Baldridge featured at poetry reading
The San Diego Art Institute is hosting an evening of poetic and artistic expression on Wednesday, June 20, to celebrate and inspire local artists. This performance art and open-mic event, the third of the year for the museum’s Art and Poetry series, will feature musical and visual collaborations by the installation artist Zuri Waters, composer Nathan Hubbard, and poets J. Godley and Charlene Baldridge.
“We choose our performers based on what they’ve done and how they’ve developed as artists. “¦ [We look for] combinations with a cutting edge,” said Michael Klam, Poets Programs coordinator for the museum.
Klam referenced Baldridge, an acclaimed theater and classical music critic featured in the Village News, as an example of the kind of progressive and multi-disciplinary performer that the museum tries to feature.
“I’ve read her critique “¦ but when I discovered her poetry and saw that she is as accomplished and good a poet as she is a theater critic, I thought she would be a good choice,” Klam said.
Baldridge will be reading from her poetry book “Winter Roses,” while composer Hubbard presents a “futuristic” combination of music and spoken word. In addition, Waters, a painter and saxophone jazz player for the museum, will collaborate Godley to create a unique gallery installation mixing spoken word and the visual arts.
In the second half of the show, audience members will be invited to approach an open mic and share their poetry, show and discuss a piece of artwork, or present any combination of the artistic disciplines. Attendees can expect to see and hear anything from a musical composition to an acrobatic act.
In the past, several of the developing artists who present during the open-mic portion of the show have been asked to return as featured performers.
“We’re looking for future [people to] feature,” Klam said. “Someone who is developing and dedicated “¦ who will get a reaction from our audience.”
The Poetry and Art show will take place June 20 in the main gallery of the San Diego Art Institute, located in Balboa Park, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Admission is $5 per person.
For information, visit sandiego-art.org.