Category: Poetry

  • 100K Poets for Change at the Green Salon Sept 22

    100K Poets for Change at the Green Salon Sept 22

    This month, The Green Salon merges with the annual, world-wide cultural event promoting peace, equal rights, and ecology, 100k Poets for Change.  As usual, the salon will include fine art, live music, poetry reading and an open mic… but this month also features political discourse on sustainability, poetry and prose writing workshops, a full-length feature film, and a small art fair.  Vintage political t-shirts will be available at the marketplace.

    The Green Salon

    Since its founding in 2011, 100k Poets for Change has been working with poets, artists, musicians, and other creatives to organize events around the world for serious social change.  The Green Salon has collaborated with 100k Poets from the beginning.

    Come meet the Mayor of Downey, Sean Ashton, and speak with him about the upcoming mid-term elections.  He is a staunch supporter of civil rights and will share his thoughts on the current political climate with us.

    The salon begins early, 5pm, with writing workshops hosted by ZZyZx WriterZ, Ivan Rios, and a poetry/craft workshop by Terry Walker and Frank Kearns.  There will also be the opportunity to have your writing critiqued.  Be inspired, hone your skills, and share your work at the open mic.

    The featured musician for the event is Richard Torres.  He is a composer of atmospheric, Zen-like music regularly performing at cultural events such as the Green Salonand the Lotus Festival, hosted by the City of Los Angeles.  He will perform throughout the day, often on rarely-known musical instruments.

    The featured poet is Sarah Thursday.  Her new book, Conversations with Gravel, is a highly-praised mosaic of love poems which she will perform.  Copies will be available for purchase and autographing.

    There will also be a table of vintage classic books for sale.  Most of those authors, however, will not be available to autograph their work.

    The evening will include a full-length feature film on world humanity projected under the stars.  It is an engaging story not to be missed.

    City of Downey Mayor Sean Ashton

    The Green Salon is the longest-running monthly cultural event in the Downey area.  It is the fourth Saturday of the month and it is always free.

    Because of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the Winter Solstice, this is the last salon of the year –everyone will be occupied with parties in the following months.  Once again, The Green Salon will be held at the art studio of Roy Anthony Shabla.  He will display Halloween paintings for the event.

    The Green Salon / 100k Poets for Change 2018

    Saturday, September 22, 5pm

    11210 Greenstone Avenue

    Santa Fe Springs 90670

    (Near Bloomfield and Lakeland, off Florence or Imperial)

    FREE

  • Green Salon Short Film Festival Saturday August 26

    Green Salon Short Film Festival Saturday August 26

     

    Green Salon Film Fest

     

    The Green Salon Short Film Festival returns Saturday August 26 with new shorts by local filmmakers. The outdoor event begins at 7PM, films begin approximately at 8PM. Host Roy Anthony Shabla welcomes everyone to this free event at his Studio GalleRoy, 11210 Greenstone Ave, Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670.

  • Poetry Matters featuring Bonnie Bolling March 30

    Poetry Matters featuring Bonnie Bolling March 30

    Poetry Matters featuring Bonnie Bolling

    March 30, 7-9 pm
    Stay Gallery
    11140 Downey Ave., Downey 90241

    Poetry Matters will welcome back Bonnie Bolling as featured poet on the fifth Thursday in March. Bolling returns to us on a visit from Dubai, where she and her husband have lived for several years. When in Long Beach, Bolling is Editor of Verdad, an online, twice-yearly literary and fine arts journal. Bolling’s new book, The Red Hijab, has won the John Ciardi Prize for poetry. and is published by BkMk Press. 

    Doors open at 7 pm
    Open microphone session at 7:30 pm.
    Poetry Matters is curated by Lorine Parks

    In The Red Hijab, Bolling becomes a journalistic embed, who “stands on the corner, leaning next to the sign / that says in three languages: no uncovered women allowed / adjusting and re-adjusting my black hijab, me a white, female, United States citizen / on this narrow, broken footpath keeping my silence and distance.”

    “This is one of the finest set of verses I have read in years. With the bitter-sweet melody of the philosopher and the outcast, the listener of a country’s moans, that is, the sweeper of grabbed-up joys those lost shredded flags of lettuce-like things people grasp before death, so, perhaps, they will blossom into something else that will escort them to life—this voice here, leaves it on this table, for us. A total masterpiece.”
    —Juan Felipe Herrera, Poet Laureate of the United States

     “These are points of meditation that sing with a quiet hope for us all. These are poems of experience, modest and exact—poems that achieve a brilliant, honest light.”
    —Christopher Buckley, Modern History and Star Apocrypha

     “All of her people resonate with remarkable depth and presence. There is no polemic here, no agenda, no travel narrative. The Red Hijab transcends all these. It is another remarkable book by Bolling, and it is a gift to us from a true artist. ”
    —Frank X. Gaspar

    red-hijab-sm

  • Clifton Snider’s new book The Beatle Bump at Poetry Matters Feb 16

    Clifton Snider’s new book The Beatle Bump at Poetry Matters Feb 16

    The Beatle Bump Front Cover LO RESOn February 16, Poetry Matters is excited to welcome back Clifton Snider at Stay Gallery. Snider will read from his new book, The Beatle Bump, published by Downey’s own Los Nietos Press. Poetry Matters welcomes all Beatle fans to hear Snider’s take on the Fab Four. Open mike at 7:30, Clifton and the Beatles at 8.

    A must read for any Beatles fan, Clifton Snider’s book of poems, The Beatle Bump, is an inspired, unique look at the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band of all time. Written in the years after the murder of John Lennon, The Beatle Bump explores the Beatles as an archetypal, in the Jungian sense, world-wide phenomenon. The poems, often irreverent and playful as were the Beatles themselves, are written in a variety of forms—free verse, song lyrics, nonsense verse, a sonnet, and even a couple of fan letters. The Beatle Bump is both a time capsule and a work of lasting art.

    Stay Gallery is located at 11140 Downey Ave, just north of Firestone Blvd. Handicap accessible.

    CliftonSnider

     

  • Artist in Residence: Roy Anthony Shabla

    Roy Anthony Shabla Downey Artist in Residency

    Roy Anthony Shabla – Downey artist, poet, and filmmaker – is the first ever Artist-in-Residence at Stay Gallery from December 5th to January 28th, 2017.  Shabla is a recognized painter and Stay Gallery, near the corner of Downey Avenue and Firestone Boulevard, will be his studio and exhibition space for the next two months.

    Shabla is a late Abstract Expressionist and will be painting eighteen foot canvases – the largest the gallery has shown – as well as assembling junk sculptures and hosting evenings of films on art.  The public is encouraged to visit.

    Roy Anthony Shabla is Director of Collections for Downey Museum of Art and sits on the Advisory Board of Nuvein Foundation for Literature and the Arts.  His films are represented by Los Angeles Center for Digital Art.  He will be the featured artist at LACDA in January.

    Shabla will perform Travels with my Rant, a poetry-and-improvised-music event comparing life in Downey to life in Paris, for Poetry Matters – a Downey Arts Coalition monthly poetry gathering at Stay Gallery – on January 19th.  Local Downey musicians Josue Quiquivix, Andrew Ariza, and Gabriel Armenta will back him.

    Shabla hosts a monthly cultural event, the green salon – a gathering of artists, poets, musicians, and other creative people – which will happen in January at Stay Gallery on Saturday the 28th.  The gathering will also serve as an after-party for Downey Symphony which is performing that night.

    Abstract Expressionism is the important American movement in art which shifted cultural focus from Paris to New York.  It was supported by the CIA during the Cold War as a contrast to the Soviet Union’s Social Realism, demonstrating the artistic freedom of the West to the world.  The most recognizable Abstract Expressionist painters were Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.  Shabla will show films about these artists during his residency.  Follow Stay Gallery on facebook or Instagram for more information.

    Local educators are encouraged to schedule field trips to the gallery to visit and workshop with Shabla.  See staygallery.org to start the process.

    A Community Day when the public is invited to collaborate on a painting with Shabla is planned for Saturday, December 17th, beginning at 11am.  Plan to get your hands dirty!

    As the first Artist-in-Residence at Stay Gallery, Roy Anthony Shabla intends to create large abstract paintings to enthrall the cultural enthusiast and also expose the community to an important American art form.  Come participate in this historic event.

  • The Stars Align – Downey Symphony Concert Oct 22

    The Stars Align – Downey Symphony Concert Oct 22

    Join the Downey Symphony Orchestra for “The Stars Align” on October 22, 2016 at 8:00pm.  This will be a thrilling program featuring the powerful and expressive work by Gustav Holst, The Planets.  In keeping with the symphony’s tradition of commissioning new pieces, the concert also includes the world premiere of a composition by long-time Downey resident and well-established composer, Lars Clutterham.

    Read about the concert, the composer, and Downey Arts Coalition’s Cosmic art show at the links below:

    Downey Symphony concert pays tribute to Downey’s role in space exploration

    For Lars Clutterham, music is life

    Downey Symphony performance tied to Downey’s 60th anniversary

    the-stars-align

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  • Poetry Matters contest winner: Peggy Dobreer – Oct 20

    Poetry Matters contest winner: Peggy Dobreer – Oct 20

    I’m Over the Moon!” says Peggy Dobreer.
    Winner of first prize for best poem in Poetry Matters’s Contest
    celebrating Downey’s aerospace connection, Peggy Dobreer
    will read her entry at Stay Gallery, for Poetry Matters October 20.
    Local poets are invited to come and read Downey-themed poems at the open microphone at 7:30.
    Contest Finalists Beth Ruscio and Don Kingfisher Campbell will also read.

    Dobreer will return to present the poem, “Astronomical Units of Flight,”
    Saturday night at the Downey Theatre preceding the Downey Symphony Orchestra
    Concert Saturday at the Downey Theatre, when Holst’s “The Planets” will be the featured musical selection.
    The Contest was sponsored by the Downy Symphonic Society.

    F00F

    the-stars-align

  • Last Green Salon of the Year – Friday Oct 21

    Last Green Salon of the Year – Friday Oct 21

    the green salon

    friday 21 october 16, 7pm

    casa la reina*

    featured poet: sarah tatro (aka sarah thursday)

    featured artists: alyssa wynne and hannah matus

    featured musician: manuel de jesus sandoval

    featured songwriter: melissa lussier

    open mic

    wine and vegan snacks

    this is the last salon of the year

    and on a different day than is regular

     

    bring something to share

    join the green salon on facebook

    *message for more information (to get directions)

     

    ~ ~ ~

     

    rain poem:

     

    how sweet

    to kiss

    as if a child

     

    the drowsy

    earth

    img_0348

  • Life In Print exhibit at Mary Paxon Gallery Sept 24

    Life In Print exhibit at Mary Paxon Gallery Sept 24

    lifeinprint

    The opening reception for a special poetry and art exhibit “Life in Print” will be held Saturday September 24th, 5 to 8PM at the Norwalk Cultural Art Center, Mary Paxon Gallery (3200 Clarkdale Ave, Norwalk, California 90650).

    Hannah Matus and Alyssa Wynne will host their first group exhibit at the Mary Paxon Art Gallery from Tuesday, September 13, to Saturday, October 1. All are welcome to the reception, which will feature live music and merchandise available for purchase (cash only, please).

    Hannah and Alyssa are collaborating to bring the world a show that is way past due. They aim to give a voice to those who have been hushed all their lives through Matus’s art and Wynne’s poetry. Together the duo will display approximately 50 screen printed pieces that will shine light on the dark moments in American history and culture, such as the social perspective on mental health/disability, white privilege/modeled minorities, women’s suffrage, and police brutality. “Life in Print” is best described by their official artist statement:

    We are icebergs waiting to
    pierce an approaching ship.
    Our words and appearance
    compile the 10 percent at
    the surface–but the mass
    that matters, the bulk of our
    being, is hidden underwater.

    This exhibition is the 90
    percent. It’s a voice for the
    unspoken words. It’s an
    image for the unseen
    details. We are icebergs,
    and we have pierced the
    approaching ship.

    Visit the facebook event page, click here.

  • Downey Poet Steve Gross to Feature at POETRY MATTERS

    steve-1This edition of POETRY MATTERS – Thursday September 15th at STAY GALLERY –   will welcome Downey poet Steve Gross. For many years Steve curated the Angel’s Gate poetry readings in San Pedro, and worked to change the historic military site of Ft. MacArthur into a community cultural venue. He and his wife and fellow poet Zaida Ramos are avid supporters of our local poetry and arts activities.

     

    Steve’s poetry bristles with surrealistic images, spine-tingling stories and memorable people real and imagined. An enjoyable evening is guaranteed.

     

    Join the Facebook Event:

    Doors open at 7
    Open mike starts at 7:30
    Stay Gallery is located at 11140 Downey Avenue, just north of Firestone in the heart of downtown Downey

    Curated by Lorine Parks.

    Poetry Matters is free and open to the public.