CATCHING UP WITH POP-UP ARTIST RONALD HARGROVE

This year GreenHill's Pop-Up Artist Residency celebrated its 2nd birthday! To date we have had 10 artists participate in our program, which brings local artists into the ArtQuest Studios to share their work with children and families over a 10 day period. Artists submit a project description of what they would like to do while in residence, with an emphasis on how their work will engage the variety of visitors we have at GreenHill. As we begin our third year of this program, we are catching up with some of our past Pop-Up Artist Residents to see what they are working on now.

GreenHill is currently accepting submissions for our Fall 2017 and Spring 2018 Pop-Up Residencies. To read more about the program and to apply, visit here.

Ronald Hargrove is an integral part of the NC poetry scene as a member of both the Piedmont Slam Team and the two time National Championship team, SlamCharlotte. Ronald captivated ArtQuest Studio visitors with his creative writing prompts during his residency, asking children and families “Why do we write?” and “What is the meaning of poetry?”. His open mic night performance during First Friday November 2016 brought together a variety of creative writers, poets and authors who shared their work with the community in The Gallery at GreenHill.

Since being our very first creative writer to participate in the Pop-Up Residency Program, Hargrove has definitely been keeping himself busy. Recently, Ronald has published a book of poetry called Krossisms, which you can find for sale here. He has also continued designing his Krosswordz Poet Wear clothing line, which after much interest and success is currently developing a line of sneakers that are for sale online.

Late last year, Ronald was involved in the Visual Poetry Walk, a community based arts project that pairs poets and artists to create site-specific sculpture in the Downtown Greensboro area. Ronald's poem, "Open Letter to my Sons", was accompanied with artwork created by him and displayed in the International Civil Rights Museum in downtown Greensboro.

Open Letter

Young Men,

I write this letter, not to apologize for the type of father I have been. This is

for the things I have missed.

This is for the things I have neglected to tell you, the questions I should have

answered, the moments we can't get back.

The code of the streets will convince you that you are indebted to the hood

when you have nothing left to give.

They will follow you in stores, you will fit the description. They will pepper

spray your notions of equality.

With the odds stacked against you since the days of your conception, you are

here for a reason.

Ronald is currently working on a new book and a screenplay, as well as exploring new writing opportunities. We are excited to see what he creates next!