"Poetry Is Hope": Celebrating Filipino American artists, ghostie doggies, and a crosswalk mural competition
Issue no. 4
An excerpt from a conversation with poet Nicole Sealey:
As a reader, I want to feel. However, I don’t want to be told when and what to feel. Poems by poets who write against sentimentality often end up lacking sentiment altogether. Whereas sentimentality is contrived, designed to elicit a specific response at a specific time—the cued music on a television show that tells the audience when to clap or cry, sentiment is real feeling. Poets like Lucille Clifton, Vievee Francis, Brigit Pegeen Kelly, Sharon Olds, and Matthew Olzmann write poems with heart and gut. Everything these poets have written comes to mind…
I truly believe that poetry is drawn from the collective and colored by the individual. Though we have immediate access to images provided by personal experience, such as the time and place in which we exist and the circumstances into which we were born, the I, by virtue of its humanness, is the we. Whether we know it or not, we access a history much older than ourselves and geographies beyond ourselves. That said, “beautiful distance” is natural. This distance, I think, is in all poems, including “the first person who will live to be a hundred and fifty years old has already been born” and “in defense of ‘candelabra with head.’” Distance gives us the opportunity to see ourselves objectively.
What’s Cool Lately
According to the website of NExSE (northeast US by southeast Asia), a Filipino-American artist collective, “Filipinos in the US make up the second largest Asian population group … [yet their] art remains invisible.” So in honor of Filipino American heritage month, take a look at how FilAm artists are connecting and creating by drawing inspiration from their rich history.
At Cool Girls Co, we celebrate all types of creativity — from arts to sciences and even to economics. Harvard economist Claudia Goldin was recently awarded the Nobel in economics, making her the first woman to win the prize solo. But this isn’t just a win for Goldin; it’s also a win for women everywhere, as her work “took on the subject of women in the labor market at a time when much of the field's empirical analysis ignored women entirely.”
Moment of Inspiration
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What’s a better way to celebrate Friday the 13th than admiring some spooky pups? We can only hope this trend turns into fluffy snowmen by winter…
Open Calls & Opportunities
🖼️ Open Source Gallery invites applications that are aligned with their mission to observe the social environment we are surrounded by. They are looking for artists from around the world practicing in any form of media, ranging from painting to installation to performance art with an emphasis on experimentation, sustainability, and social engagement. Application deadline: Friday, 13 October 2023 at 11:59PM ET.
🎭 The City of Los Angeles IMAP Grant Program allows accomplished artists, who are residents of LA, to create a new mid-career solo work with the freedom to re-focus on themselves and their core impulses. Approximately 6-12 artists will receive $10,000 USD. Open to designers/visual artists, literary artists, and performing artists. Application deadline: Monday, 6 November 2023 at 11:59PM PT.
🎨 The Library, Arts & Culture Department of the City of Glendale is accepting proposals for creative crosswalk murals. Artists of all artistic genres, arts organizations, or schools may submit proposals, with a preference towards artists local to Glendale, California. The design conceptualization budget should be between $1,000 - $15,000 USD. Application deadline: Friday, 17 November 2023 at 5:00PM PT.
🧑🎨 DMOS Art School has extended their deadline for a contest aimed at young artists. K-5th grade artists located in New York are eligible for cash prizes ranging from $75 - $300 USD. Application deadline: Friday, 17 November 2023.