Last Friday, WSP made its way down to Art-a-Nooga for their monthly show. Hosted inside Stoveoworks, an old warehouse-turned-art gallery at East 13th St., Art-a-Nooga invites artists, academics, performers, and anyone with a hobby or interest they love to talk about to give a 7-minute presentation.
The special thing about Art-a-Nooga is you’re never sure what you’re going to get! Lectures, performances, audience participation–anything can happen, and month to month, each one is different and unique. To give you a taste, May’s performers were:
Anni-Rich Thompson – A biologist/artist, Annie talked about how the world of entomology has gone on to inspire her art (which, incidentally, can be found in her two WSP volumes, Words of a Magpie and Homemade Mudpies), exhibiting some beautiful insects translated into illustration, and how insects have historically been the object of artistic expression in places like ancient Egypt, in the manufacturing of silk in East Asia, and even in the traditional beetle-wing embroidery of Thailand.
Blake Hurst (Myself) – Combining my love for history and literature, I gave a short presentation on Old English poetry, where it came from, and how it works in practice. My main goal was to interest people enough for them to go out and enjoy it themselves. To that end, I highly recommend the Old English Poetry Collection by Stith Thompson and Cosette Faust, made available by Project Gutenberg, and specifically two pieces from that collection: “The Wanderer” and “The Ruins”.
Clay Aldrige – Art-a-Nooga’s erstwhile host, Clay Aldrige, gave a presentation on his recent trip to Japan and the culture shock (and general disillusionment) of coming back to America afterward. It’s impossible to recreate his talk through text, so I’ll leave this as a reason Art-a-Nooga is so special–it’s a singular event, with moments that can only be experienced in person, not after the fact.
Alex Gram Birghenthal – The owner of Fox and Fish Printing, Alex spoke about her upcoming Art Heist event at the Art Friends Market at the Chattanooga Choo Choo, on June 21. If you’re reading this before that date–you can participate! All you have to do is show up and:
- Case the Joint (Find the piece/pieces you want)
- Buy Into the Deal (Buy your ticket)
- Wait for the Right Moment (Line up at the start)
- Snag Your Piece! (Grab your piece!)
- Visit the Blackmarket (Trade with other players or take your piece home)
If you’ve always wanted to steal your own piece of art (and not go to jail), now’s your chance!
If any of this sounds like something you would enjoy, make sure to head over to Stoveworks June 20th at 6 pm. There’ll be a whole new host of presenters, a whole new batch of ideas, and a whole new set of people to share it with.
