ARTS/West Presents is pleased to host the 7th Annual Women of
Appalachia Project (WOAP) “Women Speak” performance, an evening of juried
poetry, story and song, featuring artists from throughout Ohio, West Virginia
and Kentucky. The event will be held in the performance space on October 22,
2015, at 6pm.
The mission of WOAP is to showcase the way in which female
artists respond to the Appalachian region as a source of inspiration, bringing
together women from diverse backgrounds, ages and experiences to embrace the
stereotype – to show the whole woman; beyond the superficial factors that
people use to judge her.
The work of seventeen spoken word artists, poets,
storytellers and musicians, will be performed at five separate venues
throughout Ohio; first up at ARTS/West, 132 W. State Street, Athens. In
November several WOAP artists will present at the esteemed Columbus Poetry
Forum, Bossy Girls on High Street. Sips Coffee House, Mt. Vernon will host a
December Saturday afternoon presentation; The Bowen House in Logan in March 2015;
and a performance at The Pump House Fine Arts Center, Chillicothe, will close
out the season in May 2016.
“I am so pleased that this eclectic group of locations have
been offered up to host this season’s “Women Speak” events, allowing this
assemblage of spoken art to be heard potentially by hundreds of folks in the
respective communities,” says founder curator Kari Gunter-Seymour.” Over the
past 7 years, ARTS/West has been an important partner of WOAP. We are grateful
for the support and encouragement provided by the excellent staff and
volunteers.
When asked how living
in Appalachia has influenced her life and therefore her art, Kentucky poet
Barbara Biggs says, “I spent a lot of time trying to run away from these hills
and valleys. I moved places, worked other places, but ultimately, always ended
up right back here, within view of the Ohio River and the Indian mounds and
persimmon trees. There are so many things I love about Appalachia: the
complexity of the people, the feeling that I am never far from a maple tree,
and that feeling in spring when the hills are pure green and everything just
feels right.”
“Throughout my childhood, my grandmothers made sure I had
access to stories and books and songs and instruments,” shares West Virginia
writer, Jamie Bailey. I spent my days at each of their homes, pulling carrots
from the earth, apples from branches, climbing in their trees, and inspecting
their rosebushes. The Appalachian homes that hosted my childhood became
playgrounds for my very colorful imagination.”
7th Annual Women of Appalachia Project “Women Speak”
ARTS/West
132 W State St, Athens, OH 45701
Thursday, October 22, 2015 @ 6pm
Doors open at 5:30pm. The presentation is
free to the public through donations in support of WOAP and ARTS/West will be
taken at the door. There will be a short reception immediately following the
performance. Refreshments will be served.
For more information go to www.womenofappalachia.com or visit
WOA on Facebook at facebook.com/WomenofAppalachia. For questions, email womenofappalachia@gmail.com
