The Dueling Passions of Stephen Mead
Artist Statement: I have been a writer and artist for over twenty years, but it took quite awhile to combine my dueling passions. In the late 1990s I started sending out my poems with xeroxes of my art to small literary magazines. Often these poems were directly inspired by the art, and visa versa, but I always used work thematically, and often of a spiritual influence. At first I enclosed the images separately in the envelopes and then, eventually, glued them onto the same page as the text. From there, I started making use of the Internet, learning how to make j-pegs and having work of much higher visual resolution be shown with my writing. Around 2005 I began superimposing text right upon the images, creating photographic prints of these montages. Next, I began experimenting with film, using music and captions with my visual series. Eventually I collected these hybrids onto a DVD called "Captioned Closeness" through a distributor called Indieflix, and other art/text combinations I collected into a book called "Selected Works", currently available through Amazon.com. OR you can copy, paste and check out the links here:
http://www.absolutearts.com/portfolios/s/stephenmead/
http://www.lulu.com/stephenmead
http://www.blurb.com/user/stephenmead
http://www.indieflix.com/TitleSearchResults.aspx?q=stephen mead
http://cdbaby.com/cd/stephenmead http://www.cafepress.com/stephenmeadart
http://www.zazzle.com/stephenmead
Notes From The... By Stephen Mead Book Preview 
http://www.zazzle.com/stephenmead
Excerpt from "Selected Works"
"Sponge Christ, Your Eyes" from "Washing The Body", included in "Selected Works"
Sponge Christ,Your eyes are knowing
Without being terrible,
Ghost-like or pale.
No, the transcendent gaze
Beams grateful empathy
Through the translucence
Of the spirit
Shining its love
On reception
Like rays
Of a cradled crown
Stephen Mead Art on CafePress
More Merchandise Than You Can Shake A Stick At!
Drag Logo Button
Drag Series B & W Ink Cover image
Price: 3.49
Joni Mitchell from Drag series on Women's Tank Top
B & W Ink Print on tank top
Price: 20.00
Joni Mitchell from Drag Series Sweatshirt
B & W Print on Cotton
Price: 36.99
Women's T-Shirt
Greta (stephen mead art)
Price: 20.00
Greta Garbo from Drag series Mug
B & W Ink Print on Dishwasher Safe ceramic
Price: 12.99
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kathywite
Thanks for the post, it was very interesting. http://www.encyclopaedicnet.com
Posted April 22, 2008
antony wrote
hi stephenmeadart, i really liked your lens. you have given great information about Stephen Mead and his work "Selected Works". i have also created a lens-lord of the rings audio books
Posted March 23, 2008
My Books on Amazon
Forgot To Mention I Wrote A Novel?
In addition to "Selected Works", amazon.com now carries my novel "Hang Onto Your Teeth". From the dust jacket:
The passion of a writer is often one which stems from defeat and loss. In "Hang Onto Your Teeth" Stephen Mead explores this psychological drama through the character of William Bradstreet, an author who has been creatively blocked since the murder of his gay son, Colin. Five years after his son's death, William at last begins the painful process of coming to terms with the sources of Colin's life and death. In theory it sounds simple enough: William just has to pick up a pen. Theory and actuality remain a searing conflict for William, however, especially as he forces himself to confront the prejudices he too had for his own child. With each page, "Hang Onto Your Teeth" leads the reader deeper into the interior of William's struggle, creating a tightrope of eloquent tension. The climax resulting from this is one of haunting impact and yet a lesson in the profoundly redeeming powers of love. Note: This paperback is formatted like a writer's journal with illustrated borders and a variety of fonts.
FIVE STAR REVIEW:
A Psychological Drama, December 16, 2008
By Amos Lassen (Little Rock, Arkansas) - See all my reviews
Mead, Stephen. "Hang Onto Your Teeth", Lulu Books, 2007.
A Psychological Drama
Amos Lassen
I love reading new authors and finding books that are jewels in their own sense. There are so many good authors that do not have regular publishing houses and many times their books fall by the wayside. Every once in a while I come across a book that makes me sit up and take notice and Stephen Mead's "Hang Onto Your Teeth" is one of them. It's a psychological drama that held me spellbound from cover to cover.
William Bradstreet is an author but he has writer's block and creativity has stopped but there is a reason for this. His son, Colin, who was gay, was murdered and William has a very hard time with that. It is through William that the story is told and as we get to know him, we watch the story unfold. The book opens five years after the death of Colin and William feels he is finally coming to terms with the loss of his son. He begins to look back at the life that his son led and, at the same time, he looks at what caused Colin's murder.
William knows that theoretically he should have no problem returning to write; it really only necessitates taking up a pen, sitting down and writing. However, in actuality it is not so easy. He has to face the way he felt about his son's sexuality and get past his feelings.
The plot of the book is his struggle which in effect is twofold; he battles within himself for his lack of sensitivity for his son and he battles with Colin's ghost as he remembers his own prejudices. As the plot progresses, we enter William's mind more deeply and the tension this creates has the reader turning pages quickly. When we reach the climax, our emotions are almost drained and what we learn will stay with us for a very long time.
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by stephenmeadart
From "The Poet's Encyclopedia"
Stephen Mead was raised in the small Dutch rural community of Selkirk, NY. Having chronic asthma and allergies...
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