It was in discussing the issues with an intrepid group of actors that it turned into a musical: ‘The Great God Money: A Musical Search for the Almighty Dollar.’”

Benjamin Blackburn

“To millions of Americans, Joe DiMaggio represented nothing less than the embodiment of the American dream. Poor boy, son of a fisherman, goes on to play centerfield for the lordly champion Yankees, and marries the world’s most popular woman. DiMaggio fascinates me as a subject because he represents a moment in American culture where practically anything seemed possible.”

Web extra: For more information about the work of Andrews, Blackburn, and Davis, visit their Web sites: Switchback Books – www.switchbackbooks.com Messenger Theatre Co. – www.messengertheatreco.org Benjamin Blackburn - www.wonderboystudios.com