Looking Glass Studios Art Opening

There's nothing like a highly spontaneous art evening to kick one into creative mode.  I've waited a while to attend an opening at Looking Glass Studio where my friends, Shaggy, Justin Brown and guest artist, Joe, were displaying the works.  The studio is in a very cool house previously owned by one of my friends and is now a studio plus art gallery.

Art covered all the walls of the home decorated with furniture reminiscent of Beetlejuice or Dr. Seuss, and the display or surrealism, fantasy, realism and abstract took every every inch of wall space. Visitors were greeted by Homer playing acoustic guitar on the porch and the spontaneous acts or an artistic nature erupted from then on.  There were poetry and spoken word moments, spontaneous dances, and lots of conversation.  I sort of persuaded/bullied Shaggy into reading poetry to some Lindy and Gail,. Then Becky, Justin and I read some of our poetry, Becky read form her horror novel, Blood in the Orchard, Homer and Vicki did spoken word poetry.

I didn't know I'd be reading, but Shaggy dug up some of my chapbooks and so I pulled a few out and read, Seeds and The Quintessential Language of Bridges, from my chapbook "Spirals in Copper" and then Julia read one of my poems, "New Orleans 2008" too.  Julia and Vicki were sent on a wild goose chase by their GPS but ended up there to be greeted by Homer and a wild kitten who, as it turns out, happens to be a fan of art and poetry.

I wish I could have stayed longer, and didn't make it to the Valentine Wolfe or IFB show  - it just got too late. But I came home brimming with ideas and inspired and while Kendall was here, we drew and sketched and painted and did collage work so events like these, which are not simply voyeuristic but participatory are so much more fun and beneficial than I could have realized.  I haven't read poetry in years, not since I did on the sidewalk of the Pendleton Arts District with Brian K. Ladd, Becky, Rick and others in an random act of street performance art.  The lights at Looking Glass were low and that made it easier to read, as well as the highly appreciative audience which, at the example of Shaggy, snapped their fingers as applause, which I imagine made the neighbors grateful. One of the highlights was Homer playing and singing Nirvana's, Heart-Shaped Box, while we sat in the dark on the porch - a transport to earlier times, for sure.
There was even a multi-dimensional time traveling Homer, which made the evening, very interesting as you can see in this photo, he was just reappearing in time to hear Becky read.