Crazy Artist Introverts:
Local Fort Collins Poet and Artist Andrew Bohn
When walking out of the Bean Cycle in Old Town Fort Collins, one might pass by a man sitting with a type writer on a wood table asking to give him 3 to 6 random words. That with which he would write an original poem for you on the spot. Usually I don’t make eye contact with these people…but this time I did quite the opposite and decided to do a ten minute interview, realizing that there is a a major difference between crazy artist introverts are just crazy people.
Andrew Bohn is a Fort Collins artist. Having created a multitude of pieces including the chalkboards inside the Bean Cycle and various other local cafes, the long wooden bench outside the shop, and unique sculptures around Fort Collins. During this in-person interview outside the Bean Cycle, Andrew gave a preview of his life as an active “social introvert” in Fort Collins.
Q: Do you think you are an introvert, extrovert or somewhere in the middle?
A: Umm, I do a mix of the two. There are times when I am very introverted, and I know that I need that, then there are times when I’m extraordinarily extroverted, to the point of performances.
Q: Does it depend on your mood or the day or the people?
A: I find it’s like a lot of things about myself, like my own emotions, that it doesn’t have a whole lot of rhyme or reason, it just kinda comes as it does.
Q: Okay, so would you say you are a social introvert? Like you are maybe an introverted person but you still value social interactions?
A: Oh absolutely, I need it. I know that I do. Oh yah yah. I have lived at times without it and is was… very tough after a while, got to be very isolated. Like I could feel the isolation in my very self.
Q: So what do you do during the week, the weekdays? Do you write poetry?
A: No I make art for a living, I build things and make sculptures and furniture and buckets.
Q: That is awesome, so do you do freelance?
A: Yup, I am an independent.
Q: You do everything, all artworks?
A: Yeah I dabble generally, I kinda want to do everything really well so I do everything decently.
Q: Then you do poetry on the weekends?
A: Yah this is how I have fun.
Q: How long have you been doing poetry?
A: I started this past fall so September, October.
Q: Have you met a lot of interesting people doing it?
A: Yeah and the nice thing about this, the reason I am doing this, is because it gives me a reason to talk to people and in a very intimate way, I get to really talk with people about how they are feeling and what they are doing. Very quickly and very intimately, which is great.
Q: What is the best part of meeting people through this process?
A: The fact that you create, that you are having a moment together, you are having a moment that has a little crystalized part, which is the poem bit. Um and it the momento of having shared the moment together. Not simply a moment, not simply an object. Something a little bit greater.
Q: What would you say are things you like to do instead of maybe mainstream things? Do you have like little places that are unique to you that not that many people go to around fort collins, or little holes in the wall?
A: Hahah yah, as for places I like to go…. I mean I love being outside and that is one of the great things about Fort Collins, there is plenty of opportunity for that. I ride my bike like crazy. That is my free psychologist. All my kinks and such Umm..what else do I like doing, As for like social things I love going to the Farmers Market. And you just don’t see nearly enough people there. It should be packed constantly. That is where I get my food. That is one thing that I would say is important and underutilized.
Q: Would you say that Fort Collins has enough things for maybe introverts to do even though it is a very social community with a college and a lot of breweries, do you think they offer enough things for people who maybe do not want that but still want to socialize?
A: Well I think a good introvert, a solid introvert, in all likelihood, and one would hope would be spending their time that they take away from the rest of the world would be putting it to good use. Uh making things, doing something that is productive it doesn’t equate to making money maybe not even turning out a product, but doing something that is productive for themselves. Even it is just mulling over the things that are happening.
Bohn emphasized that the meaning of socializing and fulfillment are both ever-changing, and custom the individual. From introverted, extroverted, to in the middle, you don’t have to stay in one category. From Bohn’s work, it is clear that just because you have introverted tendencies, does not mean you don’t value social interactions or can’t produce such creative and loud works like Bohn’s poems.
Given only the words: marvelous, espresso, soup, gummi worms, dolphin, and snail, Bohn was able to produce the poem below:
