Susan Campbell
• original poem, found objects •
Living in the heart of Alaska’s boreal forest, I continually encounter moments of awe. Sometimes it happens while looking out my kitchen window at the way light illuminates the birch forest, other times it’s while hiking in woods suffused with wild beauty. The interconnectedness of life at the 64th parallel is a wonder to me. Delving into the science of Interior Alaska’s boreal ecosystem with other ITOC scientists and artists has influenced my visual art and my poetry.
For my piece in our collaborative frame project, I used a poem I wrote for the ITOC Boreal Forest Stories project and created a box book fusing the poem with natural objects. I was inspired by the prompt the curators gave us: “Imagine the frame as a mechanism to showcase your explorations. Reflect on what the boreal forest means to you.”
The poem, “Invitation”, asks readers to enter the forest in a contemplative way while the compositions of natural objects surrounding the poem provide windows into the wonders of the boreal forest.
SUSAN CAMPBELL
Susan Campbell arrived in Fairbanks, Alaska thirty-five years ago and found home. An avid outdoor adventurer, she writes poetry and creates artist books inspired by her explorations of northern landscapes. Along with traditional and nontraditional bookmaking materials, her artist books incorporate original poetry and found objects that reflect her astonishment and connection to the natural world. The Alaska State Museum and the University of Alaska Rasmuson Library Rare Books Collection own some of her pieces. Her poetry has been published in various journals and anthologies.
