Water Journeys in Art and Poetry
Art by Dianne Shullenberger
Poetry by Mary Jane Dickerson
A powerful union of words and images unfolds between the pages of poet Mary Jane Dickerson and fiber artist Dianne Shullenberger’s collaborative new book, Water Journeys in Art & Poetry. Shullenberger’s water migration series of layered fabric collages are paired with Dickerson’s series of poems, “The Language of Water,” which was inspired by Shullenberger’s artwork. Together, Dickerson and Shullenberger create a sensuous waterscape from the lakes, ponds, rivers, and spring rivulets of Vermont, Michigan, and Canada.
Ten percent of this book’s net profit sales will be donated to Vermont Council on the Arts.
About the Artist
Shullenberger was one of four Vermont artists selected for the 2014 Governor’s Award, and she and Dickerson have presented the work found in Water Journeys in Art & Poetry in exhibits and readings at the Governor’s Gallery in Montpelier as well as at other venues around the state.
About the Author
Mary Jane Phillips Dickerson, born and raised in North Carolina, has spent most of her adult life in Vermont where she lives in Jericho Center. A graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, she began her teaching career at Campbell University in North Carolina (then Campbell College). After moving to Vermont, Dickerson taught literature and writing in the English Department at the University of Vermont where she remained for more than thirty years, retiring as an Associate Professor of English. Dickerson also participated as writer and faculty member at the New England Young Writers’ Conference at Breadloaf, Vermont. Her scholarly work has taken her to Japan where she has given a series of lectures at two universities in Nagoya and to South Africa where she taught at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa for a semester. Dickerson continues to offer an annual workshop on reading and writing poetry, serves on several community boards in Jericho and University of Vermont boards, and is active in civic work, contributing her time to the Democratic Party and to the town of Jericho as Justice of the Peace on the board of Civil Authority. Dickerson has published several poems and has read her poetry in Vermont and North Carolina. Her book of poems, Tapping the Center of Things, was published by Tamarac Press in 2013.