Magic Realism or Surrealism?

The highlight of my summer was the Whidbey Island MFA residency where I teach. The January residency is fun, but nothing like the August residency in which we have a Bear Plunge (Yes, in that freezing water!)

and graduation.

This year we tried something different: Afternoon classes in different topics taught by the faculty. I participated in  the magic-realistic panel. How else can I describe it?

Moderator Kathleen Alcalá began the session opening an umbrella that she held with a black-gloved hand. That way, she read a passage from Gabriel García Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Next came Bruce Holland Rogers who spoke about his magic realistic experiences as a young man, and then snoozed on the floor.

I followed his interesting talk with a power point comparing Frida Kahlo's art to Salvador Dalí's. Magic realists or surrealists? Frida said: “They thought I was a surrealist, but I wasn’t. I’ve never painted dreams. I painted my own reality.”  In contrast, Salvador Dalí said: "I am surrealism."

Nothing better than to follow a quote from Dalí with a talk about the poet who loved him so much, Federico García Lorca. Our Whidbey poet, Carolyne Wright is an expert in Lorca. And nothing better than ending the session wih her reciting: 

Verde que te quiero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.