Archive for December, 2011
WordSpace Community Yoga @ Tranquilo
WordSpace Community Yoga @ Tranquilo
When: Monday July 25th, 2011
Where: Tranquilo Yoga Studio, Bishop and Davis Sts.
WordSpace now offers a community yoga class at Tranquilo Yoga Studio on Davis and Bishop, in Dallas’s historic Oak Cliff neighborhood, Monday nights at 7:30. Special Thanks to Johnny Fantauzzi for his generous donation of the beautiful Tranquilo Yoga Studio. Intersections with narrative poetics are a special feature of this class, taught by WordSpace Program Director and ongoing Tranquilo yoga instructor, Karen X Minzer. Donations for this class benefit WordSpace programming.
Tranquilo Yoga Studio is a haven for people striving to connect with their Oak Cliff community through a spiritual, physical and cultural self-education.
Our Wordspace office is also in Dallas’s Oak Cliff neighborhood. It is an open door for artists, poets, educators and community leaders to interact and interface their work with ours. Stay tuned to our website for any last minute planning over here in this very active and vital Dallas arts and culture scene.
For more information about WordSpace Community Yoga At Tranquilo or our other programs, contact us on our website or contact Karen X Minzer.
Esther Pearl Watson: Women Producers of Comics and Graphic Novels
Esther Pearl Watson: Women Producers of Comics and Graphic Novels
When: Friday July 29th, 2011
WordSpace is pleased to partner with Webb Gallery and host a special “taste” of their exhibit featuring women artists-writers of comics and graphic novels, curated by Esther Pearl Watson. Meet the artists, meet the gallery owners, meet WordSpace Board President Charles Dee Mitchell, meet each other! Join WordSpace to welcome Esther Pearl Watson & Co, with Bruce and Julie Webb, for an exclusive perspective and celebration of their exhibit.
Esther Pearl Watson grew up in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Her family moved often, since her father’s hobby of building huge flying saucers out of scrap metal and car engines didn’t always sit well with the neighbors. Esther’s pieces are often overtly narrative, clear but mysterious scenes of houses or figures ornamented with snippets of prose telling just enough to get the viewer’s own imagination engaged, wanting to know more. Some are about family, some about places, all have a rich interior life. Her works without words are just as suggestive of story, also exerting a deep emotional pull.
Bruce and Julie Webb founded their gallery about 17 years ago out of their love for self-taught art, primitive arts and crafts and fraternal lodge pieces. And the stories behind the works are just as intriguing as the drawings, paintings and sculptures in the collection.
Members Only
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Tyler-Davis Arts District Block Party!
Tyler-Davis Arts District Block Party
When: Saturday August 13th, 2011
Where: 415 N. Tyler St. and The Whole Block!
Come out and get sizzled at the Tyler Davis Block Party! Check out our new neighbors and friends in historic Oak Cliff- Tom Battles Custom Picture Framing has a grand opening at his new space, 413 N.Tyler, 4-8pm and Gallery Bomb opens, 407a N.Tyler, with a premiere opening “Sugar Coated Memories” featuring new work by Loretta Gonzalez, 6-9pm. MFA Gallery, 419 N.Tyler, hosts the “Superbad” show, infamous artists Brian Jones and Brian Scott will judge the best of the worst, 6-10pm. Be sure to drop by our WordSpace office, 415 N.Tyler, chillax and pick up the new Fall Schedule of Literary Events. Incense and Peppermints, 421 N.Tyler, will be further putting out the good vibes with live music and art. Across the street at Oil and Cotton, 838 W.Davis they’ll be celebrating their new Back Porch Studio with festivities throughout the day. Over on Davis, Kelly at The Rose Garden, 841 W.Davis, promises special event day bargains, always some great finds at the Garden. And don’t forget to visit Wendi at From the Ends of the Earth, 835 W.Davis for Fair-Trade exotica from around the planet. Stop in at CoCoAndre, 831 W.Davis, for, really, just the best chocolate treats in Dallas. And Daniel and Manuel Padilla Gallery, 829 W.Davis, are helping further the arts in the Cliff with their fine work. Expect Complimentary beverages, snacks, scenes and suprises! See yall out there!
Our office, staffed by Program Director, Karen X Minzer, is in Dallas’s Oak Cliff neighborhood. It is an open door for artists, poets, educators and community leaders to interact and interface their work with ours. It also provides open-genre venue for salons, workshops, booksignings, iCHat and other experimental genres, not to mention the ongoing X+ Arts, Bishops Arts, and Tyler/Davis Arts block parties and festivals. Our office is located at 415 North Tyler St., Dallas, Texas 75208. Stay tuned to our website for any last minute planning over here in this very active and vital Dallas arts and culture scene.
Hosted by Karen X and WordSpace Gang
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Marc Marcel
Marc Marcel
When: Friday September 2nd, 2011
Where: Heroes, 7402 Greenville
Marc Marcel is one of the world’s most recognized and prolific Poets of our generation. Born and raised in Baltimore, MD, diagnosed with Dyslexia at the age of 10, Marc has far exceeded the boundaries brought on by his early disability. Not only does he travel the world performing Spoken Word, but he is also a published Novelist, Producer and Public Speaker. Several months after completing the first draft of his first published novel, ‘Saint Thomas,’ Marc, a Novelist at heart, started writing poetry in Atlanta GA in 1999, in efforts to place a poem at the end of that book that would give the same overall message. Little did he know at the time that he would turn poetry on the Page, into one of the rawest art forms witnessed on Stage. After publishing his first novel, he then published his first book of poetry, ‘Unchained,’ and since has released 15 Spoken Word CDs. Performing in over 150 American Cities and 4 Countries, he has also showcased, performed and/or held workshops for over 40 Universities, with Harvard, Yale, Morehouse and the University of Florida just a few to name. Having made 5 National Television appearances, including Lyrics Café, No Reservations, and a skit for The Jimmy Kimmel Show, he has also graced the stages of many legendary venues, the Smithsonian in Washington DC for the 2009 Presidential Inaugural Peace Ball for President Obama, as well as performing for Scion Night at Knots Scary Farm, in front of 12,000 people. Through his performances he captures the emotions and feelings of several issues including politics, love, spirituality, self-revelation and the everyday struggles of life. Candid, thought-provoking, revealing, clever and honest are just a few descriptions of Marc’s work. Throughout his career, he has written thousands of unreleased poems, several unreleased novels and has produced hundreds of underground tracks. He is Spoken Word, at its rawest, highest level of performance!
The Dallas Poetry Slam Featured Reader Series
Hosted by Rock Baby and Alexandra Marie
Charles Dee Mitchell, Ben Fountain, David Searcy read work by Doug MacWithey
Charles Dee Mitchell, Ben Fountain, David Searcy read work by Doug MacWithey
When: Wednesday September 21st, 2011
Where: McKinney Avenue Contemporary, 3120 McKinney Avenue
Charles Dee Mitchell, Ben Fountain, David Searcy read work by Doug MacWithey
WordSpace Board President Charles Dee Mitchell is a freelance writer based in Dallas. Locally he has been a contributor to The Dallas Observer and The Dallas Morning News, and he is a frequent contributor to Art in America. He has written essays for exhibitions at The Dallas Museum of Art, The Columbus (Ohio) Museum of Art, The UCLA Armand Hammer Museum, and many other commercial and non-profit exhibition spaces. In 2008 he retired from Half Price Books, Records, and Magazines, where he was Executive Vice President of New Media Purchases and Proprietary Publishing. Read Dee’s Blog at www.potatoweather.blogspot.com
David Searcy is a recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts Grant for Fiction and one of WordSpace founder Robert Trammell’s original circle of collaborators. He holds a BFA in painting from SMU and is the author of “Last Things” and “Ordinary Horror” (Viking Press).
Ben Fountain is a past WordSpace Board President. He is the author of the short story collection “Brief Encounters with Che Guevara” (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2006), which received the 2007 PEN/Hemingway Award and the 2006 Barnes & Noble Discover Award. His fiction has appeared in Harper’s, Zoetrope: All-Story, and the Paris Review, among other magazines, and has received an O.Henry Award, two Pushcart Prizes, two short story awards from the Texas Institute of Letters, and the McGinnis Ritchie Prize for Fiction. His nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times Magazine and New Letters. From 2004-2006 he served as fiction editor of the Southwest Review. Fountain’s novel, “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk” will be published next year by Ecco/HarperCollins.”
Doug MacWithey worked in a variety of media, including collage, sculpture and drawing. Often his pieces were accompanied by performance pieces that he wrote. His work has been shown in local galleries and at the Dallas Museum of Art. Many North Texas collectors owned his work.
Immediately following the reading at The MAC, there will be a Reception from 7 to 9 pm at The Reading Room, 3715 Parry Avenue. “how it is the dead man suffers the loss of his loved ones”, MacWithey’s three panel, text based drawing from which the reading is taken, will be on view. It will be exhibited through September 30. The Reading Room is a project space dedicated to the intersection of the visual
and literary arts.
Please come early and visit both the exhibit of Doug MacWithy‘s work, as well as the WordSpace exhibit: Between Covers: An Exhibition for Smart Phones and the Internet, both projects curated by Video Association of Dallas board member, WordSpace Board President, and writer, Charles Dee Mitchell. The exhibition consists of wall-mounted QR codes that, when read by smart phones, take the viewer to videos or websites featuring North Texas authors.
Joaquin Zihuatanejo and Natasha Carrizosa: Duets
The Roxy Gordon Members Salon Series
When: Thursday September 29th
WordSpace joins the celebration of Hispanic Cultural Heritage and Hispanic Culture during National Hispanic Heritage Month:
Joaquín Zihuatanejo is a poet, spoken word artist, and award-winning teacher. In 2005, Joaquín was featured on season five of Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry for HBO. For seven years Joaquín was an award-winning public high school English teacher for ninth and eleventh grade students inspiring a new collection of poems from the classroom entitled Stand Up and Be Heard. For the last three years Joaquín has taken a break from his teaching position to tour North America and Europe teaching workshops and performing his one man spoken word show at hundreds of colleges, universities, conferences and poetry slams. In his extensive journey as a professional performance poet, Joaquín has shared a stage with Billy Collins, Saul Williams, E. Lynn Harris, Alicia Keys, and Maya Angelou among others. He recently co-wrote and produced Of Fire and Rain, (WordSmith Press) a CD of spoken word collaborations with Natasha Carrizosa. The project has been described as a testimony of life/love that spans from the barrios of East Dallas to the ghettos of the West Indies, excerpts of which were selected by Poetry in Motion to be published on posters on buses, light rail, and trains in major U.S. cities. The current Individual World Poetry Slam Champion, Joaquín recently represented The United States at The World Cup of Poetry Slam Championship in Paris, France and won that title as well. He currently lives just north of his hometown of Dallas with his wife and two daughters. Joaquín has two passions in his life, his wife, Aída, and poetry, always in that order.
“I was blessed to sort of be raised in a setting that was kind of filled with poems. From my grandfather’s garden to the wild field,” he said. “I surrounded myself with storytellers as a child constantly.”
Natasha Carrizosa is a poet/writer who celebrates her dual heritage (African- and Mexican-American) with works that weave an intoxicating blend of cultures, languages and impressions. She lives and writes in Texas, and has shared her work at different venues from Texas to New York – from the Yellowhouse Gallery to the Nuyorican Poets Café. Her writings have been featured in Rhapsody, Our Texas magazines, as well as other online publications. She is author of Mejiafricana, a spoken word cd and Nude – A Collection of Love and Erotic Poems.
Joaquin Zihuatanejo and Natasha Carrizosa will be performing in Duet.
Susan Briante and Rachel Levitsky
The Roxy Gordon Members Salon Series
When: Thursday April 28th, 2011
WordSpace is proud to partner with Greenhill School and Farid Matuk in sharing our Members Salon selections with their classrooms.
This Salon will also include a special Memorial Tribute to Akilah Oliver, originally scheduled to participate. She passed away in February 2011.
Susan Briante is the author of Pioneers in the Study of Motion (Ahsahta Press 2007) and Utopia Minus (Ahsahta Press 2011). Recent poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Court Green, and POOL. A translator and essayist, Briante lived in Mexico City from 1991-1997 working for the magazines Artes de Mexico and Mandorla. She has received awards from the Atlantic Monthly, MacDowell Colony, The Academy of American Poets, & the Djerassi Foundation. Currently, she is translating the work of Uruguayan writer Marosa di Giorgio, as well as writing about industrial ruins and abandoned buildings in American cities. Briante holds an MFA from Florida International University and a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin. She is an assistant professor of literature and creative writing at the University of Texas at Dallas. Susan is a former WordSpace Board Member and continues to serve on the Programming Committee.
Rachel Levitsky’s second poetry collection NEIGHBOR was published by Ugly Duckling Presse in 2009. Her first novel, The Story of My Accident is Ours will be published by Futurepoem in 2011. Levitsky teaches Writing and Literature at Naropa University’s Summer Writing Program, Bard Prison Initiative and Pratt Institute. She is founder and member of Belladonna* Collaborative–a hub of feminist avant-garde literary action.
Akilah Oliver was the author of two poetry collections and four chapbooks. Her most recent book, A Toast in the House of Friends, (Coffee House Press 2009) incorporates prose, theory, and lyric performance to investigate body and memory through experimental forms and multiple frameworks,
Oliver’s writing practice embraces an investigative poetics approach as a dialogic engagement, as a practice of unveiling, and positing new ideas, lines, and ways of seeing. Her recent collaborative performance work investigated elegy as public ritual.
Her first book, the she said dialogues: flesh memory (Smokeproof/Erudite Fangs, 1999),
was awarded the PEN Beyond Margins Award.
Her chapbooks include “A Collection of Objects” (Tente Press, 2010), “a(A)ugust” (Yo-Yo Labs, 2007), and “The Putterer’s Notebook” (Belladonna, 2006).
She is featured on the CD Matching Half with Anne Waldman and Ambrose Bye (Fast Speaking Music, 2009). Oliver’s critical writing on Anne Waldman’s work can be found online at Jacket 27, Hold the Space: The Poetics of Anne Waldman. Oliver has delivered talks on Waldman’s work, and on elegy and memoir at the Associated Writer’s Program (AWP) in Chicago, at the University of California, San Diego, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Oliver read and performed her poetry extensively, as a solo reader and in collaboration with musicians.
She was co-founder of the critically acclaimed performance group the Sacred Naked Nature Girls (SNNG), Oliver toured with SNNG performing extensively, including at the Institute for Contemporary Art in London, Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, and Randolph Street in Chicago. SNNG’s work has been reviewed in the Los Angeles Times (1996), Bomb Magazine (Coco Fusco, Summer ’95), Drama Review (Meiling Cheng, Summer ’98), and in the book, “In Other Los Angeleses: Mulitcentric Performance Work”, by Meiling Cheng (2002, California Press).
Oliver received her BA from New College of California, has taught writing at the University of Colorado, Boulder; Department of Writing and Poetics at Naropa University, Long Island University (as the Distinguished Author, MFA Creative Writing Program), LaGuardia Community College, and was on the faculty of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics/Naropa Summer Writing Program (SWP) at Naropa University and Pratt Art Institute, Humanities and Media Studies.
She was awarded an artist-in-residency at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, is the recipient of grants from the California Arts Council, The Flintridge Foundation, and the Rockefeller Foundation. She lived in Brooklyn, NY.
Da’rrell Cloudy and Jay Bean @ Deep Ellum Market
Da’rrell Cloudy and Jay Bean @ Deep Ellum Market
When: Saturday April 16th, 2011
Where: Stage, Indiana at Malcolm X
WordSpace and Deep Ellum Market present songwriter/poets Da’rrell Cloudy and Jay Bean in an inspiring interface of old Deep Ellum and what makes things new.
Da’rrell Cloudy began writing as a child prodigy of his father, poet Joey Cloudy. By 13, he had published a chapbook of poems, entitled “A Bullet To The Brain” and was presented as a Writer in the Schools in Dallas area schools. He has been a regular feature of open mic and poetry salon scenes since he was 11.
Jay Bean and Da’rrell began their music collaboration in Longview High School, later forming the electronia band Atrium and recorded a demo. Atrium was temporarily disbanded in circumstantial vagaries and Da’rrell and Jay have been performing as a duo all over the Dallas.
Gifted voices, contemplative perspectives, and beatific personas–Look for Da’rrell and Jay onstage behind Cafe Brazil at Deep Ellum Open Market, the historic neighborhood festival and brainchild of Brandon Castillo.
Mal
Dallas Slam Featured Reader Series
When: Friday April 15th, 2011
Where: It’s a Grind Coffee House, 2901 Indiana
Mal is described as both, “charming,” and, “fierce,” He is a performance poet, public speaker, playwright, screenwriter, and actor. He has written & directed several short plays and films. Mal began performing poetry early in 2010, and has appeared on stages around the Metroplex. Raised in a small town near Austin, TX, this performer moved to the DFW Metroplex while attending Texas Christian University. On the page, Mal employs metaphysical conceit to convey human stories. On stage, he seeks an impassioned performance that recreates and displays the feelings that inspired each poem.
Hosted by RockBaby and Alexandra Marie
The Gerald Burns Student Readings
WordSpace Student Readings
When: Wenesday April 13th, 2011
Where: The Kessler Theater, 1230 W. Davis
STUDENT READING! Hockaday: Meredith Gunn, An Rhiel Wang, Claire Banowsky; Greenhill: Erin Ginsberg, Jessica Tolbert; Booker T Washington: Devin Anderson, Hannah Wilk, Aza Smith, Theresa Maldonado, Tori Moss, Taylor G. Perry, Emma Lytle; Yavneh: Gang of 15
Each year we feature the best in area student work curated by writers who work in Education. WordSpace features emerging writers and students selected by Farid Matuk of Greenhill School, Kyle Vaughn of Hockaday School, Scott Davison of Booker T. Washington Arts Magnet, Tim Cloward of Yavneh Academy.
These young writers bring with them not only the enrichment of dedicated and recognized artists-teachers, but often the most innovative and interdisciplinary collaborations of writing in this promising preview of the future.
