Join us for an evening of artistic performances responding to Hugh Hayden: American Vernacular with poet and event organizer Eric M. Acosta, along with M. Freeman, Sophie Chin, Rodrigo Sanchez, and Fox Whitney. Using ekphrasis, a detailed response to a work of art, participants will explore the bonds that exist between various art forms. 

In collaboration with Unpoetry, writers and artists are invited to generate new work inspired by current exhibitions, with the goal to deepen engagement with the museum space and the artwork within, while challenging traditional definitions of poetry and language. Full lineup to be announced soon.

About the Presenters

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Sophie Chin is a Seattle percussionist and composer who enjoys working with poetry, found sounds, prepared piano, field recordings, toy piano, and their collection of tiny bells. They studied at the University of Washington (Bachelor of Music, 2022) with Dr. Bonnie Whiting and at Southern Oregon University (Master of Music, 2024) with Dr. Terry Longshore, Bryan Jeffs, and Dr. Ivan Manzanilla. Chin has presented work for the Oregon Fringe Festival and has played with the Britt Festival Orchestra, Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestra, Left Edge Percussion, University of Washington Percussion Ensemble, University of Washington Modern Ensemble, and others.

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M Freeman works with reckoning and resiliency, queerness and film, and contemplative, creative and social art practices. Freeman is author of The Illuminated Space: A Personal Theory & Contemplative Practice of Media Art (The 3rd Thing, 2020, winner of the Nautilus Book Award’s Gold Medal for Creativity & Innovation), recipient of Artist Trust Grants for Artist Projects and multiple fellowships, and creator of Cinema Divina. Freeman’s text and media arts essays have been published in/at Ninth Letter, TriQuarterly, Rolling Stone, and Fourth Genre, among others. Their films have screened on PBS and in galleries, theaters, festivals, and retreat and art centers worldwide.

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They say photography stops time, but Rodrigo Sanchez prefers to let it blur. Why freeze the world when it insists on being free? In a world that teaches us to pose, Rodrigo follows the noise of dancers in motion, poets mid-thought, strangers passing through the light. The photos don’t freeze time, they stretch it, smudge it, make it breathe.

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Fox Whitney is a multi-disciplinary artist working at the intersection of dance, film, music, writing, and visual art. He is obsessed with the surreal nature of transformation, with projects that center his mixed Black, queer, and transgender point-of-view. He is the founder of Gender Tender, an ongoing QT interdisciplinary performance project, and the trans-futurist psych band Light Aloud. Fox’s work has been commissioned and produced by the Henry Art Gallery, On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Seattle International Dance Festival, Yellow Fish Epic Durational Performance Festival, and Seattle’s Gay City Arts. Light Aloud has performed at Trans Pride Seattle, Capitol Hill Block Party, and Seattle Art Fair. Fox’s written work has been published with Variable West and SeattleDances.com.

Eric M. Acosta is a Seattle poet and the founder of Unpoetry, a curated, twice-monthly series that blends performance, reading, and more. His debut collection, Motion Flesh (2023), is available through Chat Room Books, with his follow-up, Underbelly, forthcoming from Carbonation Press. Explore his work at www.printcopiesavailable.com and learn more about Unpoetry at unpoetry.net