Mountain community hosts Wrightwood Arts & Wine Festival
The Wrightwood Arts & Wine Festival will feature live music, gourmet food, writing workshops, a poetry slam, wine tastings, and more than 30 regional artists participating in a juried art show.
Debra Saude of Apple Valley, an expert in watercolor and acrylic painting, who has honed her craft for nearly a decade, is one of the many artists featured at the festival scheduled for May 21.
Saude finds inspiration for her paintings from nature, with desert landscapes a favorite since she has lived most of her life there and knows the area has its special beauty, she said.
A former president of Artists of the High Desert, Saude has entered award-winning paintings in the San Bernardino County Fair Fine Arts Exhibit, Associated Artists of the Inland Empire, and Artists of the High Desert.
In 2019, Debra started her own business, "Art Inspired," where she offers watercolor paint parties and sells her paintings and prints.
Other artists
Some other artists include Wrightwood resident Gary Thornhill, who will showcase and sell some of his wooden vessels and share his secret to successful woodturning.
The mother-daughter team of Caplette Artistry will show off their one-of-a-kind glass art pieces such as wind chimes, suncatchers, garden art, paintings, and more.
David Porras, who has created pottery for over 40 years, will share his collection of wheel-thrown clay and colorful glazed pieces.
Mental health advocate and artist Ashley Wright, who will also appear, said, "Through my art, I aim to inspire others to continue to work on their Mental Health and pursue the things that create beauty in their life."
The “Picture Me Here” exhibit, built on a series of art assemblies at Wrightwood Elementary School, will also be at the festival.
The project's creator, Jamie Crooke Powell, will discuss it with Wrightwood's bluesman, Greg Jones, about the project themes.
Poetry Slam
The editor of Rattle magazine and part of the festival organizing team, Wrightwood resident Timothy Green said the 5th Wrightwood Poetry Slam would highlight this year’s event.
Slam poetry was founded in 1984 by Chicago construction worker and poet Marc Smith as a way to rescue poetry from what he saw as snooty academics holding readings no one cared about.
Smith wanted to create a show that would “give poetry back to the people,” where audiences would be compelled, rather than merely obliged, to listen, said Green.
To encourage honest and genuine audience engagement, Smith turned the performances into a sport, with poets judged Olympic-style by volunteers selected from the crowd.
As poets advanced through several rounds until an event champion was crowned, the format was dubbed an instant success.
Smith soon moved the weekly series to its permanent home at the Green Mill Cocktail Lounge in Uptown, Chicago, where it remains one of the longest-running shows in Chicago history.
The Poetry Slam format eventually spread to over 500 cities, from Los Angeles to Singapore, including an annual National Poetry Slam attendance in the thousands.
Green said organizers decided to bring the excitement of a poetry slam to The Yodeler bar during the 2016 Wrightwood Literary Festival.
The event turned out to be a success, with a packed house drinking beer as they listened to 15 poets pour their hearts into the microphone, Green said.
When the dust settled that evening, Los Angeles poet Kelly Grace Thomas was the winner of the $150 prize.
Poet Taylor Mali
This year’s poetry slam will headline Taylor Mali, one of the most well-known poets to have emerged from the poetry slam movement.
Mali studied drama at Oxford with members of The Royal Shakespeare Company. He was one of the original poets to appear on the HBO series Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.
He was the “Armani-clad villain” of Paul Devlin’s 1997 documentary film SlamNation. His poem “What Teachers Make” has been viewed over 10 million times on YouTube.
Mali will also host a workshop during the festival, teaching slam poets the tools of the trade.
The poetry slam is free and open to the public. It runs from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Wrightwood Community Building located at 1275 Highway 2.
To compete in the poetry slam, to register for the workshop, or for more information on the festival, call 818-850-7727 or visit wrightwoodarts.com.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at 760-951-6227 or RDeLaCruz@VVDailyPress.com. Follow him on Twitter @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Wrightwood Arts & Wine Festival to feature wine tastings, food and music
