Amethyst Gate, Featuring Brenda Iijima, Alex Smith, Nicholas Deboer, Elizabeth Kirwin, Will O Washuu

Name: Amethyst Gate, Featuring Brenda Iijima, Alex Smith, Nicholas Deboer, Elizabeth Kirwin, Will O Washuu
Start: 2026-01-15T18:30:00-05:00
End: 2026-01-15T22:00:00-05:00
Location: Space 1026

Schedule

Thu Jan 15 2026 at 06:30 pm to 10:00 pm

UTC-05:00

Location

Space 1026 | Philadelphia, PA

The next opening of the Amethyst Gate occurs Thursday, January 15th at SPACE 1026 in Philadelphia. Doors open at 6:30pm. Show starts at 7pm. Featured performers are Elizabeth Kirwin, Brenda Iijima, Nicholas Deboer, Alex Smith & Will O Washuu.
ELIZABETH KIRWIN is a poet, fiction writer, and documentary filmmaker. Kirwin has practiced the magical arts for over 30 years. She is editor and founder of Fairiesinamerica.com. Her pantheistic view of the world is rooted in her passion for wilderness. She recently published two short stories in The Blue Crystal Review (UK): "The Dilapidated Cabin" & "Showing Your Ass in Public." "Die Doppelganger" was published in late fall 2024 by Exquisite Death.
BRENDA IIJIMA is the author of nine poetry collections. Presently also writing novels, there is Presence published in 2024 by University of Georgia Press, and the forthcoming novel Shelter is Necessary for Existence, coming out by Two Dollar Radio in 2026.
NICHOLAS DEBOER is a poet and publisher out of Brooklyn, NY. Concurrently running Clones Go Home, a chapbook press, and Elderly, an online zine with Jamie Townsend. A lover of collage and a believer that you, too, could be a Situationist magician. A fellow alumni of Naropa and a citizen of Libertatia. Be it real, be it karma, be it on the top point of the uppermost, not a star in heaven shines brighter than you the mighty candidate for free will, for the option to have your guardianship over your own tale could spread like a fire in a barn; cause it's time to give 'em the slip.
ALEX SMITH is an artist, writer, curator, "musician"/noisemaker, living in the cosmically kinetic city of Philadelphia. His work reflects that dichotomy -- stark, beautiful, wrought with Afrotopian tension, avant garde fashion/assemblage, and dynamic visual presentation. His sci-fi inspired worlds collide with queer/radical reimaginings of the fantastic. From collage work, to zines, to bands and music solo performances, to promoting other bands and performers via curation & cultural critique & arts reporting, Smith transcends the concept of "renaissance man" and works from the Afrofuturist vision -- all things, all the time, each aspect of his work informing the other. Smith won the 2020 Pew Fellowship for the Arts, presenting work such as his short story collection Arkdust (Rosarium publishing), his experimental art-punk bands (Rainbow Crimes, Solarized, Spectral Forces, Glitch Proverbs), the cyberpunk superhero indie comic book series Black Vans, among others. His work appears in anthologies such as Black Quantum Futurism Vol. 2, Black Punk Now! (Soft Skull), & The Black Fantastic (Library of America). He invites you to join him in the chromatic exploration of the unknown, his art a visual portal to that liminal space.
WILL O WASHUU is a Bristol, Pennsylvania native who aspires to be "Washuu: American Geisha," but really, he ends up singing "Bolero" in some kind of waistcoat. Inspirations come from Gloria, Much Butter, Sloopygoop, Bunnyfangs, Gorillaz, DOOM!, and many more.
www.amethystgate.com