What do figure skating, opera, and my book cover have in common?
What do Puccini, Michelle Kwan, and my book cover have in common? Glad you asked;) Keep calm and read on to find out…
“FLORIA” © 2021 by Sarah Duet
A few people have commented on WHAT HAPPENED IS HAPPENING’s cover design. All positive; thanks for that! I shared the story behind it with my newsletter subscribers a few months ago, and I want to share that with you now. It’s on my mind this morning, because—believe it or not—the painting was inspired by Michelle Kwan, the most decorated American figure skater in history. And today, July 7th, is her birthday🎉
Happy birthday, Michelle! (On the very slim chance you’re reading this…)
That’s right. The painting on my book’s cover was inspired by Michelle Kwan’s performance at the 2004 US Figure Skating Championships. It was perfection and truly one of my favorite moments in all of sports history. I’ve previously referenced a conversation with John O’Donahue in which he defined beauty as “that in the presence of which we feel more alive.” Well, this program checks that box for me. It’s impossible for me to watch it and not feel nearly every possible emotion in a build up to the absolute release of ecstasy during the straight-line footwork sequence through to the end.
Kwan was known for many things in her career: a trademark inside-outside edge spiral, her quiet blades, her longevity, her heart, and perhaps most notably, her fusion of artistic expression with world-class athleticism. This 2004 performance to music from Puccini’s Tosca is perhaps the height of excellence in achieving that fusion.
But what’s all this have to do with my painting? Ok, I’ll get on with it.
Like many people, I had to develop various coping strategies during the pandemic. In early 2021, my preferred strategy was to traverse the YouTube archives each night, basically rewatching Michelle Kwan’s entire skating career (minus the heartbreaks because who can handle more heartbreak these days?). This phase of coping coincided with the purchase of our family iPad Air, which led me to start making digital paintings. I needed inspiration for the pieces, and Kwan’s programs were naturally top of mind. I made a whole series of them, but FLORIA—named for a main character in the opera, Floria Tosca—won out in consideration for the book’s cover. Why the name Floria? Not the murder-suicide thing, don’t worry. The painting evokes an almost-Springtime charge of vitality to me. At the time, I’d also just made a blackout poem titled, “Blooming” (which can be found in Enneagram Magazine and my book). The name Floria is derived from the Latin word that means “flowering”—a synonym of blooing—so it all fit together quite nicely.
The base color of the painting is the coral from Kwan’s Tosca costume designed by the fashion icon Vera Wang. I built the layers on that foundation with the complementary coolness of teals, whites, and grays reflected on the ice. Then I added the golds of Kwan’s famous good luck necklace and eventual gold medal after the performance. Then the black from her hair and Karl Malone’s signature on her skating boots. I filtered all of this and the emotion of the program through the abstraction of my painting process to create FLORIA.
Finally, the book itself is the fruition of pandemic coping—beauty made from difficulty and reaching for the hope of vitality after it all passes. The painting is a parallel illustration of this dynamic, which makes it a fitting complement to display on the cover.
So now you know what Puccini, Michelle Kwan, and my book cover have in common! In addition to this hopefully being interesting to you, I suppose there are a few takeaways:
You never know where you’ll find inspiration. Pay attention, follow your curiosity and interests wherever they may lead.
Creativity, at its heart, is combinatory. You’re never truly starting from scratch or making something out of nothing. As Steve Jobs said, “Creativity is just connecting things.”
If you have kids with intense special interests, support and feed those! You never know. They may have a book cover to design in 20 years and need some source material🙃
[The debut blackout poetry collection from Sarah Duet]
Created throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, these poems give outward expression to an inner experience of heightened uncertainty, longing for connection, reflection on the past, and hope for a future worth inhabiting. In this minimal, fragmented form—perfect for tired attention spans—the seeds of reimagining self and society are planted.
May they grow in beauty and resilience...
Blackout poems are a form of erasure poetry. After marking through most of the words on a page of found text—from an old newspaper, magazine, or book—what remains creates new meaning in the form of a poem. The result is a visual art piece as much as a literary one. Some say the poems resemble redacted FBI files, while others see tiny constellations written in the night sky of the page. This method highlights the significance of what is not said as much as what is. What is missing becomes as important as what is present.
Divided into seven parts, this collection explores disruption, relationship, politics, mental health, imagination, spirituality, and hope.
182 pages | Paperback | Matte cover | Smooth white 70lb. interior pages