February 14, 2018, at 7:00 pm, at Antenna Gallery…stationer Nancy Sharon Collins in collaboration with Antenna brings you another in the ongoing series, LETTERS READ. The Valentines Day event will be readings of non-fictional text threads curated from an open call for submissions. Some threads have been edited to protect participants. Others will be read as originally texted. All text authors and recipients have been encouraged to read. In cases where anonymity is required, texts will be read by a professional actor or artist. Here is the evening’s line-up of contributors:
Mikita Brottman
Kyle Petrozza
Anonymous
John Rushing
Cate Root
Erin Callais
Folwell Dunbar
Chris Kamenstein
Charles Thomas T Strider
Adam Newman
The evening will be emceed by Adam Newman—himself an active engager in text dating—and readers are Wallace Merritt, Tom Strider, and Chris Kamenstein. LETTERS READ: Text Dating is part of the ongoing series of live events in which local artists interpret personal letters and correspondence by culturally vital individuals from various times and New Orleans communities. 2018 marks Letters Read’s second season.
Watch for the March 23rd event, part of New Orleans Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, The Luck of Friendship. Enjoy an intimate look at a Tennessee Williams that only his greatest publisher and dearest friend, James Laughlin, would have known—all through the vehicle of their personal letters to one another.
Also for the festival, Mrs. Collins regrets—writing that letter you really, really don’t want to write. Held at The Historic New Orleans Collection in the French Quarter, this hour-long class instructs the hows and whys of effective condolence and regrets letters. Collins uses historic and contemporary, models of constructive content to illustrate the 5-point method for writing letters with uncomfortable, or regrettable content.
NOTE: The background image is this year’s Valentine for a private client, his annual missive to close friends and family. This was silk screened in the split fountain method, producing a gradient from green to blue. At right, the small image is a previous year’s Valentine for the same client. It is photo-etched from an image of lace dating from the time of the artist Tiepolo. Navigate to another Valentine, a big red, hand engraved monogram heart for the same faithful client.