Flying Words
SubjectPortrait of
Kenny Lerner
American, born 1956
SubjectPortrait of
Peter S. Cook
Date2005
Mediumborn digital photography
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
DescriptionPhotographs of Flying Words, composed of Kenny Lerner and Peter Cook, deaf poets who performed at the Mashantucket Pequot Museum.
Object number2015.196.444.54-.62
CopyrightIn Copyright
NotesBiographical Note: In 2005, CCHAP brought Flying Words to Hartford for a series of performances and conversations as part of a collaboration with the National Theatre of the Deaf and St. Joseph College. A performance took place at St. Joseph College on November 4, 2005, followed by a conversation between the audience and the poets. The poets conducted a workshop at St. Joseph College with students from the English Department and Hartford teens from ICR's Youth Action Research Program. The poets then traveled to the Mashantucket Pequot Museum for an additional performance. The project created an opportunity for both hearing and deaf audiences to experience the creativity of deaf poetry and to learn more about the character and cultural expressions of the deaf community. Flying Words Project is the poetry performance of deaf artist Peter Cook and hearing “voice” Kenny Lerner. Their work is performed using American Sign Language (ASL) in a manner that is appreciated by both deaf and hearing audiences. Since ASL is a language of moving images, you view the scene as if you are there. When a confused deer is flushed out of the woods and into the middle of battle, you see the bayonettes glistening and the cannonballs flying. When a leaf lands in a pool of water, you watch the ripples spread calmly across the stream. Yet there is no screen, nor any props. Peter becomes the moving picture before the audience. Using words, sound effects and silence, Kenny creates the soundtrack that brings Peter's signs to life. His narrative slips in and out of the work. Together they create a moving tapestry. The result is a performance uniquely accessible to both hearing and deaf audiences.
Flying Words has performed at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Harvard University, The People's Poetry Gathering in NYC, Theatre de Lucernaire in Paris, and many places in between. They have received grants from the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Puffin Foundation. They are the authors of two videotape anthologies, The Year of the Walking Dogs (1984-1990) and the Can't Touch Tours (1990-2003). Flying Words has also been active in promoting ASL poetry around the United States through workshops and by organizing the First National ASL Literature Conference in 1991. Flying Words Project was featured at the 36th International Poetry Festival in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
Biographical Note: Kenny Lerner was born on November 13, 1956, in Rochester, New York. He received a BA in History at Beloit College in Wisconsin and a MA in Deaf Education at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. Kenny teaches History at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, New York. He has performed as co-creator and voice of Peter Cook in Flying Words Project since 1984.
Biographical Note: Peter S. Cook is an internationally respected Deaf performing artist whose works incorporate American Sign Language, pantomime, storytelling, acting, and movement. He has appeared in Live from Off Center’s “Words on Mouth” (PBS) and “United States of Poetry” (PBS) produced by Emmy winner poet Bob Holman. Peter was featured at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesboro, Tennessee, The Winter Tales in Oklahoma City, the Illinois Storytelling Festival, the Hoosier Storytelling Festival, the Multi-Cultural Festival in Eugene, Ore, the Tales of Graz in Graz, Austria, The Deaf Way II, and the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Peter has worked with Deaf storytellers/poets in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Japan. Peter was invited to the White House to join the National Book Festival in 2003. He lives in Chicago and teaches at Purdue University.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
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