CB to You Mobile Art Lab: Rogers

Energizing Community Through Art!

Rogers, the CB to You Mobile Art Lab is returning to your neighborhood!

Join us this November at the Rogers Public Library for three days of creativity and conversation focused on energizing communities through art. Each day of the visit will feature different activities and artists, as well as pop-up performances throughout the evening and weekend.

From artmaking and Storycircles to artist talks and live studio demonstrations, this traveling celebration of creativity promises to bring a little bit of inspired fun to everyone. Each stop will culminate in a free outdoor concert and community art showcase.

Join us in celebrating your hometown by creating art, stories, and memories together!

Free, no ticket required.

Thursday, November 4

Activities from 3 to 6 PM

Artist of the Day: Lakisha Harper Bradley

Lakisha is a Social Practice Artist, Executive Director and Founder of MY-T-BY-DESIGN Therapeutic Art Studios located in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She uses a variety of painting mediums and uses art-making as a way to experience and release euphoric emotions.

Lakisha will be at the library from 3 to 6 PM and will be introducing guests to a therapeutic art studio experience involving acrylic paint. Following the art activity, Lakisha will lead an artist discussion inspired by her own experiences with community, belonging, and resilience.

An extra pop-up performance will be given by artist Craig Colorusso! Craig will perform his work Ladybug Cathedral at the library from 4 – 6 PM! Using a bowed guitar, Craig’s Ladybug Cathedral is a long, slow, and deliberate performance that invites listeners to just listen and let the sound wash over them. Craig is a sound-based artist whose explorative work extends beyond sound and utilizes light and sculpture. In the past five years, Colorusso has combined his interests in the permanent and semi-permanent works: Sound Swings, Moon Pod, Covered Bridge ONE, and The Tunnel.

Friday, November 5

Activities from 3 to 5 PM

Artists of the Day: Tay Butler

Tay will be at the library from 3 – 5 PM and will be introducing guests to a collage-based art activity that involves magazines and cardstock.  Following the art activity, Tay will lead a discussion inspired by their own experiences with community, belonging, and resilience.

Tay works in photography, collage/assemblage, video, music, and sound exhibitions and installations. He is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work layers both the present-day and archival Black experience, as well as the histories, realities, and theories that influence those experiences.

Saturday, November 6

Activities from 11 – 2:30 PM

Activity of the Day by Markeith Woods

On Saturday, we have a day full of artists and performances! Kicking off the fun-filled day will be our guest artists, leading an activity by Markeith Woods! Our guest artists will be at the library from 11 AM – 2:30 PM and will be introducing guests to a painting and figure drawing activity inspired by portraits of community members. Following the art activity, they’ll lead an artist discussion inspired by their own experiences with community, belonging, and resilience.

Markeith is a portraitist who is interested in human character and uses symbols, words, and images to recreate his experiences. He uses many mediums, such as charcoal, graphite, acrylic, and pastels, to observe the subjects that interest him.

After the artist hours, storytelling events will be led by guest poets and storytellers Na’Tosha De’Von from Poetic Justice: Speak Your Jewel!, Caroline Ezell from the Open Mouth Reading Series, and Jane Blunschi and Mohja Kahf from the Ozark Poets and Writers Collective.

Na’Tosha De’Von is an MFA actor and published poet. Today, Na’Tosha will share readings of her own work while guiding a storytelling circle, encouraging guests through activity prompts and storytelling to participate in writing and sharing stories about their experiences in their own communities.

Na’Tosha has published and traveled her poetry in the Southern region. Believing that the premise of her art is to focus and heal, Na’Tosha uses her words to inspire and fight for positive change.

Poetic Justice: Speak Your Jewel! is sponsored by the local nonprofit organization Light House Solutions. Speak your Jewel is a diverse group of Social Artists within the NWA area. They come from all different walks of life to spark courage and participation within the community. Their artists are known for activating their jewels through dance, poetry, singing, painting and acting to deliver the power of their stories. Their mission is to help people believe humanity and divinity are one within us and their mantra is: You must never suffocate the genius that lies within you.

Caroline Ezell is a florist, filmmaker, and iconic former waitress/dropout living in Northwest Arkansas. She prefers poetry that is derealized, wry, and film-like. Interests include flowers, poker, psychoanalysis, cloistered female insanity, tragic celebrity, conspiracy, dinner parties, and her pets, Zuzu and Dirtbike.

Open Mouth Reading Series is a community-based literary organization located in Fayetteville, Arkansas. They have partnered with local organizations to bring engaging and creative events, programming, experiences, exchanges, content, and dialogues to Northwest Arkansas. OM hosts monthly readings and writing workshops as well as many other writing and engagement opportunities for poets and community members. Their featured poets will share readings of their own work while guiding a storytelling circle, encouraging guests through activity prompts and storytelling to participate in writing and sharing stories about their experiences in their own communities.

Mohja Kahf is the author of poetry books My Lover Feeds Me Grapefruit, Hagar Poems, and E-mails from Scheherazad, the novel The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf, and the nonfiction book Western Representations of the Muslim Woman. Kahf’s writing has been translated into Arabic, Turkish, Japanese, Urdu, Persian, Italian, French, and German. She won a Pushcart Prize for an essay about the difficult birth of her son, and was recognized by the Black Democratic Caucus of NWA for her work on inclusion and equity in education. Kahf serves on the board of Canopy NWA, a refugee resettlement organization.

Jane Blunschi holds an MFA in Fiction Writing from the University of Arkansas. She was a Lambda Literary Emerging Voices Fellow in 2014 and her collection of stories, Understand Me, Sugar, was published in 2017 by Yellow Flag Press. Her Pushcart prize-nominated work has appeared in Paper Darts, SmokeLong Quarterly, Bayou Magazine, and Foglifter, among others.

Ozark Poets and Writers Collective is a forum for creators who work in words. The OPWC is a non-profit organization devoted to the joys of the spoken and written word and is based in Fayetteville, Arkansas. They support and promote community involvement by providing various opportunities for poets and other community members.

An extra pop-up performance by Papa Rap and the drumline circle will be held from 11 AM to 12 PM. Papa Rap will be performing alongside Bongo Luigi Vazquez and together they will teach everyone about different drum rhythms and cultures through reading stories, hands-on activities, singing and dancing!

Papa Rap, also known as Al Lopez, is a Puerto Rican musician who connects communities through music-making and performances. The goal of his music is to encourage understanding and togetherness through educational and fun lyricism!

For the finale of the tour, CB to You invites you to a live music gathering at 1 PM by the Arkansas Arts Academy Jazz Band, presented in collaboration with Music Moves.

Music Moves is committed to educating and engaging the community by making high-quality performances of Black music accessible to everyone. The nonprofit partners with local organizations to bring live performances to the community throughout the year.

Don’t forget to pick up a free art kit to take home with you!

The CB to You Mobile Art Lab is a traveling pop-up art experience energizing the power of community through art. Featuring regional artists from across Northwest Arkansas, the art lab will be visiting local libraries and festivals around the region to bring artmaking, music, storytelling, and more. Find out more about the program, see a full schedule of stops, and get to know our guest artists here!

The CB to You Mobile Art Lab is presented in partnership with Ziba Rijabi, Markeith Woods, Lakisha Harper Bradley, Trinity Kai, Tay Butler, and Junli Song. Pop-up performances will be performed by Papa Rap’s the fun love drum line, Craig Colorusso’s Lady Bug Cathedral Sessions, and Music Moves. Story sharing events are presented with Ozark Poets and Writers Collective, Open Mouth Reading Series, and Poetic Justice: Speak Your Jewel!