Artists and the art-curious are invited to witness art come alive — literally — through visuals and spoken word in the multi-venue show Art Aloud this April.
Each visual art piece is accompanied with a piece of poetry, song, essay or other form of written work, and will be shown/performed at five venues scattered throughout Colorado Springs: Gallery Raw Studios at Dale Miller Guitar Studio (first-time venue), Rico’s Café at Poor Richard’s, Academy Art and Frame, Sand Creek Library and Platte Collections Gallery at Platte Furniture.
After an open call for submissions, each venue selects the pieces to display, giving each location its own unique flair. Artwork is displayed throughout the month. Each artist also performs their written work at open mic nights (dates below).
Sand Creek Library hosts its open mic night in its recording room so that artists will get a recording of their performance, says Art Aloud organizer Cas Foste.
Platte Collections’ Art Aloud installation will be hosted in its underground art gallery. Art Aloud artists will be shown alongside the debut “Tarot” Collection by Arionna Goffinet, featuring more than 22 paintings of the Major Arcana. Other spotlight artists include Karen Mosbacher and Marre Moores, who will feature an elevated, thought-provoking look at where art meets poetry, says gallery coordinator Eli King.
Jeffery Payne, assistant retail manager at Poor Richard’s, says the long-standing venue aims to showcase unique, emerging talent.
“Pieces are picked by a gut feeling,” Payne says. “The curator (me) looks for whimsical, unusual work that probably wouldn’t work in a ‘normal’ gallery setting.”
Each year, between 40 and 60 artists submit work. Artists range from first-time entrants to seasoned professionals, Foste says.
Colorado Springs artist Bill Young has submitted photography, installation art, poetry or collaborations nearly every year.
He is a professional artist with work displayed on five continents, but he says the fun of Art Aloud is sharing the stage with artists who might be in their first show. It’s a great way to bring artists and non-artists of all stripes together, combine the power of visual art with the power of spoken word, and experience unique interpretations of various types of art, he says.
“I enjoy being around a group of creative people that just have fun with it,” Young says.
Art Aloud was created about 19 years ago as a collaborative effort between multiple venues, artists and writers to combine art and poetry for National Poetry Month. Since then, the show has grown to incorporate more venues, artists and forms of the written word, Foste says.
Community remains at the heart of the show, as it brings patrons into participating businesses, helps new artists gain exposure and connects artists, galleries and businesses.
“My biggest goal is creating connections within the community, galleries and venues, and artists and writers. Collaboration is so important within the art world, businesses and just life in general,” Foste says.
“And so being, as far as I know, the only one cohesive show that works with multiple locations, it really creates community. It brings out the uniqueness of our community and our artists and writers.”