Children’s Theater Camp with Maggie Smith
When: M-F, 11-12:15
Ages 5-10: June 5th – 11th
Ages 11-14: June 12th – 18th
Registration at Hampton-Illinois Branch of the Dallas Public Library.
Special Thanks to Nhien Le, program director of the Hampton Illinois Branch of the Dallas Public Library for partnering with WordSpace to create an exciting educational experience for youth.
ArtSpeak with Chris Merlick and the Duchampaphone
What: ArtSpeak
Who: Chris Merlick and the Duchampaphone
Where: Mighty Fine Arts, 409 A N. Tyler Street, 75208
When: Saturday, June 18, 8:30 pm
Hosted by: Steve Cruz
Wordspace presents Artspeak with a performance by the incredible Chris Merlick and his Duchampaphone! Chris takes the iconic Duchampian found object bicycle wheel sculpture and morphs it into a captivating musical device. Literally spinning out beats and songs Chris expands on Duchampian notions with true Dadaesque fervor and mad invention! A Duchampaphone performance is just the thing to liberate yourself from the tired Art Canon and becoming a Dada Apostate!
ArtSpeak is a performance art series in conjunction with exhibition openings at Mighty Fine Arts.
This exhibition is entitled “Sock Monkeys, Fish, Robots and Aliens, Oh My!” featuring new work by Monique Jannette with a reception for the artist on Sat June 18 6-9pm and running till July 31. The first thing you might notice on meeting Monique Jannette is the wheelchair and her disablity but then you engage in conversation and her charm and intelligence emerge and you realize her limitations are secondary in defining her identity. She is incredibly accomplished with a Bachelor of Science in Geology from UTA and a Doctorate in Jurisprudence from SMU, she’s a two time paralympian competing in Seoul Korea and Barcelona Spain, and she plays piano. As an artist she’s an autodidact but her work reveals a rich and imaginative inner narrative. Her images describe fantastical situations, characters and inventions imbued with playful wit and humor. Her sensibility is genuinely ebullient and reflect a love of craft and art making and story telling. Come to the Opening and expect to be unduly impressed and visit with Monique and enjoy a complimentary adult beverage.
Art Speed Bump Tour 2016 with Sweatloaf
Here’s the Skinny:
Oak Cliff
The artists of Oak Cliff welcome you into their homes and studios for the 2016 Visual SpeedBump Art Tour. Come out and see artists in their natural habitat and be amazed by all the creativity in “the Cliff”. The tour begins at noon on Saturday May 21st and runs until 6pm. This one-day event is Free and open to the public. Printed maps will be available at each stop.FIRST HEARINGS: MELISSA GINSBURG
When: Mary 12, 2016 at 7:30 pm
Where: The Wild Detectives, 312 West Davis, Dallas 75208
Hosted by: Charles Dee Mitchell
Melissa Ginsburg
Before turning to crime. Melissa Ginsburg was a respectable poet who had attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and published two books of verse. This April, she publishes her first crime novel, Sunset City. The story is set in her hometown of Houston, Texas, and it involves murder, drugs, betrayal, secrets, and the miserable weather the city is known for. In other words — all the good stuff.
But Melissa has not rejected her poetic lineage. Claire Vaye Watkins, author of Gold Fame Citrus has this to say:
“I am positively agog at this dizzying, addictive novel. A poetic meditation draped in the cloak of noir, an elegy with the heart-pounding pace of a murder mystery. Sunset City is raw, tough, and relentlessly exquisite.”
Please join for an evening of crime and poetry.
FIRST HEARINGS: RENEE ROSSI AND JEFFREY DAVIS
Who: Renee Rossi and Jeff Davis
What: First Hearings
When: June 2, 2016, 7:30 pm
Where: The Wild Detectives, 314 West 8th St, Dallas 75208
Hosted by: Charles Dee Mitchell
WordSpace welcomes back Renée Rossi and Jeffrey Davis, two poets who have read for WordSpace before and both of whom have new books out.
Renée Rossi
How’s this for a resume? Renée Rossi, who lives in Dallas, is a practicing otolaryngologist, holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is a certified practitioner of Ayurvedic medicine. She has published two poetry chapbooks, and at First Hearings will be reading from her new collection, Triage.
Jeffrey Davis
Jeffrey Davis, who has lived in Dallas in the past but is now based in New York, is a writer, speaker, and consultant. Through his Tracking Wonder project he is often interviewed for his views on the role of creative mastery in shaping a meaningful life and , as he puts it, “doing business as unusual.” He is a poet who also has a regular column in Psychology Today. At first hearings he will read from his 2016 book, Coat Thief.
Following their readings, the two friends will discuss how their professional lives and poetry combine to make them the writers they are.
karen finley thanks you
Dear Friends,
Thank you for attending the WordSpace presentation of Karen Finley’s The Jackie Look. We hope you enjoyed the evening. If this was your first time to attend a WordSpace event, please visit out website to learn more about who we are and what we do. We produce over fifty events a season, ranging from poetry readings and book launch parties to poetry slams and performance art. Our events take place in venues all over Dallas, and most of what we do is free. Take a look at our calendar, grab a friend, and check out the lively local literary scene.
And please consider becoming a WordSpace member. Everyone who reads or performs for WordSpace receives an honorarium. That means that in addition to the nationally recognized authors and performers we present, dozens of local writers and artists get paid for what they do. This is a basic tenet of what we have done since our founding in 1994. Memberships help make this happen. Memberships also come with discounted tickets and other benefits described on the membership page of our website.
Sign up for our newsletter and like us on Facebook to see announcements of both local events and the visiting performers we have scheduled in the upcoming season.
Thanks again for attending The Jackie Look. Team WordSpace: Steve Cruz, Dee Mitchell, Laney Yarber, Jerry Kelley, Brenda Randall, Karen Minzer, Richard Bailey, Sara Cardona and Rock Baby.
Sweatloaf at ARTSPEAK
When is this? Saturday, April 30
Where?…on Earth? Yes, it’s at Mighty Fine Arts, 409A N. Tyler St. in the OC
Who is responsible for this? Wordspace presents ArtSpeak
ArtSpeak features performance art in conjunction with exhibition openings at MFA Gallery.
This month, new work by Clay Stinnett “Texican Spaghetti Wrestling” will also feature a sonic assault by Butthole Surfers Cover Band “Sweatloaf” offering up an unholy miasma of punk lyrics, art rock, avant garde and psychedelic upheavels. More fun than legally recommended! Performance starts around 8:30ish.
“Texican Spaghetti Wrestling” featuring new work by Clay Stinnett. This show opens Sat April 30 with a reception for the artist from 6-9pm and will run till Sun June 12. Clay Stinnett has an ecumenical appreciation of all things white, brown and black trash. The detritus of culture washes through his brain pan and emerges in lumps of inspiration and horrid insight. The Id monster lies abruptly under the mainstream consciousness and only a mere scratch effort reveals the awfulness that informs us amerikans.(Note the current Republican struggle of dumb assery) But Mr.Clay doesn’t revel in anti-intellectuosity, he is a grand social observer and satirist, a progeny of Rabelais, an upholder of the noble tradition of stripping the pants off “authority”. So dont miss the opportunity to witness and absorb the full frontal and unfettered Clay Mind in all it’s turbulent excess and glory and get marked as having been exposed to some real “Art” for a change!
Buddy Mohmed @ ArtSpeak.
Saturday, March 12, Wordspace presents Artspeak with Buddy Mohmed. The American Bedouin himself will offer up a small sample of his virtuoso musical abilities with a rare solo performance. Master of all string instruments Mr Buddy has lent his talents to myriad ensembles and groups. This will be a rare chance to catch him in the intimate confines of MFA Gallery. Performance starts around 8ish. Mighty Fine Arts is located at 409A N.Tyler in Historic North Oak Cliff 75208.
This performance is in conjunction with the exhibition opening for “Through the Looking Glass” featuring new work by Yuni Lee. This show opens Sat March 12 and will run till Sun April 24. Yuni Lee’s lively engagement with paint reveals a lyrical sensibility. There are no static passages in her pictures, shapes and colors swirl and flow in subtle abandon. There are flash points of vivid color that might obliquely reference her Korean heritage but her intent is not meant to be specific. Ms. Lee cultivates an abiding passion for the act of painting and her exuberant work resonates with her avocation and consummate skill.
FIRST HEARINGS: MIROSLAV PENKOV
When: Thursday, March 24, 7:30 pm
Where: The Wild Detectives, 314 West 8th Street, Dallas, 75208
Hosted by: Charles Dee Mitchell
Miroslav Penkov was born in Bulgaria in 1982 and came to the United States in 2001. The Guardian praised is first story collection, East of the West (2012) for its combination of “toughness, vulnerability and bravado.” The New Republic wrote, “These stories are not the promising work of a first-time author. They are already a promise fulfilled—wise, bright, and deep with sympathy.” East of the West was published in eleven countries, and Penkov’s translation of his work was the bestselling book in Bulgaria in 2013.
Miroslav publishes is first novel, Stork Mountain, this month. The novel tells the story of an emigrant who returns from America to search for his grandfather, a man who disappeared three years before into the Strandja Mountains on the Bulgarian-Turkey border. The young man encounters the ecstatic Christianity of the region, the mysteries surrounding his grandfather’s life, and the shameful secrets of the past.
WordSpace sponsors Miroslav Penkov for a reading and book signing at The Wild Detectives, March 24 at 7:30 pm.
Three Literary Short Films by Richard Bailey
When: Thursday, May 19, 7:30 pm
Where: The Margo Jones Theatre in Fair Park, 1121 1st Ave, Dallas, TX 75210.
Admission: This is a free event.
ONE OF THE ROUGH (17 min.) A poetic road movie that presents a driving dream of color, doubt, philosophy, and wonder. The title is from a line in Whitman’s Song of Myself (“…an American, one of the roughs, a kosmos”). Like the persona in Whitman’s poem, the driver marvels about America in a way that is dreamy and intense.
AN ERRAND OF HIP AND CHIN (10 min.) Casey is a young man who enjoys hooping and playing drums. Then one day a mysterious phone call sends him on an errand to take a message to the people. Borrowing loosely from the Book of Amos, the film is an adventure story that batches the prophetic imagination and the popular enthusiasm of hooping.
A SPIRAL WAY (17 min.) Meet Leon Gordon Agee, a small town storyteller and songwriter. He weaves macabre and philosophical tales. He is especially fond of “lady of the lake” and “goddess of the forest” stories. And his adventures reveal currents of magical realism flowing secretly across the landscape of the American south.
Richard Bailey makes films with mythic emphasis, poetic language, and sharp humor. His films have shown in festivals across the U.S., including SXSW, Black Maria, Dallas Video Festival, Anthology Film Archives, and have recently shown in Europe at Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival, Scotland, Here Be Dragons: The International New Genre Festival, England, and Proyector International Video Art Festival, Spain. He has work forthcoming in the Journal of Short Film, a peer reviewed journal in DVD form. Find out more at www.TropicPictures.com
