Portal
A short horror comic and the fellowship that created it.
In 2021-2022, I had the opportunity to be an Art Wire fellow. Art Wire is a partnership between The Porch Writer’s Collective and OZ Arts here in Nashville. The fellowship involved attending 8 different performances at OZ Arts and writing creative responses to each show. We posted one or two works on their website (here’s mine, under an old name) and also performed at an end-of-the-season reading.
I applied because I wanted to challenge myself to make different kinds of comics. The comic below is one from the fellowship that I’ve never shared. It was made in response to “Portals” an art happening based around Vadis Turner’s work.
Turner’s massive mixed-media sculptures were placed and lit along the walls of OZ Arts’s cavernous black-box theater. In front of many of the sculptures was a small platform on which a different artist would perform, round-robin style. A DJ played bumping music in between performances and encouraged everyone to mingle. When a performance started, there was a dramatic tonal shift as we would all gather around an interpretive dance about body insecurity or a song about a complicated relationship with a father figure or a skit about a girl whose head was just too big. It all took place under the sentinels of Turner’s monoliths made of torn bedsheets covered in breast milk or ash or shellac.
I cannot objectively say anything about this show. I know a lot of the other fellows enjoyed it. The show took place when I was still in the process of coming out and I felt particularly dysphoric. I attended without my usual +1 and it was my first time in a room full of strangers since before the beginning of the pandemic. I spent the whole time feeling like I was drowning and trying to suppress an anxiety attack.
My other work had been a bit more experimental in form to match the more serious and complicated themes and emotions I noticed in each piece. This time, I needed the emotional distance of creating a work of fiction. I decided to try my hand at mimicking American horror comics and short-form Sci-Fi like Tales from the Crypt and The Twilight Zone. I made this comic in response to the atmosphere I felt at the happening.
One thing I really enjoyed about the fellowship was how much it forced me to sit with and respond to art, even if I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I came back from each show with a much richer experience because I actively watched each piece knowing I would have to respond to it. I spent a lot more time thinking about each piece afterword than if I had seen it without an objective. I was challenged to make art about subjects that I wouldn’t normally and in forms that I hadn’t tried before.
I also appreciated how open the folks at The Porch and OZ were to experimentation. We were free to write anything at all, so I knew I didn’t have to dwell on subjects that were extremely triggering for me at that point in my life. 2021 was a very strange time to be a fellow and everyone knew and acknowledged it.
I recently had the privilege of attending the 2022-2023 Art Wire reading. This latest cohort seemed to have developed really close creative relationships. It was delightful to witness their genuine affection and admiration for one another in addition to hearing their fantastic work. I would recommend you check out this year’s pieces and take a peak at the archive.
Art Wire is now accepting applications for the 2023 - 2024 season. I would recommend it to any artist in the Nashville area who wants to experience great performance art and shake up their creative practice.