| "Why Collaborate?" Indeed, why not? By
asking three writers to contribute to this Diverse Views literary section sponsored by
Seattle Arts Commission, I asked for their faith in the idea of collaborating with me. And
of contributing pieces of writing that spoke to the topic of "collaboration in the
arts." I present to you three very different approaches. Nancy Rawles, a novelist
and playwright, speaks directly to ways that her work is not solitary, in fact relies on
the presence, if not input, of others, such as family members, scholars and students.
"No matter what I create as an artist, no matter how privately I work, I am certainly
never alone," she writes, and we delight in discovering exactly what she means by
that assertion.
Robert Roth, a writer and administrator, offers his views on collaboration through a
fictional story, based on his life growing up as a deaf child in the 1960s. Certainly, to
those of us not of the Deaf community, the early development of a deaf artist has aspects
that cannot be imagined. Growing up, Robert's hearing aid and sign language became
necessary partners in his coping with other people and with life.
I am pleased to include an essay by the poet Elizabeth Aoki, who is also the online
editor at The Seattle Times. Her essay notes the essential elements of "time"
and "courage" as collaborators in her work. She says, "Though courage
arises from the poet, it is true that it can be lent, borrowed or stolen from the poet's
predecessors or contemporaries. . ." I applaud the strength and depths of her
arguments in favor of the existence of collaborative elements in writing.
So, read on and see what meaning these musings carry for you, the art lover and
supporter. These are ideas crossing like currents between the islands of Puget Sound. They
can layer upon each other and change direction and speed in cross currents, ebb tides and
rip tides. And, like the tides, the myriad ideas and themes of collaboration in the arts
do not stop once they are encountered, they just go on and on. |
