This fall WNIJ’s Yvonne Boose is doing an Art Crawl. She’s tagging along with a few northern Illinois artists while they create. This week’s featured artist is Aubrey Barnes, an artist you may have heard on WNIJ’s Sessions from Studio A.
Barnes is a poet and educator from Rock Island.
“It's part of the Quad Cities,” he said. “And a lot of people like, rightfully so, like, always have like, opinions on like ‘there's nothing to do in the Quad Cities,’ which, like, you know, it's a growing area, but I like it just because, like, it was just part of my narrative.”
He recently came to Rockford for an open mic event at Inscape Collective, in which he was featured.
Before the show, Barnes took some time out to share his poetic journey. Normally, Barnes spends time alone before his performances, but this time he made an exception.
The creative goes by Mr. Aubs. The mister part comes from the name of a personality from a television show that debuted in 1968.
“Mister Rogers has always been, like, a guy who, like, he carries himself in a way that I like,” he explained, “you know, like creatively and just, like, add just a, like, authentic person, so that mister is kind of like an ode to Mr. Rogers. You know, I've never really told people that, so I'm glad you asked.”
YB: Now, you teach, where do you teach at?
“So, I teach at multiple schools through a nonprofit I run called Young Lions Roar,” he said. So, we work with schools all throughout, like the Midwest, mainly, but we also work with schools like nationally too, and provide like classes after school, programming and professional development.”
Barnes said he only listened to gospel music growing up.
Then when he was 11, he heard about rap.
“Listening to, like, Nas ‘Made You Look,’ I can quote that song from like, beginning to end,” he said. “Missy Elliot and all these artists they kind of like influenced me to write poetry. Because at the time, I didn't think that I could like write raps. But I'm like, I have words to say.”
YB: Now tell me about your performing part. Like you said you drove two and a half hours to get here. How often are you going out doing shows?
“At least, like, three to five times a month,” he said. “Usually it's like, I've been doing it for like, 10 years, and like, I've gotten to a place where, like, I'm grateful that, like, it's become, like, a paying career and stuff like that, you know.”
It took him a couple of hours to get to Rockford but said he’s driven much farther, to Nashville, Tennessee, Alburquerque, New Mexico and other places around the country.
Barnes also reaches people by using social media. He offers online workshops.
“I thought of this thing called ‘Write with Me’ sessions,” he explained, “where I kind of just give an hour for people to kind of write up, write for a prompt that I give for 30 minutes and then have them share on, like, a virtual, the virtual space of Instagram.”
He said poets have joined from, Iowa, New York, and even California.
About 15 minutes before show time, Barnes went off to meditate. He said the practice allows him to be in the present. He takes this time to make the performance less about him. He explained that people are a vessel for the craft much like a trumpet to a breath of air.
“Like our hand moves on a piece of paper, our mouths are saying stuff,” he added. “But like, ultimately, like, in my personal kind of, like conviction, like the energy is not coming from us.”
He said this energy comes from the creator and most dynamic artists are centered in that energy.
Barnes also said he loves to create in the fall because the weather is visually stunning.
"Enough to want to go out and experience it and find inspiration," he said. "And cool enough that it gives me an excuse to stay in more often and write from those inspirations."
The open mic included singing, comedy and other artistry. Barnes took the stage right after intermission. His poetry hit on topics like gentrification and substance use.
Barnes said he is living his dream. He gets to teach, write and perform poetry.
Barnes will return to WNIJ’s Sessions from Studio A sometime next year. In the meantime, he said he will continue to live in his dream by doing all things poetically.
