Sunday 3.14.10

ARTIST TALK @ Studio-Current

Studio-Current announced its first speaker, A. K. Mimi Allin, in a new Artist Talk Series that began on Sunday March 14 @ 5PM. Allin is the recipient of a 2009 CityArtist Grant for her project "Adopt-A-Poet." The talk was hosted by Vanessa DeWolf and facilitated by Karl Thuneman.

A. K. Mimi Allin, poet-in-residence at NBBJ (a leading global architecture and design firm based in Seattle), spoke about the nation's first corporate-poet residency, brokered by the artist in January 2010. Allin rowed daily in a little wooden rowboat across Lake Union to get to work. Once there, she presented a number of poetry-driven installations such as "The Blue Line," "No Swimming," "Blind Poet," and "Dear Architect." After the presentation, there was a brief reading of original poetry produced during the residency and a guided discussion with an open Q & A.

Allin received funding from The Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs for Adopt-A-Poet. Her intention was to craft a new model for artists and corporations, to suggest a dynamic and symbiotic residence. Now in its final stages, Allin is reaching out to the community to talk about the project. If you would like to schedule a presentation at your school or organization, contact: mimiallin@gmail.com.

The talk raised a number of challenging questions, such as, how restrictive is it for an artist to work within the confines of commerce, either in a space or an organization? What is artistic freedom and where can it be achieved? How does an artist who goes into a corporation keep from becoming corporate themselves? How can we call this model a success when it failed to produce true corporate backing in the form of continued funding?

Paul Wissel of KPLU was in attendance and recording the event. Paula is preparing a piece on Adopt-A-Poet for the station's new arts program, Artscape. This piece will be aired on Monday 22 March at 5:30am and again at 7:30am that same day.