Poster by Bianca Stone
Nov. 6–7, 2014: Two Special Events!
FULL BLEED: Poetry Comics Show
“The visual has always been an important means of communication, from caveman paintings, to graphic novels, to IKEA instruction manuals. We know it fits in somewhere with poetry, beginning with how poets and artists have always looked lovingly upon one another, and ending somewhere more uncharted. … Poetry and poets who interact with the visual has limitless implications, from traditional use of the comic-strip and comic book, to a much more experimental use of text and image. I wish to go boldly, willingly, into Poetry Comics, and see what people are doing out there. I’m not entirely concerned with defining what I mean by Poetry Comics, but rather seeing how many tiny silver arrows we can launch at it. And perhaps how many it can launch back at us.” –Bianca Stone
FULL BLEED celebrates the art of the poetry comic. In the same way that full bleed printing expands to the edge of the page, poetry comics dilate across genre lines. Poetry as bleeding heart mixes with the whimsy of comics to produce work that startles and ignites. Word and image hold hands, tell each other stories, console each other, party together.
Artwork from the show is now available for sale online! Visit our store to view pieces.
FEATURED POETS AND ARTISTS
Bianca Stone is the co-founder and editor of Monk Books, author of Someone Else’s Wedding Vows (Tin House/Octopus Books, 2014), and co-author of Antigonick, with Anne Carson (New Directions, 2012). She founded the Ruth Stone Foundation in 2012 and lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Matthea Harvey is the author of five books of poetry, most recently Of Lamb and If the Tabloids are True What are You? and two books for children.
Sommer Browning‘s most recent book of poetry is Backup Singers (Birds, LLC; 2014). She is also the author of Either Way I’m Celebrating (Birds, LLC; 2011), a collection of poetry and comics, and various chapbooks. She works as a librarian in Denver.
Sampson Starkweather is the author of The First Four Books of Sampson Starkweather. He is a founding editor of Birds, LLC, an independent poetry press. His most recent chapbook is Flowers of Rad by Factory Hollow Press, and he lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Jon-Michael Frank has work published or forthcoming in Anti-, Inter/rupture, Sink Review, Sixth Finch, and Spork Press, among others. A chapbook of poems is forthcoming from Birds LLC, and another chapbook, of comics, is being released by El Aleph Press in 2014. Jon-Michael is also an assistant editor for the small press Birds, LLC, helps run a reading series in Austin, TX, called Fun Party, and sells illustrations about life, or the lack of it, on etsy.
Annie Mok makes comics, collaboratively and solo, acts, and sings in the pop group See-Through Girls. She lives in Philadelphia. “Shadow Manifesto” is a three-part series that ran on ZEAL, a website spotlighting criticism and responses to video games.
Paul Siegell is the author of wild life rifle fire, jambandbootleg, and Poemergency Room. He is a copywriter at the Philadelphia Inquirer and a senior editor at Painted Bride Quarterly. Kindly find more of Paul’s work – and concrete poetry t-shirts – at “ReVeLeR @ eYeLeVeL” (http://paulsiegell.blogspot.
Emily Ballas is a Philadelphia-based graphic designer, for now. She is an eager, curious type. Design-wise and otherwise. Part builder, experimenter, and storyteller, Emily’s work can be found at www.emilyballas.com.
CURATOR
Hila Ratzabi is a poet and freelance editor. She is the author of the chapbook The Apparatus of Visible Things (Finishing Line Press, 2009). She is founder of the Red Sofa Salon & Poetry Workshop (and reading series) in Philadelphia, and the editor-in-chief and poetry editor of the literary journal Storyscape.
FULL BLEED: Poetry Comics Show
Thursday November 6th, 7:00pm
Exhibit preview and poetry reading featuring:
Bianca Stone
Sommer Browning
Sampson Starkweather
Annie Mok
Paul Siegell
Hosted by Hila Ratzabi
Friday November 7th, 5:00–9:00pm
First Friday opening night
Complimentary cupcakes from Whipped Bakeshop!
Live, sliding-scale sketch portraits of guests by artist Annie Mok!
Both events are free and take place at Indy Hall
Indy Hall, 22 N. 3rd St., Philadelphia, PA 19106
@indyhall_arts
@redsofasalon
#fullbleed
