Reading Raid for the Alt + Love Art Market

I recently did my first public reading in a while along with other BlackTopppers at the Alt + Love Art Market at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre in Freddy Beach.  Although personally I am as straight as the borders of Saskatchewan I'm an egalitarian right to the core and was happy to come out to support the GLBTQ community.  I even wore my purple shirt just for the occasion.  Oh, I know you're wondering about it, so the killer metal tie is by Trudy Gallagher http://www.bejewel.ca/.  I got tons of great comments on the tie, Trudy.

I read my poem "God Bless an' Keep Thee, Rabbie Burns" in honour of the statue of Robert Burns recently being placed back in its rightful place on the Green in Fredericton after a 3-year absence (the delay is probably the reason I look angry in the photo Biff Mitchell took of me, or maybe I'm just reacting to spotting Biff with his camera :).

I think I managed to channel Rabbie's ghost reasonably well (again)... the only other time I've read this poem in public was on Rabbie's 250th birthday on Burns night in January 2009, and that time there was whisky and haggis in abundance, so his ghost was definitely present then!

re:myth re:prise!

The BlackTop MotorCycle Gang / Emerge artists collective's groundbreaking "re:myth" collaborative exhibit is getting its motor running and heading out on the highway with a new showing at the Saint John Arts Centre, 20 Hazen Avenue, Saint John NB.  The exhibit opens this Friday, January 28 at 5:30 pm in the City Gallery.

Not sure yet if yours truly will be able to make it to the opening, but at the very least I plan to go see the exhibit at some point and will post some photos.

"re:myth" Art Exhibit Opening

"re:myth" is a ground-breaking collaboration between writers of the BlackTop MotorCycle Gang and the Emerge artists collective wherein the writers were tasked to write a short piece on new mythologies for the 21st Century, and the artists were (anonymously) given one or two of the writings to interpret as visual art.  The artists had no opportunity to interview the authors or even to know anything about them except what was communicated on the page.

The exhibit of the results (artwork and writing installed side by side) opened Sept 2, 2010 and was accompanied by readings by some of the authors (myself included).  This was the first time that the authors and artists had met, and the authors saw the artwork for the first time at the same time as the general public.  The response was amazing and I was overwhelmed by the vision of the artists who had interpreted my two stories.  All in all a great evening and one of the best art openings I have ever attended!

Nancy Smith Morin (artist, "The Bread of Life") and Todd R. Snow (author, "The Confession") give thanks for their daily bread beside the installation of Nancy's artwork.

Todd R. Snow (author, "I, Burger") and Mark Cameron (artist, "Hamburgearth") take a bite out of Mark's artwork

The exhibit continues until Sept 17, 2010 at Gallery ConneXion, and an anthology
of the stories is available from Broken Jaw Press.