Art & Poem by Jim Kogelheide

Last Sunday (January 11th) was the first day in this series of Jazz in the Afternoon performances. I had sent out a Facebook invitation to several London, Ontario residents, hoping they would come out and enjoy a lovely afternoon of delicious coffee and desserts and hot jazz.

Imagine my surprise and delight when one of my online acquaintances, and fellow artist, showed up! I finally met Jim Kogelheide in person. He introduced himself to me. I was thrilled to meet him. We had a short chat (I was sitting with a friend of my husband's and the noise level was a bit loud for my already compromised hearing). Jim gave me the above print of his work. That was quite an unexpected surprise, pleasure, and honour! Jim brought his lovely wife, and he said that both of them thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon out and the jazz. He was unaware that the young man playing sax is my son. (I'll brag about Alexander in a later post).

I have scanned in the image (with Jim's permission) so that I may share it with you on this blog. Here is a close-up of the image, followed by the poem:

DRIVING

Come driving with me
and witness a range of mountains
structured sturdy but free
as they wave upon the land
past the farthest tree
and on...
towards the sea.

Let's share a ride together
on this sunny day.
Beware the doubts in our minds
as we leave them behind
in the dust
and drive merrily away.

As we traverse this sun splattered scenery
more than just peaks
also valleys will we adventure to see
throughout this shining world within a nation
deep in the hear of this province B.C.

--Jim Kogelheide

If you look carefully at the above image, you will see that it is a man (Jim) sitting in the driver's seat, driving his vehicle through a British Columbia (B.C.) scenery. You have to view the negative space as positive space to see it. I have included the image (below) with the colours removed to make it easier to see.

On the back of the package the image is in, Jim wrote the following:

Anyone who has gone for a drive with a passenger with a camera has a photo just like the one that inspired this pen and ink art piece. Look closely and you will see the outline of my nose, lips and chin as I steer our Cherokee Jeep Pioneer along a road at the base of a stretch of mountains. There are, also, a few farm fields between the mountains and the road that is lined with a fe trees.

I've had some people tell me that they thought I had really changed my art style and that I had painted a twisted version of some kind of sail boat. I didn't realize that it was so difficult to see the obvious.

Well, I had to admit, I did not see it right away, but once I did, I cannot stop seeing it. However, everyone I have shown this to always blurts out "It's a sailboat" before I show them that it is not.

Here is the piece with the colours removed. I am sure you can see Jim more clearly now, driving his vehicle.



Jim Kogelheide is a visual artist, poet, musician and activist. You may learn more about him, and see his work at www.bitsandpeaces.com as well as bitsandpeaces08.blogspot.com.

Art Creations by Jim Kogelheide is exhibiting at Grooves Record Shop in Downtown London Ontario (on Clarence just south of King) from January 12, 2009 to January 31, 2009.