CELEBRATING NATIONAL POETRY MONTH POETRY READING

FREE EVENT

April 20 at 7:30 pm 

Takoma Park Community Center

7500 Maple Avenue 

TRANSFORMATIONS Art Opening Reception 

Thursday, March 23 at 7:30 pm 

Takoma Park Community Center

7500 Maple Avenue 

The origin of paper winds through history and across centuries from papyrus in ancient Egypt to pulp-based paper from the Han dynasty in China to the invention of photographic paper in the early 19^th century.

Artists have transformed this common material into new worlds of invention and creativity. Three artists will share their paper-based work in the TRANSFORMATIONS exhibition at the Takoma Park Community Center with an opening reception at 7:30 pm on March 23. The featured artists include Beth Caruso, Landry Dunand, and Randall Williams.

Beth Caruso’s work often depicts aspects of the self and the body in relation to nature. In her Inner Life series, she photographs subjects and scenes and then uses digital tools to transform them into mirrored, kaleidoscopic imagery.

“This series stems from a vivid interplay of intellect and emotion, combined with the workings of my conscious and subconscious,” she said. “In this light, the work can be viewed as a dialogue between the inner life of the artist and her surroundings, reflecting a desire to reorder the elements of the external world.”

Landry Dunand is a photographer who is exploring the image as an experience in which the artist and subject connect through the photographic process. A native of France, he has traveled extensively, living in Thailand and Afghanistan before moving to Takoma Park. He is focusing his work now on tintype portraits and mixed-media interpretations of his photos.

“Ultimately, my hope is that my images will invite viewers to engage with the world in a new way,” he said. “By highlighting the tactile, gritty qualities of my subjects, I aim to create a visceral experience that transcends the boundaries of the photograph and connects the viewer with the world beyond.”

Finding inspiration in nature, literature, and the arts, Randall Williams cuts paper to create highly detailed colorful artwork. He is president of the Guild of American Papercutters, an organization dedicated to preserving and advancing papercutting as an art form.

“I use hand-cut paper combined with acrylic paints and inks to create layered, expressive images that explore form and color,” he said. “I attempt to create pieces with movement and depth. Papercutting is a meditative art form – as it does not pay to move recklessly when wielding a sharp blade – that brings me a sense of calm.”

This exhibition, which will be on view until June 7, was curated by the City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Coordinator Brendan Smith. The Takoma Park Arts series includes free art exhibitions, poetry readings, film screenings, concerts, and theater at the Takoma Park Community Center. Please go to takomaparkmd.gov/arts for more info and to sign up for our e-newsletter.

Weaving Words/Bordando Palabras Poetry Reading

Thursday, March 9 at 7:30 pm 

Takoma Park Community Center 

7500 Maple Avenue 

In a free Takoma Park Arts event, four bilingual poets will share their poetry in English and Spanish which transcends borders and unites diverse cultures across political and geographical divides. The featured poets include Rosie Prohías Driscoll, david alberto fernández, David Lott, and Jorge Fernando Sodero.

Rosie Prohías Driscoll is a Cuban-American educator and poet. The daughter of Cuban exiles, she writes about identity and exile, loss and renewal, grief and grace. Her poems have appeared in many journals, and her debut full-length collection Poised for Flight was published last year. She lives in Alexandria and teaches English at Bishop Ireton High School.

david alberto fernández is a local poet born in south Florida whose work has been published in the United States and abroad for more than two decades. His latest poetry will appear in the March 2023 issues of Beltway Poetry Quarterly and The Sligo Journal.

David Lott is an associate editor of Potomac Review and poetry editor of The Sligo Journal, both supported by Montgomery College, where he has taught language and literature since 1992. His poetry has appeared or will be forthcoming in Beltway Quarterly Review, Train River, and his bilingual collection New to Guayama.

Jorge Fernando Sodero was born in Argentina and completed medical studies at the National University of Cordoba before moving to the D.C. area. He began writing poetry after a unique experience of solitude in Antarctica. His poetry has been published in two anthologies, and he participates in poetry readings and cultural activities of the local Latin American community.

This event is part of the Takoma Park Arts series organized by the City of Takoma Park’s Arts and Humanities Division. The series includes free art exhibitions, film screenings, poetry readings, concerts, theater, and dance performances at the Takoma Park Community Center. Please go to takomaparkmd.gov/arts for more info and to sign up for our e-newsletter.

CIRQUE DU CAMBODIA FILM SCREENING

Free Takoma Park Arts Event 

Friday, Feb. 10 at 7:30 pm 

Takoma Park Community Center

7500 Maple Avenue 

From Cambodia to Canada, the Cirque du Cambodia documentary follows two Cambodian teenagers on their inspiring journey to run away and join the circus.

Filmed over eight years, filmmaker Joel Gershon captured the amazing talents and ongoing challenges for two Cambodian teenagers who travel from the rice fields and dusty roads of their rural village to the other side of the world to train at the prestigious National Circus School of Montreal in Canada. Their ultimate dream is to perform with the prestigious Cirque du Soleil, whose headquarters is located across the street from the school.

The two teenagers began their circus training in their village in Cambodia at a school for the arts called Phare Ponleu Selpak, which translates to “brightness of the arts.” The school runs a “social circus” program where at-risk and marginalized youth learn circus skills, such as juggling, tightrope walking, and trapeze, and perform in shows for locals and tourists.

During a trip to Cambodia, Gershon was captivated by a circus performance at Phare and spent the next decade filming and editing this documentary, following the story through four countries on a shoe-string budget.

The two young circus performers arrived in Montreal with almost no money or the ability to speak French or English, but they hope to perform under Cirque du Soleil’s big top. Will they make it to the big time? Join us to see the film to find out!

The documentary won audience awards at two film festivals and a jury prize at the 2021 Circus International Film Festival.

Gershon, who lives in Washington, D.C., will lead a Q&A with the audience after the film screening. He previously lived in Bangkok for 12 years working as a TV correspondent, copywriter, and college professor teaching film and media studies. You can learn more about him and his work at joelgershon.com.

This film screening is part of the Takoma Park Arts series organized by the City’s Arts and Humanities Division. The series includes free art exhibitions, film screenings, poetry readings, concerts, theater, and dance performances at the Takoma Park Community Center. Please go to takomaparkmd.gov/arts for more info and to sign up for our e-newsletter.

A version of this article was featured in the February 2023 Newsletter. Visit the Takoma Park Newsletter webpage to see the full list of past newsletters.

POETRY OF STRUGGLE AND SOLIDARITY 

Free Poetry Reading

Thursday, Jan. 26 at 7:30 pm 

Takoma Park Community Center

7500 Maple Avenue 

In a new Takoma Park Arts poetry reading, four local poets and a Ukrainian poet in Kyiv will share their original work highlighting perpetual struggles across the globe and our dogged efforts to find common ground.

The featured local poets include Amy L. Bernstein, Tara Campbell, David Ebenbach, and Margaret Flaherty. Slava Konoval also will share some of his poetry about the war in Ukraine in a video.

Bernstein’s poetry has been published in many online and print journals, including Yellow Arrow Journal, Loch Raven Review, and Lost Boys Press. She was awarded a poetry writer-in-residence fellowship from Yellow Arrow Publishing in 2022. Yellow Arrow will be publishing a chapbook by Bernstein and three other writing fellows titled Baltimore, we (want to) love you.

Campbell has been publishing poetry and participating in poetry readings in the D.C. area since 2015, including the Gaithersburg Book Festival, the Literary Hill Bookfest, Café Muse, and DiVerse Poetry.

Ebenbach is the author of three books of poetry, including We Were the People Who Moved, Some Unimaginable Animal, and What’s Left to Us by Evening.  His work also has been published in numerous literary magazines, including the Beloit Poetry Journal, Prairie Schooner, and the Southwest Review.

In 2020, Flaherty received an MFA in poetry from Pacific Lutheran University’s Ranier Writing Workshop. Many of her poems address climate change and environmental issues, and her poetry has been published in several journals.

Vyacheslav “Slava” Konoval is a Ukrainian poet whose work is devoted to the most pressing social issues of our time, such as poverty, ecology, and war. His recent poetry focuses on the devastation caused by Russian aggression during the war in Ukraine. His poetry has appeared in many publications, including Anarchy Anthology Archive, International Poetry Anthology, and Sparks of Kaliopa.

This poetry reading is part of the Takoma Park Arts series organized by the City’s Arts and Humanities Division. The series includes free art exhibitions, film screenings, poetry readings, concerts, theater, and dance performances at the Takoma Park Community Center. Please go to takomaparkmd.gov/arts for more info and to sign up for our e-newsletter.

One Day My Soul Just Opened Up Art Exhibition

On view until March 15 

Takoma Park Community Center

7500 Maple Avenue 

Four Black female artists will share their diverse range of work exploring the spiritual world views of African heritage in a new Takoma Park Arts exhibition titled One Day My Soul Just Opened Up: African-American Women and the Black Sacred Cosmos. The featured artists include Debra Jean Ambush, Nikki Brooks, Joan M. E. Gaither, and Anike Robinson.

The exhibition is curated by Brendan Smith, the City of Takoma Park’s arts and humanities coordinator. “I usually choose the theme for an exhibition, but I asked the artists to collaborate on the focus of this show since the work is deeply personal to them and their shared experiences,” he said.

The exhibition addresses a distinct variety of viewpoints regarding the notion of a Black Sacred Cosmos, a time-honored reverential space in which the realm of ancestors and the divine inspire resilience and memory among their descendants. As an expression of how we perceive our sustaining spiritual centers, this convening of an Afro-Futuristic ‘visual dance’ invites viewers to consider the imprint of the African-centered aesthetic on our daily lives.

Debra Ambush, PhD, is an artist and researcher who lives in Ijamsville, Md. Through the mediums of printmaking, painting, and mixed media, her figurative and landscape work expresses family narratives about her experiences growing up during the Civil Rights Movement, as well as examining the vital importance of family, faith, and heritage as a source of resiliency.

Nikki Brooks, who was born in Brooklyn and raised in Spotsylvania County, Va., creates installations and assemblage infused with digital and audio elements, paintings, sculpted text, and collage. Her work focuses on social activism and art that encourages viewers to explore the interconnected forms of writing, storytelling, and shared dialogue.

Joan M. E. Gaither, PhD, is a native Baltimorean who helped integrate local schools and businesses during the Civil Rights Movement. In more than 300 quilts, she has used meaningful fabrics, traditional patterns, collaged text, and images to tell narrative personal stories and collective histories that need to be remembered.

D.C.-based artist Anike Robinson delves deeply into Black cultures and histories across time and geographies to engage in conversations about home, memory, ritual, representation, and gender. Her Gris Gris Gurlz mixed-media series tells the stories of Black people who escaped the death camps of the South for the autonomy of maroon societies.

This exhibition, which will be on view until March 15, is part of the Takoma Park Arts series organized by the City’s Arts and Humanities Division. The series includes free art exhibitions, film screenings, poetry readings, concerts, theater, and dance performances at the Takoma Park Community Center. Go to takomaparkmd.gov/arts for more info and to sign up for our e-newsletter.