John Yau takes a look at the work of Ann Mikolowski in his piece To Have and to Hold: Ann Mikolowski’s pocket portraits show two ways of looking in a mirror at the Poetry Foundation.
In addition to her miniature portraits of artists and writers Mikolowski also painted large landscapes and, along with her husband, founded the Alternative Press, a seminal experimental poetry press that was at the forefront of the mail art scene of the 1960’s and 70’s. Headquartered in Detroit, they would ship envelopes packed with letterpress printed ephemera, bookmarks, photos, and other paper bric-a-brac to all corners of the globe. The press featured work from Detroit’s Cass Corridor artistic community, as well as the Beat and Black Mountain schools. In 1996, the University of Michigan acquired the archive of the Alternative Press.
In Robert Creeley (1988), the poet is resting his forearms on the table, a cigarette in his right hand. He seems to be reflecting on what he is going to say next. Before him are a partially filled glass and a nearly empty bottle, the label turned away because the artist doesn’t want it interfering with the subject. Something of the poet’s intensity, sincerity, and solitude comes across. Mikolowski has been subtly attentive to the texture and folds of his denim shirt as well as the feel of his skin. The subtle shifts she makes in the paint are painstakingly scrupulous, and yet are never emphasized. For her, the real delight was in getting it all down.
Press release for “The Alternative Press Symposium” and the exhibit “Your Artwork Here: 30 Years of The Alternative Press” that was held at the University of Michigan in 1999