• News
  • Student Life
  • Athletics
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Campus Portal Login
  • News
  • Student Life
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Athletics
  • Campus Portal Login

Salve students, FabLab youths breathe life into “Poetry of the Wild” exhibition

salvetoday Posted On May 2, 2017
1


0
Shares
  • Share On Facebook
  • Tweet It

Salve Regina students recently welcomed their youth partners from FabNewport to campus to install exhibits at the McKillop Library as part of “Poetry of the Wild,” a community-based art and poetry project that will run at numerous public sites throughout the city and Aquidneck Island this summer. These and other installations are ongoing in preparation for the exhibition’s May 6 citywide opening.

Open to all members of the Salve Regina and Aquidneck Island communities, the Poetry of the Wild launch will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 6 at the Redwood Library, located at 50 Bellevue Ave. in Newport. Participants will walk to various boxes in town and then meet at the University to open the boxes near the Cliff Walk.

The FabLab kids produced vinyl cutouts of poetry and a large bear that were stuck to the library’s windows, and they made wooden boxes to host poetry journals. A dozen first-year students in Dr. Jen McClanaghan’s Introduction to Creative Writing course wrote poems to place in the boxes and, after the installations were complete, went to each location to read their poems aloud.

Ana Flores, ecological artist, sculptor and founder of Poetry of the Wild, says the project connects people to the landscape by combining poetry, visual art and the natural world. It is supported by Salve Regina with help from additional community partners.

Flores – who runs Earth Inform Studio – has been bringing Poetry of the Wild to locations both public and wild for the last 12 years. Each installation features a box or sculpture, built by artists and community members using recycled materials, that contains an original or classic poem as well as a journal for passersby to contribute reflections of their own. Each unique site reflects the spirit of each place.

“We’ve done this all over the country – urban, rural, universities and many, many other partnerships,” Flores said. “I think it’s going to present a Newport that people don’t think is Newport. Everyone has their own little Newport they know, and the tourists know a certain Newport. This is a very diverse Newport and this allows other voices to be heard.”

McClanaghan, assistant professor in the Department of English and Communications and writer-in-residence, and her class took on a leading role in organizing Poetry of the Wild in Newport, engaging with Flores and local artists to encourage submissions.

“Poetry of the Wild’s focus is art, the environment and community,” McClanaghan said. “This project joins other great work Salve faculty and staff are doing, putting our mission and our critical concerns into action, and it also brings together a diversity of community members. We are creating a bridge between many homes, and what better way to do it than with an open invitation to make art and poetry together, which seems more important than ever. I hope the relationships we’ve built through Poetry of the Wild will inform new projects each year.”

Installations will be featured at more than a dozen sites throughout the city, including Eisenhower Park, Redwood Library, Aquidneck Land Trust, FabLab, the Met School, Community Garden at Quaker Meeting House, the Cliff Walk, Ballard Park, the Salve Regina campus and more.

The University’s engagement in Poetry of the Wild is another example of the type of community collaborations being spearheaded by Salve Regina faculty as part of a $173,800 grant from the Davis Educational Foundation to intentionally infuse community engagement and civic learning into the curriculum.

The courses developed by faculty in each of the three years of the grant are built around a significant project developed in conjunction with partners that will fulfill a demonstrated community need and allow students to apply concepts and skills they learn in class. Regardless of discipline, students will be engaging with literature, practice, and reflection on justice, fairness, and social change in relation to their subject matter and their community project.

For additional information, visit poetryofthewild.com.

0
Shares
  • Share On Facebook
  • Tweet It




  • RSS Calendar of Events

    • Gallery exhibit: Art in the Age of Pandemic
      Date: Tuesday, January 26, 2021 (All day) to Thursday, February 18, 2021 (All day)

      During the fall 2020 semester, students taking courses in the Department of Art and Art History were invited to document their everyday experience of the pandemic.

      A group of 72...

    • End of add/drop period for undergraduate courses
      Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 (All day)
    • End of add/drop period for graduate 15-week and session I courses
      Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 (All day)
    • Things for Thursday: Snowflake stress balls and hot chocolate
      Date: Thursday, January 28, 2021 - 12:00pm to 3:00pm
      Gerety Hall

      Available while supplies last.

    • eSports open house
      Date: Thursday, January 28, 2021 - 4:00pm to 8:00pm
      Gerety Hall garden level

      Staff members from the Office of Information Technology will be on hand to introduce students to the state-of-the-art gaming equipment and provide assistance with the technology featured at the...

    • eSports open house
      Date: Friday, January 29, 2021 - 4:00pm to 8:00pm
      Gerety Hall garden level

      Staff members from the Office of Information Technology will be on hand to introduce students to the state-of-the-art gaming equipment and provide assistance with the technology featured at the...

    • Student life space study charrette for faculty and staff
      Date: Friday, January 29, 2021 - 3:30pm

      The University is undertaking a study of student life spaces on campus and is seeking input from faculty and staff about how campus spaces can better support the Salve Regina mission, and how...

    • Information session: M.A. and Ph.D. in international relations
      Date: Thursday, January 28, 2021 - 5:30pm

      Join program director Dr. Symeon Giannakos and vice president for enrollment management Jim Fowler for an introduction to Salve Regina's master's and doctoral programs in international relations...

      Contact: Office of Graduate and Professional Studies
    • Forum on student life spaces on campus
      Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 - 5:30pm

      How can Salve Regina best utilize the student life spaces on campus? Join President Kelli J. Armstrong and a team of architects to share your thoughts and opinions. This online forum will...

      Contact: Office of Student Engagement
    • Mass
      Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 - 12:15pm
      Our Lady of Mercy Chapel
  • Browse Sections

    Salve Success

    Health and Wellness

    Mercy Mission

    Arts and Humanities

    Science and Technology

    Event Coverage

    Business and Economics

    Graduate News



Stay Updated

Latest news from SALVEtoday

 

  • Salve Regina University

    100 Ochre Point Avenue
    Newport, Rhode Island 02840 USA

     (401) 847-6650

    (c) 2021 Salve Regina University

  • SALVEtoday Archives

  • Social Media Directory

  • Mercy Emergency Relief Fund


  • News
  • Student Life
  • Athletics
  • Faculty/Staff
  • Campus Portal Login
Press enter/return to begin your search