These two artists joined together to light the candle of wonder again in Hickory last night Actually, they set the stage for a couple of stunning performances. One by a High School student, Katya Bengston, who opened the door for the evening, with her poem that set the bar extremely high for those who followed. Then came the virtuoso work of Alyn Mearns who interpreted Chopin’s mazurkas on his acoustic guitar and escorted patrons of the show along with him into a slightly different dimension.
The other high school students, led by their instructor, Molly Rice, presented professional performances of their own original poetry written in response to the pictures of the exhibition. Finally, Adrian Rice, Writer-in-Residence of Cataba Valley Community College, and now associate professor at Lenoir-Rhyne University, both in Hickory, read from his published work in “Hickory Haiku” interspersed with observations of some of the differences he notices between the United States and Ireland, such as our “wonderful” weather and our beautiful skies that we don’t have to keep lifting up as we walk beneath them, and of course, our militant robins, huge birds that are apparently much larger than their Irish counterparts, along with many, many other amazing and delightful differences.  |
| Katya Bengston |
At any rate it was a good evening, followed by a quick stop at the Crescent Moon for craft beers and burrito sandwiches. Another good night in Hickory.
2 comments:
John, nice coverage of the museum event. Love that photo of Mearns playing the guitar. Thanks for shepherding us to the Crescent Moon Cafe. --Al
Katya Bengston is my student's name :)
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