William Saroyan is well known for his writing, but many people don’t know that he also dabbled in the visual arts and songwriting. In the new exhibit, “Lines, Lines, Lines” at Fresno City College, the public will get to see Saroyan in a whole new light. The exhibit, which opens August 27 in the Art Space Gallery, will feature the Pulitzer Prize winning writer's written lines, spoken lines and drawn lines. The exhibit is Fresno City College’s contribution to Fresno’s year-long centennial celebration of Saroyan’s birth.
According to Edward Lund, Art Space Gallery curator, “Lines, Lines, Lines” is a whimsical look at Saroyan’s drawings and writings and will feature readings from the Saroyan archives.
“He wasn’t a visual artist the way he was respected as a writer. His drawings are whimsical. They’re not revolutionary or new, they are just his,” said Lund of Saroyan’s watercolors. “Some of them have a nice quality to them. He would just do soothing circular lines or vertical lines and play around with color. So it’s not like he was just throwing paint around, there’s a consistency to them,” he said.
In addition to the drawings, the exhibit will feature a number of Saroyan artifacts, including his bicycle, for which he was well-known. “The exhibit will include some small drawings, a couple of large drawings, his cigarette packages crushed on the floor, some of his actual work in the typewriter and a selection of pieces, some of which can only be viewed through a case and others can be handled and read,” Lund noted. The public will also be able to see several of the typewriters that Saroyan used throughout the years to write the stories in which Fresno was often the setting.
Lund said there will also be several recorded versions of the song “Come on-a My House,” which was written by Saroyan and Ross Bagdasarian in 1939. The song became famous in 1951 when it was recorded by Rosemary Clooney and hit #1 on the record charts. The public will also hear other song lyrics credited to Saroyan which are featured on albums by various Armenian singers.
ArtHop is scheduled for September 4 from 5 – 8 p.m. Readings from published and unpublished work will be featured on Saturday, September 27 at 2 p.m. Theatre arts instructor Chuck Erven and several FCC students will perform the readings. The Art Space Gallery will be open that day from 1 – 4 p.m.
The Art Space Gallery is open Tuesdays, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.; and Fridays, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Call 442-8221 for more information.