The Poetry Well is a monthly column that showcases island poetry. This month includes a poem by Vashon’s second poet laureate, Ina Whitlock.
When Kenyan artist Ken Nyambura hurriedly packed his rolled-up canvases into a suitcase, he had no idea what would come next. He only knew he had to flee his country. Due to continuous death threats, the artist, 29, left behind his wife, two young sons, his parents and community to seek asylum in the United States.
Last May, island husband-and-wife duo, photographer Ray Pfortner and designer Nancy Wing, led a WTE, Inc. photography tour to Cuba. Beginning Friday and running for the month of July, an exhibition of the colorful city and countryside images taken on the tour — many shot from behind-the-typical-tourist-scene-locations — will cover the walls of The Hardware Store Restaurant.
Roald Dahl’s celebrated story of Willie Wonka and the five lucky children who win a golden ticket to his chocolate factory will be performed this weekend by Vashon Dance Academy when Dance! Vashon, the nonprofit that produces the academy’s shows, presents “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” at the Vashon High School theater.
Author, leadership consultant and former Vashon resident Suzanne Anderson will return to the island next week to sign and read from her new book, “The Way of the Mysterial Woman,” at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 30, at Vashon Bookshop.
The Girsky Quartet is on a mission to play all of the Beethoven quartets. Last season, the group’s Vashon Beethoven Quartet Project did just that. They performed six of the 15 quartets, and from 1 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 19, the group will play the six quartets in a progressive concert held at three of the island’s churches.
What is the work of a poet in the world today? Islander Merna Hecht and Seattle poets Samar Albulhassan and Ann Teplick, will share the work they do — and the poems they write — at a reading to address the youth populations whose voices too often remain silent at 6 p.m. Wednesday, June 22, at Vashon Bookshop. A community open mic will follow the reading for island poets to read their own work related to the theme of “The Poet in the World.”
Former islander, indie-pop and rock singer-songwriter Cami Lundeen will return to her Vashon roots with a show at 8 p.m. Friday at the Red Bike.
When island author and Newberry award-winner Karen Cushman sat down to write her 10th book for young readers, she knew only two things — the title of the book and that she wanted to do something different from her trademark historical fiction. Her efforts culminated in “Grayling’s Song,” Cushman’s first fantasy novel. The author will sign and read from her recently released book at 6 p.m. Thursday at Vashon Bookshop.
It’s been almost 15 years since Vashon Center for Dance has brought Prokofiev’s classic ballet, “Cinderella,” to Vashon audiences. The last time was in 2001. It was one of the first ballets Christine Juarez, director of Vashon Center for Dance, choreographed for her students, and it was performed in the lecture hall-cum-theater in the old Vashon High School building. This weekend, Juarez and her students will present a newly choreographed version of “Cinderella” on the new stage as the inaugural dance performance in the Katherine L White Hall at Vashon Center for the Arts.
Islanders Lois Watkins and Janie Starr have each lived on Vashon for just over a decade, but they only met a few months ago. They share a passion for activism and a love of writing, and they grew up in segregated America in the Southeast during the 1950s. But they could not have arrived on Vashon from two more different backgrounds. Watkins, black, and Starr, white, lived in vastly different worlds, and as they say, they came to their activism from flip sides of the race coin.
For the past three years, in a sunny office on the second floor of the Open Space for Arts & Community, co-founders Janet McAlpin and David Godsey have been putting their considerable creative talents toward a brand new act. Calling it a makeover from the inside out, the two performing artists are launching a $1.5 million renovation of the building with a kick-off gala event — The Big O — the first Sunday in June.
By JULI GOETZ MORSER
