Impressions hosts their 2019 launch party
On Thursday, April 25, Maryville College’s Impressions Literary and Art Magazine launched their 45th volume with increasing importance as it also was published during Maryville College’s bicentennial year. This 2019 edition of the magazine launched at Vienna Coffee House where the party was hosted.
The magazine is comprised of around 160 pages and has a contributor list of thirty-six writers and artists who provided content for this special edition of the magazine. Impressions Literary and Art Magazine is an annual publication created by and for Maryville College students and presents works of poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, art and other creative works submitted by the Maryville College community.
This magazine is broken up into three impressive sections: Prose, Art and Poetry. The amazing cover art was created by David Peters who says in his cover artist’s note in the magazine, “It was great to create something modern and fun from an image that we’re all used to seeing in a more traditional format.”
Accompanying the launch party, Vienna also hosted an SPB event for finals week Thursday where students could exchange a ticket for a free drink. For students’ further enjoyment, Impressions provided a delicious cake to the audience during the first spoken word open mic.
Such performances included poetry from Freshmen Cooper Harrison, who had a stellar performance of his refreshingly funny, yet untitled, “math class” poem. More poetry was presented by Sophomore Katie Conner with her emotional and funny pieces “sometimes I wave at the moon; and she waves back” and “his name is Dick or something” respectfully. Junior Harley White who showed off their heartfelt, emotional pieces such as “Ready to fight like a queen/ and to love live a riot.”
Other performances included Freshman and Impressions member Chloe Hamlett reading off the first page from her short story, “Blue Valley” and Senior and Impressions editor Liz “The Lizard King” Lane singing songs from their band, Womb Spooners with songs such as “Transverse Attraction” and “Chance Encounter.”
Junior Miles Jackson performed at the end of the line of open mic night singing an original piece to promote his solo career. You can find him on Instagram. Coleman Bomar also had some original poetry he shared.
Along with literary works, Impressions also included an impressive photography and art section in the middle of the magazine where many works of art and photography are included, ranging from pictures taken of the snow on campus by Katie Segraves, to art that depicts the surrealism of phrases such as “Mind-Blowing” by Rebecca Branton.
For the most part, the launch party was successful, with the minor blip of a microphone problem which lead the performers to speak and sing on stage without the use of equipment. Many students, faculty, staff, and Maryville community members sat through the performances until the final call at 8:00 when the party was wrapped up.
The launch party successfully finished strongly and allowed the Impressions staff to introduce their issue to the Maryville College and the surrounding community.
The impressive cover art, collection of literary works, and inspiring photography and art sections made this volume of the Impressions Literary and Art Magazine a success for the 45th year in a row thanks to the faculty advisor, Christina Seymour, editors and members of the Impressions staff, and all the students and community members who contributed to the publishing of the magazine.