| | Event: | Poetry Rocks Artist-Poets - Exhibit and Reading | | Date: | May 27th, 2023, including 6/1/23, 6/2/23, 6/3,23, 6/8/23, 6/9,23, 6/10/23, 6/15/23, 6/16/23, 6/17/23.
| | Time: | 1:00 PM to 5:00 PM | | Location: | Arts Center East, 709 Hartford Turnpike, Vernon, CT | | Contact: | Pegi Deitz Shea, pegideitzshea@aol.com | | Website: | www.artscentereast.org | |  | |
A special Poetry Rocks installment will feature an Artist-Poet Exhibit of visual arts and poems, May 27 to June 17, at Arts Center East in Vernon. An opening reception and readings will take place on Saturday May 27, from 2:00-4:00 pm. Artist-poets include CT State Poet Laureate and printmaker/collagist Antoinette Brim-Bell, painters Sherri Bedingfield, Aaron Caycedo-Kimura, Marilyn Johnston, Garrett Phelan; photographer Joan Hofmann; and multimedia artist Margaret Plaganis.
The exhibit is being dedicated to the late poet and photographer, David K Leff, the Poet Laureate of Canton who died suddenly in Spring 2022. Proceeds from the sale of his books will be donated to the CT Coalition of Poets Laureate. The exhibit can be seen Thursdays-Saturdays, 1-5pm through June 17.
Antoinette Brim-Bell, Connecticut’s 8th State Poet Laureate, is the author of three full-length poetry collections, numerous poems in journals, and critical essays. She is a Cave Canem Foundation Fellow and an alumna of Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation. A printmaker and collage artist, Brim-Bell has shown both poetry and monoprints in several exhibits, and is Secretary of the Board of Indolent Arts Foundation, NYC. She is Professor of English at Capital Community College in Hartford.
Sherri (Sheryll) Bedingfield is the author of two poetry collections, and poems in journals and anthologies. Bedingfield has served on the Board of Riverwood Poetry Series, and co-hosted The Wintonbury Library Poetry Series. Bedingfield worked as a psychotherapist and family therapist for thirty years.
Aaron Caycedo-Kimura is the author of two books of poetry, and the author and illustrator of Text, Don’t Call: An Illustrated Guide to the Introverted Life. He is a recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship and a Robert Pinsky Global Fellowship. Aaron earned his MFA in creative writing from Boston University, and his work has appeared in numerous journals and reviews. His artwork is represented by Chester Gallery, CT.
Joan Hofmann, Professor Emerita at the University of Saint Joseph, was the inaugural Poet Laureate of Canton. Hofmann has served on the Board of the Ct Poetry Society, CT, and is on the Board of Directors of Riverwood Poetry Series. She has published three chapbooks, and her work has been published in many journals and anthologies.
Marilyn Johnston is the author of two full collections of poetry and a chapbook. Her poems have been widely published in journals and have garnered six Pushcart Prize nominations. She co-founded the Wintonbury Poetry Series in Bloomfield Library which she ran for twenty years. Johnston studied Chinese brushstroke painting, watercolor and pastel painting over many years.
Garrett Phelan is the author of one poetry volume, and three chapbooks which feature his cover art. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Garrett’s works have appeared in many publications. He has taught poetry with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and the Washington National Opera education departments, and in a maximum-security prison in Connecticut. He has studied art in Italy, and his art has been featured in the literary and art journals.
Margaret Plaganis works in a wide variety of media including collage, graphics, photography and textiles. Three of her artist-books, which blend images with her poetry, are in The Brooklyn Art Library collection. A CT State Teaching Artist, she has conducted programs that integrate art, humanities and literacy curricula in Hartford, where she taught for 16 years in the public schools, and in New Haven for The Yale School of Pediatric Medicine. Her poetry has appeared in anthologies.
Poetry Rocks’ special Artist-Poet Exhibit is curated by Vernon’s Inaugural Poet Laureate Pegi Deitz Shea. For more information, please email pegideitzshea@aol.com.
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