Karla Van Vliet

Karla Van Vliet

www.vanvlietarts.com * www.vanvlietgallery.com

Artist Statement || Artist Bio || Poet Bio

Artist Statement: 

In the space between silence and the word there is asemic writing, which for me bridges the distance. As both an artist and poet I am intrigued with this transitory realm. The act of making the gesture of writing, generating marks on the page, be it letter or character, dendritic form or simple line and shape, keeps me engaged in the practice of expression and in conversation with what is emerging from my unconscious to be communicated. 

I am also an Integrative Dreamwork analyst; this study of the unconscious and close attention to the experiential knowledge that come from dreams has a deep influence on my work. It was a dream of asemic writing that first prompted me to start experimenting with this form directly. 

When working with ink on paper my works are often the size of a book page, so when seen, it is as if they were an ancient text, discovered and waiting to be translated by the viewer. My intent is to create a sense of stillness, a place where feeling can open and be experienced.

Artist Bio:

Visual artist and poet, Karla Van Vliet, blends genres in her asemic writings. Van Vliet engages in asemic writing as a radical act, that of not being silenced in this time where she is often at a loss for words. Using the gesture of writing she explores the transitory realm between the internal experience and expression. Her works in acrylic on canvas and ink on paper, are influenced by landscape, ancient tests, and the liminal knowing of dreams. 

Karla is a co-founder and editor of deLuge Journal. She is the founder of Van Vliet Gallery. She lives in Vermont, USA.  www.vanvlietarts.com

Poet Bio:

Karla Van Vliet is the author of She Speaks Tongues: Asemics | Poems (Anhinga Press), Fluency: A Collection of Asemic Writing (Shanti Arts), two collections of poems, From the Book of Remembrance (Shanti Arts), andThe River From My Mouth (Shanti Arts) and a poem length chapbook, Fragments: From the Lost Book of the Bird Spirit (Folded Word). She is an Edna St. Vincent Millay Poetry Prize finalist, and a two-time Pushcart and Best of the Net nominee. Her poems have appeared in Acumen, Poet Lore, The Tishman Review, Green Mountains Review, Crannog Magazine and others. Karla is a co-founder and editor of deLuge Journal.She is an Integrative Dreamwork analyst, and an visual artist. Karla lives in Vermont.  www.vanvlietarts.com