I'm a Tour Guide for ART BUS in APRIL!

Toot toot. Yeahhh, Beep Beep!

Angela Jossy and ART BUS are partnering with the local poetry community to celebrate National Poetry Month. I get to be one of the celebrity tour guides this month as we visit lots of amazing galleries! VIP riders will receive a free, limited edition poetry book created especially for riders! Each poem speaks about art and creativity and poems are sourced from local poets about galleries, culture, writing and the muse. The booklets are handcrafted, signed and numbered by local artist and writer, Maria Gudaitis. ART BUS is sponsored by Tacoma Arts Commission & Weekly Volcano: http://​www.brownpapertickets.com/​event/242756

HOPE IN HARD TIMES—TACOMA POETS RESPOND TO ADVERSITY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MEDIA & EVENT CONTACT
Tammy Robacker, Poet and Owner, Pearle Publications LLC, tamsugah@aol.com
RSVP on FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/362728650438263/

HOPE IN HARD TIMES—TACOMA POETS RESPOND TO ADVERSITY
Washington State History Museum Talk, Exhibit Walk & Poetry Reading April 29

TACOMA—In honor of National Poetry Month, join 2010-11 Tacoma Poet Laureate Tammy Robacker and writer Maria Gudaitis with special guest poets as they read poems in response to "Hope in Hard Times: Washington During the Great Depression"—an exhibit at the Washington State History Museum. The event takes place Sunday, April 29, from 2 - 4 p.m.

“The Museum, which celebrates and conserves images, words, artifacts and papers, is an appropriate, resonant location for this event that celebrates thoughtful writing about hope and suffering. Both the History Museum and poetry attempt to preserve community memories and individual experiences. Both also aim to preserve a sense of meaning associated with the human experience,” said Robacker.

At the “Hope for Hard Times” event, Robacker and Gudaitis will read with prominent Northwest poets, including 2011-13 Tacoma Poet Laureate Josie Emmons Turner, Allen Braden, Elijah Muied and Hans Ostrom. The poets will engage exhibit stories, artifacts and images. Like the exhibit, the reading will touch on poverty and resourcefulness—distress and courage—to show how artistic voices add meaning to memories of important eras.

“The Museum’s exhibit bears witness to Americans living through the worst economic crisis in our history. Survival and celebration go hand in hand. Even in the darkest time, people wrote poems. We see this in the Bible, in Holocaust art, in the poems of Prague Spring and in poets under house arrest in China today. Art lifts spirits. And the South Sound could use a creative boost, because the current economic downturn has depleted us,” said Gudaitis.

Admission to the event is $6 per person. At 2 p.m., the public will be invited to enjoy an exhibition briefing, a gallery walk through of the show, a break with refreshments provided by Anthem Coffee and Tea, and admission to the special poetry reading at 3 p.m. in the Auditorium. All proceeds go to the Washington State History Museum, a non-profit organization located at 1911 Pacific Ave., Tacoma, 98402; 253.272.3500.

Guests are also invited to join the poets at a post-event poetry party from 4 - 6 p.m. at Anthem Coffee and Tea (right next door to the Museum).


ARTIST BIO

Tammy Robacker
2011-12 Hedgebrook Writer-in-Residence Award; 2010-2011 Tacoma Poet Laureate, co-editor of Tacoma poetry anthology, In Tahoma's Shadow: Poems from the City of Destiny; Author/Poet of The Vicissitudes (2010). Ms. Robacker's poetry manuscript, We Ate Our Mothers, Girls, was selected as a finalist in the 2009 Floating Bridge Press chapbook contest in Seattle, WA. Tammy runs her own freelance writing company, Pearle Publications. Her editorial writing has appeared in SHOWCASE Magazine, CITY ARTS Magazine, and the Weekly Volcano.

Maria Gudaitis
2012 Tacoma News Tribune Reader Columnist; 2007 40 Under 40 Business Examiner honoree; principal and owner of Maria Gudaitis Design.