Moon

Although the examples below show more explicit representations of the celestial body itself, the moon is somewhat omnipresent throughout much of MacIver’s work. Its subtle glow and beam are captured in her luminous representations of city lights, cracks in the pavement, Parisian trees, and all sorts of luminous everyday objects.  The essence of the moon as a subtle yet all powerful force is captured in these paintings, and many of the sketches below reveal the careful thought she put in to crafting the subtle colors of a moonbeam.

anyone lived in a pretty how town

E. E. Cummings

anyone lived in a pretty how town
(with up so floating many bells down)
spring summer autumn winter
he sang his didn’t he danced his did.
Women and men(both little and small)
cared for anyone not at all
they sowed their isn’t they reaped their same
sun moon stars rain
children guessed(but only a few
and down they forgot as up they grew
autumn winter spring summer)
that noone loved him more by more
when by now and tree by leaf
she laughed his joy she cried his grief
bird by snow and stir by still
anyone’s any was all to her
someones married their everyones
laughed their cryings and did their dance
(sleep wake hope and then)they
said their nevers they slept their dream
stars rain sun moon
(and only the snow can begin to explain
how children are apt to forget to remember
with up so floating many bells down)
one day anyone died i guess
(and noone stooped to kiss his face)
busy folk buried them side by side
little by little and was by was
all by all and deep by deep
and more by more they dream their sleep
noone and anyone earth by april
wish by spirit and if by yes.
Women and men(both dong and ding)
summer autumn winter spring
reaped their sowing and went their came
sun moon stars rain

The above poem, perhaps Cummings’ best known, is quoted in several places throughout MacIver’s sketches. I found this an especially well suited poem for this theme not only because of MacIver’s wonderful handwritten note about seeing the “parcel of moonlight” in Cummings’ writing room. In the poem, the refrain “sun moon stars rain” positions the moon as a sign of the broader, dependable passing of time guided by natural forces, upon which the measure of human existence is made. This is an especially literary way of interpreting the moon, and one that is alienated from its physical appearance. Looking at this poem beside “Skylight Moon” or “Moonlight,” you can see the  ways in which artists who were friends and bound within the same general moment in time can both depict the same theme in a ways so different that each could not be fully articulated by the other’s medium. While Cummings’ poem shows the moon in a way that perhaps could only be shown in words, MacIver represents the moon in ways which cannot be expressed with words alone.