pictures inspire poems at 100 Market

If a picture is worth a thousand words, there should be a great deal of poetry inspired by the work of more than 20 artists on four floors of the Gallery at 100 Market in Portsmouth this summer.

The exhibit, titled “Pick a Picture, Write a Poem,” runs through July 19. Writers are encouraged to read their impressions and interpretations at the next Poetry Hoot at Café Espresso on Wednesday, June 3.

Writing through art can be a productive exercise, especially if the art provokes memory and emotion or stirs the imagination. The collages by featured artist Charles Farrell do this. The exhibit’s concept also works because talented writers often do the reverse by using words to create imagery. Portsmouth’s new Poet Laureate Mark DeCarteret compares his writing process to that of piecing together a collage.

“Farrell’s oft-startling and exquisite collages, where relics are coaxed and half-reasoned into place, roll-called over time and then masterfully clued-in to their new haunts, were the perfect inspiration for even more of this idea-germinating and mind-merging,” DeCarteret said in an e-mail. “To pick any picture and write about it is to realize the attraction or lore of being drawn into another’s world.”

Farrell is influenced by classical paintings, pulp novel covers, film noir and alchemy. He borrows images from these strange but now familiar settings and creates new, unexpected scenes that rekindle the beauty and the oddity with wit. He sometimes juxtaposes the old with the new as though through time travel, resulting in curious collisions.

His recent work includes “The Reading,” a collage with a black and white background with a man in one room reading to a woman in another room, both sitting in Victorian-era clothing. The people have the heads of birds, his look determined, hers attentive. There’s also “Alchemist Kitchen,” where a statuesque man overlooks counters of golden vases and shelves of chemicals.

There are also many other styles and media in the exhibit. There are photographs from the nearby windblown Wallis Sands and colorful tide pools of Odiorne Point by Harry Lihtman, to the far, far away “Star Wars” set in Tunisia by Jane Sydney. There’s the tangled sculpture of vines and gardener’s gloves in Deb Cinamon Whalen’s “Bitter Sweet,” then there are finely detailed flower sketches by Carol Ann Morley.

Paintings include “Two Sisters” by Dustan Knight, a large canvas full of splotchy movement, and small, quiet landscapes by Mary Byrom. There are portraits by Aline Lotter and Marina Forbes and nature illustrations by Tess Feltes. There is also imaginative mixed media work by Neve Austrew filled with storytelling.

There is an abundance of pictures to pick from and thousands of words to write.         

The upcoming hoot night will feature Kimberly Cloutier Green and Richard Murphy, followed by an open mike session when others can read one page or up to three minutes of poetry. The readings are on the first Wednesday of every month at 7 p.m., organized by the Portsmouth Poet Laureate Program.

The Gallery at 100 Market is located at 100 Market Street in Portsmouth. Cafe Espresso is at 800 Islington Plaza, 603-334-3407.