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Web Site Fuses Art, Information

By A.J. Griffith
Black College Wire

Photo credit: Douglas Toussaint/Southern Digest Antoine "G.H.O.S.T" Mitchell is the creator of the Web site www.Poeartry.com.

Fans of visual and poetic art have a new outlet for enjoying creative expression on the Internet, thanks to a new Web site created by a Southern University student.

Antoine "G.H.O.S.T." Mitchell, a senior fine arts major from Baker, La., is the creator of www.Poeartry.com, Mitchell's online fusion of paintings, drawings, poetry, and news briefs and links geared toward the black community.

"It's very informative and has everything on it," said Tracie Bradford, a senior fine arts major from Derrider, La. "It's like a directory, history book and entertainment site all in one."

Mitchell, who also hosts the Mocha Room poetry readings in the Smith-Brown Memorial Student Union at Southern, designed the site to showcase his own artwork and provide a venue for other up-and-coming local artists.

"Poeartry Movement Inc. puts people on and gives them a chance," Mitchell said. "I'm trying to help other artists that wouldn't normally get a chance and let others know that they are there."

After he created a sizable body of work, Mitchell said he wanted to take his talent to the next level by building a Web site that would transmit his vision from the canvas and the microphone onto the computer screen.

"I wanted to get myself out there," he said. "People all over can look at my work when I pass them a business card as opposed to them having to wait for me to bring them some of my work."

In 2001, Mitchell attended the Art Institute of Houston, where he took a mandatory class that gave him the basic knowledge for building a Web site. He graduated with an associate's degree in graphic design.

Only a few months old, www.Poeartry.com has created a following.

"Poeartry.com is the concept of a nexus that connects different forms of art together in the African American community," said Lauren Malbroux, a junior sociology major from Lake Charles, La. "It's a venue for you to educate yourself on different artistic expressions going on in your community [and] provides inspiration for your own growing creativity."

Features on the site include an art gallery of Mitchell's paintings, including a white pencil drawing of Assata Shakur, one of his many heroes. Shakur, also known as Joanne Chesimard, is a former member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army and was godmother of Tupac Shakur. She was convicted of killing a New Jersey state trooper in 1973 but maintains she was innocent and now lives in Cuba.

There is also a charcoal pencil drawing, "4 Little Girls," dedicated to the girls who were murdered in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.

A page with many of Mitchell's poems, including a piece entitled "Revolution," addresses the state of black America. A sensuous poem named "Africa" utilizes bits and pieces of African culture to convey a message of love and eroticism. Mitchell uses the site to plug his first volume of poetry, "Anytime She Touches Me," and plans to insert an online comic strip. There is also information about local poetry readings and other cultural events in Baton Rouge.

Mitchell is proud of a page on the site about his plans for a nonprofit organization, R.E.A.D � or Re-Educating African Descendants � that he says will focus on encouraging black children to discover the joy of literacy.

"My goal for the Poeartry Movement," he said, "is to show people � black and white � that you can be pro-black and love and even adopt other cultures freely," he said. "The best thing you can do is be hungry. Listen to your passion and do art for yourself, first and foremost."

A.J. Griffith, a student at Southern University, writes for the Southern Digest.

Posted Sept. 12, 2005