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K.S. Ernst

K.S. Ernst has been writing poetry, making art, and creating visual poetry works for over 40 years. [1] Some of the most interesting implications, of K.S. Ernst’s artwork are how it reads as Creative Non-Fiction, and Visual Poetry/Visual Fiction. When the story of Creative Non-Fiction and Visual Poetry is told in the United States, works by K.S. Ernst are imperative to that telling. Poetry Magazine ([1]), published by the Poetry Foundation in Chicago, will feature Visual Poetry in its upcoming issue. When published, K.S. Ernst’s art will be on newsstands nationwide. For now, Ernst calls herself a “visio-textual artist,” who hopes that really great art is not judged by the neatness of the category in which it fits. (Interview, Amy Hufnagel)

Born in St Louis, MO, USA (1946- ), she is the daughter of a mother visual artist/furniture builder and father who was a Professor of Psychology with an expertise in auditory and cutaneous communications. Please review at [2]. She has two sisters. Her parent’s academic work took Ernst from St. Louis, MO, to Charlottesville, VA, to Princeton, NJ, at each place’s best institution. She spent her first year of college at Smith College and then married Ernie Ernst, a successful manufacturer, collector, jazz musician, and nature lover. K.S. Ernst graduated from Monmouth University and has spent her adult life living in New Jersey.

While Ernst is best known as one of the most important examples of late twentieth-century/early twenty-first century female visual poets in America, she is also known in the digital arts and fine arts communities. Ernst’s work is applicable to the genres of sculpture, multimedia, works on paper, and new digital works. Her work has critical applicability to art historical discussions regarding late twentieth-century use of image and text, or perhaps more succinctly the “text as image” trend as seen in important contemporary artists like Xu Bing.

Ernst’s art is the logical manifestation of text in verbal and visual art forms in American Modernism; the trend of using text in art continues through the didactic identity and political work of the 1980s and 90s. But Ernst is a counterpoint to say Barbara Kruger and Jenny Holzer; Ernst is more along the lines of Carrie Mae Weems’s poetics and folkloric pieces, or parallel to Richard Kostelanetz’s [Wiki link] abstract text constructs. She also employs impressive Fluxist characteristics in her book arts and performance art, as seen in her work with the Be Blank Consort, and here another rooting in fine art traditions is applied to K.S. Ernst’s use of text. In short, K.S. Ernst makes artwork that is the analysis/play of the concept “text as image;” and this study has a tradition in art history. Visual poetry is a genre of visual expression, as well as a category of poetic study. It is born from the act of writing poetry, but slips between discipline areas because the practice uses the language of visual art to “write.” Often the text becomes symbolic and iconic representation; one writes/experiments with letters, words, images, and space.

As an artist, Ernst moves from sculpture to computer technologies employing a variety of manual/sculptural and technological methodologies in her work. Ernst began using computer technologies in her work in the 80s and the computer has factored as a major tool in her creative process and output; this time frame, in computer art history, places her at the forefront of digital file making.

Writes critic Karl Young, “Her earliest visual poetry, from the late 1960s, began with spatial exploration of text, primarily playing on negative space in relation to constellations and clusters of letters ... usually relating to the sensuality of stroke segments and junctures.” Her current work uses digital printing on silk, organza, and denim in multi-layered visual texts with painting and fiber manipulation. Ernst writes, “I have ventured into visual, rather than rhythmic, aspects of a poem.” And, “I make poems in forms other than books” so that one can not “shut the book on my storytelling.”

Texts like The Aesthetics of Visual Poetry, 1914-1928 by Willard Bohn and the “monstrous anthologies like those of Solt and Williams” cites that those “who have continued the art (of visual poetics) have become more dedicated and have greatly expanded the medium, keeping it one of the most vital and inventive directions in contemporary poetry” says Karl Young of Kaldron On-Line in 1998 ([3]). K.S. Ernst is a primary, critical example of a woman artist coming of age in this vibrant poetic expression, and remaining committed to artistic practice for years. She is one of the best examples of late twentieth century/early twenty first century female visual poets in America. (The genre of visual poetry can be easily researched [4]; here one will find a great starting point if the genre of visual poetry - and relating concrete poetry - is to be considered.)

Cheat Sheet Chronology In the 1970s K.S. Ernst began to make workbooks of pieces she thought up (now numbering over 1000), and then began building pieces. She made truly fascinating and playful sculptural word constructions. In the 1980s Ernst made work, exhibited, read, and used the computer. In the 1990s the same work continued; plus, she created a working archive of her entire collection, housed Ohio State University Libraries, Rare Books and Manuscripts Avant Writing Collection In 2000 Ernst continued to learn new soft- and hard-ware and experiment with different artistic processes. She formalized her practice of collaborating with other poets as a “production and inspiration model.” Institutions and collectors are acquiring her work, and she continues to remain committed to art making and thinking.

K.S. Ernst creatively and fiscally manages Press Me Close where she published visual poetry postcards and T-shirts [Add: “in the 1980s.”] Her work has been published extensively in books and magazines. She has shown her work nationally and internationally for years, and is included in many important art collections. Ernst has also participated in artist residencies, lectures, and performances. Below is a list of these resources.

Quote from K.S. Ernst, "I am interested in words and letters as symbols — their basic symbolic makeup as well as their representational use. Thus it is words and letters that form a common thread throughout my work. I work in a variety of media including collage, fiber, painting, sculpture, assemblage, and installations."

Selected Web sites: Ohio State University Libraries, Rare Books and Manuscripts: [5] and [6] Light and Dust Books/Kaldron website: [7] Minimalist Concrete Poetry: [8] Mad Hatters’ Review Multi-Media Literary Journal: [9] Big Bridge #12: [10] Shard at CoCA: [11] dbqp: visualizing poetics: A Dozen Collaborative Visual Poems: com/2004/06/ dozen-collaborative-visual-poems.html dbqp: Visualizing Poetics (SoundVision/VisionSound III): [12] dbqp Carchives: [13] ART Somerville: [14] Energy Gallery: [15] Spidertangle, The Book: [16] Visual Poetry at Durban Segnini: [17] Blackbox: [18] Eratio: [19] + [20] + [21] Comprepoetica Blog 1029: [22] Visual Poetry at the Durban Segnini Gallery: [23] and [24] and [25] Delaware Poetry Review of “Bogg”: [26] Mad Poet Symposium: [27] Review of Ohio State University’s Avant Garde: The Second Wave, by Igor Satanovsky: [28] Comprepoetica blog 701: [29] Siliman’s Blog (Spidertangle, the Book): [30] The Center for Book Arts (Writing to be Seen show): [31] Joglars: [32] Score’s Scorecard: [33] Homonumous contributors: [34] Visual Poets Discussion Board: [35] Word for Word bios: [36] (mentioned in Michael Peters) A Brief History of Visual Poetry/Karl Kempton (34 pages): [37] Manglar: [38] Ohio State University Recognitions: [39] Literature na Swiecie 11-12/2006: [40] Umbrella Magazine: [41] A Guidebook to Visual Poetry: [42] The Blind Chatelaine’s Keys (review of Sugar Mule): [43]

Selected Exhibitions: SUNY Albany Art Museum, performance, 2009. Roanoke Marginal Arts Festival, Roanoke, VA, Presentation and performance, 2009. 30th Annual Southwest Texas Popular/American Culture Association Meeting, Performance and presentation, Albuquerque, NM, 2008. Bowery Poetry Center, New York, NY, Performance, 2007. Rondo Community Library, St. Paul, MN, 2007. Piece etched in glass door. Prescott College, IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF LANGUAGE SERIES – PART II: The Be Blank Consort. Performance, 2006. “New Gallery Series,” exhibition and performance, Community Music Center of Boston, Boston, MA, 2006. “2006 Northeast PA Regional Art,” Marywood University, Scranton, PA 2006. “Many Many,” Mid-America Print Conference, Ohio University, Majestic Gallery, Athens, OH, 2006. “Juxtaposition: We Are So!,” Berkeley Art Center, Boulder, CO, 2006. “Blends and Bridges,” Gallery 324, Cleveland, OH, 2006. “There’s a Song in My Art,” Edison Arts Society, Edison, NJ, 2006. “SHARD: Textual Fragments in a Shattered World,” Cornish College of the Arts, Seattle, WA, 2006. “Typical & Atypical,” The Ontological Museum, Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico, 2006. “Silicon Sands,” Las Cruces Museum of Fine Art, Las Cruces, NM 2005. “Sound Vision/vision Sound III,” The Nave Gallery, Somerset, MA, 2005. “Still, Life with Words,” Gallery 308, Minneapolis, MN, 2005. “Visual Poetry,” Durban Segnini Gallery, Coral Gables, FL, exhibition and performance, 2005. “Subtropics Experimental Music and Sound Arts Festival,” Dorch Gallery, Miami, FL, exhibition, presentation, and performance, 2005. “Multiplicity for the Millions,” 2002, Minnesota Center for Book Arts Minneapolis, MN. “Women’s History Month/Female Faculty Show,” 2004, Taos Institute of Arts, Taos, NM. “Alphabets,” Oculus Gallery, Tokyo, Japan, 2004. “Word Seen,” Diana Lowenstein Fine Arts, Miami, FL Exhibition & performance 2003. “Writing to Be Seen,” curator, Minnesota Center for Book Arts at Open Book, Minneapolis, MN, exhibition, presentation, and performance, 2003. Miami International Book Fair Exhibition, Miami FL, 2002. “Writing to Be Seen,” curator, The Center for Book Arts, New York, NY, exhibition and performance, 2002. “An American Avant Garde: Second Wave,” Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, performance, presentation, and exhibition, 2002. Books and Books, Coral Gables, FL, exhibition, performance, book launch, 2002. “Art of the Book, 2002,” University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, IN, 2002. “02txt, a Celebration of the Visual Word,” Art Academy of Cincinnati, exhibition and performance, 2002. “Inside OUT,” Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL, exhibition/performance, 2001. “Six Contemporary American Visual Poets,” Ocean Grove, Australia, 2000. “25 Years of Feminism, 25 Years of Women’s Art,” Douglass College at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 1996. “This Is a Book Show!” S.U.N.Y. College at Oneonta, Oneonta, NY, 1992. “Garden State Women,” Women’s Caucus for Art, Rabbet Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ, 1988. “Women Artist Series,” Douglass College at Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, NJ, 1987. “Pages of Revelation,” City Without Walls, Newark, NJ, 1986. “Letters,” Women’s Caucus for Art National Show, The Clocktower, New York, 1986. “Liberty’s Book Opened,” Women’s Caucus for Art, New York, 1986. Princeton University, Princeton University League, Princeton, NJ, One-woman show, 1983. “Wordswork,” Coffman Union Gallery, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, 1983. “Language and Structure in North America,” Kensington Arts Association Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 1975.

Selected Publications: Books: Drop Caps, Xexocial Editions, 2008; Permutoria, Luna Bisonte Prods, 2008; Visual Poetry in the Avant Writing Collection, The Ohio State University Libraries, 2008; Winterbook (19th annual), MN Center for Book Arts, 2007; >2: An Anthology of New Collaborative Poetry,Sugar Mule, 2007; June 30th Manifesto, 2004; Literature na Sweicie 11-12, 2006; 12 Colorborations, 2004; Visual Poems, 2003; Spidertangle, The Book, 2003; Writing to Be Seen, edited by Bob Grumman and Crag Hill, summer 2001; Plaisir D’Amour, a portfolio of visual poetry, 2002; Three Visual Poets: Ernst, Helmes, Rosenberg, 2002; Thought Bubbles, with Scott Helmes 2001, ’Pon a Time Flame, with John M. Bennett, 2001, G Is for Georgia, Press Me Close, 1990; Loose Watch Anthology 1998, SEQUENCING: 1984, Xexoxial Editions; Some of the magazines in which my work has appeared include the following: Bogg, Core, Dirt, Drafting, Farrago, Generator, Homonumos, Lost & Found Times, Kaldron, Manglar, Polartis, Posted, Score, Skald, Unarmed, Xtant. Work featured in Photo Techniques 2/06 issue.

Residencies: Residency (Geraldine R. Dodge sponsored), Peters Valley Craft Center, Layton, NJ. with Amy Hufnagel. March, 2008; Centrum Arts creative residency, Port Townsend, WA, 2002; Atlantic Center for the Arts, New Smyrna Beach, FL, 2001.

Workshops Given: Centrum Center for Arts and Education, Port Townsend, WA, two-day workshop, 2002; Books and Books, Miami, FL, one day workshop 2002;

Selected Collections: Beinecke Library at Yale University, The Brooklyn Museum Library; Ohio State University Collection of Avant Garde and Experimental Writing (complete works); Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY, Artists’ Book Collection; The New York Public Library Artists’ Books Collection, print room 38; SUNY Buffalo Poetry Collection; The Ruth and Marvin Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry.

Collaborations with other artists: Al Ackerman, C. Mehrl Bennett, John M. Bennett, Josh Carr, David Cole, Bob Grumman, Scott Helmes, Richard Kostelanetz, Carlos Luis, Sheila Murphy, Michael Peters, Marilyn R. Rosenberg, Karl Young and many mail artists.

Interesting trivia:

Ernst became K.S. after marrying and becoming the third “Kathleen” in the Ernst family. Although she has published and exhibited under “K.S.” consistently, she is still sometimes referred to as Kathy Ernst.

Eugene (Ernie) Ernst is a successful manufacturer [44] and has supported K.S. Ernst’s ability to focus on her creative work. He is her trusted and supportive patron and partner.

K.S. Ernst is formally trained as a chemist, likes to ride motorcycles and fly planes. K.S. Ernst makes her own yogurt, does not enjoy cooking, but loves a good scone.

K.S. Ernst has a camera pointed at the animals in the forest behind her house with a motion detector hooked to the shutter.

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