Catawba County News
TRIO Show Explores Creative Process
Published: August 14, 2020
What happens when a songwriter and a visual artist are given the same book to read as inspiration for their work? They produce a TRIO, according to Shari Smith, creator of an upcoming show that invites the artists to talk about the song and work of art they made based on the book.
Smith, who conceived the TRIO idea, is a publisher and editor who also spearheads Working Title Farm shows, authored the book I Am a Town, and has written scripts for a variety of stage productions.
On Tuesday, August 18at 7 pm, the Sherrills Ford-Terrell Friends of the Library and the Catawba County Library will host Smith’s latest TRIO collaborations in a special online Zoom program. Viewers will be able to virtually meet the artists involved and learn about the creative impulses behind the TRIO concept.
Anyone interested in the program can register by visiting https://forms.gle/NKoDjS61Zh6ZmyVp9. An email with access to the Zoom session will be sent to everyone who signs up.
Through its innovative approach, TRIO explores the connections that occur when words, sight, and sound come together. These three elements – translated culturally as books, visual art, and music – are the primary components of the program, especially as they relate to and inform each other.
People who sign up for the online event will hear first-hand from the authors, songwriters, and artists associated with various TRIOs. The groups will begin by talking about what was involved in their personal research and their creative process. Then, they’ll discuss how they found inspiration for their own creations, outlining the themes they found important and explaining their individual responses to the books that prompted their art.
Among the dozen-plus artists participating in the wide-ranging program are novelists Dale Neal (Appalachian Book of the Dead), Deb Spera (Call Your Daughter Home), Rodney Crowell (Chinaberry Sidewalks), and Terry H. Watkins (Darling Girl); artists M.C. Churchill-Nash, Robert Oren Eades, Amie Esslinger, and Sally Fanjoy & James LaBrenz; and musicians Eric Erdman, Radney Foster, John Jorgenson, and Rod Picott.
TRIO’s bookstore partner, Main Street Books in Davidson, NC, will be available to help registered participants order the featured books if they wish.