Interactive Website/Portraiture/Sound & Music
Six pages on the website can be explored for any given length of time the user chooses
Welcome to Spoon River - where spirits walk the graveyards and long to tell you their tales. This interactive website experience will immerse you in the gothic noir world of Edgar Lee Master’s Spoon River Anthology.
Charly Taylor (she/her/hers)
Charly Taylor grew up in Los Angeles, CA as the daughter of a professional acting coach. Due to this interesting upbringing she was surrounded by a plethora of creative works of all sorts at such a young age. In particular, she fell in love with a collection of poetry that her father used to teach heightened language in acting. The collection was entitled The Spoon River Anthology. Always longing to create work centered on The Anthology, she took the plunge and created this interactive website to highlight her passion for the subject. She hopes you enjoy exploring Spoon River!
Website walkthrough
In 1915 Edgar Lee Masters frequented a cemetery outside of his boyhood home in Lewiston, Illinois. For each tombstone he came across, Masters created a free verse poem that centered around that individual, that was told in a first-person narrative from beyond the grave. The collection shocked audiences at the time of their release, for the subject matters he covered were wildly taboo for the time. The pieces ranged from lighthearted tales of individuals speaking of their lives in fond repose and reminding us not to take life too seriously, to pieces speaking of adultery, abuse and murder. Masters entitled this collection after the river that ran alongside both his boyhood home, and the cemetery alike: The Spoon River Anthology.
For this capstone project, Charly Taylor has created an immersive web-based experience, combining video, portraits, drawings, sound and more to fully submerge you in the gothic realm of Spoon River.
Note: works best when visited on Google Chrome
