Joel Parsons: You Are the Hole, An Exhibition in Four Acts
2015-10-08 - 2015-10-31 | Crosstown Arts Galleries, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Opening Reception: Friday, October 9, 6 – 9 pm
Performance: Sunday, October 25, 2 pm
You Are the Hole is the theatre of desire, abstracted. By presenting the self as something constructed and performed, Joel Parsons gently prods the human dichotomy of yearning to divulge and yearning to conceal.
Using the structural components of a theatre, he establishes an installation space that is simultaneously formal and intimate. Occupying the transformed stage are sculptures in voluptuous pinks and nudes, a flesh-like latex curtain and dozens of small drawings. Parsons has made a zine to accompany the exhibition, which will be available in the gallery.
The culmination is Parsons’ performance of his originally-choreographed piece, “Beholding and Being Held.”

Joel Parsons is an artist, writer, and curator based in Memphis, TN. He is an Assistant Professor of Art and Director of Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College, co-director of Beige, an otherwise space for art and performance, and a founding member of the ArtsMemphis Artist Advisory Council. A graduate of Rhodes College and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, he has exhibited his work in Memphis at the Powerhouse, Material, and Southfork Gallery, as well as at Western Exhibtions in Chicago, and venues in Peru, India, and South Africa.

A Rockin' Time for the St. Jude Ronald McDonald House
2015-10-11 12:00 - 16:00 (America/Chicago) | TN
Join us for a night of good music, good vibes and good people — with all proceeds going to a great cause, The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Memphis. Featuring performances from lots of local musical guests.
Featuring performances by The Lagoonas, Flirting With Sincerity and other local musical guests.
Light refreshments will be available.

Open Crit
2015-10-13 13:00 - 15:00 | TN
430 N. Cleveland
Second Tuesday of Each Month
Artist Setup: 5 – 6 pm / Critique & Discussion: 6 – 8 pm
Crosstown Arts’ Open Crit series, organized in partnership with ArtsMemphis, is a monthly critique event where visual artists are invited to bring new and/or in-progress studio work for critical feedback and group discussion particular to each artist’s practice. The series will take place at Crosstown Arts exhibition space at 430 N. Cleveland.
A dedicated facilitator with experience in a group critique setting will guide discussion for each critique event, which will include up to 4 artists’ work, with 15-25 minutes devoted to the work of each.
All visual artists and anyone interested in joining the discussion are welcome to participate regardless of their level of expertise, prior professional art experience or background/edu- cation in fine art. Participation is free and open to the public. Input during the critiques from everyone in attendance is welcomed and encouraged.
No formal preparation is necessary for participating artists, who will have an opportunity to introduce and contextualize their work on view at the beginning of each critique. Participating artists are only asked to be open to (and interested in) considering reactions to their work by the group, which will always be done in a supportive, constructive and casual environment, but could at the same time be challenging.

To participate, artists can send the following info via email to Brittney Bullock (brittney@ crosstownarts.org) with the subject line “Open Crit.” Submissions will be accepted and scheduled based on availability. There is no submission fee.

Name
Phone number
Email address
General description of the work to be discussed (i.e. “abstract paintings” or “video art”) & sizes of works and/or media types

Artists are asked to bring no more than 8 individual pieces (in any medium). Maximum run time for time-based work(s) is 10 minutes.
Participating artists are encouraged to invite friends, peers and colleagues to the open crits, both to see their work in progress and to give constructive feedback.
Organized by Crosstown Arts in partnership with ArtsMemphis ArtsAccelerator.

Anitra Jay & The Rebellion
2015-10-15 14:00 - 16:00 | TN
General Admission: $5 in advance | $10 at the door
VIP Ticket: $15
Join Anitra Jay & The Rebellion for a night of not-so-ordinary live music. This full band show is a raw, nitty-gritty, soulful musical experience for the conscious rebel.
Also featured is the soulful, rugged sound of FredX and the visual art of Rodan Ross.

The Pinch Journal Release Party
2015-10-16 13:00 - 17:00 | story booth, 438 N. Cleveland St., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join the staff of The Pinch Literary Journal for revelry, merriment, and general hooligantry as we officially release to you our latest issue.
Featuring two authors from the journal: cat-wrangling best-american poet diva Emma Bolden and friend-to-bats, hardcore coffee-drinking fiction guy Nickalus Rupert.
Plus a mixtape highlighting the best of Prince and the Revolution.
Also, a silent auction with some of the best things we’ve ever brought to a Pinch party. We will have a hard time not fighting for these baskets ourselves, so come make a bid and help raise funds to keep our journal in print.
Last, but never least, Hot Mess Burritos will be parked out front, we’ll have Wiseacre beer on tap, and, as usual, a healthy offering of Pinch punch.
Join us!
http://www.pinchjournal.com/
http://emmabolden.com/
@nlrupert
@HotMessMemphis
@pinchjournal

Daniel Harris Studios Presents: A Night of Art and Illustration
2015-10-16 14:00 - 16:00 | TN
Join Fallen Walls founder, Daniel Harris, for an engaging evening of art and fellowship.

Orixa's Afropunk Experience 40
2015-10-17 15:00 - 18:00 | TN
Live music performance.
Free food and drinks with admission.

Book Release: Can a Withered Flower Bloom by Olivia Crump
2015-10-18 08:00 - 13:00 | TN
Introduction, reading and book-signing by Olivia Crump.

3/2/1 film workshop
2015-10-19 10:00 - 11:30 | story booth, 438 N. Cleveland St., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
for high school students / mondays, 3 – 4:30 pm / 6-week program
max 14 participants—email Nat at nat@crosstownarts.org to reserve a spot, or to help out.
join Crosstown Arts’ videographer Justin Thompson to learn how to script, shoot, and edit your own original short film. we’ll follow a 3, 2, 1 format (3 pages of script, 2 actors, 1 location) and work in teams of two. at the end of the six weeks, the films will be screened at a premiere, and each participant will receive a DVD of all films from the workshop.

ArtsAccelerator Grant Writing Workshop
2015-10-19 13:00 - 15:00 | TN
This workshop will be facilitated by Maysey Craddock and Mary Jo Karimnia, members of the ArtsMemphis Artist Advisory Council, and 2015 grant recipient, Johnathan Payne. The session will focus on grant requirements and what makes a strong proposal, with Q&A and conversation.
Application deadline is January 5, 2016.
ArtsMemphis’ ArtsAcclerator Grant program consists of five $5,000 incentive grants awarded to visual artists working in any media living in Shelby County.
Learn more about the grant
Image: Stephanie Cosby in her studio

Roundtable Discussion with Joel Parsons
2015-10-21 12:30 - 14:00 | Crosstown Arts Galleries, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Please join us for a roundtable discussion with artist Joel Parsons, in conjunction with You are the Hole, An Exhibition in Four Acts, on view at 422 N. Cleveland.
This as an open, informal opportunity to have a conversation. The session will be recorded and then transcribed and published to our website, archiving the exhibition through a collection of voices.

Nick Canterucci: Lane Changer
2015-10-23 13:00 - 16:00 | TN
One-night-only exhibition of Nick Canterucci’s new works.

A MouseMeat Production thru Team Skeletor.

Lance Turner: Residency Open Studio
2015-10-24 09:00 - 12:00 | Crosstown Arts Studio Residency, 424 N. Cleveland - Back Entrance, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Lance Turner, the inaugural artist in the Studio Residency program, is opening his space to the public for an afternoon reception. Come meet Lance and hear more about his works in progress and creative process. At 3 pm, Lance will give an informal artist talk.

About the Studio Residency
Apply for a 2016 Studio Residency Session

Beholding and Being Held
2015-10-25 09:00 - 11:00 | Crosstown Arts Galleries, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Performance by artist Joel Parsons in conjunction with You are the Hole, currently on view at 422 N. Cleveland.

Another Life
2015-10-29 05:00 - 2015-10-31 13:00 | TN
OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 6-9 pm
Featuring work by Andrea Morales, Yasmine Omari, Louis “Ziggy” Tucker, Stephanie Wexler, and a collaboration by Carla Worth & Andrew Gafford.
“Life and death are mirrors. To talk about one is to talk about the other, despite the distance in the language between them: life with its fragility, versus death and its finality.

We choose to remember because we want to feel who we loved that came and passed before us. It’s for our own benefit to do so. We keep the dead alive in our dreams and photographs. We see them where we used to live, we see them where they were last seen. We see them as we last saw them. Our circles grow closer, tighter and are sometimes preserved and strengthened by death.
Why we come to life, how we leave at death, how we are remembered: our questions shape the narrative of the ultimate. We turn the questions into rituals. Chief among them is our memory.
It’s a comfort that the world does not empty of people. We welcome the ghosts as evidence of life. This show collects works that examine that memory through photography, video and mixed media by a group of local artists.” – Andrea Morales

Co-curated by Andrea Morales in collaboration with Crosstown Arts
Image:
INDIANOLA, MS – May 29, 2015: at the public viewing for B.B. King at the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center on Friday morning.
Credit: Andrea Morales for The New York Times

Book Release: Memphis Noir
2015-11-03 12:00 - 14:00 | story booth, 438 N. Cleveland St., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Akashic Books continues its groundbreaking series of original noir anthologies, launched in 2004 with Brooklyn Noir. Each story is set in a distinct neighborhood or location within the city of the book.
Featuring brand-new stories by: Richard J. Alley, David Wesley Williams, Dwight Fryer, Jamey Hatley, Adam Shaw, Penny Register-Shaw, Kaye George, Arthur Flowers, Suzanne Berube Rorhus, Ehi Ike, Lee Martin, Stephen Clements, Cary Holladay, John Bensko, Sheree Renée Thomas, and Troy L. Wiggins.
From the introduction by Laureen P. Cantwell & Leonard Gill:
“A city equal parts darkness and hope. A scarred city. An often violent one. But a resilient city too.
That’s our Memphis.
Like many cities, we have a namesake—in Egypt, Men-nefer became Menfe became Memphis, enduring and beautiful, on the banks of the Nile. Centuries later, another continent, another people, another river: Memphis, Tennessee, the soul of the Mississippi Delta, was formed. We are a place born of history, inhabited as much by memory as by the living—the past and present inextricably and inescapably linked . . . . Memphis is marvels and misfits—two-faced and unabashedly so.
We are Memphis, and this is our noir.”

page to stage theatre workshop
2015-11-04 07:30 - 09:30 | story booth, 438 N. Cleveland St., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
for middle school students
wednesdays, 1:30 – 3:30 pm / 9-week program
workshop capacity has been reached.
Jazmin Miller, teaching artist from Rhodes College, leads students in an exploration of the various parts of theatre, helping them collaborate with one another to write, design and perform their own original play.
on Sunday, November 8, students will perform their creation before a live audience of family, friends and supporters in the McCoy Theatre at Rhodes College.

Keiko Gonzales: KRONOS
2015-11-04 12:00 - 15:00 | TN
Exhibition organized by Mary Jo Karimnia
Join us for KRONOS, a snap-shot Bolivian/American artist Keiko Gonzalez’s prolific and ever evolving practice. Keiko has been honing his craft and showing his work throughout South America, Europe and North America for over 30 years. His continual painting and scraping leaves rich surfaces that both obstruct and reveal the history of the work, inviting the viewer into a wondrous process.

Mi Sur/My South
2015-11-06 04:00 - 2015-12-05 12:00 | Crosstown Arts Galleries, 1350 Concourse Ave., Suite 280, Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
A Survey of Latina/o Artists Working in Memphis
Organized by Centro Cultural in collaboration with Crosstown Arts and Caritas Village
Made possible by the First Tennessee Foundation/ArtsFirst
Gallery Talks: Thursday, December 3, 5:30-7:30 & Saturday, December 5, 2-4 pm
Call to Artists: Spanish | English

“Mi Sur/My South: A Survey of Latina/o Artists Working in Memphis attempts to show a cross section of contemporary Latina/o artists creating artwork in the Memphis area. Mi Sur/My South is concerned with amplifying the artistic voices that have largely been ignored but are in fact and deed contributing to the changing demographic and cultural dynamic disrupting the once binary racial understanding of the South. This exhibition is part of the efforts of Centro Cultural (a Latina/o cultural center based at Caritas Village) to survey and document the artistic life and production of Latina/os in Shelby County. To this end, the Centro is additionally working to compile an Artist Registry that would include not only visual artists but all creative disciplines.
According to a 2012 paper, A Profile of the Hispanic Population in the State of Tennessee, researched and compiled by the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Tennessee, “Latinos were the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in Tennessee during the last ten years.” In fact, the growth rate of the Hispanic population in Tennessee was the third-fastest in the nation. According to the 2010 Census, there were 290,059 Hispanic persons in Tennessee, representing 4.6 percent of the population. With Shelby County being home to a significant share of Tennessee’s Latina/o population it would be safe to assume that not only have Latina/os contributed to the economic growth of Memphis but to its cultural vitality as well.”
-Centro Cultural
Since the inception of the Centro in 2012 there have been annual exhibitions of Latina/o art in the Hope Gallery at Caritas Village, as well as a fruitful collaboration with the Dixon Gallery and Gardens in producing the highly attended exhibition of Latina/o artists titled Memphis Vive.
Centro Cultural is proud to participate in partnership with Crosstown Arts and Caritas Village, the Centro’s homebase, in organizing this exhibition.

“Mi Sur / Mi Sur – Una encuesta de Latinas / os artistas que trabajan en Memphis (Mi Sur) intenta mostrar una sección transversal de contemporánea Latina / o artista obra creando en el área de Memphis. Mi Sur / Mi Sur está preocupado con la amplificación de las voces artísticas que en gran parte han sido ignorados pero que son de hecho y de obra que contribuye a la cambiante dinámica demográfica y cultural interrumpir el entendimiento racial vez binaria del Sur. Esta exposición forma parte del Centro Cultural, una o centro de Latina / cultural basado en Caritas pueblo, los esfuerzos en la topografía y la documentación de la vida artística y la producción de Latina / o en el condado de Shelby. Para ello, el Centro está trabajando en un Registro artista que incluiría no sólo a artistas visuales, pero todas las disciplinas creativas.
De acuerdo con un documento de 2012 titulado “UN PERFIL DE LA POBLACIÓN HISPANA EN EL ESTADO DE TENNESSEE”, investigado y compilado por el Centro de Negocios e Investigación Económica de la Universidad de Tennessee: “Los latinos fueron el grupo racial o étnico de más rápido crecimiento en Tennessee durante los últimos diez años. De hecho, la tasa de crecimiento de la población hispana en Tennessee fue el tercero más rápido en la nación. Según el Censo de 2010, había 290,059 personas hispanas en Tennessee, lo que representa un 4,6 por ciento de la población. Con el condado de Shelby ser el hogar de una parte significativa de la población Latina / o de Tennessee sería seguro asumir que no sólo tiene Latina / os contribuyó al crecimiento económico de Memphis, pero a él es la vitalidad cultural.”
-Centro Cultural
Desde la creación del Centro en 2012 ha habido exposiciones anuales de Latina / o arte en la Galería de la Esperanza en Caritas Village. También hubo una muy fructífera colaboración con la Galería de Dixon y Jardines en la producción de la exposición altamente asistido de Latina / os artistas titulado, Memphis Vive.
El Centro se enorgullece de participar en sociedad con Crosstown Artes y Caritas Village, base de operaciones del Centro, en la organización de esta exposición.

Special thanks to the First Tennessee Foundation/ArtsFirst for their support of this exhibition and the partnership between Crosstown Arts and Centro Cultural.

Public/Art/ists III
2015-11-07 13:00 - 15:00 | Downtown Memphis, 410 S. Main, Memphis, TN, United States
Crosstown Arts, the UrbanArt Commission and ArtsMemphis have partnered to present a multi-venue exhibition and programming series throughout 2015 to acknowledge public art makers in Memphis.
UrbanArt Commission will host part III of Public/Art/ists, sharing new outdoor installations by three artists who have made contributions to Memphis’ urban landscape:
RECEPTION:
ArtVillage Gallery, 410 S. Main, 7-9 pm
INSTALLATIONS:
Terri Jones – Installation in between 531 and 525 S. Main St. (next door to Earnestine and Hazel’s)
Christopher Reyes – Video installation at Fire Station No. 2, 474 S. Main St. (running every half hour on the half hour)
Vitus Shell – Mural at Carter & Company, 455 S. Front St.

The series will collectively recognize and share the work of artists who have participated in Memphis’ public art projects and initiatives, including the studio work (non-public art projects) of these artists, as well as insight into their processes and involvement in creating public art projects from conception to completion. The exhibition and ongoing events of Public/Art/ists not only act as a connection point to these artists, but also reveal the multiple facets of these artists’ practices in the community.
Organized by the UrbanArt Commission in partnership with ArtsMemphis and Crosstown Arts
Made possible with support from the First Tennessee Foundation/ArtsFirst

Impossible Language
2015-11-07 13:00 - 16:00 | story booth, 438 N. Cleveland St., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Poetry reading series organized by Ashley Roach-Freiman
ELIJAH BURRELL is the author of one collection of poems, titled The Skin of the River (Aldrich Press, 2014). His writing has appeared or is forthcoming in publications such as Agni, Birmingham Poetry Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Measure, Sugar House Review, Structo, and many others. He received the 2009 Cecil A. Blue Award in Poetry and the 2010 Jane Kenyon Scholarship at Bennington College. His poem “Bones” was recently featured in audio form on Sugar House Review’s podcast. Not long ago, two of his poems were featured on The Missouri Review’s audio podcast. He resides in Jefferson City, Missouri, with his wife and two daughters, and teaches creative writing and literature at Lincoln University.

RICHARD BOADA is the author of The Error of Nostalgia (Texas Review Press) and the chapbook Archipelago Sinking (Finishing Line Press), both nominated for Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Poetry Awards. He is a graduate of the Center for Writers at the University of Southern Mississippi, and won the University of Louisville’s Sara-Jean McDowell Award for Creative Writing. Recent work appears in The North American Review, RHINO, Crab Orchard Review, Yalobusha Review, Jabberwock Review, and The Louisville Review among others. He teaches creative writing at the University of Memphis.
AMIE IRWIN lives with her two daughters, Maggie and Jane, in Oxford, MS where she is a John and Rene Grisham fellow in poetry at the University of Mississippi. She has been published by Prairie Schooner.

I Am Who I Say, and I Say Who I Am
2015-11-08 08:00 - 09:00 | Rhodes McCoy Theater, 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN, 38112, United States
Taught by professional playwright, actress, and University of Memphis MFA candidate in theatre Jazmin Miller, the Rhodes course entitled “Children’s Theatre” accomplished many specific goals in addition to what its title suggests, which was serving the 6th-8th grade of Humes Preparatory Academy in an after-school workshop hosted by story booth at Crosstown Arts.
For this workshop, Humes students were first encouraged to write statements of intent on why they wanted to participate. the selected seventeen middle school participants were then led by seven Rhodes student mentors in interviewing for the program, theatre games, script writing, staging vocabulary, acting skills, and more. By the end of the workshop, the young participants created material for a final script that addresses identity, how the world perceives the individual, and how the individual perceives his or her own identity.
The final script, entitled “I Am Who I Say, and I Say Who I Am,” will be staged and performed on November 8 at 2 pm at the McCoy Theatre at Rhodes College. the young students will work in tableaus and scenes that communicate who they are, while narrating and performing personal narratives that connect with every human experience: moments of happiness, anger, sadness and self-consciousness. This premiere performance will showcase the ensemble’s work with the script, as well as various talents of the ensemble, from singing to drumming. the performance is free and open to the public, with a wrap party for the young playwrights and actors and their families immediately following.

Open Crit
2015-11-10 12:00 - 14:00 | TN
430 N. Cleveland
Second Tuesday of Each Month
Artist Setup: 5 – 6 pm / Critique & Discussion: 6 – 8 pm
Crosstown Arts’ Open Crit series, organized in partnership with ArtsMemphis, is a monthly critique event where visual artists are invited to bring new and/or in-progress studio work for critical feedback and group discussion particular to each artist’s practice. The series will take place at Crosstown Arts exhibition space at 430 N. Cleveland.
A dedicated facilitator with experience in a group critique setting will guide discussion for each critique event, which will include up to 4 artists’ work, with 15-25 minutes devoted to the work of each.
All visual artists and anyone interested in joining the discussion are welcome to participate regardless of their level of expertise, prior professional art experience or background/education in fine art. Participation is free and open to the public. Input during the critiques from everyone in attendance is welcomed and encouraged.
No formal preparation is necessary for participating artists, who will have an opportunity to introduce and contextualize their work on view at the beginning of each critique. Participating artists are only asked to be open to (and interested in) considering reactions to their work by the group, which will always be done in a supportive, constructive and casual environment, but could at the same time be challenging.

To participate, artists can send the following info via email to Brittney Bullock (brittney@ crosstownarts.org) with the subject line “Open Crit.” Submissions will be accepted and scheduled based on availability. There is no submission fee.

Name
Phone number
Email address
General description of the work to be discussed (i.e. “abstract paintings” or “video art”) & sizes of works and/or media types

Artists are asked to bring no more than 8 individual pieces (in any medium). Maximum run time for time-based work(s) is 10 minutes.
Participating artists are encouraged to invite friends, peers and colleagues to the open crits, both to see their work in progress and to give constructive feedback.
Organized by Crosstown Arts in partnership with ArtsMemphis ArtsAccelerator.

Spark
2015-11-10 12:30 - 14:00 | story booth, 438 N. Cleveland St., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Artists will explore the nature, power and positive impact of imagination on their work as they lead guests on a journey through their ah-ha moments and discuss their process for thinking big. This is a FREE COMMUNITY EVENT held in conjunction with our partners at Crosstown Arts.
Drinks and food will be provided at this casual Spark session.
Our Imagineers: Willy Bearden (film), LaShonte Anderson (Dance, music), Johanna Ewards (literature).

Words Matter
2015-11-12 12:00 - 16:00 | TN
Presented by Words Matter
The Words Matter art show is bringing local writers, artists and performers together. Six groups of Mid-South creatives have been putting together multimedia works that will be presented on Thursday, November 12th at Crosstown Arts.
This is an event where process and product will be on display. Each of the six projects began with words – a literary contribution from a writer. From there, a combination of artists and performers extended that creation in their own media – visual artists, musicians, dancers, actors and filmmakers found collective expression and inspiration from the language.
Memphis has been making some bold and exciting collaborations across artistic disciplines and we want to be a leader to encourage that. Other than the project starting with the written word, there were no rules. The artists were free to do their art.
This event benefits Literacy Mid-South.

Mexicanísimo
2015-11-13 12:00 - 14:00 | TN
Friday, November 13: Reception 6-8 pm, with live performance at 7 pm
Saturday, November 14: Paintings on view 11 am-5 pm, with artists talk at 2 pm
Organized by Yancy Villa Calvo and the artists
Mexico and Memphis will come together for a multimedia fusion exhibit where Aztec rhythm and classical arts will intersect through expressionism abstract paint and video.
“Mexicanísimo” is a new exhibit by four Mexican-born, Memphis resident artists that sets the stage for the intersection of pre-colombian Aztec rhythm and the classical arts. Memphis is the home of opera singer Bethania Baray, Aztec dancer Agustín Díaz, ballet dancer Alberto Gaspar and visual artist Yancy Villa-Calvo.
“We come together to portray the beauty of our roots and what we bring to the Memphis community as Mexican immigrants,” says Villa-Calvo who has lived in Memphis for 20 years. Gaspar, a company member of Ballet Memphis adds, “Our work is not restricted or limited to folklore. We like to be identified first and foremost as artists.” However, in this show they are focusing on their heritage, hence the title of the exhibition. “We are showcasing the contributions that Mexican artists bring to the Mid-South, which is seldom talked about,” says Baray.
The exhibit features artwork by Villa-Calvo, which includes canvases that have been painted by Gaspar’s and Díaz’s feet while dancing classical ballet and moving to Aztec rhythms. Villa-Calvo then interjected painting strokes to capture the musical variations of Baray’s opera singing, which helped bring all four art forms (opera, ballet, painting, and Aztec dance) together. In addition, an installation by Brazilian videomaker André Silveira will feature the creative inspiration provided by the interaction of the artists.
According to Díaz, this is a modern representation of the Ollin, an Aztec glyph that represents “the search of unity and balance – the movement of a universal understanding among the opposites.” At a time when Mexican immigrants are perceived by some as “liabilities” and fitted often into stereotypes, the artists invite the Memphis community to be amazed and discover the unexpected.
Families are welcome
Free Admission

Crafts & Drafts
2015-11-14 04:00 - 10:00 | Cleveland Street Flea Market, 438 N. Cleveland St., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Free & Open to the Public.
Local artists and makers showcase their wares during a fun afternoon of outdoor holiday shopping. Guests will browse a curated selection of handmade goods, as well as a great selection of beers and food available for purchase to stoke shopping spirits. There will even be a special play area for kids!

Craft Vendors

Holly & Ivy // Aunt Key’s Apothecary // Erica Bodine Pottery // East Street Designs // Dirty Cotton T-Shirt Company // McCarter Coasters // gurleygurl design // Marokel Industrial Designs // Boardwalk Beauty // Michelle Duckworth Art // Gnomeore Crafts // Kind Crawford // Judy Pound Cakes // Much Ado About Knitting // babycreep // Phillip Van Zandt Photography // Saphir Productions // Pepper Lou and Dirty Mouth Dishes // ARCHd // Basha Shine // BEERING // Cosgrove & Lewis Luxury Handmade Soaps // Tukabear Treats // Gino Pambianchi Illustration and Design // Mbabazi House of Style // Monas Musings // Copper Baskets // BMB Designs // Flo’s Homemade Goodness // J. Brooks Coffee Roasters // Sadie Cat Fabrics // Let’s Go Memphis // Moon Mama Pottery // Designs by Aisha Crivens // Letter Me Loved

Beer Selection

Coming Soon!

Food Vendors

Coming Soon!

Microcinema Club: ELLIS
2015-11-16 12:30 - 15:00 | TN
ELLIS starring Robert De Niro, written by Eric Roth & directed by JR.
presented by Indie Memphis & Crosstown Arts
co-hosted by Mark Adams & Alan Spearman
Doors open @ 6:30 pm; film Starts @ 7:00 pm, with discussion to immediately follow
MicroCinema Club presents a special screening of the short film ELLIS, followed by an open discussion with artists Mark Adams, Penny Karwacz, Yasmine Omari, Alan Spearman & Yancy Villa-Calvo on the themes of immigration, migration and using art to generate sustainable social, political and cultural change.
ELLIS awakens our collective memory, taking you back to the early years of Ellis Island through the experience of one immigrant. Set in the abandoned Ellis Island Hospital complex and using JR’s UNFRAMED art installations, ELLIS tells the forgotten story of the immigrants who built America. It is the story of the ghosts of our countries past, the individuals who fled poverty, discrimination, and dictatorships, for a chance at a new life and eerily foreshadows the plight of those who currently seek the same opportunities and safety in this country and other parts of the world. The short narrative film stars Academy Award® Winner Robert De Niro, is written by Academy Award® Winner Eric Roth, and is directed by the artist JR.
For more information, please visit the film’s website: http://www.ellis-themovie.com/.
#ELLISstory

Artist Survey Share-Out
2015-11-18 12:30 - 14:00 | story booth, 438 N. Cleveland St., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Join ArtsMemphis, UrbanArt Commission and Crosstown Arts to explore the responses to the visual artists’ survey, give your feedback, and learn more about a new monthly professional development series (created especially for artists) planned for 2016.
Drinks and food will be served.

Visting Writer Leonard Pitts, Jr.
2015-11-19 12:00 - 14:00 | story booth, 438 N. Cleveland St., Memphis, TN, 38104, United States
Booksellers at Laurelwood and Crosstown Arts present Visiting Writer Leonard Pitts, Jr.
Please join us for a reading and signing of his most recent book, Grant Park, and a conversation with the author and Dr. Terrence Tucker (Assistant Professor and Coordinator of African Literature, University of Memphis) and Dr. Charles McKinney (Associate Professor and Director of the Africana Studies Program, Rhodes College).
“A novel as significant as it is engrossing.” —Booklist, starred review
Grant Park is a page-turning and provocative look at black and white relations in contemporary America, blending the absurd and the poignant in a powerfully well-crafted narrative that showcases Pitts’s gift for telling emotionally wrenching stories.
Grant Park begins in 1968, with Martin Luther King’s final days in Memphis. The story then moves to the eve of the 2008 election, and cuts between the two eras. Disillusioned columnist Malcolm Toussaint, fueled by yet another report of unarmed black men killed by police, hacks into his newspaper’s server to post an incendiary column that had been rejected by his editors. Toussaint then disappears, and his longtime editor, Bob Carson, is summarily fired within hours of the column’s publication.
While a furious Carson tries to find Toussaint—while simultaneously dealing with the reappearance of a lost love from his days as a 60s activist—Toussaint is abducted by two white supremacists plotting to explode a bomb at Barack Obama’s planned rally in Chicago’s Grant Park. Toussaint and Carson are forced to remember the choices they made as young men, when both their lives were changed profoundly by their work in the civil rights movement.
In a career spanning more than 35 years, Leonard Pitts, Jr. has been a columnist, a college professor, a radio producer and a lecturer. But if you ask him to define himself, he will invariably choose one word. He is a writer, period, author of one of the most popular newspaper columns in the country and of a series of critically-acclaimed books, including his latest, a novel called Freeman. And his lifelong devotion to the art and craft of words has yielded stellar results, chief among them the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.
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Advance Praise for Leonard Pitts, Jr.’s novel GRANT PARK:
“The state of US race relations in 1968 and 2008 is seen through the eyes of two veteran Chicago newsmen, one black and one white, in this opportune novel. . . . Pitts adroitly blends history with fiction and actual figures (King, Obama) with characters in a plot that builds suspense around the supremacists’ plans as anger between the races gives way to understanding.A novel as significant as it is engrossing.” —Booklist, starred review
“In the aftermath of this summer’s racially motivated mass murder in Charleston, South Carolina, by an avowed white supremacist, there’s near-eerie prescience in Pitts’ historical novel. . .[Grant Park], with urgency and passion, makes readers aware that the mistakes of the past are neglected at the future’s peril.” —Kirkus Reviews
“[A] high-stakes, hard-charging political thriller. . . . The sharply etched characters, careful attention to detail, and rich newspaper lore propel Pitts’s socially relevant novel.” —Publishers Weekly
