SUMMER MASHUP

Welcome to Unbound, our summer Multi-Genre Mashup featuring playwriting, poetry and visual art by Cristina A. Bejan and Sky Yarbrough.

'Greed' by Sky Yarbrough
dry pastel, painted on collage News print.

Pastel artist Sky Yarbrough, born in Alaska yet, native to Washington State. Sky believes to be blessed growing up on Cascade berries, Dungeness crab, and Pacific salmon. which all help to bring the story together.

"Four Turns" original was bought in a RedFawn Fallas fundraiser in a silent auction. This stylized art is a dry pastel inspired by my experience during a twelve-day visit to the Standing Rock indigenous reservation on the Cannonball River in North Dakota during 2016. In late March-early April, the youth of the tribe put a call out for help to support the Lakota people dealing with illegal corporate activity on the reservation in defiance of Treaty Law.

Through lines and colors, representing the Pacific Coast, the Plains as well as a South American interpretation of a Raven, Eagle, and Condor Story.

This stylized art is a dry pastel inspired by skys experience during a twelve-day visit to the Standing Rock indigenous reservation on the Cannonball River in North Dakota during 2016. In late March-early April, the youth of the tribe put a call out for help to support the Lakota people dealing with illegal corporate activity on the reservation in defiance of Treaty Law.

Sky shares the reunification of the indigenous peoples of North and South America. The Eagle and Condor prophecy of long ago told of the indigenous coming together again. In addition, several well-known civil rights movements like Black Lives Matter joined as well offering support and unity for Lakota Rights to clean water, clean air, and social change for all people along the Missouri River and throughout the U.S.A.

This was the largest peaceful protest against an oil company ramming their pipeline through Indian territory in history as the fossil fuel industry employees desecrated graves and dismissed the Treaties.

MEET THE ARTISTS

Cristina A. Bejan

CRISTINA A. BEJAN is an award-winning Romanian- American historian, theatre artist, and poet. A Rhodes and Fulbright scholar, she currently teaches history and theatre at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Bejan received her Masters and DPhil (PhD) in Modern History from the University of Oxford and her BA in Philosophy (Honors) from Northwestern, where she also studied in the renowned Theatre program. A playwright, she has written 19 plays and her dramatic work has been produced in the US, UK, Romania, and Vanuatu. She has published a poetry book (Green Horses on the Walls, now available in Romanian with Editura Tracus Arte), a history book (Intellectuals and Fascism in Interwar Romania, published in Romanian by Editura Litera), the play J'y suis j'y reste [Here I am, here I stay] (in the anthology Voices on the Move, eds. Domnica Radulescu and Roxana Cazan), 64 articles (and coauthored the African continent introduction) for The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945: Vol. 3 and countless essays, poems, and poetry translations. Most recently her play BUCHENWALD appeared with Next Stage Press. A spoken word poet, Bejan performs under her stage-name Lady Godiva. She writes creatively in five languages and has been published internationally in every genre she writes in. Bejan is the only Rhodes Scholar who is a Romanian citizen: she is a proud dual citizen of the USA and Romania (EU). Inspired by the fearless spirit of artists in Bucharest, Bejan co-founded the arts platform Bucharest Inside the Beltway in 2014 and has served as BiB's Executive Director ever since. Please visit cristinaabejan.com for more info!

Sky Yarbrough

Sky is a multi-medium artist who has been focusing on photography and soft pastel work. Her passion began in 8th grade when she first took an interest in black and white film and darkroom processing. Sky moved from the Northwest part of the United States to Denver six years ago, bringing with her environmental awareness which is reflected in her bodies of work. She is proud to now consider Colorado her home, a place that was also her grandmother’s birth state. She is now embarking on a new journey project, The Journey to Denver's Redline Gallery. See more of Sky’s work on Facebook and Instagram .