an evening of poetic collaborations

Cilla Vee Life Arts presents:

“THE ART OF THE WORD”

An evening of poetry interactions at Weaverville Yoga Studio

7 Florida Avenue, Weaverville NC

Friday September 30^th at 7.30pm

Sliding-scale tix $5 - $15

Featuring poets:

Randi Janelle – collaborating with community activist artist Ben Brill

Tracey Schmidt – collaborating with guitarist Michael Ivey

Jeff Davis – collaborating with dancer Claire Elizabeth Barratt

With music by singer-songwriter Momma Molasses

and a gallery of each performer’s visual artwork

 

The Art of the Word. The Word as art, interacting with the arts, infused by the arts, inspiring and inspired by the arts  

This event presents poetry as a living art form that can influence and be influenced by other art forms in the collaborative process.

Poetry in partnership. The Art of the Word is a celebration of the Word in a swirl of music, dance and imagery.

Each poet has chosen an artistic collaborator of a different art form, such as a musician, dancer or visual artist - (or perhaps the boundaries between art forms are not so rigid.) Each pair has developed an interaction between their art forms.

ARTIST INFORMATION

Randi Janelle:

Randi Janelle, along with being a Weaverville Yoga instructor, is an author, photographer, performance poet, cat whisperer... She calls Asheville home, but has lived and toured in Australia and New Zealand, and understands the phrases "fair dinkum" and "keen as." She's writing a novel series, and the first is The Story: Deviation (available to revel in!), and the second book, The Story: Possession is making its way into this world. She's sharing channeled material on a new era called the Age of Omniscience with her business Create the Leap. Check out her work at randijanelle.com and createtheleap.com. More than anything, she wishes you enjoy.

Randi will be collaborating with Ben Brill, a music and media artist with a focus on promoting health and wellness for children and the community.

Tracey Schmidt:

Tracey Schmidt is a poet whose work has been published in numerous journals and anthologies. She performs the work of Rumi, Hafiz, Mary Oliver, and other sacred poets, all by memory and with live music. She teaches creativity and poetry in such facilities as the NC Center for the Advancement of Teaching, Julia Cameron’s Creativity Camp in Taos, NM, the JC Campbell Folk School.

Her book of poetry, I Have Fallen in Love with the World, (Turtle Dove Press) was published in 2011 to rave reviews, as well as a CD of spoken poetry, recorded with Free Planet Radio.

She lives with two hives of bees and a turtle dove in the grey-blue mountains.. She has fallen in love with the world. She is still not sure how it happened.

Tracey will be collaborating with guitarist Michael Ivey, a life-long musician who dedicates his talents to a number of non-profit groups, such as Woman Song.

Jeff Davis:

Jeff Davis lives in Asheville, NC, where he sometimes teaches in UNCA’s Great Smokies Writing Program. He co-curates the monthly Altamont Poetry Series at N. C. Stage Company, and since 2005 has produced and hosted the radio program Wordplay, now on AshevilleFM.org, and co-hosted with yours truly, Lockie Hunter. It features poets and writers of creative prose. He serves as General Manager for the arts non-profit MadHat, Inc.

His poems have appeared in Lillabulero, Iron, Asheville Poetry Review, the Nantahala Review, Compos’t, Kakalak, Iodine, Red Headed Step Child, and other little magazines, and been featured on websites of the Jargon Society and the NC Arts Council. His collections so far include Transits of Venus (2005), and Natures: Selected Poems, 1972 – 2005 (2006).

He’s now in the process of preparing another collection for publication.

Jeff will be collaborating with dancer Claire Elizabeth Barratt – an inter-disciplinary performance artist and director of Cilla Vee Life Arts.

Momma Molasses:

Momma Molasses is a musical project created by N.C. based songwriter Ella Patrick. Originally from the Piedmont/Sandhills North Carolina, Ella grew up singing gospel songs in church and was inspired by her ballader Uncle to pick up the guitar. After high school she ventured to western North Carolina, and studied old time music, and art at Warren Wilson College. After college, she played fiddle for Asheville based band, The New Olde Fashioneds. However, after a bout of heartbreak, homesickness, and empty pockets she returned home to Carthage N.C. and began to write songs, and define her unique "fingerpicking" guitar style. Self proclaimed "weird kid" and "general questioner of reality" her music naturally draws on a wide range of ideas, combining Alt-Country, blues, honky-folksy whatever into a sweet dripping, slow moving sound. A devout believer in life's process, Momma Molasses adopted her name to remind herself to value "slowness", and place trust in the unfolding journey of experience. Quirky, and effortlessly idiosyncratic, her performances are noted for rambunctious asides and gleeful (though not always graceful) energy. Recently Momma Molasses has toured throughout North Carolina and gained recognition in multiple N.C. communities, bouncing between Asheville and the Piedmont (both her spiritual homes) and continues to play for a varied range of audiences.

CILLA VEE LIFE ARTS is an inter-disciplinary arts organization founded in the South Bronx by Claire Elizabeth Barratt in 2002.
It serves as an umbrella for multiple projects that focus on collaboration, blurring boundaries & crossing categories.
Performances can include dance, music, text, film & video, visual arts & installation.
CVLA has performed in such venues as Art Basel Miami, the New York Botanical Gardens & Black Mountain College NC.

“When it's summer in the city, people do weird things. Performers especially. ....“Beguiling”
John Rockwell – New York Times

www.cillavee.com