There is a big world beyond the cornfields of Iowa, and Iowa-born Elaine Seaman has spent a lifetime exploring that world. She has called various states home, but for the past four decades, home is in Kalamazoo – even as she continues to travel and explore. Seaman brings her journeys to her two art forms – quilting and writing poetry. Her new poetry collection is titled Beyond Cornfields (Finishing Line Press, 2024).
“It is a history of my life, so to speak,” Seaman says about the new collection. “I do start out in a small town in Iowa—very small town, hundred people, ten percent who were my family. That was surrounded by cornfields. We pretty much all left there and found other places to live. We moved to Minnesota, to New Mexico, all over, so that gave us other trips, too.”
Seaman crosses the country to visit family, but also travels to New Zealand to visit one of her two sons. She also enjoys taking cruises with her husband. Whenever she travels, however, Seaman knows when the moment arrives that it is time to go home. It is that oasis of peace in her life—as well as the place where she creates her many quilts.
Seaman’s quilts reflect her travels and life experiences as much as her poetry. She gathers fabrics and creates images on quilts that are as much poetry as her poems. A sampling of her quilts are currently on exhibit, called Pathfinder, at the Carnegie Center for the Arts in a separate gallery. In the main gallery is an exhibit of art in various mediums created in response to Beyond Cornfields by 14 artists, an idea proposed by Seaman’s close friend, Maryellen Hains. Poems are exhibited side by side with the visual art.
Artists in the show are Martha Aills, Melody Allen, Gloria Badiner, June Belitz, Nancy Crampton, Michael Dunn, Jeanne Fields, Linda Judy, Pam Meyer, Bobbie Rehus, Maria Scott, Gay Walker and Jamie Whitledge.
“They created art that is personal to them, but also universal,” Seaman says. “It’s a wonderful conjunction of ideas.”
Seaman is currently working on a new quilt that features 560 different fabrics. She says she has made well over 200 quilts over her lifetime.
Seaman will be reading at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, September 10, at the Carnegie Center for the Arts in Three Rivers. The exhibit of 14 artists responding to her poetry will conclude on September 11.
Listen to WMUK's Art Beat every Friday at 7:50 a.m. and 4:20 p.m.
