tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8460131210190325062024-03-21T09:57:01.396-07:00The Salon Sit-DownAustin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-46176108060221646862008-11-10T13:56:00.000-08:002008-11-10T13:57:31.649-08:00Upcoming Salon Featuring Ana Sisnett & Iya Omi Oni<span style="font-weight: bold;">Austin Salon Sit-Down</span><br />Saturday November 15, 2-4pm<br />Carver Museum<br />1169 Angelina St<br />Austin, TX<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Featuring Ana Sisnett & Iya Omi Oni </span>for an afternoon of poetry, drumming and learning about the artists' crafts and their lives. <br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">About the Artists:</span><br />Ana Sisnett is a poet, visual artist and activist. Her published works include the children's books "Granny Jus' Come" and "Two Mrs Gibsons". Ana's visual art will be featured this Friday, November 14 as part of The First Annual Care Partner Art Show, Mosaic Austin, For more information visit: http://www.interfaithcarealliance.org/events.htm<br /><br /><p>Iya Omi Oni has over 30 years of experience in performance. She is the former director of Ibu Ayan, an ensemble of female musicians dancers and singers and has also presented programs through the Arts in Education Program, Young Audiences, Alliance for Education as well as many schools and universities throughout the United States. She is also a recording artist and composer.</p><br /><br />The Austin Salon Sit-Down is the place to be if you want to join a dynamic group of people interested in creating a platform for discussing and presenting the works of Austin-based artists of color. Join us at The Salon. Talk about yourself and get talked about.<br /><br />http://austinsalon.blogspot.com<br />austin_salon@yahoo.comAustin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-81835035921691757672008-09-21T09:55:00.000-07:002008-10-04T11:37:36.349-07:00September Featured Artist: Samiya BashirAbout the Artist:<br /><b><span style="">Samiya Bashir </span></b><span style="">is the author of <a href="http://www.redbonepress.com/books/wheretheapplefalls/" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">Where the Apple Falls: poems</span></i></a>, editor of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1573441635/103-4867448-5202208?v=glance&n=283155" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">Best Black Women's Erotica 2</span></i></a> and co-editor, with <a href="http://tonymedina.net/" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">Tony Medina</span></a> and <a href="http://www.cavecanempoets.org/pages/poems/revolver.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">Quraysh Ali Lansana</span></a>, of <a href="http://www.thirdworldpressinc.com/ProductDetail.asp?ID=2" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Literature & Art</span></i></a>. She has also published two chapbook poetry collections: <i>Wearing Shorts on the First Day of Spring</i> & <i>American Visa</i>. Her poetry, stories, articles, essays and editorial work have been featured in numerous publications including: <i>Callaloo, Essence, Contemporary American Women Poets, among many others. </i>Bashir is a fellow with <a href="http://www.cavecanempoets.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">Cave Canem</span></a> and a founding organizer of <a href="http://www.fireandink.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">Fire & Ink</span></a>, a writer's festival for LGBT writers of African descent. She's currently wrasslin' poetry, paint, stuffed bunnies and sunshine in Austin, Tejas. website: <a href="http://samiyabashir.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);">samiyabashir.com</span></a><br /><br /><br />Work Sample:<br /><br />View Samiya's work on Torch: <a href="http://www.torchpoetry.org/Fall%2007/samiyabashir.htm">Torchpoetry.org</a></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-19574581081768748152008-09-21T09:54:00.000-07:002008-09-21T09:55:11.158-07:00September 20, 2008 Salon Sit-Down Discussion<p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;">"Joy is the ultimate act of resistance."</p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 2.5in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;">~Toi Dericotte</p> <p style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 2.5in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;">Today was an example of embodied, communal inspiration. Samiya Bashir read to us from her, as of yet unpublished, manuscript Gospel, breaking us down and building us up, bringing the good news and binding her words so that we could get lost in them, unleashing them to keep us close.<span style=""> </span>Self-described as a "positive treatise on faith and action", Gospel is her work in progress - tender, vulnerable, as of yet - unborn into the larger world.<span style=""> </span>Whereas Where the Apple Falls opened with Sankofa, Gospel opens with Legba, guardian of the crossroads, trickster, infinite possibility. As Samiya floated through the movements of her work, we were present to her play: to her use of the visual form in conjunction with the aural form, her use of tension and blank spaces to render our measured breaths.<span style=""> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;">We discussed timeliness of work, and usefulness of work and what does it mean to be an artist and to create work that is or is not useful. Though problematic, Samiya expounded on this concept when she discussed the inception of Gospel - a few poems that lay across her lap as in front of her, on the screen in her New York apartment living room, she watched New Orleans go under Katrina's waters - as a meditation on intention, and on the role of poetry to save both her life and the lives of others. As we listened and discussed both Samiya's work and process, those of us in the room drew and painted on Pënz, which Samiya had brought to the table as an example of how the act of working in visual languages loosened her spirit enough to reclaim words.<span style=""> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;">From that point, Samiya read from Reginald Shepard's Orpheus in the Bronx, his essay "Against the Other's Other", and asked us to consider the question, "What are we not?"<span style=""> </span>Around the room, people responded visually, literally, metaphorically, and philosophically (one participant wrote out: "I am everything, but ________." A brief, multi-lingual exercise, this consideration led us back to a conversation about the ways in which our actual contemporary language is not sufficient to describe our multiple, multi-faceted experiences, identities, perspectives and that in some ways, poetry is the response to essentialism, daring to transform language with its very existence.<span style=""> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;">When asked about the body as place/metaphor/vehicle in her work, Samiya described her own transformation in relationship both to this question and to the way this question has challenged her in her work.<span style=""> </span>Whereas in Where the Apple Falls, she was exploring her body as a body, her body as a tree, her body as something acted upon by the nation, Gospel is coming into the world after her own inquiries into the "one-ness of things". Describing her body as a faith, her faith as an I and I, as a mouthpiece, as the pencil, as that which creates access to the world, as that which is in the way, where her bodies rest in this moment is in the dance.<span style=""> </span></p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;"> </p> <p style="margin: 0in; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 11pt;">One participant picked up on just this dance, and asked Samiya to discuss the poem which she described as "one that [I] really like". That poem, or any poem that feeds the soul, is finding the light in darkness, finding joy in moments of great distress, of embodying artistry: choosing to create in moments when society is in great turmoil. Of embodying the tension between creation and destruction. Of speaking truth to power.<span style=""> </span></p>Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-87565546637540557622008-07-12T10:48:00.000-07:002008-09-04T11:40:39.749-07:00July Featured Artist: A. Van Jordan<b><span style="font-size:100%;">Author's Bio:<br /><br />A. Van Jordan</span></b><span style="font-size:100%;"> is the author of <a href="http://cortlandreview.com/store_item.php?ASIN=1882688260" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);"><b>Rise</b></span></a>, published by Tia Chucha Press, 2001, which won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award and selected for the Book of the Month Club from the Academy of American Poets. Published by W.W. Norton & Co., 2004, his second book, <a href="http://cortlandreview.com/store_item.php?ASIN=0393327647" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);"><b>M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A</b></span></a>, was awarded an Anisfield-Wolf Award and listed as one the Best Books of 2005 by <i>The London Times</i> (TLS). Jordan was also awarded a Whiting Writers Award in 2005 and a Pushcart Prize in 2006, 30th Edition. <a href="http://cortlandreview.com/store_item.php?ASIN=0393064999" target="_blank"><span style="color: rgb(0, 51, 153);"><b>Quantum Lyrics</b></span></a> was published July 2007 by W.W. Norton & Co. He is a recent recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship, 2007.<br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Author's Work: <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span><span><span><br />To read and see A. Van Jordan's work, go to <a href="http://www.cortlandreview.com/features/07/winter/jordan.html">The Cortland Review<br /></a>or to <a href="http://www.nortonpoets.com/ex/jordanamacnolia.htm">Norton Poets online</a></span></span>.Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-90369803019758007732008-07-12T10:45:00.000-07:002008-09-04T11:37:47.549-07:00July 5, 2008 Salon Sit Down DiscussionThere are some artists who are just <span style="font-style: italic;">always</span> on fire!<br /><br />A. Van Jordan, on his way back to Austin from out of town, came directly from the airport to the Salon to deliver a beautiful exposition and conversation on his work, his vision and his process. He read from both <span style="font-weight: bold;">M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A</span> and from his earlier work, <span style="font-weight: bold;">Rise</span>, sharing with us 20 minutes of poetry and history and a sense of place.<br /><br />In the discussion, participants asked Van a variety of questions, including;<br /><br />How was your own relationship to language shifted through the writing of <span style="font-weight: bold;">M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A</span>?<br />How are you transformed by your work?<br />How did you become a poet?<br />What are you working on now?<br /><br />In his responses, Van referred to the concepts of character, history and form. "How can I not be transformed by my work." he laughed, pointing to the ways in which line and form lead him to think of breath, breaks, memory. How the work itself pushes him to different levels of engagement with his personal vision, American history. And how every work brings him to an inevitable melting point in which ideas, emotions and language are fused into the body of a poem or set of poems.<br /><br />As an example, he discussed <span style="font-weight: bold;">Quantum Lyrics </span>(2007), a collection that utilizes a screenplay structure, embedded with comic book and blues references. He decided to use the screenplay structure because of its particular connection to time and location - a connection which is generated by the form itself. This seemed the most giving structure for a manuscript that discusses male vulnerability, ideas of the public-private persona, quantum physics, childhood and the death of one's father. Each body of work is, in its own way, about the gift of poetry: the ways in which poetry can communicate the emotional truth of an historical moment, of a character, of the form itself. Van reaches that place of truth in his work - time and time again - and from that place, transforms history.<br /><br />As far as how he arrived to this moment, he says, "Poetry found me." A Communications major at Howard University, and an environmental journalist in Washington D.C., Van started writing at age 30, after visiting and performing in open mics of the D.C. area. DJ Renegade, Crystal Williams, Patricia Smith and Tyehimba Jess are his peers, and also the shoulders that moved him into poetry. Spots like Mango, Bar None and jazz spots throughout town moved him into his questions around form and language. Poetry claimed him in the 90s and brought him to us today.Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-27306089191306625892008-06-23T09:04:00.000-07:002008-06-23T09:10:24.220-07:00June Featured Artist: Amanda Johnston<strong>Author Bio:</strong><br /><br />Cave Canem Fellow and Affrilachian Poet, Amanda Johnston has performed across the country for various causes and events. Honors include a 2003 and 2004 Artists Enrichment grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the 2005 Austin International Poetry Festival's Christina Sergeyevna Award. Currently, Johnston serves on the board of directors for the National Women's Alliance, is an ensemble member of The Austin Project Performance Company (TAPPCo) and is the founding editor of Torch: poetry, prose, and short stories by African American Women. <a href="http://www.torchpoetry.org/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.torchpoetry.org/</a><br /><br /><br /><strong>Work Sample:</strong><br /><br /><strong>First Song</strong><br />for Ahyana<br /><br />She wailed and my heart stood still<br />as the doctor dangled her<br />head down and bloody like a fish<br />caught between the muck and pull<br />of my churning water and vine<br />creeping awkwardly up to this<br />blurry life of tears and loose soil.<br />The delivery room held fast<br />while her silence echoed off<br />defibrillators, nursing hands<br />and her father tending my<br />hollow earthbound body waiting<br />for his daughter's first solo<br />in a chorus of furrowed brows.<br />We wanted to hear her wail<br />with a quick slap on the ass<br />desperate breath then sound<br />at least a whimper of newness<br />breaching our anticipation<br />not this eternal pause of her<br />wide eyes questioning yes or no<br />to a world of uncertainties.<br />She wailed and my heart stood still<br />in that resounding yes, yes she would<br />stay in this imperfect place<br />with all of its cobwebs and stars<br />here, in the shit and pain of birth,<br />she wailed and her song began.Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-85723871985045483582008-06-23T07:10:00.000-07:002008-06-23T09:34:39.416-07:00June 14th, 2008 Salon Sit Down DiscussionAmanda Johnston is a Poet, Mother and Daughter, and when she arrived, she brought both her mother and her daughters with her, embodying the multi-generational nature of her own work within the space of the Salon.<br /><br />This month, Amanda brought us into her circle by reading her work and having us riff off of it - to enter her work and allow it to give us new words. She said it clearly, "I'm going to read you a poem, and you write a story from something that you hear. And if you want, then you take a line of your story and write a poem, and it can go on." She had first learned of the exercise from her mentor and friend, Patricia Smith.<br /><br />As we moved from our own writing into a discussion about Amanda's process and writing, we began to engage questions of craft, of vulnerability, and of dialogue. Questions that were asked included:<br /><br />What is your relationship to form?<br />What was your first poem?<br /><br />Amanda answered candidly, speaking of her own sense of intimidation, of her own perception of form as a "white man's imposition". It was at Cave <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Canem</span> that she truly allowed herself to explore form and what it has to give to her work, regardless of the end result of her exploration.<br />What was fascinating is that Amanda's first poems were at age 10 and were raps - a form that is defined by music, by life experience, by set rhythms and words. Her early explorations were the foundation to her later work, developed when she first learned about the connection between words and intention as a young poet living in Kentucky.<br /><br />The artist's fascination with the whole person, and the people behind things led us into a discussion about the architecture of language. One person named <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Tapies</span>, and his own inquiries into the life of material objects, which then led us to ask Amanda about her own relationship to objects and their stories. What, if anything, do they have to tell us? And Amanda answered very clearly: the ancestry or timeline of a body or thing tells us about who we are today. Who designed this room that we're sitting in? Who made the panels for the walls, and installed them? Who are we today bringing ourselves into this space that was designed with intention?<br /><br />When asked what form her aesthetic takes, she responded, "It is a wagon wheel, in which the spokes are the different manifestations of the self - and questions about the self." Amanda went on to describe how she reads a book, as a metaphor for how her poetry falls in line with her aesthetic - she reads it in pieces, wherever it may open to when she picks it up. Her aesthetic is closely aligned with her process in which she multi-tasks, writing a poem as she has to, "getting the bones down" and then returning to it to pile on the flesh of it all. She spoke of being obedient to the poem, when they come, she must heed them. And being accountable to her community: making sure she writes them down and develops her work, because after all - she is a poet.<br /><br />Which led to questions about joy and inspiration. One participant asked, "What is the intersection of fun in your work?" to which Amanda replied: "Fun should always be in my work." She spoke of the need to laugh, especially in tedious or serious moments, quoting Nicky <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Finney</span> who said, "You are as <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">writerly</span> as the last poem you've written." Amanda insisted that in order to write, we must also enjoy life so that we may nourish the work we create. And of course, this means that for Amanda, inspiration comes from people, from listening to people, from remembering what people have spoken, from the day outside the window. She mentioned the names of poets she goes to when she needs to find her voice, or her own words: poets Sharon <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Olds</span>, Patricia Smith, Nicky <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Finney</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Afaa</span> M. Weaver... and her community.<br /><br />In this way, we can understand Amanda as an architect of language: a person who understands language as a landscape from which to design and develop buildings of memories and sound, and meaning. And creating poems that require the reader's active participation, and reflection on their own lived experience. Amanda, who also loves and is inspired by photography and video, aptly describes her own perspective as only one in relationship to others: each person has their own perspective on language, much in the same way the camera has its own perspective with relationship to what's in the frame.<br /><br />She left us with the questions that form the basis of her inquiry: what angle is this image speaking to? What is it that we're not supposed to see? What is out of context? How can we present multiple perspectives? And how do we make it possible for all of us to have our own <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">experiences</span> with written and visual work?Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-87530543757949005892008-05-29T15:40:00.000-07:002008-06-12T15:16:55.962-07:00May Featured Artist: Nelly Rosario<span style=""><o:p></o:p></span><span style=""><span style="font-weight: bold;">Author Bio:</span><br /><br />Nelly Rosario was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She received a BA in engineering from MIT and an MFA from Columbia University. She has received numerous awards, including a 1999 Barbara Deming Memorial Fund Fellowship, The Bronx Writers' Center Van Lier Literary Fellowship for 1999-2000, two National Arts Club Writing Fellowships, the 1997 Hurston/Wright Award in Fiction, and the 1988 National Teachers in English Writing Award. She was named "Writer on the Verge" by the Village Voice Literary Supplement in 2001. Her debut novel Song of the Water Saints, which traces the lives of three generations of Dominican women, won a PEN Open Book Award in 2002. Currently she teaches at Texas State University in San Marcos.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Work Sample:</span><br /></span><div> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 31.7pt; line-height: 200%;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"> Justice sans Blindfold</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 31.7pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style=""> </span>My name is Najila Sivaka Gesbor, M.D., President and Head Surgeon of Innovative Ophthalmology Clinic.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 31.7pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style=""> </span>I have no blood on my hands, so help me Horus.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 31.7pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style=""> </span>It is my understanding that arrested persons are to be handcuffed with their hands in front of them—this behind-the-back standard is only for the convicted.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 31.7pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style=""> </span>You accuse me of eating human eyes.<span style=""> </span>Cow eyes are not human eyes, however similar.<span style=""> </span>I much prefer the taste and texture of the former than that of the latter, which I imagine are rather saccharine and pliant.<span style=""> </span>In addition to being considerably larger in size, cow eyes are much more bitter and salty in taste, requiring the pleasant task of cutting through fat and extraneous muscle prior to consumption. <span style=""><span style=""> </span>Ask any of your government officials who frequent steakhouses.<span style=""> </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 31.7pt; line-height: 200%;"><span style=""> </span>I have also sampled kangaroo and monkey eyes, both equally savory.<span style=""> </span></p> </div><div><br /></div><br /><span style=""><o:p></o:p></span>Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-87248770695063162742008-05-29T14:51:00.000-07:002008-05-29T15:55:44.338-07:00May 10, 2008 Salon Sit Down Discussion<p class="MsoNormal">This being our first meeting after the winter hiatus, we met at the Carver Museum on the perfect 100 degree day. Next door was the Saturday afternoon drumming classes (the rooms are soundproof), and through the glass panel we saw the generations streaming by on their way into the drumming circle.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">Nelly expressed her wish to be in the space as a collaborative artist, and perhaps, to lead a small writing workshop. We settled in and Nelly began by introducing us to her creative process and the theoretical underpinnings to her approach.<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br />She then continued her presentation with a discussion on the importance of artistic discourse and attention to craft as fundamental elements of her practice. She asked us to consider the question of text as object ("Why do we think text cannot move?"). Much like perusing art objects in a gallery or museum space creates an individual experience of time and space, language on the page can also function to mirror this trajectory. She described her work as "holographic" - in which the text is not only a reproduction of itself, but moves and acts as if the characters and their landscapes are present before us - the novel as crystal.<br /><br />In her debut novel, Song of the Water Saints, Nelly Rosario succeeded in bridging stories between land and sea. In her forthcoming work, of which she read an excerpt previously published in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"></span>Callaloo under the title "Airman Basic Training", her characters are embodying each other; they are literally exchanging their eyes. When asked to describe the composition of this new work, Nelly delves into her fascination with Gaudi - Barcelona's fanatical architect who is famous for La Sagrada Familia - and his obsession with details, with perfection and with seemingly oppositional elements. Her character, an airman, is compulsively focused on power, but is conflicted by the reality of constantly changing authorities. The author asks her character: At what point does he own himself? She asks us, as readers, to consider questions of value and worth, motivation and multiple perspectives. What would compel someone to trade eyes? How do you determine the value of your eyes in exchange with someone else’s? This is not only a theoretical contemplation, but a negotiation embodied by her characters.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">When asked about other influences on her current work, Nelly spoke of “Hand of Darkness” by Ursula K LeGuin, of Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino (especially “Invisible Cities”, for its structure), and Toni Morrison (specifically, the language of “Palace of Dreams”).<span style=""> </span>She also spoke of her own philosophical inquiries: “Imagine looking down at the stars.” </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">“How can my readers exchange eyes with my characters?”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">“What occupies the space between our eyes and a camera’s eyes?”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">and finally, “How do we exist within infinite processes?”<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal">I might describe Nelly’s aesthetic as the clouds left behind by comets: concurrently gracile<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"></span> with language and dense in conceptual and historical undertones.<span style=""> </span>She herself spoke of the first time she understood beauty: living on the third floor of a building in New York City, staring at the mosaics on the floor.<span style=""> </span>She was fascinated by the way the light passed through the bubble glass<span style=""> </span>and danced across the hexagonal patterns of tile.<span style=""> </span>Similar to what we see against our eyelids when we tightly shut them.<span style=""> </span>Fractals.<span style=""> </span>Things that are simultaneously broken and unified at the same time.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We talked about the concepts that Nelly had presented to us: the concepts of value and planes of sight, of language and perspective.<span style=""> </span>And then, we finished by giving each other creative tasks.<span style=""> </span>I agreed to share these here on the blog page for others who might want to try them.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><br /><span style=""> </span></p><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style=""><span style="">1)<span style=""> </span></span></span>Envision your work in a museum of choice – any museum – and create the piece to show there.<br /><br />2) Write a dialogue between your 12 year old self and your 80 year old self – using diaries or other source materials to inform your writing.<br /><br />3) <span style=""><span style=""><span style=""></span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Draw SWARM theory.<br /><br /><!--[if !supportLists]-->4) Write an application form for a completely free person. What does her day look like? What does she dream? Where does she live? What kinds of questions would she ask of the world?<br /><br />5) Create collages for a week in place of writing.Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-88433154440307666272008-05-29T14:33:00.000-07:002008-06-23T09:04:15.306-07:00Summer Line Up<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';">The Austin Salon was on hiatus for the winter (hibernation), and has resumed with an extraordinary line-up for the summer and early fall:<?xml:namespace prefix = o /><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">May 10th, 2-4pm</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Carver Museum</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Austin, TX</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Featured Artist: Nelly Rosario</span></b><span style="font-family:';"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';">Nelly Rosario was born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Brooklyn, New York. She received a BA in engineering from MIT and an MFA from Columbia University. She has received numerous awards, including a 1999 Barbara Deming Memorial Fund Fellowship, The Bronx Writers' Center Van Lier Literary Fellowship for 1999-2000, two National Arts Club Writing Fellowships, the 1997 Hurston/Wright Award in Fiction, and the 1988 National Teachers in English Writing Award. She was named "Writer on the Verge" by the Village Voice Literary Supplement in 2001. Her debut novel Song of the Water Saints, which traces the lives of three generations of Dominican women, won a PEN Open Book Award in 2002. Currently she teaches at Texas State University in San Marcos. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">June 14th, 2-4pm</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Carver Museum</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Austin, TX</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Featured Artist: Amanda Johnston</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';">Cave Canem Fellow and Affrilachian Poet, Amanda Johnston has performed across the country for various causes and events. Honors include a 2003 and 2004 Artists Enrichment grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women and the 2005 Austin International Poetry Festival's Christina Sergeyevna Award. Currently, Johnston serves on the board of directors for the National Women's Alliance, is an ensemble member of The Austin Project Performance Company (TAPPCo) and is the founding editor of <i>Torch: poetry, prose, and short stories by African American Women</i>. </span><span style="font-family:';color:blue;"></span><span style="font-family:';"><a href="http://www.torchpoetry.org/" target="_blank"><span style="TEXT-DECORATION: none;color:blue;" >www.torchpoetry.org</span></a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">July 5th, 2-4pm</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Carver Museum</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Austin, TX</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Featured Artist: A. Van Jordan</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';">A. Van Jordan is the author of <i>Rise </i>and <i>MACNOLIA</i>. Among other awards, Jordan has received the Whiting Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Jordan teaches at the University of Texas at Austin and serves on the faculty at the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. He lives in Austin, Texas. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';"><br /></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">August 9th, 2-4pm</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Location TBA</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Austin, TX</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Featured Artist: Samiya Bashir</span></b><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:';">Samiya Bashir </span></b><span style="font-family:';">is the author of <a href="http://www.redbonepress.com/books/wheretheapplefalls/" target="_blank"><i><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,51,153)">Where the Apple Falls: poems</span></i></a>, editor of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1573441635/103-4867448-5202208?v=glance&n=283155" target="_blank"><i><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,51,153)">Best Black Women's Erotica 2</span></i></a> and co-editor, with <a href="http://tonymedina.net/" target="_blank"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,51,153)">Tony Medina</span></a> and <a href="http://www.cavecanempoets.org/pages/poems/revolver.html" target="_blank"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,51,153)">Quraysh Ali Lansana</span></a>, of <a href="http://www.thirdworldpressinc.com/ProductDetail.asp?ID=2" target="_blank"><i><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,51,153)">Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social & Political Black Literature & Art</span></i></a>. She has also published two chapbook poetry collections: <i>Wearing Shorts on the First Day of Spring</i> & <i>American Visa</i>. Her poetry, stories, articles, essays and editorial work have been featured in numerous publications including: <i>Callaloo, Essence, Contemporary American Women Poets, among many others. </i>Bashir is a fellow with <a href="http://www.cavecanempoets.org/" target="_blank"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,51,153)">Cave Canem</span></a> and a founding organizer of <a href="http://www.fireandink.org/" target="_blank"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,51,153)">Fire & Ink</span></a>, a writer's festival for LGBT writers of African descent. She's currently wrasslin' poetry, paint, stuffed bunnies and sunshine in Austin, Tejas. website: <a href="http://samiyabashir.com/" target="_blank"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,51,153)">samiyabashir.com</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:';"><a href="http://samiyabashir.com/" target="_blank"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,51,153)"></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-9892859572755387322007-10-15T08:32:00.000-07:002007-10-15T16:36:39.606-07:00October Featured Artist - Senalka McDonald<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Artist's Statement:</span><br /><br />Being a young, black, Latina in America, I have always known what it is like to be unlike my American peers. This caused me to question many human actions and analyze them entirely. I feel that human emotions and relationships fuel our past and serve to shape our futures. Having grown up always questioning the dealings of humans, they are what I choose to focus my artwork on. My paintings have been about child molestation, focusing on a specific moment that changes a child's life forever. Because I am currently working though moving on to a new stage of my life, so are the children in my newer pieces. They are beginning their adolescent years; discovering social capacities, burgeoning sexuality and hidden longings. My photos and videos are of a completely different nature. I choose to focus on the grandeur of human memory. My attempt is to create a feeling of importance and beauty using a simple image, causing the viewer to relate what is being seen to his or her own memories. Serigraphy is a new obsession of mine. In this media, I ask the viewer "Who is an American?" I think about who has value within the United States and how much power the racial hierarchy has over the public. I plan this to be an ongoing project, using many different images to create a body of work that causes the viewer to question their notion of who an American truly is.<br /><br /> <div> Currently, I am a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Cultural Geography.</div><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Artist's Work:<br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ls87tSxNkSrpRCaGykiWu-656hyVxobZwxTxTt9Fys7lw9AMcSyBSzD5WsG4PE4FyIc3ceu0uJduA1j7J32864BZY6UFpQMN7h3jxfsYFx-M38P_1le53Fsb0PuIKDhpCZzAOTdYevs/s1600-h/Senalka+Image+1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ls87tSxNkSrpRCaGykiWu-656hyVxobZwxTxTt9Fys7lw9AMcSyBSzD5WsG4PE4FyIc3ceu0uJduA1j7J32864BZY6UFpQMN7h3jxfsYFx-M38P_1le53Fsb0PuIKDhpCZzAOTdYevs/s320/Senalka+Image+1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121591193591308530" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmR8FRyTePpfar2pCoWH1uavBNOwckAyrZrXmxL6ljJiIgYfCMzTYyRpFFVvn8sayOoHCm4h5q0l10pwvnNGKFNzvE_t8FMUUCrxs8IlramDRuCf-pfr01-RiC4q0Z8NTXOlwhRxPFM_0/s1600-h/Senalka+Image+2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmR8FRyTePpfar2pCoWH1uavBNOwckAyrZrXmxL6ljJiIgYfCMzTYyRpFFVvn8sayOoHCm4h5q0l10pwvnNGKFNzvE_t8FMUUCrxs8IlramDRuCf-pfr01-RiC4q0Z8NTXOlwhRxPFM_0/s320/Senalka+Image+2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5121597305329770770" border="0" /></a><br /><br />To learn more about the artist and her work, visit her website: <a href="http://www.senalka.com/">www.senalka.com</a>Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-63229118853596839122007-10-15T08:30:00.000-07:002007-10-15T16:36:07.408-07:00October Featured Artist - Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Artist's Bio:</span><span style=""><br />Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano</span><span style="font-size:11;"> </span>is a Queer Xicano poet, dreamer and activist. Born in San José, California, he was raised in Estación Adela, Chihuahua and now lives in Austin, Texas<span style="">.</span> Lorenzo’s work has been called “uncompromising and hopeful, <span style="">cínico y cariñoso,</span>” “inspiring… provocative,” and “landing so deep / you bleed without feeling the cut.” He is the author of the Lambda Literary Award-Nominated <span style="">Santo de la Pata Alzada: Poems from the Queer/Xicano/Positive Pen.</span> He is in the final stages of publishing his second book, <span style="">Promesas y Amenazas, </span>an all-Spanish collection of poetry inspired by the <span style="">Bolero </span>aesthetic and is finalizing his third collection, <span style="">God Don’t Live Here Anymore</span>, scheduled for release in 2008. Lorenzo is the Director of Arts & Community Building for allgo: a Statewide Queer People of Color Organization in Texas; is a founding member and Board member of Unid@s, the National Latina/o Human Rights Organization; served on the Steering Committee of the recently consolidated National Latino Coalition for Justice; and, is the Cisgender Male CoChair of Out Youth, a community based queer youth organization in Austin. For more on Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano, including random ramblings and embarrassing moments, visit: <a href="http://www.jotopower.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue;">www.jotopower.com</span></a>; <a href="http://godisbrown.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue;">godisbrown.blogspot.com</span></a>; <a href="http://myspace.com/jotopower" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue;">myspace.com/jotopower</span></a>. <p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;"><o:p> </o:p></p> <span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />An excerpt of Lorenzo's Work: </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br />Coming Soon!!Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-18675051313983427852007-10-15T08:28:00.001-07:002007-10-15T08:30:41.328-07:00October 13, 2007 - Salon Sit Down DiscussionThe afternoon began with some new faces, Miles Davis and light snacks over at the DiverseArts Little Gallery. Black and white photos from the gallery’s recent show, Tuskeegee Airmen, were on the walls. The day’s Featured Artists: Senalka McDonald and Lorenzo Herrera y Lozano. I brought these two artists together because, with limited familiarity of their work, I was intuitively convinced that there is a dialogue between their aesthetics and processes.<br /><br />Senalka’s artistic process is an unconscious, discomforting act that uses the information so readily available in the media to transform two-dimensional spaces into active inquiries of collective memory, bodies and power/powerlessness. She said, upon being asked the question, “where is your body in relation to the work?” that when she works, “It’s like I’m swimming through murkiness, asking questions [with the material and subject] until I get clear, and then once I’m there, I dive back into the murkiness again”. <br /><br />Senalka began by showing us her earlier photographs of “wet women” – portraits of young women meant to capture their perceptions of themselves. From there, Senalka led us into the series of photographs where she as the artist is making inquiries into her relationship with her father, as well as a study of who her father is – as a man, a black man, a black Panamanian man. These served as primary material for a larger body of work encompassing images of black men, in and of themselves, but also as “every day people” – fathers, workers, and friends. She cites her motivation for these photographs as 1) a desire to understand her father more deeply but also 2) as a conscious attempt to create work that would put black faces on the walls of galleries. This motivation is highly resonant with her photographs of women – and serves as an exploration of the idea of self-perception. It also begs the question of how and where the artist’s own body occupies space in relationship to her subject/object. Where does the subjectivity lie? What’s so moving about her photographs is that they achieve a relative subjectivity. The young women and black men in the photographs speak their own truths, the photographer acting as a mere reflection. This kind of eye is rare and places us – the viewers - in an unspoken, simultaneous conversation with all the bodies in the room. <br /><br />In a similar fashion, Senalka’s drawings (what she terms as drawings on child molestation) pulled us into a conversation with our own individual experiences, society and collective memory. Drawn from eerie, skewed angles, with slightly or wholly disfigured bodies placed in juxtaposition to each other, these pieces were, for the artist, a deep interrogation into her own sense of powerlessness. Their shapes, she states, are resonant of the works of Egon Schiel and Henry Darger. The pieces arose out of her experience of the media – watching Oprah, watching the news – where stories of child molestation appeared en masse. In this way, her work can be seen as a conversation with collective (pop) culture, and as a universe that runs parallel to the social history created by the media. These pieces are also a dialogue between the idea of innocence and the careful balance between that state and the desecration that seems all too common in post-colonial bodies. Senalka states: “I want people to be confronted with what I’m doing and to have a dialogue about it.” <br /><br /><br />Lorenzo’s work, which primarily takes the form of writing and more specifically poetry, is also a plunging into currents of media and collective memory. Lorenzo described his own work as being influenced by three major sources: religion, pop culture, and his experience as a bi-national Chicano raised in both the U.S. and Mexico. He states, “My work is really about honoring that which is considered dishonorable.” He read us numerous pieces, among them “San Lorenzo Ramera” (the first poem he wrote in English), “Psalm 69”, “Hairspray and Fideos”, “Deseo Detestado” - a piece from his new collection of bolero inspired poems Promesas y Amenazas. <br /><br />What’s clear in all of his work is that the body is the primary landscape for enacting desire, and that desire is filtered through the language of religion and political astuteness. He places the queer Chicano body at the center of our landscape, unapologetically, and pushes us to consider our own relationships to desire, shame, guilt, and liberation. Taking inspiration from living artists, as well as artists whose work has outlived them, Lorenzo pieces together a narrative that transcends state and national borders and embeds the Chicano queer, male/female bodies as integral to our collective memory. He is influenced by Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldua, Apolinaria Lorenzana, Marvin K White, Sharon Bridgforth, Sandra Cisneros, David Alfaro Siquieros, Chelo Silva, Frida Kahlo (he says, not for what she is glorified now, but for her fierceness in living in the grotesque), Maria Felix, Agustin Lara, Luis Dimitri (Lorenzo states, “He wrote stuff for women to sing, and all addressed to other men. That’s what I’m interested in.”) among others. <br /><br />In speaking about one of his earliest influences – a porn found in his Baptist parents’ closet featuring Ron Jerry – Lorenzo made it clear to us that what he found so fascinating about Ron Jerry was not his physical appearance, but rather his audacity in being an ugly man who elicited confidence and who was made into a phenomenon because of his audience. This example serves as an example of the honoring of the dishonorable that Lorenzo aims to embody in his work. How is it that the grotesque occupies our imagination, and becomes a central marker of history and culture? <br /><br />Lorenzo went on to describe his artistic process as “an unhealthy one” – a process which requires his own confrontation with depression, chaos and the night. He states, “As a scribe, how do I process, interpret all of what I’ve been fed about history, religion, and pop culture. [I believe my work lies] at the intersections between the different kinds of information.” <br /><br />Similarly, Senalka speaks of her work as a diary – an attempt to capture with images what she cannot say with words. Her visual work is a conversation with others, as well as an inquiry into her own emotional state. <br /><br />Both of these artists reside in the gaps between cultures, societies and nation-states. They both use the information in those gaps to create landscapes of inquiry and self-reflection. The media becomes a primary material for crafting innovative intersectional art that asks us to be subjects in a larger conversation around our own complicity in shifting the way the world works.Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-7338272755514214412007-08-11T18:00:00.000-07:002007-08-12T21:28:30.910-07:00August Featured Artist - Annette Lawrence<span style="font-weight: bold;">Artist's Bio:</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Annette has been living and working in </span><span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; height: 1em;font-family:georgia;" id="lw_1186978923_0" >Texas</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> since 1990. S</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">he works in both two and three-dimensional media. Her work is generally related to text and information, and physical space and time, embedded with autobiography. Recent exhibits include Double Consciousness: Black Conceptual Art from 1970 to the present at The </span><span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; height: 1em;font-family:georgia;" id="lw_1186978923_1" >Con</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; height: 1em;font-family:georgia;" id="lw_1186978923_1" >temporary Arts Museum</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> in</span><span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; cursor: pointer; height: 1em; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;font-family:georgia;" id="lw_1186978923_2" >Houston, TX</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, The Collection in Context at the Studio Museum in Harlem, andNew, Now, Next at the Blanton Museum of Art in Austin TX. Dunn and Brown</span></span> Contemporary in <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; height: 1em;" id="lw_1186978923_3">Dallas</span>, and Betty Cuningham Gallery in <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; height: 1em;" id="lw_1186978923_4">New York</span> represent Annette’s work.<br /><pre style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" ><span style="font-size:100%;">Annette Lawrence is an Associate Professor of Art in </span><span style="font-size:100%;">the College of Visual Art and Design at<br />The University of North Texas in <span style="border-bottom: 1px dashed rgb(0, 102, 204); cursor: pointer; height: 1em;" id="lw_1186978923_5">Denton, Texas</span>.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.annettelawrence.net/"><span id="lw_1186978923_6">www.annettelawrence.net</span></a></span></pre><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Work Samples: </span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq2egvp3jIcyijq1nzyoFRYb1K4NT9ArHni1E9UTiufCEhklp6Gkla8PhrmJf17NcEHh-JhaQsZr8rcLDFXPeLmF822RlXuP7vDByG2gEboPok-6CRKfgqVxSQsS5j68QYBR1Dj2H3SYs/s1600-h/Double_Edge__1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq2egvp3jIcyijq1nzyoFRYb1K4NT9ArHni1E9UTiufCEhklp6Gkla8PhrmJf17NcEHh-JhaQsZr8rcLDFXPeLmF822RlXuP7vDByG2gEboPok-6CRKfgqVxSQsS5j68QYBR1Dj2H3SYs/s320/Double_Edge__1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5098036689982426578" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Double Edge</span><br /></div><pre style="font-family: georgia;" face="georgia"><br /></pre><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg03Gli_op9cwxWCrQmIa4QmlXse6NSd93zYQDW067gB6-an9woMH-0nmFpp_vuxZp-fgmOQ6IuSfH6tQ0E8GqAxL1Qgl5xjUBIyEQMASt7yhjID4YBSyvpDLT1KUa9KjFXl2BRX0behnk/s1600-h/Crossed_Edges_1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 281px; height: 293px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg03Gli_op9cwxWCrQmIa4QmlXse6NSd93zYQDW067gB6-an9woMH-0nmFpp_vuxZp-fgmOQ6IuSfH6tQ0E8GqAxL1Qgl5xjUBIyEQMASt7yhjID4YBSyvpDLT1KUa9KjFXl2BRX0behnk/s320/Crossed_Edges_1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5098036531068636610" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Crossed Edges</span><br /></div><pre style="font-family: georgia;" face="georgia"><br /></pre>Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-17638998978950902332007-08-11T17:04:00.000-07:002007-08-11T18:00:36.440-07:00August 11, 2007 Salon Sit Down DiscussionAnnette Lawrence brought slides of her work from the past 20 years, as well as digital photos of her recent trip to Scotland. Carl Phillips, in a talk he gave in June, talked about the need to understand and measure an artist's work not by the individual elements themselves, but by the scope and range of their work over a period of time. This could not be a more apt statement. Annette's work ranges from the minute to the grandiose, encompassing circles made out of carefully written dates from her menstrual cycle over a period of nine years as well as large string installations covering an entire 39 x 24 foot space in between floors at the Glassell School (Houston, TX). <br /><br />What remains constant in her work is an inquiry into language and time, and sometimes an inquiry into time as language. What is also constant is a fascination not with the object, but with the experience of creation itself - a desire to capture in physical form the ever shifting present.<br /><br />Annette's earlier work actually used letters as a way to visually evoke sound. In particular, her pieces, such as "They Must Dont Know Who We Are" leads us to question our relationship to space, language in space and memory. This piece was done in response to the Rodney King verdict and the artist used lava and limestone rocks to form the sculpture and the words within the sculpture. Another piece, "John 3:16", in which Annette drew out the verse from John 3:16 in alphabets other than the Latin Alphabet, asks us to consider our relationship to language - and its underlying symbolism. One of the participants asked what audiences' reactions have been to "John 3:16" and Annette specifically noted that fear - and/or a sense of complicity - have been common reactions, depending on the religious and political orientation of the viewer. <br /><br />"Drawing Blood" in which she created circles by writing the dates from her menstrual cycle, generate a spiral effect present in both our lived experiences and in our physical world. It is with these pieces that language begins to take on the form of numbers, which she then explored in drawings themselves as well as in sculptural installations. And following this exploration, Annette began the series "<a href="http://annettelawrence.net/portfolio/index.php?gallery=./Drawings/Elipses&lang=en_us">Ellipses</a>", which took music written and studied during her childhood, and transformed the notes into abstract language on the page that is simultaneously representative and sculptural.<br /><br />At this juncture, Annette then began to look at sound itself, and out of this came the diptych inspired by John Coltrane's "Alabama", in which she used sound waves to create patterns on the page. And it is at this moment that there seems to be a split in how the artist approaches both her work and space. From text representing sound to text related to sound to sound as text itself. <br /><br />Through all of this, Annette has been installing string sculptures in spaces as a way to explore our relationships to space, mathematical concepts and our very own humanity. Pieces such as "<a href="http://annettelawrence.net/portfolio/index.php?gallery=./Installations&image=Theory_Installation_01.JPG&lang=en_us">Theory</a>" - an inquiry into time and material suspended in space, in which perspective impacts our understanding of truth. And an <a href="http://annettelawrence.net/portfolio/index.php?gallery=./Installations&image=Installation_01.jpg&lang=en_us">installation</a> from the African American Museum in Dallas, in which the artist reflects on our relationship to the 20th century (the pieces on the wall were made in South Africa in patterns of nineteen using brown, black and white colors). <br /><br />What I found most fascinating about Annette's work is the alchemical element underlying her use of numbers, patterns, and incredibly simple materials. Her use of repetition generates a space in which the now is suspended, even as she makes her own artistic inquiries into that very concept. We enter work that is incredibly specific because of its materials and references (for example, the dates in her "Drawing Blood" pieces), but that expands beyond the specific into a universal pulse measured primarily through our non-verbal responses to the images and installations themselves. <br /><br />Currently Annette is working on pieces where she creates "<a href="http://annettelawrence.net/portfolio/index.php?gallery=./00_New%20Edge&image=01_December%202005.JPG&lang=en_us">Edges</a>" out of piles of junkmail collected from November 2005 - November 2006. She is again interrogating time, but through the creation of objects that become fixed in space that are themselves a representation of time. It is almost as if she is entering her artistic cycle again, but with a shift in her inquiry - it is no longer about the text itself, but about time as text - time as a marker of her moments of "now". <br /><br />The discussion that followed Annette's presentation was rich and spanned a wide range of questions, including questions about her materials, use of colors, her relationship to the number nine (9), her artistic ancestors, her artistic process, her choice of languages (she stated that right now, she's figuring out what language she is working in, but that she's working with objects again for the first time in almost 20 years), her choice of iconography and her thoughts on aging as an artist. We discussed her use of lists, not just as her nature, but as material for her work, where the lists function as "a journal" of her life, and a mirror of her artistic process, and her interrogation of different forms of time ("generational time" and "cyclical time" to name a couple of examples).<br /><br />Annette listed her influences from a wide range of artistic genres, including writers <a href="http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/83">Langston Hughes</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin_%28writer%29">James Baldwin</a>, <a href="http://www.english.uiuc.edu/maps/poets/g_l/lorde/lorde.htm">Audre Lorde</a>, <a href="http://www.luminarium.org/contemporary/alicew/">Alice Walker</a>, <a href="http://www.luminarium.org/contemporary/tonimorrison/toni.htm">Toni Morrison</a>, and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angela_Davis">Angela Davis</a>; musicians <a href="http://www.cassandrawilson.com/">Cassandra Wilson</a>, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/database/vaughan_s.html">Sarah Vaughn</a>, <a href="http://www.diannereeves.com/">Diane Reeves</a>, <a href="http://home.att.net/%7Etimcramm/betty.htm">Betty Carter</a> ("all female [jazz] vocalists, really"), <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8j_TDoOPnIA">John Coltrane</a><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span> as well as other great jazz musicians; visual artists <a href="http://www.artchive.com/artchive/B/brancusi.html">Constantin Brancusi</a>, <a href="http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/">Mark Rothko</a>, <a href="http://www.askart.com/askart/h/david_hammons/david_hammons.aspx">David Hammons</a>, <a href="http://www.adrianpiper.com/">Adrian Piper</a>, <a href="http://www.galerielelong.com/">Ana Mendieta</a>, <a href="http://www.artnet.com/awc/janine-antoni.html">Janine Antoni</a>, <a href="http://studiocleo.com/gallerie/martin/martin.html">Agnes Martin</a>; to all manner of films ("I'm a film buff." she said). <br /><br />I'm sure that today she's influences at least all of the people who were in that room.Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-20009907380731082842007-06-03T16:49:00.000-07:002007-08-06T10:33:23.957-07:00June 2 Salon Sit Down - Discussion<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-vLcApSmqkqO1_6Q4vG2rPsVHFkUHELOQCJ7mFGKNIznnyYynVURnO2h495UaWSW1PULiDUMu7Sl3FUj-ndng6535IuZfg6Td9yokPK9EATz6GuvQHaxEX3Nn5ia9H1MJ1bAabCHJNdg/s1600-h/sharon+bridgforth+and+ana+lara.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-vLcApSmqkqO1_6Q4vG2rPsVHFkUHELOQCJ7mFGKNIznnyYynVURnO2h495UaWSW1PULiDUMu7Sl3FUj-ndng6535IuZfg6Td9yokPK9EATz6GuvQHaxEX3Nn5ia9H1MJ1bAabCHJNdg/s320/sharon+bridgforth+and+ana+lara.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5095641919297392050" border="0" /></a><br />We started out at DiverseArts Little Gallery and migrated to Bolm Studios where a group of us gathered to listen to and share with this month's featured artist, Sharon Bridgforth.<br /><br />Sharon's new production - the text installation <a href="http://www.loveconjureblues.com/">love conjure/blues</a> is about to go up in two weeks and we took this opportunity to learn about her process and the thinking behind this important work. Sharon presented us with a history of the piece, as well as two delicious excerpts from the performance. Within all of that this is a little about what we learned.<br /><br />love conjure/blues began back in 1998, and its first incarnation was as a book, published by <a href="http://redbonepress.com/">RedBone Press</a> in 2004. Sharon identified her process as one of listening to the ancestors, and letting the work develop from feeling. Etta James, Jimmy Scott and H-Bomb Ferguson are some of the many voices that came through to her during the development of this piece, and that influence her work - as do her ancestors - both her family (with their strong legacy of storytelling) and the Black Indians of Louisiana. Where art becomes a party, becomes ritual.<br />Sharon described blues as sacred as ritual, as ritual itself, as making magic. Her work, directly embodies the blues and jazz - both in its content and form. For both in her text and in the elaboration of her text in four-dimensional space, Sharon is using polyrhythmic time and space. Where ancestors and spirits are as real as the embodied characters, and where a character is the same essential self through time.<br /><br />One of the participants reflected back to Sharon that the process of her work makes her a conductor. This directly tied into what Sharon discussed in terms of sound. Where language is about music, and songs act as transition. In love conjure/blues specifically, sound becomes a soundscape for the text. And the text lives in a circle. And the circle is key, because place informs ritual, which informs the magic of the work itself.<br /><br />The fundamental question informing Sharon's (and Jen Simmons - one of Sharon's key collaborators in love conjure/blues) is: how does spirit interact with humanity interact with people in the room interact with technology? For the answer, we will have to wait and see the performance on June 15th - when Sharon will be asking audiences to be fully present to her work, as she gives fully back to them.<br /><br />Some of the questions I asked included: At what point does sound become language? How does place inform your work?<br /><br />Sharon responded by saying that feeling is the point where sound becomes language, that it's a slow rise from the inside to the out. And that place absolutely has a huge role in her work - both in terms of her relationship to place (in particular New Orleans, Los Angeles and Memphis), and to what place does in setting context for her narratives.<br /><br />I asked participants what Sharon's work evoke for them? Folks responded by saying that Sharon's work evokes a sense of the familiar, a pushing of form, dance, "serious play", ritual, memory, Abbey Lincoln, risk-taking, honor, and big-legged women.<br /><br />Yes. Yes. and Yes.Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-2233606271997060022007-06-03T16:37:00.001-07:002007-06-03T18:22:45.069-07:00June Featured Artist: Sharon BridgforthSharon Bridgforth was the Salon's Featured Artist in June.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bio:</span><br /><br />RedBone Press, Lambda Literary Award winning author of <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">the bull-jean stories</span>, Sharon Bridgforth is currently touring <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"> The love conjure/blues Text Installation</span>. A recipient of the Theatre Communications Group/National Endowment for the Arts Playwrights Award, Bridgforth is Anchor Artist for The Austin Project (produced by The Center for African and African American Studies, U.T. Austin). For more information go to: <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://loveconjureblues.com/"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" id="lw_1180919761_4">http://loveconjureblues.com</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">About her work:</span><br /><strong><em><br />THE love conjure/blues TEXT INSTALLATION</em></strong> IS A MULTI-MEDIA PERFORMANCE. Bridgforth has collaborated with filmmaker Jen Simmons, composer Helga Davis, and a stellar cast and crew to create a film that will serve as a digital environment that she will narrate LIVE inside of. This presentation will bring to life the reality created in <em>love conjure/blues,</em> that the past, present, future, the dead, the living, and the unborn coexist/tell the story in concert; and it will offer an interactive environment that will support the audience as responsible witness-participants... <p>Jen Simmons' work lives in the liminal spaces between the convergence of film, live performance, and the web. Simmons has created and will install the love conjure/blues film that is the digital envirnoment that will house the performance. Join in the fun as we step into a world of raucous gender bending/jook joint singing/Prayer circling/sexually liberated/deep loving fun! </p>For more information about <span style="font-weight: bold;">love conjure/blues</span> visit the website: <a href="http://www.loveconjureblues.com/">www.loveconjureblues.com</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">An excerpt of her work:<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">"it was a hot night after a hot day. the peoples was in they finest/fresh pressed and set for whatever bettye's was about to bring. it was rib night/the start of the week-end..." </span> an excerpt from love conjure/blues (c) Sharon Bridgforth, published by RedBone Press (<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://www.redbonepress.com/"><span style="background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" id="lw_1180919761_1">http://www.redbonepress.com </span></a>)<br /><br />Watch videos of<a href="http://www.loveconjureblues.com/"> love conjure/blues</a><br /><br />To learn more about Sharon Bridgforth's work, visit her website: <a href="http://sharonbridgforth.com/">sharonbridgforth.com</a>Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-27988982237437639752007-03-17T15:06:00.000-07:002007-05-08T15:53:13.699-07:00March Featured Artist: Wura-Natasha Ogunji<span style="font-weight: bold;">Wura-Natasha Ogunji</span> was the featured artist for the Salon Sit Down on March 17, 2007. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Bio:</span><br /><br />Wura-Natasha Ogunji is a sculptor who sews on paper.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">About her work:</span><br /><br />My creative work is rooted in thread. I sew on paper. I love the sensuality of thread, especially the way it looks against paper, sewn into paper, emerging from paper.<br /><br />To learn more about Wura-Natasha's work, visit her website:<span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span><a href="http://wuraogunji.com">wuraogunji.com</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">An excerpt of her work:</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNOjbBvTY1by2TWwUi2tPhiBG6fcWbPSo4XlsL1c7JJSeiedovIEkJe8QRBw0SVvKY1JcRAtv9S7yqj-b4NQFyOfifILTgPq6G4Kvnxw0Klu9yLUaV_nF9HNpDjwFl4-WqhwN8suCkv8I/s1600-h/Ogunji_Phoenix_Phoenix_2007.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNOjbBvTY1by2TWwUi2tPhiBG6fcWbPSo4XlsL1c7JJSeiedovIEkJe8QRBw0SVvKY1JcRAtv9S7yqj-b4NQFyOfifILTgPq6G4Kvnxw0Klu9yLUaV_nF9HNpDjwFl4-WqhwN8suCkv8I/s320/Ogunji_Phoenix_Phoenix_2007.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062326026525835698" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg41zFi1TL2kxFru4GA2i9TcD71AhnXJ_EBDtqrslnnSpCmVVd733cyNSt-ZzVHXldWdcR1tgZ0XIzUeWDL-VJcMu2o5I33BbpirTf0jf5h-8SO-bw9cNgZ1nUzf0yyw8UoYgnopXOeYZc/s1600-h/Ogunji_Bird_Woman_2007.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg41zFi1TL2kxFru4GA2i9TcD71AhnXJ_EBDtqrslnnSpCmVVd733cyNSt-ZzVHXldWdcR1tgZ0XIzUeWDL-VJcMu2o5I33BbpirTf0jf5h-8SO-bw9cNgZ1nUzf0yyw8UoYgnopXOeYZc/s320/Ogunji_Bird_Woman_2007.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5062326022230868386" border="0" /></a>Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-66814696730411245102007-03-17T14:31:00.000-07:002007-03-17T15:05:46.517-07:00March 17 Salon Sit Down - DiscussionToday's discussion began with Zora Neale Hurston. One of the participants brought the book <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Speak So You Can Speak Again - the Life of Zora Neale Hurston</span>, a collection of vignettes and printings of original writings by Zora Neale Hurston, including her short play, <span style="font-style: italic;">Spunk</span>. Folks around town are interested in planning an event honoring the life of Zora Neale Hurston, and so we talked about how we were introduced to her work, individually and collectively, and what the impact of her work has been. Another participant commented that Zora's work, in particular, the recordings in the holdings at the Library of Congress, are particularly beautiful. Zora, at one point relegated to obscurity, has become a compass point for artists interested in questions of social interaction, overlaps in the myths of history (who's writing/telling/speaking the story?), and representation. Doubtful she would speak of herself this way, but here we are in 2007, opening a sunny Saturday afternoon discussion with a collective homage to her. <br /><br />We then went on to discuss the works of featured artist, <a href="http://wuraogunji.com/">Wura-Natasha Ogunji</a>. Wura presented individual pieces from her series, <span style="font-style: italic;">Monuments</span>. In these works, we witnessed the extraordinary marriage of thread and paper - two fibers brought together to create a three dimensional image that is both a representation and an embodiment of intention. The majority of the pieces within the series are constituted by combinations and hybridizations of birds, women, abstract topograph-like `orgasm maps', and architectural elements (columns). In speaking about her work, Wura mentioned that the questions she is currently considering are questions of what is monumental? how does one create a piece of work that is both opened and closed, simultaneously? what are the overlaps of the sacred and profane (and she goes so far as to explicate that there is no division between these)? and finally, how does the work, and the actual thread used to create the work, demonstrate intention? Wura cited her artistic ancestors as: <a href="http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/5aa/5aa9.htm">Ana Mendieta</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Bourgeois">Louise Bourgeois</a>, <a href="http://www.mo-artgallery.nl/tapiesplhr.htm">Antonio Tapies</a>, and <a href="http://www.ndmoa.com/Campos/index.html">Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons </a>(as a contemporary, she serves more as a cousin). I asked her to consider questions of time/timelessness in her work, and how process and materials interact with each other. Her responses to these questions included comments on how the thread represents hours of labor on one level, however, they the composition of the piece is beyond frameworks of time. A very interesting tension in the work. <br /><br />Participants also discussed connections between the body and thread - how veins and sinew are threadlike, and Wura suggested that because her work is based on Yoruba cosmology, it is simultaneously referencing the body, the earth, and the monument of the piece itself - that the stitched work is as significant as what it represents. Another participant focused on the question of intention and how intention translates beyond the aesthetics of the work into how the work interacts with the viewer. Because one of the artist's materials is thread, we touched upon the use of thread in practical matters, such as the sewing of clothes for wages. At the question of impressions, Frank mentioned the haiku "The upward flight of a great slow moving bird." (citation to follow). With Wura's work, we asked questions such as: When is a piece finished?<br />What is it about thread that is so intriguing? Is it that thread is both a practice and an art? <br /><br />We had an intimate gathering, and wonderful discussions, as well as the opportunity to share resources and information about upcoming events. <br /><br />Looking forward to meeting again!Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-13590576474458549262007-02-17T16:08:00.000-08:002007-02-17T16:54:57.319-08:00February 17 Salon Sit Down - DiscussionToday we featured two writers, <a href="http://austinsalon.blogspot.com/2007/02/february-featured-artist-denea-stewart.html">Denea Stewart-Shaheed</a> and <a href="http://austinsalon.blogspot.com/2007/02/february-featured-artist-erika-gonzalez.html">Erika Gonzalez</a>.<br /><br />What we focused on in the discussion were questions of artistic ancestry, the ways in which the artists' works interact with landscape and time. Excerpts from the two artists will be available shortly.<br /><br />As the organizer of the event, and this being the introductory meeting, I was most struck by the balance between organic and formal interaction. I've structured the process so that the artist has time to present their work in any way they so chose. Following their presentation, I ask specifically pointed questions in an attempt to unearth the context of the work. In this sense, the folks in the Salon space act as witnesses to the artist's thought process, presentation and vocabulary.<br /><br />For Denea, I asked her to speak about her artistic ancestors. She responded by citing: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Baldwin_%28writer%29">James Baldwin,</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toni_Morrison">Toni Morrison</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zora_Neale_Hurston">Zora Neale Hurston</a>, <a href="http://www.johncoltrane.com/">John Coltrane</a> and <a href="http://www.billwithersmusic.com/index1.cfm">Bill Withers</a>. What was interesting to me in this is that in addition to those artists, I also saw <a href="http://www.edwardsly.com/bambera.htm">Toni Cade Bambara</a>, <a href="http://www.sharonbridgforth.com/">Sharon Bridgforth</a>. Another guest made connections between Denea's work and <a href="http://www.tananarivedue.com/">Tananarive Due</a>'s work. I asked Denea how she perceives the underlying dialogue of her work, and she responded that in addition to it being a story of migration, it also serves as a story about relationships between women over generations, as well as an exploration of gender and sexuality. There's sharecropping in her work, migration between Louisiana and Texas, magic, the blurring of boundaries between masculinity and femininity. When the conversation opened up to the guests, their questions and incites focused on the questions of accurate representations, a sense of time and timelessness, boundaries between present and past.<br /><br />For Erika, I asked her to speak about the border, and the ways in which border tropes impact her writing process. What was immediately apparent in both her work and the reading of it are the repeated images of the border, water, assembly lines - the boundaries between machinery and human bodies - and the multiple references of landscape, mythical ancestry and blood kin. The guests asked her to consider the connections between blood-water-food, the embodiment of <a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coatlicue">Coatlicue</a> within the work itself, and to continue to explore the notion of borders and liminal spaces. Erika identified <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_E._Anzald%C3%BAa">Gloria Anzaldua</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Erdrich">Louise Erdrich</a> as artistic predecessors, specifically. She also discussed how her work is deeply embedded in personal connections to both words and concepts. An artist that was cited in reference to her work was <a href="http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/wangechi_mutu.htm">Wangechi Mutu</a>.<br /><br />Overall, this was a very inciteful discussion and themes of displacement, crossings, borders and water emerged from both of these artists' works. What I can't help but think about is Jonathan Lethem's article "<span style="font-weight: bold;">The Ecstasy of Influence: A Plagiarism</span>" (<a href="http://www.harpers.org/MostRecentCover.html">Harpers - February 2007</a>) on the nature of artistic practice. He writes: "<span style="font-style: italic;">Most artists are brought to their vocation when their own nascent gifts are awakened by the work of a master. That is to say, most artists are converted to art by art itself. Finding one's voice isn't just an emptying and purifying oneself of the words of others but an adopting and embracing of filiations, communities, and discourses. Inspiration could be called inhaling the memory of an act never experienced. Invention, it must be humbly admitted, does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos. Any artist knows these truths, no matter how deeply he or she submerges that knowing.</span>" Whether or not I agree with the notion of a `master' artist is dubious, but the notion that the work of an artist is inherently intertextual (thanks T.B. for this one!) seems quite sensible. I have to say that I also appreciate being pushed to consider the notion that the creative process begins not in the moment of putting pen to paper, tool to matter, but rather, in the moment of inspiration. Very nice. <br /><br />Can't wait until next month!Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-86702111181377621502007-02-17T16:03:00.000-08:002007-08-06T10:32:27.480-07:00February Featured Artist: Denea Stewart-Shaheed<span style="font-weight: bold;">Denea Stewart-Shaheed </span>was one of two featured artists for the Salon Sit Down on February 17th, 2007.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bio:</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><br />Coming Soon!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">About Her Work:</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><br />Coming Soon!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Excerpts from Her Work:</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><br />Coming Soon!!</span>Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-55906464797393084662007-02-17T15:59:00.000-08:002007-03-16T17:45:30.934-07:00February Featured Artist: Erika GonzalezErika Gonzalez was one of two featured artists for the Salon Sit Down on February 17th, 2007.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bio:<br /></span><br />Erika González is a 27 year old Xicana born in the border of Eagle Pass, TX and Piedras Negras Coahuila, MX. She comes from a family of Tejano musicians and migrant farm workers. In 1998, Erika received a scholarship to attend St. Edward's University through the College Assistance Migrant Program (CAMP) where she graduated with a degree in Elementary Education and a Minor in Psychology. <div id="filecontent"><div id="yiv1733506089"> <p>Her passion is working for social justice issues and writing. Currently Erika is Co-Director of a social and environmental justice organization based in East Austin called PODER (People Organized in Defense of Earth and her Resources) where she has worked for the past five years organizing around transportation, affordable housing/gentrification, health and juvenile justice for people of color and the working poor.</p><span style="font-weight: bold;">About Her Work:<br /><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;">Most of my writing focuses on women in my family and my grandparents. I always keep in mind my ancestors, my grandparents, and the Creator when I write. I see my writing as a way to heal myself and help others heal through my words. When I write, I tend to bring up bodies of water and mention the importance of land. In the pieces I chose to share with the Austin Salon, I write about the loss of my grandmother Mima due to her drinking a gallon of Miracle Water from the Rio Grande aka the Rio Bravo said to have been blessed pure. I write about the connection to my grandmother and question the treatment of bodies of water by humans (contamination) and the effects that has on our health and spirit.<br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><p style="font-style: italic;">In my other piece, I write about my mother and her strengths and weaknesses as my guide into womanhood. I write about the realization of my mother’s struggles and realize that it is now time for both of us to fight against what has oppressed us. I also explore my own feelings of emptiness in my womb and the hopes of one day having children.</p><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Excerpts of Erika's Work:<span style="font-size:78%;"><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-size:78%;">published with author's permission. author retains all copyright. </span><br /><br /><br /></span></span> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">School Trips Part I and II<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">School Trips Part I:<span style=""> </span>The Tortilla Factory<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I was just a little guerquía in <st1:place><st1:placename>Eagle</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Pass.</st1:placetype></st1:place></p> <p class="MsoNormal">not too special,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">not too popular,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">just a little shy mocosa </p> <p class="MsoNormal">in the back of a school bus</p> <p class="MsoNormal">going to the tortilla factory or nursing home</p> <p class="MsoNormal">on elementary school trips,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">as if our mama’s tortillas and abuelitos living </p> <p class="MsoNormal">in our own homes weren’t enough already.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">But the tortilla factory made me understand</p> <p class="MsoNormal">the tortilla in a border town….</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">All abuelitas made homemade tortillas…</p> <p class="MsoNormal">de maíz</p> <p class="MsoNormal">or de harina with every meal….</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Then, there was the tortilla factory –</p> <p class="MsoNormal">an abuelita’s worst nightmare.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">All of us guerquios mocosos lined up</p> <p class="MsoNormal">outside the building,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">pansas llenas with morning tacos,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Then….</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>WOOF!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>The door opened.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Our cheeks were kissed</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span><span style=""> </span>with a hot breeze.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Calientito….Calientito</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Machinery everywhere,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">an assembly line of round maíz</p> <p class="MsoNormal">just traveling around and around in a maze</p> <p class="MsoNormal">and at the very end were</p> <p class="MsoNormal">hundreds of stacks of tortillas, ready to be placed</p> <p class="MsoNormal">in clear plastic bags.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">We all looked at each other in shock,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">almost wanting to puke our morning taquitos</p> <p class="MsoNormal">de chorizo and eggs –</p> <p class="MsoNormal">but we kept on looking and smelling,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>mmmm…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Starting to smell good!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>mmmm…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Starting to smell like home!</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>mmmm…</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Starting to smell like the border,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>The Border</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Where corn and machines meet for the first time,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>but abuelitas fight not to be replaced </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>with brick buildings that sell illusions</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>to young children</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>growing up in a border – modern world –</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Where corn is snow genetically engineered</p> <p class="MsoNormal">and future abuelitas line up for food stamps and buy into the </p> <p class="MsoNormal">cycle of believing</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>the tortilla factory wasn’t so bad after all?</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">Part II:<span style=""> </span>The </b><st1:place><st1:placename><b style="">Senior</b></st1:placename><b style=""> </b><st1:placename><b style="">Activity</b></st1:placename><b style=""> </b><st1:placetype><b style="">Center</b></st1:placetype></st1:place><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Once again we lined up – </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Little soldaditos </p> <p class="MsoNormal">With hands to our backs</p> <p class="MsoNormal">And school teacher breaking us in,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Molding our postures, and saying,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">“Mijos, This is the <st1:place><st1:placename>Senior</st1:placename> <st1:placename>Activity</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Portansen bien, and remember to smile</p> <p class="MsoNormal">At the viejitos, okay?”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">So we lined up to shake viejito’s hands,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Going around and around an assembly line </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Of rectangular table while viejitos</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Turned their chairs around,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Stopped eating their meals so they </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Could smile at us, and shake</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Our baby soft hands.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">I couldn’t look into their eyes – </p> <p class="MsoNormal">Just their old, wrinkled hands</p> <p class="MsoNormal">That smelled like</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Band aids and baby lotion.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Then viejita says,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span><span style="" lang="ES">“Ay Severino, no es esa tu grandaughter?”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="ES"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="" lang="ES"><span style=""> </span></span>My heart beat</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Faster.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Too embarrassed to speak to Papa Cheno</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>Frozen</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>In line</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Couldn’t move.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Couldn’t look into his eyes.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">He was a stern man.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Skinny.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Alto.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Smoked two packs of cigarettes a day.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">His home was my home,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><o:p> </o:p></p> <div style="text-align: left;">But we hardly ever spoke.<br /><br /></div> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">We met again.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">Two strangers meeting</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">for the </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><span style=""> </span>second time.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 3.5in; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;" align="center"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Then schoolteacher says,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">“Keep the line moving, mija, keep the line moving….”</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Our hands met in an embrace.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Felt warm inside.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Felt the border in my heart crumbling.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Felt the distance,</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>the border crossings,</p> <p class="MsoNormal">my abueltio witnessing his home turn into two countries – </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span>bitter strong man –</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">We crossed a distant border that day.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">Papa Cheno and I,</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">But the line</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">Still keeps on</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">M</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">O</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">V</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">I</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">N</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">G<o:p></o:p></p><br /><p></p><br /></div> </div>Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-846013121019032506.post-65290557557653443232006-12-29T19:07:00.000-08:002007-08-06T10:28:19.009-07:00<p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style="">The Salon </i>in </b><st1:city><st1:place><b style="">Austin</b></st1:place></st1:city><b style=""><o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This is <b style="">the place</b> to be if you want to join a dynamic group of people interested in creating a platform for discussing and presenting the works of Austin-based artists of color.<span style=""> </span>Join us at <i style="">The Salon</i>.<span style=""> </span>Talk about yourself and get talked about.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center">****</p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">The Salon </i>was created by writer Ana Lara as an informal space to present and critique the works of Austin-based visual, literary and performance artists of color.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">As artists, writers and performers, it is imperative that our work be grounded in an artistic, historical and social context.<span style=""> </span>As artists in community, it is important to develop a language with which to discuss our own and each others’ work.<span style=""> </span>Our work must be made public, it must be written about and it must live and interact with our contemporary environment.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">This space was conceptualized as both a “sit-down” and a “salon”, meaning: a space where artists of color could come together to get to know each other in an intimate context, which would serve as a point of departure for the discussion of artists’ work.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">An integral part of <i style="">The Salon </i>is the monthly newsletter, published on this page, which features the month’s presenting artists’ works, bios and critiques written by Salon attendees, as well as a monthly feature on impressions: an opportunity for attending artists to discuss their experience.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">It is Ana Lara’s vision to eventually expand <i style="">The Salon </i>to include opportunities for the development of craft, and to invite local and regional curators, publishers and editors and producers to engage with artists on a professional level.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Because <i style="">The Salon </i>is based completely on community participation, each session offers an opportunity for the development of a new dynamic, new language, and new insights.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">If you are a writer, visual or performance artist of color and would like to attend and/or present your work, please read below. If you are a curator, publisher, or producer and would like to attend a Salon session, please contact Ana Lara directly at <span style="font-weight: bold;">austin_salon@yahoo.com</span>, subject line: The Salon, Guest.<span style=""> </span>To contact artists featured on <i style="">The Salon</i>, please see contact information at the end of the artist’s bio.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><b style="">What You Need To Know<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">When and Where does <i style="">The Salon </i>meet?<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">For 2007 the Salon<i style=""> </i>will meet on the following dates, beginning at 2pm:<br /><br />Saturday, February 17</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Saturday, March 17</p>Saturday, June 2<br /><br />Saturday, August 11<br /><br />Saturday, October 7<br /><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><o:p> </o:p></b></p><b style="">How can I present my work at <i style="">The Salon</i>?<o:p></o:p></b> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=""> </span></p>Presentation is by invitation only. Please contact Ana Lara if you are interested in presenting at <span style="font-weight: bold;">austin_salon@yahoo.com</span>.<br /><span style=""> </span> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">What actually happens once I get there?<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><u>For presenting artists</u>:<span style=""> </span>Once you arrive, you will have time to hang out and talk with other folks.<span style=""> </span>You will then be asked to present your work in its original format.<span style=""> </span>The host will introduce you; you will have 20 minutes for your presentation.<span style=""> </span>The floor will then be open for discussion.<span style=""> </span>Each presenting artist will be given up to 90 minutes.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">What happens after <i style="">The Salon</i>?<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">A brief bio, artist statement and work sample and write up will be added to the Salon page each month following our gathering. All artists will be added to the guest list and receive monthly announcements about upcoming salons and professional opportunities and workshops. <span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">If I’m not presenting, is there anything I should bring?<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">If you are not a presenting artist, feel free to bring anything you may need to function within a creative critique space.<span style=""> </span>The featured artists will be announced prior to the Salon, so if there’s anything (books, articles, etc) you think might contribute to the discussion, by all means bring it.<span style=""> </span>Flyers, announcements and resources are encouraged.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">Important: the host provides food.<span style=""> </span>All guests are asked to bring drinks or dessert to share. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">Do I have to dish out any money for anything?<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal">No.<span style=""> </span>Just bring drinks or desserts to share. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style="">What about children or childcare?<o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style="">The Salon</i> cannot provide child care.<span style=""> </span>Children ages 12 and up are welcome to attend if the parent believes they would benefit from this space.<span style=""> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style=""><span style=""> </span></p><br /><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Austin Salon Sit Downhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15965174837738314623noreply@blogger.com0