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J. Otis Powell emancipates Paramount
By Diana Matusewic
Published:
Thursday, February 13, 2003
Media Credit: Jason Risberg
J. Otis Powell performed his poetry Tuesday night at the Paramount Theater while Bill Cottman�s photography was projected behind him. Saxophonist Rene Ford, violinist Katherine Pehrson and percussionist Beverly Cottman performed with Powell but are not pictured.
Many individuals have had a moment when they felt controlled in some way.
In a broader retrospective there are groups of persons who suffered oppression by a dominant culture. Those who have emancipated themselves from their confinement have stories to tell about their struggle.
Tuesday, J. Otis Powell along with a few close friends, collaborated to tell their emancipation stories through poetry, imagery and music at the Paramount Theatre.
"He's (Powell) responsible for us being together and doing this, but he gives us (the) opportunity to lead and tell our own story," said Bill Cottman, a photographer who's work contributed to the performance.
"I use photography as a tool for telling my story about people, places and things that affect my life. I'm not illustrating his words and he's not explaining my art; the whole idea is that there is democracy at work and we're all leaders."
The poems were from the book, "Emancipated Stories: Poems Written in the Spirit of Freedom," which is not yet published. The predominant theme of this book is freedom.
One of the key pieces is a poem called, "Freedom."
"With questions of freedom come: freedom from what, freedom to do what and how do I practice it responsibly. All of that is related to my life and what have kept me, from what I consider, being free," Powell said. "There is no definition; there are my ideas of what freedom is. Freedom is an amorphous thing, if it had boundaries and limitations, it wouldn't be free."
During the performance, Powell rhythmically reads his poetry accompanied by violinist, Katherine Pehrson (who also contributed vocally), saxophonist Rene Ford, and percussionist Beverly Cottman, while photographs by Bill Cottman and Del Bey were projected on a screen. There were also photos displayed in the main lobby.
"It is about the words I have written being the catalyst, the forum in which the stories get told simultaneously," Powell said.
Melissa Gohmen, visual arts coordinator at the Paramount, met Powell through the Perpich Center in Golden Valley. Inspired by his style and message she felt he would be an exceptional artist to have at the Paramount. She was not disappointed by Tuesday night's performance.
"It was an extremely powerful and unique performance. I especially enjoyed the combination of the spoken word and the imagery and how they played off one another," she said. The audience was enthused by the performance as well.
"I don't know when I've seen a better poet - a poet with such flow; the rhythm and reverberation. I love how Beverly played all her instruments and made the voice of each instrument come alive. (And) the photographs weren't so straightforward. You had to look deeper...you could feel history-- That added so much more to the performance. They had such chemistry all together," said Maggie Griffin, a St. Cloud resident.
"That was really interesting how it (photographs) fit; how they got the rhythms to fit with what he said," said Becky Stawarsk, SCSU student.
Powell's poetry writing began in Jr. High School in the late '60s. "Love is Blue," his first poem, is about his experience with unrequited love.
He said that he continued to write poetry, which became more philosophical throughout the years. His first time collaborating with a musician was in 1978 at his grandmother's funeral with his cousin, Olu Yemi Thomas, a world-renowned musician. Powell currently lives in St. Paul and is originally from Huntsville, Ala. Ever since preschool he's been doing operettas. Now he's a poet, media producer, performance artist, producer and curator of performance events, arts administrator and an educator and consultant. He hoped that Tuesday's show inspired the audience to emancipate themselves.
"It's really hard for any of us to be free until all of us are," Powell said.
