Greenwich Pen Women Inspire Each Other

By Catherine T. Horn

A creative collaboration between two letters members of the Greenwich Branch has resulted in some astoundingly beautiful and meaningful work. Adrienne Reedy (branch music chair) and Barbara Ehrentreu (poetry group founder) shared an artistic experience that led to a collaboration that resulted in two astonishing projects.

Last spring, Greenwich member Linda Hortick introduced the poetry group (a subgroup of letters members) to ekphrastic poetry. Using a photograph of a lone tree as a prompt, group members wrote beautiful poems. That one photo sparked the idea of creative collaboration between members of the various disciplines within the branch.

Then, in April, the second annual three-day, multidisciplinary event organized by Reedy took place at Treetops in Stamford. Called “Creating Art in the Daffodils at Music in the Woods,” the event featured harpist Lisa Tannebaum. Artists, musicians, and writers were invited to spend two hours each day among thousands of newly blossoming daffodils.

“Creating in the Daffodils is an event that provides guests with a beautiful environment and music,” Reedy says. “When I experience beauty, I get inspired to create. It is a way of life for me. I think the world would truly be a better place if people would look for beauty in their day and allow it to change them.”

While she was inspired to paint one of the daffodils, Ehrentreu chose to write a poem about the same one. “They were created separately. Though in the same vicinity,” she said. “She and I just thought alike, I guess.”

A second collaboration between the two women took place subsequently in a spontaneous and organic way. Reedy was inspired to paint poppies while she was at the Botanical Gardens in Denver. “I absolutely love poppies, and this was just a quick painting of what I saw that day,” she explained. “I was with my niece and when I paint, it helps me remember the full moment, the day, the weather, the conversation, the laughter, all captured in this wonderful moment of time.”

Ehrentreu said, “When I saw the photo of Adrienne’s ‘Poppies’ that she shared on Facebook, I became instantly inspired to write about them. Poppies are my favorite color, red, and the vibrancy of her painting leaped out at me. I had to write about it at that moment and wrote the lines on my phone. … I don’t think I would have written about this if I hadn’t seen Adrienne’s photo.”

Reedy said collaboration in the arts can be a lot of fun. “Being in nature has a way of opening me up to capturing its beauty. I enjoy capturing these moments with someone who understands the process and respects the awe and wonder of what’s happening,” she said. “To know that my art inspires another to respond to the piece with beautifully written words is powerful. … It literally changes me to see deeper in the next moment I chose to capture beauty.”

Creative collaboration is an exciting way to enhance the beauty of a single work of art — in a sense, doubling the powerful expression of feelings and thoughts from the heart and mind. Whether the source of inspiration is a photo of a lone tree, the glorious experience of hearing music playing while sitting amid thousands of daffodils, the explosion of color from poppies, or something else, when two creative women join forces, the result is truly amazing.

Poppies by Adrienne Reedy