There’s one gallery participating in this week’s First Friday Artwalk where you could close your eyes and just listen to the art.
But before you settle in at the Sixth Floor Gallery to listen to a reading by Clark County poet laureate Christopher Luna, check out the artworks by painter Rebecca Anstine and “science-and-nature artist” Barbara A.W. Wright. Their show, which will be here through the end of December, is called “Connections” and all sales will benefit Luna’s efforts to reach out to Clark County via a different medium: the written word.
Luna was named Clark County’s first poet laureate in 2013, and his term was renewed earlier this year, now to conclude at the end of 2016. He is a native of New York City who moved to Vancouver in 2003. Among his many activities here are a writing-consulting business called Printed Matter Vancouver, and the Ghost Town Poetry reading series Luna launched in 2004 — which is still going strong on the second Thursday evening of every month at downtown Vancouver’s Angst Gallery and Niche Wine Bar, 1015 Main St.
But it’s his “Poets in the Schools” program that Luna considers his real mission as poet laureate, he said. One grant from Humanities Washington has already brought accomplished poets from around the state to local schools to conduct writing workshops; a second grant from Arts of Clark County will continue that with local poets in 2016, he said.
If You Go
• What: First Friday gallery showing and poetry reading, which will benefit Clark County’s poet laureate program. The event will feature poet Christopher Luna, and artists Rebecca Anstine and Barbara A.W. Wright.
• When: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday; poetry reading at 6:20 p.m.
• Where: Clark County Public Service Center, Sixth Floor Gallery, 1300 Franklin St., Vancouver.
• Information:http://printedmattervancouver.com
And that effort will connect with another project called “Poetry Moves,” he said. Luna and Toni Partington, his wife and fellow poet, have worked with transit agency C-Tran to select local poems to be posted in C-Tran buses. That will begin in mid-December with poems by adults; next summer, after the “Poets in the Schools” visits have concluded, Luna expects to replace them with a second batch, by students at various grade levels.
All of which has come to pass because Luna found himself “a little bit jealous” of the Writers in Schools program in Portland, he said.
“We have so many talented people here, I really wanted to try to get something like that started here. We’ve taken baby steps and proved we can do it. Now we just need the fundraising and organizational help. It’s great to have this level of support while we’re feeling our way along,” he said of the First Friday fundraiser.
Luna, Anstine and Wright will all be on hand during a reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, and Luna will read from his poetry for about 20 minutes beginning at 6:20 p.m. Sales of Anstine and Wright’s works will benefit the poet laureate program, which is sponsored by the Clark County Arts Commission and Arts of Clark County.
Music will be provided by students from Vancouver School of Arts and Academics and Mountain View High School through Spotlight on Young Performing Artists, an arts commission program. Light refreshments will be served.
To learn more about Luna and the poet laureate program in Clark County, visit http://printedmattervancouver.com.
To learn more about poetry in general in Clark County, try http://dtc-wsuv.org/wp/enriching-lives and www.artsofclarkcounty.org.
