We're thrilled to announce a celebration and
performance: Sunday, March 31 at the IPRC
at 6:30 p.m. (1001 SE Division.) for the launch of My
Day #23, by visual artist Nate Orton; along with poets James Yeary and
Chris Ashby. Nate will create visual art while the poets read works from My
Day. Kris Doty and Jenny Logan will round out the evening with some music. This
will be very exciting, please join us!
MY
DAY was started by Nate Orton after he moved to Portland from rural Idaho almost a
decade ago. He was frustrated with how large his new city felt to him, as he
was familiar with every square inch of his previous town. Through line
drawings, he created a visual catalog of major and minor places and events in
Portland that would help him become better acclimated to the city. It worked.
MY DAY on the MAX was completed as an edition of 35 Xerox copies. Much to
Nate’s surprise, they sold fast. Another Idaho transplant Chris Ashby joined to
write for MY DAY on the Burnside Bridge and Lloyd Center. Yet another Idaho
transplant and writer James Yeary joined to help create MY DAY at Chopsticks
Karaoke Bar.
Sometime after MY DAY at Chopsticks, James and
Nate decided to walk across Portland metro. The first walk was turned into the
book, MY DAY walking across Gresham, the second across Portland, the third
across Beaverton and so on. They are currently at the Eastern edge of the
Costal range with plans to make it to the ocean. MY DAY #23, Blazers vs.
Thunder was released in February with both James and Chris contributing. Nate
has plans to continue this project until he reaches issue 100.
Chris
Ashby is a poet, student, and musician. 2013 will
see the second edition of his chapbook, The Return, a serial poem of
transitional objections about what it means to read today. Also forthcoming in
2013 is the book length, but still rather short poem, Notes from the Raft.
Recent publications include work in c_l Newsletter and Peaches and
Bats 9. He has been collaborating with Nate Orton for over ten years on
artist books and placed based poetic projects, most recently on the My Day
series. This winter he began the small publishing venture (Couch Press) in
order to publish local poets: Spring 2013 will see the release of Dawn’s
Erasure (1) by fellow Portland poet and My Day collaborator James
Yeary. He writes and works mostly outside.
James
Yeary is a member of the spare room reading series,
the artist and writer collaborative inquiry 13 Hats, and the IPRC. He has
chapbooks out from Couch Press, Hank's Original Loose Gravel, editions plane,
and inkhorn. Visual work recently appeared in the Fantagraphics anthology the
Last Vispo: visual poetry 1998-2008. A video recently appeared at unspokennw.com.
He publishes work by many, many writers under the imprint c_L, see creepoflight.com.
He is very excited to be reading, finally, at the IPRC, his dome away from
dome.
Multi-instrumentalist
Kris Doty has been playing music and touring for nearly two decades. She
cut her teeth in the high deserts of Idaho and debuted her first solo record, Smoke in the Mirror, on her own dime; to
immediate success. The album took nine solid months to record. It's full of
pop-sensible indie rock with moody undertones and hints of Doty's jazz and
classical music interests. John McMahon (Built to Spill) added to the moodier
moments of Smoke with his cello and bass playing, while being its producer as
well. Kris studied
music at an early age, playing the bass which would become her main instrument
(stand-up and electric) in her longstanding engagement with Portland OR band
Drew Grow & The Pastors' Wives. Most recently; with DGPW, she toured the
country with Merge Records band Wild Flag, and Sub Pop's The Head and The
Heart. With Grow and company having completed their sophomore album, Kris is
busy working on her sophomore release and the formation of a new band.
