Mitchell provides online source for art fans

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, is the creator of www.Poeartry.com, Mitchell’s online fusion of paintings, drawings and poetry, as well as 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. “It’s like a directory, history book and entertainment site all in one.”
Mitchell, who is also the host of the Mocha Room poetry reading in the Smith-Brown Memorial Student Union, 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 developed his craft and created a sizable body of work to share with the artistic community, 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 HTML (language used to construct Web sites) class that gave him the basic knowledge of building a Web site and graduated with an associate’s degree in graphic design.
Mitchell admitted that after graduating, he had not worked with HTML for a number of years and had forgotten much of what he had learned.
“What made me pick it back up was an urge to design a Web site that would be my online portfolio,” Mitchell said. “I got an HTML book from the library to refresh myself and saw familiar things. It was basically trial and error.”
Mitchell said the entire process of building his Web site took a few weeks. He described the process as tedious, but well worth the work.
“If you are happy with what you do then that will fuel your passion to keep going,” he said.
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. “It’s a venue for you to educate yourself on different artistic expressions going on in your community as well as 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. There is a charcoal pencil drawing entitled “4 Little Girls,” dedicated to the four girls who were murdered in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala.
There is a page with many of Mitchell’s poems, including a piece entitled “Revolution,” that addresses the state of black America, as well as a sensuous poem named “Africa,” that 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 entitled “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.
One of the major features on the site Mitchell is proud of is the page detailing his future non-profit organization called R.E.A.D – or Re-Educating African Descendants – that will focus on encouraging black children to discover the joy of literacy.
Mitchell is hopeful that his Web site will continue to thrive and inspire.
“People can contact me for business to get artwork and Web site designs,” he said.
He hopes that more people will log on and develop a new appreciation for poetry and visual art and find something that they can relate to and stir their own passion to create and express themselves.
“My goal for the Poeartry Movement 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.”