The ARTCORE Music & Poetry Series continues at The Jazz Spot in Casper on Monday, Aug. 18, 7:30 p.m., with musician, writer and photographer Rod Mahaffey.Here’s bio information on Rod from the ARTCORE web site:
Rodney Gene Mahaffey is a veteran of Artcore’s summer music and poetry program, reading or performing (or both) occasionally since 1987.
He has written two chapbooks (para subir cielo/’85 and dancing to small gods/’85), a volume of poetry (hungers/ ’88) and a “painfully slow” work in progress: in unfamiliar region. Rod is a two-time recipient of literary fellowships (1994/2002) from the Wyoming Arts Council. “Like Artcore in Casper, the Arts Council enriches all of our lives in Wyoming. It was an artistic highlight to hear Simon Ortiz read one of my poems at the awards ceremony.”
Rod is also a photographer. “I was a writer first. My photography is an attempt to find a visual equivalent to voice.” He has been published in Shutterbug and Photo District News, has exhibited “erratically” but widely and has won several photography competitions. The complete/revised portfolios of This Place on Earth: the Wyoming Images, an 18(+)-year project, are available at the Nicolaysen Art Museum. In October, he will have an exhibition at Metro Coffee Company featuring work from a recent “spectacular” trip to France.
Rod has degrees from Casper College, Colorado College and the University of Wyoming. He has been recognized for excellence in teaching by Casper College, the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund, the Wyoming High School Student Press Association, the US Department of Education, the Freedom Forum, the National Scholastic Press Association, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, Quill and Scroll, the Ellbogen Foundation, the College of Wooster, and Natrona County School District #1.
Rod says, “I especially appreciate the student-driven recognition. I feel positively polyphiloprogenitive.” He currently teaches creative writing, AP Language and Composition, and Senior Literature at Kelly Walsh High School.
Get tickets for the event by going to the ARTCORE web site.
