The History and Popular Music of the ’70s class learned about Patti Smith’s monumental art-punk record from 1975. Here are some of their reactions.
For my Patti Smith response, I decided to paint a wooden cross. I loved “Gloria.” The flames on the cross signify Smith’s rejection of Christianity and I chose white as a background color because it usually synonymous with innocence and purity, much different from the meaning of the song. The Venus symbol represents the woman talked about in the song. – Malia Billingsley
The main theme of the album that stood out to me was death, specifically suicide. Mental illness was not talked about or addressed, especially by women, during the time Smith made the album, making her lyrics incredibly powerful and unique. I was inspired most by the lyrics in “Birdland,” where Smith tells a story of a boys father dying/killing himself and what that means to his son. I chose the lyrics, “white lids, white opals, seeing everything just a bit too clearly” to base my art piece on. I think the whole song is built on this boy beginning to understand the significance of death and its impact on others. I tried to capture that image/feeling in my drawing, using the balloon to represent something that is so easy to destroy (life) and how quickly we can do that to ourselves with one small decision (the needle). – Paloma Thrailkill
I did this as a response to the song “Gloria.” After our talk in class I explored a lot more on this song specifically, and eventually decided that I wanted to draw the subject of the song, Gloria, but as an individual, rather than the hyper-sexualized ‘prize to be won’ character that the song makes her. I was thinking a lot about the male gaze while I was making this, and while researching, a very common topic I came across was that Patti Smith was embracing total freedom through her art, something that I embraced through drawing the city at night, where I’ve always felt most free. I also took inspiration from the idea that it would be close to midnight in the song. I think the way that Patti Smith becomes this (perhaps over) confident, dominant character through the song is very interesting, but I really wanted to just make some art of who I thought Gloria might be separate from all of the “humpin’ on the parking meter,” though obviously I decided to keep the red dress! – Valentine Lamkin
