Join us on Sunday, March 26 when Upper Gallery typewriter-poetry artist Pierce Logan of QWERT Poetry and a special guest present, TWO type-in sessions: “Letters to my City.”  Drum roll puh-leaz! Co-hosting with Pierce will be Joseph “Walking Mall Poet” from Winchester, Virginia! Session 1 is 12:30-1:30 and Session 2 is 2-3. A Type-in!?!?  It promises to be a Tippity Tappity Tap Tap DING-a-licious good time!!! To sign up, just CLICK HERE. We currently have more openings for the second session 2PM-3PM! Emails will be sent out to confirm your attendance.

At this event which complements our current Upper Gallery exhibit, “From a Yuppie’s Typewriter,” Pierce and Joseph will guide 8 typewriters each session to compose “Letters to my City.” They will go over the idiosyncrasies of each machine, demonstrate how to type (for the newbies), and share some exemplars of “Letters”.  Handy for you will be some copies of “Yuppies Invade my House at Dinnertime” that the exhibit is based off, for your reference (and for sale at the Museum). These letters will then live as part of the exhibit for its final week. Don’t miss an opportunity to engage with a living machine from the… 30s? 40s? 50s? 60s? 70s? 80s? They will have a variety of vintage machines set up!

“From a Yuppie’s Typewriter” runs in our Upper Gallery until Sunday, April 2. On February 24, Pierce was interviewed by the Museum’s Poet-in-Residence Danny Shot. This Artist Talk can be viewed anytime on the Museum’s YouTube channel, just CLICK HERE.

Pierce says, “This is my biggest project yet. As the city contends with gentrification, battles between “B&R’s” and “Yuppies”, the questions of identity and belonging are ever-present and always unanswered, and turn out to be byproducts of all contemporaries of their time. The work aims to reflect the voices of the authors’ and as such, poems range from biting sarcasm to calls for justice, to contradictory and light-hearted.”

Pierce Logan is a writer, English teacher, and poet based in New Jersey. Pierce began QWERT Poetry, a custom typewriter commissions company, in 2015 and has since composed hundreds of original poems on a typewriter for strangers. The mission of QWERT Poetry began as an effort to gain exposure with his writing and later turned into an opportunity to inspire more celebration into our lives by offering the space to commission something personal. Pierce has authored several books including QWERT Poetry’s Favorite Requests, Volume I, publishing several original scans of requested poems, Oblong and Bedrock, early poetry collections, and “HOUSE OF PAIN”, an epic poem which will be reformatted into a theatrical production in 2023 and 2024. Find published work in FATHERFATHER Magazine, The Spectre Literary Review Magazine, Writer’s Pocket, SOUP CAN Magazine, and Free The Verse. Press includes Tap Into Hoboken, podcast interview at The Life Eclectic, and the artist’s first solo exhibition at Green Hive Atelier in Union City, New Jersey with eight original framed pieces October 2022-December 2022.

QWERT Poetry is a poetry experience. In the age of “immersive experiences” QWERT stands out. You will take home a custom gift composed on a typewriter that will melt your heart, bring you to tears, or leave you overjoyed — that’s the goal. Begin with a subject in mind; Pierce will ask you a series of questions to dig deeper, unlock the reason for your request (like going to the doctor), type it out for 5ish minutes, stamp it with wax in the color of your choice, then read it to you, offering a frame. 

The exhibit is supported by a block grant from the State/County Partnership program for the Arts, administered by the Hudson County Division of Cultural and Heritage Affairs.