NATCHITOCHES – Work by poet/teacher/creator Rebecca Macijeski will be featured in a Shreveport exhibit set to open next week. “How To Stay Curious” will be a highlight of Critical MASS 13, a showcase of talent that spans visual, literary and performing arts.
Macijeski will be honored during an opening reception from 5-8 p.m. Thursday, June 18 at Artspace, 708 Texas St., Shreveport. The Critical MASS art series brings together a diverse range of artists and their innovative works.
Macijeski is an associate professor and coordinator of Creative Writing Programs in Northwestern State University’s Department of English, Languages and Cultural Studies and serves as faculty advisor for Argus, the school’s annual student literary magazine. She calls the upcoming show “the intersection of poems and quilts, and whatever the fabulous other winners in the visual and performance art categories have been up to.”
“Last April I was named the literary winner for Critical MASS 13, the Shreveport Regional Arts Council’s annual contest showcase that picks a literary, a visual and a performance artist,” Macijeski said. Applicants must live in Bienville, Bossier, Caddo, Claiborne, DeSoto, Natchitoches, Red River, Sabine or Webster parishes to be eligible.
“Each year there are different critics, or judges, for each category. The writer Misha Rai selected my work. The prize comes with $5,000, which includes an honorarium to make new work to feature at an upcoming solo show. That’s where the event June 18 comes in. I’ve written new poems, and I’ve made quilts as a visual component to display with my work.”
Macijeski has published poems in over 100 journals and had two chapbooks of poetry come out in the last five years. She is at work on several full-length collections. She is also an accomplished violinist. She enjoys collaboration across different creative disciplines and last year worked with NSU’s Catalyst Team to produce a series of performances titled “MOVE” in which specialists from the arts and sciences collaborated to create a multi-disciplinary technology and discovery-driven series of dance performances.
“During Covid isolation in 2020 I brought back my quilt making hobby that had gone dormant for a while and I’ve been making quilts since then, especially in connection with the stitcher’s group,” Macijeski said, referring to the NSU’s Mindful Stitchers that meet every Tuesday during the academic year.
After winning the literary prize last year and viewing the exhibition space, she realized she had a lot of wall space to work with.
“I got the idea to make quilts that correspond to certain poems for the show. They are all small wall-sized quilts. Some of the quilts have appliqued fabric letters on them; others I’ve written on with permanent fabric ink pens. The show will feature four larger wall quilts and three smaller ones.
“The last pieces I made are the three very small roughly poster-sized quilts with the text of their entire poem on them. I’ve been enjoying the handcraft element. I use a sewing machine for the seaming, but all other stitching is hand done, the applique, the quilting and the binding. The poems came first, and then I thought about quilts that could relate to and/or enhance the message of the poem in some way.
“I’ve never done anything like this before, so I’m nervous but also pretty excited,” she said.
Information on Critical MASS 13 is available at https://www.artspaceshreveport.com/critical-mass-13.