Category: News

The skill, educational levels, and age groups of those who participated in “Salute!” vary considerably. For example, Jerry Dade, the artist who produced “Reflections of Honor,” a photograph that, according to his wife, received a high honor at the Los Angeles County Fair, and his granddaughter both participated. Dade’s work caught my attention due to his having captured such detail in the reflection of the soldier’s helmet that I could not resist asking him whether or not he had Photo-shopped it. The answer was a definite “no.” The full photo includes images of the actual crowd that is seen in the reflection, including the photographer.

Steve Long is another CCMA member whose works drew me near. Conversing with Long, I learned that he is a retired railroad worker who looks at the Chaffey Community Museum of Art as having given him the opportunity to pursue his true passion. Like many of the other members, being an artist is a second career for him.

Among those who are now pursuing their true passion is Jan Wright who, in addition to being a participant of “Salute!” is featured in the solo exhibit “The Color-Go-Round.” She is quoted in the exhibition program as having said that “in the musical Cabaret, money makes the world go round. Money may work for cabarets, but ‘as far as painting is concerned, it’s COLOR for me.’” Consisting mainly of abstract imagery, her color experiments represent a departure from her earlier representational style. The exhibit includes works ranging from representational to semi-representational to ones that indicate Wright’s having reached her goal of creating “paintings that vibrate with color.”

Unlike the other two exhibits, “Mythmakers” was not curated by Janelle Lowry, the Museum Coordinator. It is in essence a portfolio of works by two members, John Greco, and Tammy Greenwood, that was curated by another, Leslie Brown. Each produced several fantastical works of art as expressions of their common inward human experience, i.e., imagination. In her artist statement, Greenwood mentioned, “The images in my art have to do with archetypal symbolism and the idea of a collective unconscious as expressed by Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell.” Both Greenwood’s and Greco’s works tend to explore the subconscious.

The members’ exhibit will remain on display until January 26, 2014. It represents a new beginning for many artists and art lovers. Considering that the wine, as well as the hors d’oeuvres, was tasty, and the atmosphere was convivial, moving from their last location, the Filippi Winery—one of several places where their collection has been housed, to their own space represents upward mobility for both CCMA and the Inland Empire as a whole. There are definitely new signs of arts and cultural life in the Inland Empire!

Sharon Pittman can be contacted at: sharon.pittman@inclusiveexhibits.org.

There is no entry fee for participation, though “Wrimos” are encouraged to donate to support the non-profit organization’s mission, which is dedicated to encouraging “vibrant creativity” in the world. NaNoWriMo supports several projects that dovetail with the novel-writing month, like a virtual writing retreat and the Young Writer’s Program. In addition, the website hosts a number of “Pep Talks” from established and idolized authors like Neil Gaiman and James Patterson, as well as NaNoWriMo alums who have had their project novel published, a lofty dream for many participants.

NaNoWriMo has an international reach, as well as a hyper-local one. Municipal Liaisons organize and support the forums for local areas, as well as hosting events like “write-ins” for Wrimos’ home regions. The San Bernardino County area is technically covered by two NaNoWriMo Local Regions: San Bernardino (which includes the region “along Old Route 66 from the deserts to the mountain tops” and has hosted events in Apple Valley, Redlands, Hesperia and Rancho Cucamonga) and Pomona Valley (which includes Upland and Chino Hills as well as out-of-country, but nearby events in Corona and Claremont). Throughout the month, “Come Write In” events are held in coffee shops, libraries, and universities to help participant-writers boost their word counts or just connect with other writers. Other free workshops, like an ongoing series in San Dimas, are aimed at tackling specific problems writers might be having with their novels. Writing can be a very solitary endeavor, but NaNoWriMo’s enthusiastic community vibe helps motivate writers, many of whom have never attempted a novel before.

This year’s NaNoWriMo is well underway, but visiting the regional communities online even at this late date is a great way to network with other local writers and to prep to enter the challenge next year.

I first met Larry Eby at a gathering I didn’t really want to go to. I noticed three things when I arrived. The first was that I was somewhat overdressed–I was the only one in heels and a dress, in a sea of flip flops and tennis shoes. The second thing was that the pizza still hadn’t arrived, and the third was a really young looking kid with a backpack. The young looking kid introduced himself as Larry Eby and invited folks to a writing workshop that met each week at Augie’s Coffee House in Redlands. I had recently had a break-up with another workshop and was on the rebound–but cautious. I didn’t want to join another workshop where it was more about everyone feeling good about their writing regardless of the quality being produced, and less about becoming better writers by facing the harsh reality that sometimes our writing isn’t very good and needs work. I didn’t want someone always telling me, “Hey, that’s a great poem!” I have my mom for that. I needed something more meaningful. I said what the heck, exchanged information with Larry and took a chance. That was almost two years ago.

I sat down and spoke with Larry and Cindy outside of Augie’s, PoetrIE’s headquarters, to talk about the group, on a chilly Thursday night before workshop began.

Isabel Quintero: My first question for you guys is how did PoetrIE get started?

Larry Eby: Well, the first day that we figured out what was going to happen, Jason Keller said, “Hey man, I built this website called poetrie.net.” He said we were going to have an events calendar and we were going to have workshops and things like that. He told me while we went to this open mic at Borders [now closed] in Riverside and we decided that we have to start the workshop, it’s going to be this day, and we just started.

IQ: So, you didn’t sit down and plan it and say, “Hey maybe this would be a good idea?” Jason just said, “Guess what we’re doing?”

LE: Yea. Well Jason said, here’s this website, we’re going to do this. Jason and I had already been working on each other’s work for a while…at that point before it was formal and before we decided to make the PoetrIE workshop.

Cindy Rinne: Yes.

IQ: How did you all meet?

CR: Can I back up and start with the early part of the story?

IQ: Okay, sure!

CR: (laughing) I was at an art show on State Street and I walked up to Aeron Brown’s booth and Jason was standing there, I had never met him, and I didn’t know Larry at the time either, and Aaron said, “You two need to know each other.” So we started talking about the workshop and I said, I’m leading a lot of things right now, if you set it up, I’ll come. And he [Jason] said okay. It sounds like he went to Larry and he did it. Or maybe it was all wrapped up together.

IQ: Alright, so Larry, how did you and Jason meet?

LE: We met at a Science Fiction class at Cal State [San Bernardino]. It wasn’t a writing class, but it was study of 1960s science fiction, and it was during summer school.

IQ: With Prof. [David] Carlson?

LE: Yes, it was Prof. Carlson.

IQ: I took that class as well. Many, many years ago.

LE: Well, Jason and I kind of hit it off. We saw each other again in our first creative writing class at Cal State, which was beginning fiction. And then, we were working on each others stories a lot then and we took the intermediate class together, and we were working on each others stories. And we took the advanced class together. So it was a lot of writing together. [But] our interests actually started with metal bands, that’s how we started talking. And then I think both of our interests in writing grew as we progressed through Cal State’s program.

IQ: Okay, so, so far what are the greatest accomplishments you see for PoetrIE? When you started PoetrIE, what did you envision? You had the website, you had the workshops, was that all you envisioned or did you imagine it being something bigger?

CR: For me in the beginning it was doing the readings. Getting out into different cities in the public spaces. Our first one was in an art gallery but we’ve read on the streets, Art in the Alley, a lot of different places. I really like the fact that we actually read, have readings in the community in places where people wouldn’t always come to hear poetry. So I think we’re a good outreach for poetry as a form.

LE: I think the ultimate goal that we have for PoetrIE is to become an organization where we can help fund writers and promote the community. But I think our greatest accomplishment has been the community building and our workshop.

CR: It’s amazing.

LE: From the beginning until now, I think our biggest accomplishment has been how great the workshop has become and how so many members have been publishing, like you publishing a book, everyone’s getting into all these journals–it’s fantastic.

IQ: Where do you envision the group a year from now? Five years from now? Still as small as it is? Because it’s been growing…

CR: Yes, and we have the journal too [Tin Cannon].

LE: Tin Cannon, is also a major accomplishment.

CR: It is.

LE: That was one of the biggest things. We wanted to have a journal that really encompasses the IE voice. But, a year from now, what we see PoetrIE as, is [being] a 501(c)(3) [non-profit organization], have the paperwork in, and [then] starting a scholarship fund. That’s what I want getting started by next year. A couple more Tin Cannons out. Five years from now? Man…

CR: You know, I think in five years from now, we will start getting invited to read outside of the Inland Empire. We’ve already read in Venice, and I think that will continue to grow, especially as a non-profit having a literary magazine, I see us being invited at the university level or being able to travel beyond this area. We had great attendance in Venice.

LE: What I’d also like to see in five years is more pockets of workshops. We have our main workshop but I would like to see it branch out, to have different workshop leaders that go out and have their own workshop but also the workshop leaders continue in our core workshop. So that way we expand but we don’t lose our tight knit group that we have. That’d be awesome.

IQ: So, building more community, but still maintaining the main community, that started it off? Kind of like a feeder community/group?

LE: Yea.

CR: I think too, what’s good about the group is that you can be a beginner, you can be advanced, we have professors reading with us…we try to make it welcoming. Even though we have a very serious workshop, we still try to make it very inclusive. And, it’s free.

LE: That’s the one thing I want to keep. I don’t think we should charge for the workshops. Poetry should be free. Obviously, we charge for the journal because it costs a lot of money to produce a journal.

IQ: Well, then, do you see PoetrIE as kind of an anomaly in the area? Or part of a bigger movement within the Inland Empire? How do you see it, in regards to other groups in our geographical location? Because we have Inlandia and they’re spread out in Ontario, Riverside, and other areas. And in Riverside you have things going on with Back to the Grind or the DIY community out there. Where do you see PoetrIE?

CR: More spread out and participating in different events. We just did the Redlands 125th [anniversary] so we were able to write poetry in support this city. And we go to another city and support their artists and what their doing. We’ve had a reading at Cellar Door Books. We have a community that brings different people into different places. Linking up with other organizations is not impossible but complicated. I don’t think we’re to that place yet.

LE: I don’t think we’re an anomaly. Especially in Redlands, there’s a major art movement, and I think we’re just a part of that for sure. I don’t think we’re separate. We don’t communicate as much as we should…but I do think we’re part of this one major art movement. It’s definitely the Redlands Renaissance.

CR: Yes. It’s very exciting, because it started out grassroots. And it’s expanding. I like being part of things like that.

LE: And it’s kind of centered around this coffee shop.

CR: It is. It’s absolutely centered around [Augie’s Coffeehouse]…they’re putting on the next event.

IQ: You mentioned that Inlandia has it’s own board, does PoetrIE have it’s own board?

LE: Not yet.

IQ: If you had to right now say, is there one leader for the group?

LE: No. I wouldn’t say there is one leader. I would say there’s a core group of leaders in this group. I mean everyone has contributed in major ways, to signal someone out and say they’re the leader, I think that would discredit what we do because we’re a big collaborative organization and we collaborate on everything as far as events, Tin Cannon, the workshop and everything. I don’t like dictatorships.

IQ: Are there any specific projects that you guys are working on right now? Either solo or collaborative? What has been the biggest benefit for you, as a writer, in being part of PoetrIE?

LE: For me the feedback on my own work has been fantastic. I’ve grown so much as a writer because of the people around me and the feedback they have given me. Them leading me in directions towards other art forms to study, or read, or things like that. That has helped me tremendously. I don’t think I would have any of the stuff that I’ve written if it wasn’t for this group.

IQ: What about you, Cindy? What has been the biggest thing you have gotten from this group?

CR: Well, I’ve fallen in love with being a writer. I used to introduce myself as an artist and sort of a poet, and sometimes now, the poet comes first. Which is interesting, because I’ve been an artist for over thirty something years. I’m still doing professional art but the writing…without this group I would not have two books done, [and] three chapbooks. I have done collaborations with amazing people. Like Larry said, I’ve grown tremendously from the workshops because there’s great people who know what they’re talking about. And the accountability…I wouldn’t be submitting to journals. Before, I was putting poems on my art but I wasn’t doing any of this other kind of thing. And when I came to this group, I was ready to get more serious. I was doing some other groups and they were fabulous but they didn’t dig as deep into the crit[ique]s and editing, and I was just ready to grow.

IQ: What advice would you give to people to begin a workshop like this or to writers who want to join the group?

LE: First off, for the people who want to start a workshop: grab a friend and just start meeting. And people will start showing up. Meet in a public place, talk to people, and be willing to invite them to hang out with you to write and work on stuff. All you need is one person to be considered a workshop. Grab a friend. Do it.

CR: I’m inviting people to come to this group all the time because they come to art shows or to one of our events. I let them know this is when we meet, this is what we’re doing. You don’t have to read, you can read, you can just come for a while to see what we’re about. Not every group is going to be a match for every personality. Maybe ten years ago I wouldn’t have been ready for this group. It has to be the right time and right combination. And at least they come to find that out, and they are welcome.

IQ: Final advice for writing?

CR: Same thing as always. Read a lot of stuff. Meet with people. Keep writing. Poem-a-day! We haven’t mentioned poem a day. Poem-a-day has been amazing. This group has done 3-4 poem-a-days a year. That has been where most of my published work has come out of. It creates community, it’s online, but it’s a lot of the same people we meet with. Poem-a-day has been killer but it’s been the best to get stories down, and get input from people. It’s not as deep critiques, but like Larry said, you might get a direction, and the encouragement is fabulous.

LE: Advice for writers? Just write. A lot. Everyday as much as you can because not everything is going to be great work but you have to practice like it’s a muscle. It’s something that you have to continuously do. It’s like it’s an instrument, if you don’t practice you’re not ever going to play in the concert hall.

IQ: I think some of the misconceptions that people have about poets is that you sit around and wait for inspiration.

CR: (laughing) You’d never get anything written.

IQ: This is my last question. Use one sentence to define PoetrIE.

LE: PoetrIE is community.

CR: PoetrIE is established to show that there are amazing writers in the Inland Empire.

IQ: Alright, well thank you two very much. PoetrIE meets the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month at Augie’s Coffee House in Redlands.

Learn more about this great organization on www.poetrie.net.

If you would like to submit your work for the second edition of Tin Cannon, their literary journal, go on to tincannon.com for more information.

Phil Yeh, often called the Godfather of the modern American Graphic Novel, has painted a new mural celebrating San Bernardino County on the north wall of the Route 66 museum. Since 1985, Yeh and Cartoonists Across America & The World have painted more than 1800 colorful cartoon murals promoting literacy, creativity and the arts in 49 U.S. states and 15 foreign countries. These murals have covered school, library, and community walls as well as being painted on portable lightweight form core board, city buses, bookmobiles, and billboards all around the world. Yeh continues to speak in schools, libraries and communities about creativity and the arts. His talks are for all ages. To see a bit more of his tour and books go to www.wingedtiger.com.

“Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, was the very first cartoonist to endorse our tour in 1985. He believed that the power of humor could really increase our literacy rate. Just a few days ago, we got permission from his widow Jeannie to paint Spike, Snoopy’s brother, on the right side of the north wall in Needles. Schulz lived in this Route 66 town as a child briefly and paid tribute to it in his comic strip. I have painted Spike in front of the mountains in a Chinese brush style. Rory Murray added the Needles covered wagon sign,” said Yeh from his Running Springs studio.

“The whole project started when I painted a MIA-POW logo on the Inland Empire Military Museum a couple of years ago sponsored by my friend Jim Valdez, a veteran himself. Since both this museum and the McDonalds Museum are owned by Albert Okura, we got to talking about painting a more detailed work of art on the side of his building. Something that truly celebrates the many accomplishments that took place in this city,” said Yeh.

“The south wall highlighted the magnificent California Theater and the Norton Air Force Base which was directed by Colonel Paul Green, (USAF ret.), one of the Tuskegee Airmen. In addition, many local people including actor Gene Hackman, who attended San Bernardino High, Dorothy Inghram, local educator and the first African American District Superintendent in the State of California, Chester Carlson, who invented the Xerox machine, Will Rogers, who had his very last appearance at the California Theater, and many more. The portraits on the south wall were done by artist Sandy Fischer Cvar. We also have an original Dan Romero metal sculpture of palm tree leaves on the roof,” continued Yeh.

“For the north side, I wanted to create a fun visual image of the entire county, the largest county in the United States. We feature cars, a train, and trucks on this side but the real highlight will be motorcycles on Route 66. I wanted to pay tribute to my friend, the late Hal Robinson, who was a cartoonist for Easyriders magazine in the 1970s & 80s. Hal inspired my cartoon career and also is the reason I started riding bikes back in college.”

These two detailed 100 feet murals were painted in almost two years. Local San Bernardino artists Rory Murray, Jan Windhausen, and Beth Winokur have been hard at work on the north wall which highlights some of San Bernardino County’s important landmarks. Winokur has been creating fantasy fruit labels for the railroad cars. Murray has painted the original McDonald’s restaurant that once stood on the very site.

Sponsors for the San Bernardino County side include Loma Linda University & Hospital, Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, Redlands Paint Company, San Bernardino Paint Company, Sherwin Williams Paint Company, Mattel Toys, The Ontario Airport and Country Inn & Suites in Redlands.

For more information:

Veterans call 909-888-0477

Car Show call 909-838-4071

Parade & Vendors call 909-885-6324.

You can’t explain or express or hope to understand the madness. You can try, but there is such little impact in comparison to experiencing being involved. Keep the scene alive by supporting the creative endeavors and one-up monetary contributions by offering yourself as an ally to the community. We will need events like the IE Zine Quest every year as a staple in our community, because frankly, the communal advantages are just immeasurable.

I walked away from the second annual IE Zine Fest with so much more than I’d arrived with—except for when it came to my bank account balance—that did take a marginal drop during the course of the day. However, leaving with an even greater appreciation for my local zine community plus an IE Zine Quest bag filled to the brim with merchandise did ease the pain of the fiscal hurt I’d submitted my wallet to.

Five straight hours of making my rounds and two trips to the ATM later, I’d finally reached the last few participants showcasing their work at the day’s festivities. A comic artist and Redlands native by the moniker Dr. Filth, set up shop directly across from Oakland resident by way of Rialto, High & Outside zineist, Adam Hartnett.

There was no shortage of talented community contributors and coordinators in attendance, however; Cal State San Bernardino adjunct professor and Zineworks rep, Angela Asbell, was on the scene managing live readings while event coordinator Ray Duran of Redlands comic book store, A Shop Called Quest, acted as a brilliant host—snapping polaroids, making handfuls of on the spot pins, and spreading all around good vibrations.

In a day and age of constant documentation, Instagram and Twitter find themselves as useful tools in rekindling those good vibrations, a substitute to our inability to truly relive nights that have passed. A simple search on either outlet referencing “IEzinefest” or IEzinequest” will show you a bit of what you were missing from a welcomingly intimate point of view— a behind the scenes look at the men and women behind the zines.

Dig a little into the culture; see what gems are hidden between the pages and pages of printed chaos. Start small and buy a zine or two; from there, you’ll be able to familiarize yourself for next year which we are sure will be an even greater display of the liveliness of the D.I.Y culture that lives and breathes among us.