A.I.R is pleased to announce the event: Artist as Witness: Words on War. Three poets and one writer will read from works that investigate and dissect the nature and corollary of war. The artist Regina Granne, whose work is currently on exhibition in the gallery, focuses on war and its consequences in paintings, drawings and small paper sculptures. They witness without words. Her concern stems from the lack of attention being given to our war and the many unrecognized and ignored wars, which litter our world. Granne will introduce the readers and moderate the informal discussion and dialogue that will open up a collective conversation.

Richard Levine served in Vietnam in 1967—68, as a member of the United State Marine Corps. He is a retired public school teacher, and the author of That Country’s Soul, A Language Full of Wars and Songs, and Snapshots from a Battle.

Cynthia Nadelman is an art critic and poet who lives in New York City. She is a contributing editor of ARTnews, and her poetry has been published in The Paris Review, Partisan Review, Pequod, The Gettysburg Review, Southwest Review, and Exit 13, among other publications. Her poems have been set to music by Joseph Pehrson and by John Morton and appear in digital print/poem collaboration with Nade Haley. Formative years were spent as a Foreign Service brat, living in hot spots in the Cold War.

Derek McGee served two tours in Nasiriyah and Fallujah, Iraq, attaining the rank of Sergeant during the first week of his second tour, in March 2006. A graduate in English Literature from St. Lawrence University, he joined the Marine Reserves in 1999 and was activated to serve at "Ground Zero" following the September 11, 2001 attacks. His chapbook, When I Wished I Was Here: Dispatches from Fallujah offers a candid account of day to day life for US soldiers in Iraq and the difficulties of transitioning back to civilian life. He lives in Rhinebeck, New York.

Spring Ulmer holds a M.F.A. in Poetry from the University of Arizona, and a M.F.A. in Nonfiction from the University of Iowa. Her honors include grants for photography and writing from the Kentucky Arts Council, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the Andrea Frank Foundation, as well as residencies from the Headlands Center for the Arts in Sausalito, California, and the University of Iowa’s Museum of Art. Ulmer’s book of poetry, Benjamin’s Spectacles, was selected by Sonia Sanchez for Kore Press’s 2007 First Book Award. A collection of Ulmer’s essays, The Age of Virtual Reproduction, was published by Essay Press in 2009. She lives in Vermont and teaches at Norwich.

I.R. Gallery is located at 111 Front Street, #228, Brooklyn, New York. For directions please see www.airgallery.org. For additional information, please contact Kat Griefen at A.I.R. Gallery at 212-255-6651 or kgriefen@airgallery.org.