User:Yodi Vaden

Yodi Vaden aka W Duane Vaden, (December 30, 1960) is an American artist, visual and performing artist. He was founding member to a few groups IEM Productions, Street Theatre Alliance, Word Wednesdays, East Side Poetry and West Side Poetry. He is a member of the Allentown Chen Arts Group. Yodi is best-known for his work in Allentown Pennsylvania. His poetry is referred to as Urban Lullabies.

Yodi aka W. Duane Vaden operates his artist studio in Allentown, Pa. He was born in Washington, Pennsylvania. He began his life’s journey at the Lemoyne Community Center (in Washington, Pennsylvania). In the 1960's he attended Headstart at the Center. Also from the Center in the 1970's, he was a member of the Y-US Design Group, and he studied art with his mentor the late Johnnie Yandel. Now a visual, performing and culinary artist, he is founder and creative director of the Ngomi Arts/Street Theatre Alliance and the Kakumba Cha African dance and drum ensemble, both of which are based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Yodi has worked with other street theater groups such as the Puerto Rican performance group Agua, Sol y Sereno and with Bronx-based Pregones Theater, which creates and performs plays and musicals rooted in Latino culture.

He has also worked with Peter Schumann's Bread and Puppet Theater, whose imagery features masks and puppets of all kinds and sizes. Yodi was a founding member of the now defunct African-American theater ensemble IEM (It Expresses Me) Productions. He worked with Touchstone Theater to create the theatrical piece "Listen Up!" and with Mock Turtle Marionettes on "The Dancing Granny". Best known for his work in Allentown, Pennsylvania, he is founder of Word Wednesdays and West Side Poetry.

As a visual artist, he uses paper. His concentration is on sculpting using papier mache. He also creates art using discarded food packing and giraffes. He calls them Geofferies. Yodi’s visual art is collected throughout Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey.

Yodi was a drummer with the touring African dance company Zawadi Collective and also with Sankofa from Ghana, West Africa. His spoken word poetry is referred to as Urban Lullabies.