By Charlie Denison
Baudelaire once wrote, “Arts tend to supplement each other by lending each other new strength and new resources.” This sort of supplementation is known as ekphrasis, which is something author Susan Vreeland is very familiar with.
Vreeland spoke at the Speed Art Museum on Jan. 12. She shared several of her fictional stories based on paintings from artists such as Monet, Van Gogh and Renoir.
Vreeland’s first novel, “What Love Sees,” the true story of blind Jean Treadway, was made into a TV movie for CBS in 1988. Vreeland has also won many awards, including San Diego Writer’s Monthly Magazine’s Woman of the Year (1999-2000) and Foreword Magazine’s Best Novel of the Year for “Girl in Hyacinth Blue” (1999).
For 30 years, Susan Vreeland was an English teacher in San Diego. “I didn’t grow up wanting to be a writer,” Vreeland said, explaining her long career in education. “In fact, the urge, strong as it is, is relatively recent.”
Carol Rietze, an English teacher at Fern Creek Traditional High School, enjoyed Vreeland’s energy and ideas at the reading.
“I am very impressed with the energy and creativity she possesses after such a long tenure as a teacher. She still has so many ideas and is acting on them,” said Rietze, who has been a teacher for 25 years and counting. “Believe me, teaching is exhausting work.”
As a result of attending the event, Rietze plans on using paintings as models for her high school students’ next writing assignment.
Nancy Renick, Speed’s event coordinator, said she was very pleased with the turnout at Wednesday’s event. “We had about 200. Hopefully, events like this can spark more interest in the students,” she said. “We encourage them to take advantage of our programs and exhibitions.”
Vreeland shares in the museum’s aspirations. “My goal is to get more museum-goers reading, and to get more readers to the museums,” she said.
At the reading, Vreeland explained why she felt such passion for writing. “Fiction works from inside out,” she said. “It requires a different audience and a different appreciation.” However, her love for fiction also stems from her love for imagination. “It [imagination] is a small step upward. It elevates the human race.”
“Art allows me to be more responsive of the world around me,” said Vreeland. She spoke slowly, passionately and with great confidence, and each of her stories presented an intense amount of imagery, imagination and sexuality.
Vreeland captivated her audience with concepts. She spoke of life’s passions: beauty and commitment. At one point, she paused and, with a smile, said, “With no connection there can be no compassion.”
Vreeland is currently working on a story based on Renoir’s “Luncheon of the Boating Party.”
Her latest book, “Life Studies,” is a collection of linked stories about the strength and meaning of art in our own lives, and can be found at bookstores everywhere.
