“COMBINED FORCES,” Mixed Media on Paper and Canvas, 30 x 22 x 1.5, Nard Claar and Sheary Clough Suiter
Emerald Art Center in Springfield, Oregon, Nard’s and my hometown, is a local non-profit member run art gallery whose mission is to cultivate a vibrant art community through education, outreach and partnerships.
Nard and I are featured in their April 1 - 24, 2026 Invitational Exhibition, "PoARTry In Motion," celebrating National Poetry Month.
Nard is the poet in the family. He has six paintings in the show, each one accompanied by a poem he wrote. Check out his Substack where he’ll be posting his contributions to the show.
With reluctance, I accepted Nard’s challenge for me to contribute at least two paintings, for which I then had to write poems. I cheated just a bit in that the first painting is actually a piece I created by combining a watermedia painting of Nard’s with a couple of my encaustic monoprints.
Here’s the poem I wrote inspired by the painting, “Combined Forces.”
The Case For Collaboration
by Sheary Clough Suiter
We go off to isolation
Worry we're not
America First
The cost of individualism
Realized in walls and bombs
To listen and learn
The teacher's song
Battles of pride
Taking sides
And no where to hide
The animosity that grows
Day by day
I am on your side
When you speak with a smile
That never hides
One plus One
Makes love to the
Cause of combination
The case for collaboration
“UNREST,’ Encaustic, Deconstructed Fast Fashion Clothing, on Panel, 12 x 12 x 2, by Sheary Clough Suiter
The second painting I submitted, “Unrest,” is a piece from my 2021 Installation Exhibition, “the Clothes We Wear.” This time, I wrote the poem first, and then considered the paintings available from my personal inventory to find the best match (Our daughter, Lauren, actually owns this piece….as she is currently a van-life nomad, the artwork is stored on the wall of our home…I enjoy getting to see it as it was a breakthrough piece is the minimalist series, “The State of Things.”)
As I said, Nard is the poet, I’m his first reader. The poem I wrote, “Rooted in Revolt,” is a piece I wrote riffing off of one of his poems.
Rooted in Revolt (After Nard Claar's poem AMER)
by Sheary Clough Suiter
Other good people inhabited a land
Wild and free
We good people fled tyranny to that land
Wild and free
A tightly coiled serpent
Binding stories
Of conflict and pain
Burying cause
Buoying pride
And so
In this land of freedoms
While drinking their tea
Good people
Uprooted
Other good people
And named it Opportunity
Troops of a far-off King
Paraded the tea drinkers' streets
With calls for loyalty and currency
The Tea took voice
With powder and shot
Good people perished
To birth stories of valor
Today, the snake uncoils
And lifts its head
In witness
Patriots and Loyalists battle again
As cries of “No Kings!”
March past
Ballrooms of gold.
Friday, April 10, 2026, 5 - 7p, is the Second Friday Artwalk in Springfield, and the Opening Reception for the "PoARTry In Motion" show. Hope to see you there!