Rachel Javellana

Artist Bio

Rachel Javellana is a poet and teaching artist in the city of Chicago. A Michigan native, she attended Kalamazoo College where she received her degree in English and Creative Writing, and also studied Theater. In both her teaching and writing, Rachel is interested in poetry’s unique ability to map and document cultural change, give words to the unspoken, and foster the growth of strong, creative citizens. Rachel facilitates workshops in poetry and performance through nationally recognized organizations such as The Poetry Center of Chicago, Words@Play, Urban Gateways, and Gallery 37 Center for the Arts. Rachel is the 2008 recipient of the Hands on Stanzas Gwendolyn Brooks Award for excellence in teaching. She has performed her poetry in events including The Reconstruction Room and Elbowing Off the Stage. She was a finalist for the 2009 Pocataligo Poetry Contest and her poems appear most recently in Buffalo Carp and The MacGuffin.

Artist Statement

A poem is a distilled moment, an idea that has stuck and crystallized. A poem is not, however, a person. As a human being, I contain many facets of experience and feeling that cannot live on the surface simultaneously, and so I write poetry as a necessary forum for all these aspects and ideas to have their say and be reconciled. In this way, poetry is a place of freedom. In my most recent poems, I have been intrigued by the darker spaces beyond what is said and explained and realized in relationships of all kinds. My poems often explore what is unsaid and unfulfilled between people, and my writing seeks words to wrap around the unsayable.

Educational Philosophy

In both my poetry and teaching, my work often focuses on relationships and the exploration of public and private persona. I encourage students to make connections between literature and their own lives, and to then create original works of beauty by writing, discussing, editing, and performing their own poetry. This begins with the creation of a safe space; to write with freedom and abandon, students must first commit to working as a cohesive group by refraining from negative judgments, learning to take risks with each other, and being "in the moment." Students help to create guidelines for protecting this safe space. At the beginning of a residency, games and exercises in writing, voice, and energy also help to build writing and performance skills while building the trust and confidence of the group / ensemble as well. A sample of a typical day might include a warm-up game or exercise, a poem that we will read and discuss as a group (reactions, themes, poetic/literary devices,connections), writing time where students are given a writing idea or "prompt" relating to our reading, then a chance to get up and perform what they wrote (individually or in groups). Lessons build toward small projects (such as visual art pieces incorporating drawing or photographs with poetry), as well as larger culminating projects (such as an anthology of student poetry with pieces and title selected and edited by students). Lessons, projects, and poetry selections are all geared towards embracing both those students who have no given inclination towards writing or poetry, and those students who already consider themselves poets. With the ultimate goal to foster the growth of strong, creative young citizens, I seek to win over the student who says, "I can't write poetry," and challenge the one who says, "I am already a poet."