CHRIS ARVIDSON

words and art
 

It has all begun! My next book, a poetry collection "Nobody Cares What You Think" from Finishing Line Press, is now in pre-sale. Which means, if you love me at all, even just a teensy bit, please go on the publisher's website and order my book now. There are two good reasons to do this, 1. it's cheaper. 2. pre-sales determine my press run and royalties. See? A no-brainer. The book will be published in January and I'll get out and about with it come February. 

Go to the website: https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/nobody-cares-what-you-think-by-chris-arvidson/ to put in your pre-order. You can read what the wonderful good poets Darnell Arnoult, Jay Ward, and Phillip Shabazz have to say about it. And you can even leave a review. I KNOW you haven't read it yet, but you could gush on about how much you're looking forward to it ha ha ha ha. 

We in the Master Poetry cohort at Table Rock Writers Workshop refer to ourselves as the Free Nation of Shabazz. Yes, we are a cult -- in the best possible reading of the word. (We even have the shirts to prove it!) Our leader is Phillip Shabazz, poet and teacher extraordinaire. With a group of 10, which is A LOT for a poetry workshop, he led us through a week of fabulous creativity. We free wrote, shared and worked over poems, yapped about "the work" and read to our colleages at Table Rock, all in fine supportive form. It's intense, but fascinating and illuminating and energizing. Also, I am tired, but enriched. If that makes any sense. 

Oh JOY! Off to Wildacres and the Table Rock Writers Workshop, one of my most favorite weeks of the year. This year, I was in residence at Wildacres in May, and I get to go back again in the same year?  What's not to love?

I will be working in the Poetry Master Class group, which is actually, like most of Table Rock Writers Workshop, a cult. In a good way. I'm guessing maybe 75% of the 100+ attendees are repeat offenders. We revel in our concentrated writing time, the support, the reading, the writing, the total nerding-out of writer people. I LOVE IT SO MUCH. 

Look for a report, maybe a sample of what I work on, and pictures, soon. 

The move into my new studio space at Charlotte Art League is complete -- except for the vacuuming. It's the exact same size as my previous space, but the lighting is much better. I'm psyched. The grand reopening show for CAL will be Friday, July 12, 6-9:00 p.m. and yes, I'll have some work in there. 

I've got some ideas about new art I'm going to go after right away. So stay tuned. 

A flurry getting ready is going on in Chris writing-and-art-land. Charlotte Art League is being slowly but sure-handidly resurrected. I am among a handful of artists with studios in the current space who have hung in and waited out the patient process of reassembling the organization. The upshot is, I will be moving my studio into new space in the same building. We'll still be there, just in a smaller footprint. I'm going to continue to have my workspace/display space. I'll continue to be a volunteer on the gallery committee. And the next few weeks will entail all of that moving, reorganizing, etc. New monthly shows in the public gallery space will commence this summer. Calls to Artists for their work will begin again soon. You'll be invited to show openings in the near future and have the opportunity to see some of my new work. YAY!

Hopefully, I'll have this all sorted in time for a vacation and wedding up in Michigan. I'll pack up the paints and the writing notebook for that. Expect the relocated gallery and studio space to have lots of new stuff in it as a result. And it's time for the next poetry book to be shaped. Here's my tentative title:  Poetry Isn't Memoir: Come At Me.  What do you think?

Wonderful week at Wildacres. The picture above is the full moon shining in the woods and through the window of Azaela Cabin. I got two paintings done and major revisions and submissions on poems. I also did several hikes, some on my own, and one with my Charlotte walking posse, who were in the area for a quick weekend vacation and birthday celebration. The hikes gave me some much-needed confidence in my strength and capacity. Being there gave me time to think uncluttered with the stuff of daily life. A very inspirational week, as to be expected. At Wildacres -- the setting and the staff are incomparable. It is a huge honor to be able to do a residency there and I am very grateful. 

In the last three months, I've done a series of writing workshops in my area, five in all.  A couple of them have been "ekphrastic" workshops, others used word or story prompts. All have been thankfully well-attended and I've been paid well enough to cover my rent at the Charlotte Art League for the rest of the year. (Still holding out hope that the Art League will continue to get it together and I'll be able to stay on there.) Although I "angst" over preparing these workshops, much like I used to do getting ready to teach classes, they have all gone well. Reviews have been positive. I even set an attendance record for the Charlotte Writers Club workshop. Invitations for more have resulted. So all in all, yay me. :) 

Now I'm turning to getting ready for a one-week residency at Wildacres later this month. Ah, Wildacres. Without a doubt one of my happy places. I've started making little piles of things to take along. Which books, notebooks, pens and paper, notecards, journals, a bag of teas and snacks, all must be thought through and organized and packed then unpacked.Decisions must be made! This is not my first residency there, though it's been since 2018, according to my photo library. What did I learn then that I need to remember for this residency? 

Thankfully I don't need to bring my own sheets and towels this time, don't need to pack those. But I do need to remember that I'm on my own, in my own little cabin, with no car, so no last minute trips to the store for something I've forgotten. Last time, I got a pretty crap cold while I was there and had to make due with the catch-as-catch-can cold medicine they had on hand at the desk. I'll be a little more circumspect with some of those OTC meds this time. And, I'll bring a few snacks for when I'm on a roll and don't want to go to the dining hall for meals -- although honestly, rousting oneself to hidey over there gets your head clear and provides a lovely walk 3x a day through the woods, and adds up 3 miles. Which means maybe once in a while I'll go for that cookie at lunch, or the pie at dinner.

That's the practical stuff to think about. What's more complicated is figuring out which writing projects to work on and what art supplies to bring. Do I write in the mornings and paint in the afternoons? Do I put together the next poetry book, adding and revising what I've got in my stash? Do I paint the cover of that book? Do I bring out that novel? Do I play with those flash essays that might turn into a memoir? Do I submit to those lists I have been building since the beginning of the year? What are the priorities?  I'll be there for a week...  Stay tuned for what ends up happening. 

And if hanging out in a nifty cabin in a glorius mountain setting, by yourself, to work on creative projects sounds like heaven to you, go to the Wildacres website and check out the Residency opportuniies. They have three cabins and run the residencies April though October. It is not an onerous application as these things go, and you don't have to complete any reports or duties if you get one. (wildacres.org) Residency applications open Aug 1 for the 2025 season. 

Here's an update on the Charlotte Art League, where I have a studio and paint several days a week. A new board and officers have been seated. And there's an interim Executive Director, who was with the league a few years ago. She returns with an MPA and some solid non profit experience under her belt, so, yay for that. Those of us who did not bolt are continuing to be hopeful that something can be negotiated that lets us stay where we are. FINGERS CROSSED! 

I continue to do workshops, too, and have one coming in May with the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, South Regional Branch this time. If you're able, come on out. The info is to the left here. I did the monthly presentation for the Charlotte Writers Club on Tuesday and it was a blast. Of course, i angst about this stuff and it ends up going great. I told the story of my long strange trip to becoming a poet. The secret is, of course, to prepare, prepare, practice. 

And, of course, it's now BASEBALL.  Been to a couple of Knights games and following the Tigers every day. Spring is good. :)

Things are really up-in-the-air at the Charlotte Art League these days. While I don't have the inside scoop, and honestly don't want to know too much, I can observe that many of the studio artists have moved out of their spaces. I am keeping the faith that the administration, new board, and lawyers can get all this figured out, and I can stay put. CAL is more than a place to put things in shows or display my work, it's my work space, and I am probably the person who spends the most time there doing so. Keep your fingers crossed. It would not be possible for me to find another affordable work space at the moment -- I've looked -- and my condo isn't really the place for a messy painter like me to work, if I can help it. 

In the meantime, I've taught writing workshops for Charlotte Writers Club, Charlotte Lit, Jay Ward's Poet Laureate workshop series, and I've been asked this week to do one for Charlotte Mecklenburg Library's south regional branch in May. In April I'm the presenter for the Charlotte Writers Club general meeting, it being poetry month and all. This is what retirement looks like. It's all good. 

Due to unforseen circumstances with the gallery space, I've had to cancel this year's ekphrastic show, scheduled for May. Stay tuned for the next ekphrastic adventure. You know I'll figure out something :)