On May 3, The Firehouse in North Joshua Tree will be holding an Artist Talk bright and early this Saturday morning from 10:30 a.m. to noon, featuring poet Frank Montesonti and ceramic artist YehRim Lee, who live and work together in Landers.
Frank Montesonti is the author of two full-length poetry collections: Blight, Blight, Blight, Ray of Hope, winner of the 2011 Barrow Street Book Prize, and Hope Tree (How to Prune Fruit Trees) by Black Lawrence Press. On Saturday morning’s Artist Talk, he’ll be reading from his new chapbook Love! Love! Love! Love! Love!, printed on risograph by Compound YV’s Caroline Partamian.
“With this particular collection I was interested in the idea of exuberance, so I was writing very over-the-top exuberant love poems. Every poem in the collection is titled “love poem” and they’re just kind of wild and too much, and kind of lose track of themselves here and there in their own excitement,” said Montesonti.
Ceramic artist YueRim Lee will address the personal origins of her approach to abstraction.
“I’ll be talking about my personal and work history. I make abstract sculptures and functional furniture, so I’ll discuss how my personal history becomes my current abstract body of work,” said Lee.
Both artists will speak for 20-25 minutes, with Lee showing slides of her work and Montesonti reading from his new chapbook. Montesonti gives a further insight into these periodic Artist Talks at the Firehouse.
“The talks try to give an overview of an artist’s practice, so many artists talk about how they started, to their early work, to what they’re currently doing now, going over their major projects and aesthetics so the audience can get a sense of who they are and what they do. Many of the artists are our local artists, so it’s also a community event where artists get to know other artists in the community.”
Saturday morning’s Artist Talk at the Firehouse on 65430 Winters Road is from 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, free, and open to the public.
