Julie Ann Otis

Julie Ann Otis composes and performs poetry on the fly and occasionally in mid-air. Recipient of Somerville’s Artist Fellowship in Interdisciplinary Arts, she recently performed at the Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston) and at Aeronaut Brewery (Somerville), where she composed and projected poetry in real-time alongside an animation artist and an electronic music artist. Other multidisciplinary creations include an environmental poetry installation, “Answering Mara,” at The Art Farm (Nebraska) and “Incubus,” performance poetry choreographed with aerial dance in rope and harness at the A.R.T.’s Oberon. Her interactive poetry installation, “Free Verse,” combined vintage typewriters, public give and take of free writing, and live-time composition. This fall, her performance installation of “the Complaint (& Catharsis) Department,” a re-imagining of the R.M.V., offered affirmation and consolation for attendees of Somerville’s Pity Party. Accolades include Opus Affair Artist of the Year in 2014 and exhibitions at Boston City Hall in 2013 and 2015. Her two recorded albums are Bodyful Journey and Sermons of the Real.