Call and Response: Collaboration at a Distance Round 10

In March 2020 when we went on lockdown due to the pandemic, the Shoebox PR team created “Call and Response: Collaboration at a Distance” as a way to stay connected and to check in with and support each other. We are now going into Round 10 and have enjoyed the process, experiences and friendships that we have made. The project draws on the tradition of Jazz and Exquisite Corpse as a way for the artists to ping pong creatively off of each other. We are looking forward to continuing on for as long as we are needed.

Please join us for the opening reception of the online exhibition via zoom Saturday January 2, 3-5pm pst.

Featured Artists:

Sema’Jay Hall, Francisco Alvarado, Brenda Oelbaum, Beatrice Antonie Martino, Arpad Petrass, Galina Kovshilovsky, Michele Mekel, rain lucien matheke, Katie Small, Madeline Arnault, Kess Kin, Pascha Goodwin, Nancy Good, Gini Mann-Deibert, britta k, Sonji, Gail Downey, Alfred Lowenheim, Pau Gold, BEATRICE WOLERT, Angela Brooks, Ibuki Kuramochi, Cynthia D. Cole, Joanne Le Cocq, Jess Levey, Dellis Frank, Jody Zellen, Aazam Irilian, Ada Pullini Brown, Lyla Paakkanen, Rebecca Bennett Duke, ADEOLA DAVIES-AIYELOJA, Victoria Martino, Ann Storc, Jamia Weir, Stacy Prihoda, Kayla Cloonan, Yulia Morris, thomas jones, David Forlano, Libby Hartigan, olive hays, Reenie Charriere, Nancy Kay Turner, Maria Sathaliya, Ashley Violett, Reksi Muhammad Sidik, Stacie Birky Greene, Eva-Marie Amiya, Corinne Lightweaver, Sean-Michael Gettys, Genie Davis

Call and Response: Collaboration at a Distance Round 1 can be seen here Round 2 can be seen here Round 3 can be seen here and Round #4 can be seen here Round 5 can be seen here Round 6 can be seen here Round 7 can be seen here Round 8 can be seen here Round 9 can be seen here

Round 11 is open for participation through January 10 at 4pm pst. Info on how to submit is here

Cover artwork by Ada Pullini Brown

Ada Pullini Brown and Lyla Paakkanen

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Angela Brooks and Ibuki Kuramochi

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Arpad Petrass and Galina Kovshilovsky

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Brenda Oelbaum and Beatrice Antonie Martino

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Britta K and Sonji Art

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Cynthia Cole and Joanne Le Cocq

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Eva-Marie Amiya and Corinne Lightweaver

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Gail Downey and Al Lowenheim

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Jamia Weir and Stacy Prihoda

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Jess Levey and Dellis Frank

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Jody Zellen and Aazam Irilian

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Kayla Cloonan and Yulia Morris

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Kess Kin and Pascha Goodwin

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Libby Hartigan and Olive Hays

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Madeline Arnault and Katherine Small

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Maria Sathaliya and Ashley Hester

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Nancy Good and Gini Mann-Diebert

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Pau Gold and Bea Wolert

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Rain Matheke and Michele Mekel

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Rebecca Bennett Duke and Adeola Davies Aiyeloja

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Reenie Charriere and Nancy Kay Turner

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Reksi Muhammad Sidik and Stacie Birky Greene

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Sean Michael-Gettys and Genie Davis

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1 Genie Davis

Family

Are you the clouds in the sky?
The glitter on my thighs?
The iridescent inside
of an abalone shell?

Are you the words goodbye,
the first hello, the last sigh?
You were family –
then,

you had to be put aside,
because I
didn’t want to hide
more pain.

You see it another way,
that you did not have any blame,
that you did not steal from me
the precious thing you gave.

Family is a concept
that sometimes brings shame.
I may forget,
but not forgive –

or just live another life.
My family in clouds,
in the loves I have found,
inside a shell

of my skin.
But it is of the soul
not flesh and bone,
that makes true kin.

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3 Genie Davis

Glow

Oh jeweled thing
my treasure.
In my heart still
without measure.

Glow with sun,
out shine pain with hope,
this is one slippery slope –
and I am rolling.

Glow. In the end,
what have you got to show
but the shine
you know

is still inside you.
Go. Because to stay
where you are
is senseless.

The heart does
what it must do.
The eye sees only
what shows.

Make this not about
the darkness
taking hold –
make it glow.

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5 Genie Davis

Northern Lights

These are not the Northern Lights,
but they are dancing.
In spite of it all,
or all because

we are dancing, too.
Stop making it look
so glamorous,
this spirit-exhausting year.

In the heart of loss,
we raise our shot glasses
to the sea,
we look to the waves,

to the sky,
to a dream in which
electric lights
become a dazzle.

Wake me when this
dark sleepis over,
still transformed but
better blessed.

Touch me when we
get to dancing,
hold me
when we go to rest.

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7 Genie Davis

Cast-off/Cast Away

As the waves recede,
I’m left here grieving
in the glorious day.
The tide recedes

and leaves me gasping.
In the dazzle of water,
a light will shine –
leading me.

Cast-off, cast away.
The pearly-belly mussels upended,
empty.
The baby clams

waiting for the tide to change.
Oh, the succor in the sea,
from the depths of darkness,
carry me.

Leave me not lost,
tossed on the shore,
show me the ever more.
The wheel of gulls,

the cry of surf,
the ache and surge,
the loss, the purge.
Rebirth.

9 Genie Davis

Swirl

Dance of light,
candle flames struck
in the chill garden
at sunset,

when the sky
over the sea
inflames the trees
with radiance.

Night and the illuminated
silver snowmen
sway and sing
of holiday things,

and the eclipsed moon
trails pearl tears
on the dusty ground.
From a quick photo

you paint something
precious,
an ecstatic evocation
across a dusty field –

as the moon spilled
a soft clouded white.
Like milk
in my coffee

this life,
a swirl –
of sips and shapes
color, fragrance.

The pine stillness.
The rush of river.
The icicle night.
The desert winter.

The confluence of sea and stream.
My ghost dream.
The deep black green of the jade cliff,
of the walk along the ridge.

Never looking back.

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11 Genie Davis

The Milky Way Observed (and other things)

Is it the stars in the sky,
the Milky Way floating by,
diamond tears in the eyes

• color crystalline.

Do you see my disguise
as magic nights roll by
and there’s only the quiet

• listening.

Where might we be
in the radiant trees
as the flutter of dreams
caresses the cheek

flies far above
into the memory of love
and so the change comes

• relentlessly whispering.

Is it my name?
Your shadow the same,
that spiral darkness remains

• lingering.

13 Genie Davis

‘It’s the Season

The moon is a sliver of radiant pearl,
her shadow a silvery jewel.
She follows the transient radiance
of sun

burnt orange and royal blue.
Jupiter and Saturn are near twins
tonight, fused with the magic
of love.

I’ll remember you always,
bright star –
briefly fallen to me
from above.

King tide, shore birds,
a song in Spanish, half-heard,
the glory of Christmas lights.
Here is the evening,

it’s embers still gleaming,
random thoughts still streaming –
as if we were dreaming –
faraway signals unheard.

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Sema’Jay Hall and Francisco Alvarado

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Thomas Jones and David Forlano

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Veronica Martino and Ann Storc

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