Six New Mexican poets, including the past and present poet laureates of Albuquerque, will be taking the stage on Sunday at a celebration of Poetry Out Loud. We will hear their original poems as well as work selected from an honored New Mexican poet. Poetry Out Loud is sponsored by The Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, and locally by New Mexico Arts, the state arts agency and a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs. It is a competition for high school students who must recite poems flawlessly, and some of the local competitors will be participating in Sunday’s event.  We will be at the Bookworks in Albuquerque at 3pm, Sunday February 24.  More about this event can be found in the current issue of Alibi .

​I will be attending to show my support – my Original Collage “Hear the Echoes” is featured on the poster promoting the state finals.  This poster has been popular, and I will be bringing the last copies to the poetry reading.  I will also bring the original and some prints as well.  This poster has been showing up in amazing places – in today’s paper,     (the Santa Fe New Mexican)         I was reading an article about some students visiting the Capitol to talk to the representatives – look at the photo that accompanied the article: the poster is on the wall of the office.         How cool is that?
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​The State Finals of Poetry Out Loud will be in Santa Fe, on Sunday March 10 in the St. Francis Auditorium. I will be attending that as well, with the art and prints.

​The sky is filled with stars, invisible by day.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

​My solo show Universe in Pieces continues for a few more weeks (closes March 2) so there is time to catch it.  This show features over a dozen of my Original Collage works with the theme of Outer Space: Galaxies, nebulae, and planets.
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Meanwhile, I am preparing for the Fest for Beatles Fans.  I set up the Art Room and curate the creations that the fans bring in for display.  I also participate in performance art, stemming from the Beatles Poetry Jam that I host.

  ​The opening reception of my exhibit “Universe in Pieces” at the Fuller Lodge Art center was a delight.    Friends drove up from Santa Fe and even Albuquerque (a 180-mile trip!) to celebrate with me.    Many of the Original Collages were new even to fans who have seen my work in previous shows.     The week leading up to the reception including a lot of preparation, but kicked off in a fun way: an interview on the Los Alamos community radio station KRSN 1420 AM/107.1 FM.   The next day, I found out that my show had a great write up in the calendar of Santa Fe’s free weekly newspaper The Reporter (that’s like “The Reader” in Chicago).   Then on Friday afternoon, I was included in a second interview – The Richard Eeds show on the Santa Fe radio Station KTRC 1260 AM/103.7 FM  [a recording is available on their website]

​I drove from the interview to Los Alamos for the reception which started at 5 pm – I was glad I arrived early because visitors started to filter in while I was plating up star-shaped cookies.  The town was celebrating a “Night of Culture” - musical and visual events were happening throughout the Historic District, drawing in new guests.  

​I have been exhibiting my work at various shows at Fuller Lodge Art Center for a year and the community has become acquainted with some of my themes and techniques.  However, they have never seen so many of my “outer space” collages.  It was a thrill and the fulfillment of a dream to display this work in this community.  The people of Los Alamos have been so receptive and supportive that I must include this town as one of my favorite places in this world. 

​I will be visiting the Art Center a few times before “Universe in Pieces” closes on March 2.  I hope that you can see the exhibit while visiting Los Alamos – but not on Sundays: The Art Center is closed on Sundays. I will be at the Railyard Artisans Market on offering my art for sale on February 10 and 17.  On the final Sunday of the month, February 24, I will be in Albuquerque, helping to promote Poetry Out Loud at a poetry reading at Bookworks.  I will be giving away FREE posters at that event, as well as selling giclee prints of “Hear the Echoes”.