Oh yes, I have heard it. All of it. Did you really think we would leave you high-and-dry like that? From little love notes on the gallery door, to people calling, and mumbling under their breath, believe me, I know you’ve all been waiting to find out “What the heck is going on with NakedCity?” Admittedly, I wanted to see just how much hubbub I would actually witness if I just sort of kept things hush-hush for a month or three. And I can tell you that I am relieved that it has been A LOT! I gave you a little teaser on my Facebook status back in October of 2011 letting you know I was dreaming of what to create for you next. I wasn’t kidding. And although we had planned to have this new-and-improved NakedCity in your hands by January 1, it has taken my team and I a bit longer to put this book together. Here is what you have to look forward to because of it:

1. NakedCity Magazine will now be published 6 times per year
2. NakedCity Magazine will now be 64 pages plus a beautiful spot-varnished cover
3. NakedCity now has 6, brand new categories
4. NakedCity will now print and distribute 15,000 magazines, up from the 10,000 we did in the past
5. NakedCity will now be a larger format than before….bigger photos, bigger articles, bigger ads, bigger, bigger, bigger!

Basically, it’s NakedCity on steroids. We will still have the same awesome coverage of local music, concerts, artists, theater, and urban life in Wichita written by the author’s you’ve grown to love, only now there is even more.

To celebrate our new changes, I would like to offer all businesses* that have considered advertising with NakedCity a chance to test the waters and allow us to make you a believer! For one issue only, if you call me TODAY, Friday, January 13, 2012, I will let you make me an offer. You tell me what ad size you want and what you are willing to pay for it. I want you in this first beautiful book. Give me a call today at 316.708.6090. Yes, I’m posting  my personal phone number for you to call me directly. Let’s chat. Let me help you reach the hippest, smartest, most active audience in Wichita….and you name the price. Space is limited though, so don’t waste time. Once it’s sold out, there will be no more. Geeez, I sound like a really bad infomercial.

I can’t wait to hear from you today! HAPPY FRIDAY!!!!!

~xoxo

*new advertisers only

Big Poppa E is a three-time veteran of the HBO DEF POETRY series and National Poetry Slam Champion based in AUSTIN, TEXAS. His live performances combine poetry, stand-up comedy and dramatic monologue into high-energy rants that skewer pop culture, politics and the pain and beauty of relationships. Works by Big Poppa E cover areas of gender, sexuality and masculinity with a playful irreverence, and this focus has led to a growing following amongst high school and college students, especially those involved with speech competitions.

In addition to making his living as a performance poet, Big Poppa E often works with human rights organization AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL and campus group MEN AGAINST VIOLENCE to raise awareness of issues such as social justice and sexual assault.

For more information, check out www.BigPoppaE.com or search for Big Poppa E on Wikipedia. For more than 100 videos of Big Poppa E in action, simply search for Big Poppa E on YOUTUBE. There are all kinds of things on there to watch.

Big Poppa E, will be the featured poet at A NIGHT IN VERSE, a monthly poetry series hosted by NAKEDCITY GALLERY. The fun begins at 7PM, Thursday, December 15th. Admission is free, but donations are appreciated. See you there!

pretty girls make me sad (2010)

mine is the art of the awkward pause, the comedy of mortification,

the joy of realizing you have no idea what to do next. i am the king

of unrequited love, the prince of crushes, the emperor of yearning

from afar.

i fall in love with everybody and scatter pieces of my broken heart all

over this country hoping one day i can follow their trail home, but

the moment they touch the ground, a poem sprouts, and birds make

nests in their leafy words. i have planted forests that pulse and throb

with the rhythm of my blood. i am johnny appleheart, and i am lost

amongst these trees.

and the wind whistles through the holes in my chest. if i twist just

right, it makes the most beautifully sad music, so painfully lovely, so

horribly alive, this symphony of sighs.

i spend more time looking at the tips of my toes than i do the face of

the moon, and i spend more time on both than i do looking people

in the eyes. i didn’t used to be this way. i used to wear my heart on

my sleeve, but it made my wrists too bloody.

now, i am clumsy around girls. i never know what to say. they just

smell so good. i flirt with mixtapes and poetry and have no idea what

a first date is. i always have to ask. is this a first date? it hardly ever is.

i hug every girl i meet so i can share heartbeats with someone even

for a moment.

i have fallen deeply in love with l06 girls who were absolutely perfect

for me, except for one fatal flaw… they didn’t love me back.

37i keep hoping for someone to cross a crowded room and stand

brazenly before me and reach out and hold my face in her palms

and smile with her eyes and say, there you are! i have been looking

everywhere for you! now that i have found you, i promise i will

never let you out of my sight.

but no one ever does.

i am a little kid lost in the mall and crying, clutching at the hems of

passing skirts and mouthing the name of someone i’ve never met.

are you my true love?

no, said the steam shovel, i am not your true love.

oh, my sweet heart-shaped girl, where are you? follow my poems

home to me, my scalliwag, my succatash, my sweet potato pie.

i am so tired.

Matsuo Bashō is one of the greatest Japanese haiku poets. Living from 1644-1694, he was instrumental in solidifying the five-seven-five syllable structure we know today. His best known masterpiece is as follows: Furuike ya,kawazu tobikomu, mizu no oto. Translated to English by Nobuyuki Yuasa, it reads:

Breaking the silence
Of an ancient pond,
A frog jumped into the water –
A deep resonance.

While the English translation does not hold to the five-seven-five structure, the beauty is poignantly conveyed. The haiku, as the shortest poem accepted in traditional Japanese poetry, is respected worldwide for its intensity, clarity, and brevity. The amazing amount of emotion and sublime narrative put across by just seventeen syllables is, well, no small feat.

Working in this format reminds us of the impeccable discipline and lucidity it takes to purify ideas. Every syllable, every inch, is maximized to its fullest potential. The haiku eloquently illustrates the splendor of simple, and Bashō’s poem demonstrates that small is sublime.

Drawing inspiration from Bashō’s poetry, NakedCity Gallery will assemble a host of small works by a variety of local artists for the show Deep Resonance. This show gives pause to the creative distillation and gem-like quality of each small work. Moreover, Bashō’s poem gives credence to the importance of a simple act. The impact of the frog jumping into the pond – a natural act – takes on a profound meaning when we consider the unknown consequences of our actions.

As we brace ourselves for the cold months ahead, let us meditate on the simple acts that come as naturally as a frog leaping into a pond. Let us make these actions are gifts we give to each other because, despite their size, they are powerful. So when you give a small gift over the coming months, give one that will resonate deeply.

{bio}
April Pameticky is a thirty-something poet, teacher, wife, and mother. She received her MFA from Wichita State University in 2006. April enjoys writing in Wichita and her associations with the KWA and the National Writing Project.  Her chapbook, Sand River, is under consideration at BlazeVOX, and her work can be seen online athttp://aprilpameticky.wordpress.com , Mikrokosmos, Chiron Review, and Zaum.

{poem}

IT STARTED ON MORNING ON A BRIDGE

I

Smells of sour human, rocks

scattered in random beckoning

across the spillway, even as the

bowl of the museum across the

river waits to receive, a building

full of expectation. The water

stumbles and pours all the

wreckage down the way, and I

say, send it down the river,  all

your fear and grief, all your

worries and concerns, send it

down the way in a baptism,

the dirt of our lives congesting

the flow.

II

We sit in silence, not out of

respect, but because words

escape us in our ineptitude.

You are there, across the table,

your hands fidgeting with the

fork.  I want to scream,

“Choke,”

but play with my water glass

instead.  I want to see around

this corner in time, predict a

future different for us, but I

know, even as Szechuan chicken

and wontons arrive, that we are

feasting our last supper.

III

We fear forgetting and stomp

in stone and marble our moments

of mourning until the formation

and purpose overshadow original

intent.  If we grieve less, we are less

worthy of grief, so we make a show

and promenade, a vain attempt to

make our spectacle permanent, as

final as a river.

You’ve seen his logos around town. The Anchor. Beards Floral. Ribbit’s much needed new look . And so many more. The man behind these local gems is Chris Parks. Majority of his twenty-year career as a designer and illustrator has been spent right here in Wichita. With a formal education in sculpture and design, his identity-based work is a skillful marriage of visual craftsmanship and artistic sensibilities. He completed many large, national projects over the years and produced logos for numerous local entrepreneurs. But these highly visible works are just a fraction of his professional portfolio.

This month NakedCity Gallery presents a selection of Parks’ body of work – familiar and unfamiliar – to explore the formal complexities of design and illustration, and question the business of art. His extensive body of work merits a context stripped of an advertizing function to appreciate his artistic execution, but this recontextualization does not remove corporations or commerce from the larger discussion.

The places where art and business intersect have always been fraught with tensions. Andy Warhol threw these questions to the fore in the 1960’s. Warhol, who began as a commercial artist and illustrator, mass produced his work in his studio The Factory which, in turn, called into question the value systems of the art world. A more contemporary example of this is Takashi Murakami. Since 2001, Murakami’s corporate entity Kaikai Kiki Co., Ltd. has blown Warhol’s Factory model completely out of the water. Murakami’s designs are refracted through the world of high fashion, high art, and easily consumed goods.  With key chains, stickers, mugs, buttons, and t-shirts based on his larger works, he takes the “Pokemon-gotta-have-em-all” approach to this range of merchandise.  This goes far beyond mass reproductions of already existing corporate designs.

Artist such as Warhol and Murakami hold their positioned firmly within the art world and deploy a commercial production of art with the delivery methods of identity branding. These strategies are aimed to critique consumerism, artificial value systems, and (let’s not kid ourselves) to make a ton of money. Parks is positioned on the other side of this divide. Conversely, he takes art world methodologies and applies them in the arena of design and illustration. His strong identity development and illustrative skills, in tandem with an education in sculpture, gives him a unique presence in the design world.

The crisp legibility of Parks’ work lends itself instant recognition – similarly achieved by Warhol and Murakami. But the true enjoyment of Parks’ work comes after spending time carefully inspecting color choices, the composition of the elements, and the melding of the underlying concepts. Such time is typically reserved for art and not logos. However, with a close look, one will appreciate the way the flatness of his forms maintain a muscular quality. The heavy lines in his designs behave more like planes of color than contours. Be it a gnarly skull or the shading of a figure, many of Parks’ work is virtually line-less. This seems counterintuitive considering the characteristic curves and sharp angles that make his work so distinctive. Instead, he fits together planes of color with a machined precision so that they maintain an overall flatness, but keep a sculptural presence.

More than a hired gun, Chris Parks demonstrates that there is room for artistic vision within a business driven market. His serpentine route toward professional success gave him the interdisciplinary experience needed to craft his distinct visual vocabulary. Many time of the course of his career, he valued the portfolio opportunity over profit opportunity. Instead of selling out, he is selling up. And in this regard too, he raises the bar for graphic designers and artists alike.

Chris Parks:  Laid Out is on view at NakedCity Gallery from October 21 – November 11, 2011

It is the third year we’ve planted.

Remembering the angle of last summer’s sun

and buying a new length of hose,

we pace off the area and pick the spot

for the first cut.

We argue over what to plant

and agree on tomatoes.

Last year, you wanted zucchini—

This year you don’t.

A garden doesn’t seem right without zucchini.

We’ve learned from past mistakes.

We dust for borers when they first show up

instead of waiting and hoping they’ll go away.

We put up a little fence to keep the dogs

and rabbits out.

The rains are heavy this spring

and plants grow with a mind of their own.

I check every day, impatient to know

If we’ve done it right.

It means something to do it right.

I pull the weeds and mulch and hoe.

I watch for signs of the enemies of plants

and water when the rain slacks off.

Under the fierce sun plants begin to bud

and my skin turns brown.

In the heat I lay straw between the rows

and gather what’s ready to be picked.

And watch you fall in love with someone else.

One day, when your back is turned,

I mow the garden down.

photo > BRUCE ROBINSON

‘Disovered Cornflakes,

Make me Narcoleptic, so

Now, it is nap time.’

-Haiku: That Girl Phil

‘trailing their leaves on the ground

Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair

Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.’

-Birches By Robert Frost

‘O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?’

-Romeo & Juliet By William Shakespeare

‘You

are the gaps in my ribcage

where the sunrise winds through to my heart and

You

are the part of the sunset that is so pink

the grasshoppers think maybe we should stop and watch

You

are the moon when it bloomed for the first time

and a child inspired unwound the lid of a jar

that set ten-thousand grasshoppers free’

-Love Poem By Andrea Gibson

Whether it’s quirky haiku’s, imagery rich metaphors, Shakespeare or Spoken Word, if you’re a ‘poet’, performer, diary confessing teenager, story teller or haiku genius – Naked City has a gift for that itch to express yourself. Prepare your notebooks, ink pens, Microsoft Word, mechanical pencils and napkins for The Third Thursday of every  month. (Like that alliteration right there?) Starting September 22, Naked City will be letting the stampede of hungry writers lurking around in downtown Wichita, get up on stage and spew their guts to an audience of familiar and unfamiliar faces. Okay, maybe not spew their guts – let me try a more poetic and refined approached – find a creative outlet through self-expression in front of peers.

Mark your calenders! Reserve the evening! Whatever it is you do – and arrive promptly at 7pm, (which means leave your home at 6:45) in order to scratch your name next to a number on a sheet of pearly white paper stamped with blue and red lines. We understand there are a few ladies and gentlemen who like to be fashionably late – so luckily you’ve got a half hour leeway time before the “Featured Poet” of the month goes up to bat. Yes, every month, the poet in that month’s issue of Naked City will have the opportunity to share a collection of their work for 15 – 20 minutes during the beginning half of the night.

Spoiler Alert!! Chandra E.A. Dickson will have a piece in September’s issue and will be the first “Featured Poet” to grace the stage. She will also have her new book available for purchase.

There is one thing left, that I know you are curious about and without the answer your life may not continue…..What is the name of this ‘so-called’ – Open Mic Poetry Night at Naked City Gallery, 121 N. Mead St. Wichita, KS 67203? *Drum roll please!* After much debate, grueling hours in the lab, the racking of many brains and dozens of text messages later – Iris Owens, your wonderful host for the evening, introduces: “Naked City Presents: Hello My Name Is…..” *And the crowd goes wiiiiiild*  Okay, so that was a little much, but there you have it! [Naked City + Open Mic + Poetry = Hello My Name is....]. The first of it’s kind downtown and a place where all voices can be heard; and remember, Poets are not God, no matter how much some think they are, so no judgments will be made. (Done with the bad jokes now.) Anyone – young or old, weird or normal, shy or confident, nervous or terrified – you are accepted into what I am sure will be a diverse group of people ready to blow your poetic minds.

Naked City has opened its doors to artists of varying kinds, musicians from all different genres and now they are welcoming poetry into their space of creativity, individuality and inspiration. I hope to see your bright, chipper, sad, lonely, nostalgic, funny and adorable faces on Thursday, September 22nd, between the hours of 7pm and 9pm at Naked City Gallery.

The snapshot is a piece of art that everyday people have been creating and collecting for decades—a quickly taken intensely personal memory of a specific experience.  What was once the realm of painters and later of professional photographers, the creation of images and making permanent of memories has become ‘everyman’s art’.  Taking from this new tradition and applying extensive research into the social and theoretical constructs behind the snapshot, Linda Robinson has developed multiple photographic series’ that may appear to be innocent and simple photographed scenes of daily American life, but in fact are heavily layered images building a compelling narrative and asking challenging questions.  “Throughout the narrative continuum of this photographic installation, the context of the snapshot genre is examined,” says Robinson, “pointing to a commentary on the change of nostalgic notions once presented in the viewfinders of families of the 1960’s.”  Working from the starting point of the traditional family snapshot, Robinson shifts perspectives, creates color and texture in the darkroom, and re-contextualizes common objects and scenarios into a careful study of family, nostalgia, and the impact of the past.

In her series Collective Distance many of the images are tightly cornered in and give a strong sense of the identity of the inhabitant of these spaces, but completely leaves any actual portraiture.  “Clothesline” is an image of garments strung on an out-the-window line running between two buildings.  The perspective is from behind a nearly closed window at an angle that allows the viewing of only the first few feet of the line; the rest of the background is taken up by the roofline of the building across the street.  The whole image, a strong cross-section of lines, is broken up only by the wheel of the clothesline.  Compositionally the piece is very cross-linear and active, emoting a notion of work and purpose; there is work to be done.  In hiding the view of the end of the clothesline not only does Robinson remove the connection with the outside world, she removes any possible completion-the task has no discernible end.

Throughout the series, very intimate and familiar-feeling spaces are empty and have a strong sense of loneliness or abandonment.  These simple but strongly composed images carry a narrative and an exploration of what snapshots were originally intended for versus what they have actually catalogued, and what this catalogue of information reveals about the subjects involved.

Many professional artists, after a life of struggling, will tell you that if you can bear to do anything but make art, then you should.  John Mcluggage is an ideal example of this-his creative research is so ingrained as a part of himself that making work has ceased to be a conscious choice and has become an obsession that cannot be ignored.  It is this commitment that has allowed him to pull such a wealth of information out of his deceptively simple ceramic objects.  Mcluggage’s large ovoid vessels take everything to the core by eliminating as much extra information as possible and focusing all the attention on the pure and simple act of creating wheel-thrown pottery.   “I try to capture simplicity,” says Mcluggage, “thinking about the most basic forms like a rock or an egg; the shapes the wheel wants to make.”  By allowing the wheel to guide the process, Mcluggage gives up some of his control, but gains much more in the refining of subtleties.  Form, size, dimension, and surface are all carefully engaged through extreme repetition and study.  “One thing leads to the next,” he continues, “try every single thing you have-you don’t know if it’s a flop or fantastic until it’s there in front of you.”  This is one of the most basic facets of artistic research-the artists’ job is not only to create and display objects to an audience but to create hundreds of objects, each one a test of a new idea or a shift on an old one, to see what works and what doesn’t.  “I used to depend on my brain,” adds Mcluggage, “on my imagination, but it failed me. I think more existentially now.”  Through this long and arduous process a body of work is created and can be displayed to be encountered by the viewer, who will experience all that information in a new and different way.  For Mcluggage, art making is not a practice in conceptualizing and excessive theory, it’s a spiritual practice in which he engages with a material and explores himself through complete devotion to his work.  By transcending the rigor of illustrating complicated ideas that require reading a book of theory to engage with, Mcluggage’s allows him to create the work that comes most naturally, and to learn from it as it grows.

Chiyoko Myose paints her life in layers.  Starting from a strong flat background representing the Kansas landscape as a basis for current physical presence, up through a layer of flowing ribbon in which she explores mental presence, through a third layer of shapes and colors, each layer interacts almost mathematically mapping out Myose’s experience.  Growing up in Japan and later moving to the US Myose’s personal identity has been split between two countries, half a world apart. She sees herself as a sojourner between these places and identities, and her paintings become the maps of her journeys.

With a simple single line and bold but softened colors, Myose creates the landscape of Kansas as a baseline and background for her paintings.  “The wide open landscape of Kansas is very different from Japan and appeals to me greatly,” she says. “However, this landscape also suggests troubling and confusing personal questions.  Where am I going from this point in time?  Do I fully have a place in this vast land of America, both now and in the future?  These questions remind me that I am like a sojourner, a person who doesn’t fully identify with this land very well.”  By using her sojourner perspective Myose has carefully analyzed and engaged with her surroundings and their impact.  Often, the outside view is the view that will provide the most clarity; removing oneself from preconceived notions and using a fresh perspective reveals pieces of the puzzle otherwise overlooked.  The second layer is a delicate white line, which at times is almost tracing, other times forging a new path, across the background landscape.  This line subtly depicts a ribbon with beads, representing Myose’s current relationship with modern Japan.  It is fluid, less concrete than her relationship with Kansas-this mirrors her current experience with Japan.  She has become a traveler in her home country.

The intricate mapping of Myose’s physical and spiritual experiences builds a formula into which the viewers must insert themselves.  While the specific experiences are not shared, the broader theme is something that any audience can recognize a connection to.  By experiencing Myose’s journey in this body of work, the viewer can begin to build a map of their own.  “My work is personal,” she says, ”but I believe many people are sojourners in one way or another.  I hope my work encourages people who are in a similar situation and evokes questions to the viewers both socially and spiritually.  What is your foundation in your life?  Do you have a place to fully call home with a sure foundation?”