Art House Productions presents

THE ART HOUSE

Featuring Featuring "Brit-born Bajan International"

DOROTHEA SMARTT
Poet, Live Artist and Facilitator



Poets * Musicians * Performance Artists
Coming together in Jersey City

THURSDAY, MARCH 5TH, 8:00PM-10:30PM

$5 admission, refreshments available
*5 minute open mike for poets, actors, comics and musicians
*Taped for television

Art House Productions
Hamilton Square
1 McWilliams Place, Roof, Jersey City, NJ
(SE Corner of Hamilton Park near Erie St./8th St.



THE ART HOUSE is held on the 1st Thursday of every month


[www.britbornbajan.com]

Dorothea Smartt, is of Barbadian (aka Bajan) heritage. Dubbed 'Brit-born Bajan international' [Kamau Brathwaithe], her work receives critical attention in Britain, Europe, the Caribbean, and the USA. She is acknowledged as tackling multi-layered cultural myths and the real life experiences of Black women with searing honesty. She was Brixton Market's first Poet-in-Residence, and a former Attached Live Artist at London's Institute of Contemporary Arts. Her evocative and spirited voice "coils up your feelings, around granite chips of truth... unwinds solace, in the most soothing volleys" [Caribbean Times]. Described as "accessible & dynamic", her work was recently selected to promote the best of contemporary writing in Europe today. [www.liffey.net]

Her poetry collection CONNECTING MEDIUM [Peepal Tree Press, 2001], contains a highly commended Forward Poetry Prize poem, and poems from her live art pieces Medusa, and From You To Me To You (an ICA Live Arts commission). With her 'unique and penetrating voice' she's considered, "...a master artist who sculpts both Standard English and Caribbean English into a wide variety of poetic forms...capable of boldly crossing cultural boundaries in order to borrow from the past as she shapes poems for twenty-first century readers." [Caribbean Writer]. She was nominated for a prestigious Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, and commissioned to create work with and for the historic Project Row Houses, Houston, Texas.

Her "medusaplay project", an on-going live art work-in-process, premiered at the British Festival of Visual Theatre. Other collaborative works include the live art piece "fo(u)r women"; the installation "Triangle" (a Black Arts Alliance commission) and the multi-media/live art "Hairroots", inspired by her poetry collection. Her solo work, "Medusa", was selected to showcase seminal and outstanding examples of Black British Live Art.

In 2000 she was commissioned to write her first script, "fall out", a multi-media play, which successfully toured primary schools. Most recently she's produced her first short films, for her installation/performance "Just A Part" commissioned by AFFORD (African Foundation for Development) and "Bringing It All Back Home", inspired by Sambo's Grave on Sunderland Point (a Lancaster LitFest commission).

She is SABLE LitMag's poetry editor [ www.sablelitmag.org], co-editor of "Words from the Women's Café' [Centerprise] and, as a former Audre Lorde Womens' Poetry Center member, guest editor of the journal 'Poder'. She is a 'graduate' of Kwame Dawes'/Spread The Word, Afro-Style School, and a member of the Black Arts Alliance.

As well as reading and performing around Britain, she often goes abroad, most recently: Canada, Bahrain, Denmark, Egypt, The Netherlands, Jamaica, The Shetland Islands, Slovenia, and the USA. She also enjoys mentoring, going into schools to inspire and motivate as a visiting or resident poet, speaking at conferences, and providing workshops for various communities. Currently she's researching and processing new live art pieces and working towards a second poetry collection in print.

About Art House Productions
Based in Jersey City, NJ, Art House Productions has been creating innovative performance, broadcast, and publishing opportunities for artists since September 2001. More information can be found at our website www.arthouseproductions.org or by calling 201-915-9911.

This event is made possible by Exeter Properties and Hamilton Square. For more information, visit www.livingonthepark.com