Saturday, April 5, 2pm at the Richmondtown Branch Library, 200 Clarke Ave, SINY 10306

Staten Island OutLOUD kicks off National Poetry month with What Women Carry, a slide show of innovative collages by Island artist Everet, accompanied by readings of global poetry.  Together, Everet’s collages and our poetry selections will explore women’s work in the world, to invite reflection and conversation.

Here are Everet’s comments on her collages,  composed of found objects and images, textiles and paper, that will be featured in OutLOUD’s event:  “Women carrying things on their heads… strong women whose balance, posture and stamina are impressive…  vendors and shoppers selling and buying … laborers and servants hauling, harvesting and gleaning … immigrants, refugees and nomads moving and transporting… fruits, vegetables, spices, bread, sugarcane, gain, tea, water, milk, wine, livestock, fish, flowers, birds …. beds, clothes, pots, pans, cups, bowls, platters, baskets, buckets, trays, cages, boxes, barrels, bags and coffins…. cement, stones, mud, bricks, sand, wood, dung… by way of riverbeds, hills, fields, highways, paths and streets of sand, gravel, clay, dirt, asphalt, cobblestone… throughout history, throughout the world.”

Everet is a self-taught artist/designer based on Staten Island; her work is included in public and private collections in many countries.  Her current work as a textile artist represents her commitment to use remnants and recycled materials as often as possible.  She utilizes an appliquéd fabric technique that she calls “Lamina” to produce nature-themed wall hangings; she also includes the patterns of the layered fabrics themselves in her designs of clothing and sculpture.

“Women Carrying Things on Their Heads” is a theme that Everet has used in a variety of media for the past thirty years.  The collages in her visual presentation portray strong women around the world and throughout history, whose balance, posture and stamina are impressive.  

Global poetry selections will be curated by Island writer Victoria Hallerman (www.victoriahallerman.com).

Ms. Hallerman has published several chapbooks of poetry and a collection, The Aerialist, which won the Bright Hill Prize in 2005. For over 20 years, she worked as a poet and literacy teacher in classrooms throughout NYC, including 27 schools on Staten Island.  Her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Poetry, The Nation and The Pushcart Prize.

As a prose writer, Ms. Hallerman wrote and published How We Survived Prostate Cancer: What we did and what we should have done (William Morrow, an imprint of Harper Collins, 2009).  Ms. Hallerman recently completed the manuscript of Starts Wednesday: Coming of Age In a Movie Palace, a memoir of how she and her husband struggled to save Staten Island’s St. George Theatre in 1976.

Free & family-friendly. Best for ages 8 & up.

For directions via public transportation, please visit www.hopstop.com