Juneteenth
Friday, June 17, 2022 | 4:00 PM
Join us at the Prisma Health Welcome Center at Unity Park for a special Juneteenth celebration! Hear memorable poetry readings from Glenis Redmond, Starry Walker and Amber Sherer. View inspiring art from artist Nick Burns. Enjoy music from jazz musician H. Wade Johnson. The celebration begins at 4 p.m., at Unity Park on Friday, June 17.
ABOUT GLENIS REDMOND
Glenis Redmond is grounded in many worlds as a poet, teaching artist, and imagination activist. As a poet, her feet are firmly planted on both the page and the stage. As a teaching artist, her educational reach extends into the classroom, where she teaches both students and teachers to open to their own poetry within. As an imagination activist she uses the bright bloom of her heart and soul to unlock the doors of creativity in others in the community-at-large. She is a gentle pen pusher.
Glenis is an award-winning poet, author of an upcoming chapbook, The Three Harriets by Finishing Line Press and full poetry collections: Backbone (Underground Epics) and Under the Sun, (Main Street Rag) What My Hand Say (Press 53) and the upcoming The Listening Skin (Four Way Books). She also has an upcoming collaborative book with Dr. Lynnette Overby and Dr. Gabrielle Foreman with the University of Georgia Press titled Praise Songs for (Dave the Potter) David Drake with the Art of Jonathan Green and Poetry of Glenis Redmond.
Glenis is the recipient of South Carolina’s highest award in the arts, The Governor’s Award. She is a Kennedy Center teaching artist and Cave Canem poet. She is widely published and also a dynamic performer and has presented all around the country and the world for both students and audiences of all ages.
Learn more about her at www.glenisredmond.com.
About Starry Walker
Starry Walker is a performance poet. She was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina and is a graduate of Berea College. Starry loves spending time with her nieces and nephews and traveling nationally and internationally.
About Amber Sherer
Amber Sherer is a wordsmith She was born in Richmond, Virginia, and raised in Greenville, South Carolina and Asheville, North Carolina. She is a Community Engagement Specialist in the health and wellness field.
ABOUT H. WADE JOHNSON
H. Wade Johnson, Educator, Performer, Music Arranger, and Clinician is a native of McClellanville, South Carolina. He earned his Bachelor and Masters Degrees in Instrumental Music Education and Secondary Counseling at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg South Carolina, and a Masters Degree in Jazz Education, from Vander Cook College of Music in Chicago, Illinois.
H. Wade Johnson has traveled internationally performing with Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker and Pee Wee Ellis, better known as the original “JB’s” (James Brown Band) and with his own bands “USSENCE” and “PRIDE” Ensemble. He has performed with the late Dizzy Gillespie (his musical idol and mentor) Wynton and Ellis Marsalis, Joe Sample, Martha Reeves, The Spinners, The Temptations, The Hawkins Family, Dorinda Clark Cole, Marvin Sapp and many other artists.
Learn more about him at www.hwadejohnson.com.
ABOUT NICK BURNS
Nick began his art exploration at the early age of five playing drums at a Baptist church and drawing on the back of sermon programs. As a young child, he was inspired by the 80s films Breakin’ and Beat Street. Nick developed into a caricature artist and teaching performance artist in Greenville and has been inspiring young aspiring artists for over a decade. His professional art journey began in 2012, but became his full-time passion in 2018 after gaining a residency at Greenville Center for Creative Arts in West Greenville.
Nick’s large scale murals can be seen around South Carolina adorning buildings and personal residences. His commissioned work is in high demand as he is establishing his name among art collectors, corporations, television producers and municipalities. Nick is active in his community and continues to support charities and ministries that are called to help others.
Learn more about him at www.ninjapicasso.com.