ASK has made their galleries accessible to the public online, 24/7! This exhibit will also be displayed in our galleries at 97 Broadway in Kingston from August 7-August 29, 2021.
Click on an image below to begin the slideshow. If you would like to purchase a work, email us at ask@askforarts.org
Every month ASK gives a prompt to our members to spark their artistic imaginations! For August our theme is, Poetic License: Members can create work based on poems from the Poetry Barn.
Sharon Ascher & Laura Whalen
Elegy for E by Sharon Ascher & Elegy for E by Laura Whalen
Laura Whalen lives in Albany, New York. She works as a grant writer and enjoys reading and writing poetry. In December 2019, she wrote this poem in a Poetry Barn workshop inspired by the assignment to write an elegy for a favorite artist or writer. She says, “For me, Dickinson has always been an enigma but a friend. Based on reading Dickinson’s work, and previous visits to the house in Amherst, Massachusetts, this poem flowed easily given the support of the instructors and other poets in the group. A true gift!”
Marcia Sank & Matthew J. Spireng
Driftwood Reflections by Marcia Sank & Driftwood by Matthew J. Spireng
Matthew J. Spireng’s 2019 Sinclair Poetry Prize-winning book Good Work was published in 2020 by Evening Street Press. An 11-time Pushcart Prize nominee, he is the author of two other full-length poetry books, What Focus Is and Out of Body, winner of the 2004 Bluestem Poetry Award, and five chapbooks, Clear Cut; Young Farmer; Encounters; Inspiration Point, winner of the 2000 Bright Hill Press Poetry Chapbook Competition; and Just This. His poem “Driftwood” was first published in Poet Lore. More than 1,300 of his poems have appeared in journals across the United States.
Jacqueline Oster & Keyan Kaplan
Moonlight Hunt by Jacqueline Oster & Last Act by Keyan Kaplan
Keyan Kaplan recently moved to New Hampshire from Long Island. She has been a teacher, a tutor, a nanny, a literacy instructor (Brooklyn Public Library) and a massage therapist. Additionally, she has sold books, American crafts, jams and vintage jewelry…all in one lifetime! Her writing has appeared in Peterborough Poetry Project’s anthologies, On and Off the Road: Poems of New Hampshire and Day After Day in Quarantine, the multimedia exhibit Art in Science (Dartmouth College) and Literary North’s Constellation: Ekphrasis and Constellation: Seed. Keyan is completing her fifth year as a mentor for Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center’s writing program, Visible Ink.
Victoria Perry & Juan Mobili
Victoria, A Poem by Victoria Perry & Victoria by Juan Mobili
Juan Pablo Mobili was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and has been an adopted son of New York for many years. His poems have appeared in The Worcester Review, The American Journal of Poetry, Mason Street Review, The Red Wheelbarrow Review, and The Banyan Review, among many others. His work has also received an Honorable Mention from the International Human Rights Art Festival, as well as Pushcart Prize and the Best of the Net nominations. His chapbook, “Contraband,” will be published by Poetry Box in April of 2022. His work bears the mark of the joys and tragedies of a citizen of two countries, willing to face life head on.
Jennifer Jackowitz & Roberta Gould
‘Dazzling,’ ‘Night’ and ‘Enchanted’ by Jennifer Jackowitz & Nuit Enchantée, by Roberta Gould
Locke Johnston & Bruce Robinson
‘What Lies Beneath,’ ‘Chrome’ and ‘Chrome…Interpreted’ by Locke Johnston & Chrome by Bruce Robinson
Recent work by Bruce Robinson appears or is forthcoming in Pangyrus, Maintenant, Spoon River Poetry Review, Seventh Quarry, Main Street Rag, and Rattle.
Naoko Oshima & Jerrice Baptiste
‘Escape’ and ‘Quiet Avalanche’ by Naoko Oshima & Beneath by Jerrice Baptiste
Jerrice J. Baptiste is a native of Haiti, and has published eight books. Her poetry has been published and is forthcoming in The Yale Review; Mantis; Lolwe; Kosmos Journal; Shambhala Times; The Caribbean Writer; Eco Theo Review; About Place Journal; West Trestle Review; The Minetta Review; Penumbra Literary & Art Journal; Claw & Blossom. Her poetry is published on the Grammy award winning album: Many Hands family Music for Haiti.
Krista Morris & Lars Leonhard Drachmann
‘Only A Young One’ by Krista Morris & ‘Only a young one’ by Lars Leonhard Drachmann
Lars Leonhard lives in Copenhagen, Denmark with his wife and daughter where he tends to his writing, urban garden and family as well as brewing his own wine from fruits in his garden and forested in the nearby nature reserve. He holds a six year degree in Comparative Literature which he concluded with a 150-page thesis about William Carlos Williams’ Paterson. He has studied in California and travels often to the USA and has lived abroad in places such as Riga, Latvia and Paris, France.
Roni Wilder-Guidi & Kristen Holt-Browning
Fabrication by Roni Wilder-Guidi & Fabrication by Kristen Holt-Browning
Kristen Holt-Browning is a freelance editor, writer, poet, and proofreader. Her poems have been published in Sheila-na-Gig, Juxtaprose, Frontier Poetry, and Barrow Street‘s 4×2 Project, among other publications. She holds an MA in English literature from University College London, and lives in Beacon, New York with her husband, two sons, two dogs, and a cat.
Will Nixon & Tina Barry
Untitled by Will Nixon & Come Back by Tina Barry
Tina Barry is the author of Beautiful Raft (Big Table Publishing, fall 2019) and Mall Flower (Big Table Publishing). Tina’s work appears in numerous journals and anthologies, including the Best Short Fictions 2020 (spotlighted story) and 2016, Drunken Boat, Inch Magazine, Yes, Poetry, Connotation Press, The American Poetry Journal, Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse, Feckless Cunt, and A Constellation of Kisses. Tina is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and has had several Best of the Net nods. She teaches poetry and short fiction at The Poetry Barn and Gemini Ink.
Elaine Ralston & Cindy Bousquet Harris
Splash Of Color by Elaine Ralston & Autumn Song by Cindy Bousquet Harris
Cindy Bousquet Harris is a poet, photographer, a licensed marriage and family therapist, and the editor of Spirit Fire Review. Her work can be found in Nostos, Inlandia: A Literary Journal, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Clamor, and in several anthologies. Cindy lives in Southern California with her husband and their children.
Natalie Boburka & Karen Neuberg
Let Me Be The Sacred Garden by Natalie Boburka & Let me sing the garden by Karen Neuberg
Karen Neuberg’s poems have appeared in several anthologies including First Water: The Best of Pirene’s Fountain, A Slant of Light: Contemporary Women Writers of the Hudson Valley, and Child of My Child: Poems and Stories for Grandparents, as well as in numerous literary journals. She is the author of the full-length poetry collection, PURSUIT (Kelsay Press, 2019) and the chapbook the elephants are asking (Glass Lyre, 2017) She holds an MFA from the New School and is associate editor of the online poetry journal First Literary Review-East. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
Harriet Forman Barrett & Shirley Jones-Luke
We Shall Rise by Harriet Forman Barrett & Ecstasies of Starvation by Shirley Jones-Luke
Shirley Jones Luke is a poet and writer. Ms. Luke lives in Boston, Massachusetts. Shirley has an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College. Her work focuses on culture, family, and society. Ms. Luke was the recent recipient of the Patricia Dobler Award in Poetry. In addition, Shirley was named a Poetry Fellow by the Writer’s Room of Boston. She is currently working on a poetry manuscript.
Pam Krimsky & Caprice Garvin
Separation by Pam Krimsky & Friendship Park by Caprice Garvin
Caprice Garvin is a native New Mexican, currently residing in New Jersey. She studied in the Writing Division at Columbia University, where she was awarded The Woolrich Award for Excellence in Writing, and in the Writing Division at Sarah Lawrence College where she earned an M.F.A. in fiction. Most recently her work has appeared in The New Verse News, Glass: A Journal of Poetry, Terrain.org and Lily Poetry Review.
Isabel Cotarelo & Nell J. Hanks
Plastic Pollination (detail) by Isabel Cotarelo & Haiku by Nell J. Hanks
Nell J. Hanks | Originally from Sydney Australia, I worked in the fashion business for ten years living and working in Milan and Paris before settling in NYC where I completed my undergraduate degree from Fordham University and my master’s degree in counseling psychology from New York University. After 911, I worked in Crisis Intervention with the First Responders at Ground Zero and for many years the focus of my work was Trauma and Bereavement Counseling. I currently live in Rhinebeck NY with my husband, two sons and two dogs. I have written poetry all my life and thought this was a good time to share it.
Renee Zhang & Lissa Kiernan
Ephemeral Layers by Renee Zhang & Keeper Of Robes To The Queen by Lissa Kiernan
Lissa Kiernan’s first book of prose, Glass Needles & Goose Quills won both the Nautilus and Independent Book Awards prizes. Her first collection of poetry, Two Faint Lines in the Violet, was a finalist for Indiefab Book of the Year and the Julie Suk Award. She holds an MFA from the Stonecoast Program in Creative Writing and an MA from The New School in New York City. Kiernan founded and directs The Poetry Barn and AIM Higher, Inc. She lives in the foothills of the Catskill Mountains, with her husband and a fluctuating number of felines.
Lynn Margileth & Bobbi Esmark
Still by Lynn Margileth & Meditation by Bobbi Esmark
Bobbi Esmark is a painter and printmaker.
She lives and has her studio in New York’s Hudson Valley, where she also teaches Taiji and Qigong.
She has a BFA in Painting from SUNY New Paltz, and studied painting, drawing and anatomy at the Art Students League of New York. She has participated in workshops and classes on poetry and memoir through the Poetry Barn.
Lissa Kiernan & Maureen Alsop
‘Roosevelt Raceway Riot,’ ‘Perception’ & ‘Dared Not’ by Lissa Kiernan & Agnes by Maureen Alsop
Maureen Alsop PhD is the author of four poetry books, the most recent, Pyre, is forthcoming with What Books Press.
Terry Haas & Tamara Neeley
Frenetic by Terry Haas & The Nature Of Things by Tamara Neeley
Tamara Neeley has been writing since the second grade. Poetry is interwoven with her identity as a means of processing the world and expressing her interaction with it. She finds inspiration in the ocean, grounding in rocks, and pleasure in wine and food. She aspires to publish so she can do more of what brings her joy. She is especially honored to be included in this exhibit two years in a row – to have someone make her words visible as sculpture or paint or photographic image, to see simple letters inspire meaning as they pass through two sets of hands.
Terry Murray & Sharon Alexander
Passing Through The Wheatfield by Terry Murray & Wheatfield With Crows by Sharon Alexander
Sharon Alexander is the author of INSTRUCTIONS IN MY ABSENCE, winner of the 2016 Palettes & Quills Poetry Chapbook Contest. VOODOO TROMBONE, Sharon’s previous chapbook, was published by Finishing Line Press, 2014. She is a 2021 Pushcart Prize Nominee. Her poems appear in numerous journals including Caliban On-line; Idyllwild Life Magazine; Naugatuck River Review; Pinyon; Redheaded Stepchild; Santa Ana River Review; Slipstream; and Subprimal Poetry Art. Sharon’s poetry is also included in the following anthologies: Beyond the Lyric Moment (Tebot Bach, 2014); The Poetry Box, (2015 and 2018); Spectrum: 140 SoCal Poets (2015); and We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology (Moonrise Press, 2020).
Pamela Timmins & Emily K. Michael
Sudden Urge To Tumble by Pamela Timmins & Deficiencies by Emily K. Michael
Emily K. Michael is a blind poet, musician, and writing teacher from Jacksonville, FL. Her poetry and essays have appeared in Wordgathering, The Hopper, Artemis Journal, Split This Rock, The South Carolina Review, Nine Mile Magazine, Rogue Agent, Narrative Inquiry in Bioethics, BREVITY’s Nonfiction Blog, and AWP Writer’s Notebook Emily’s work centers on ecology, disability, and music. She is the poetry editor for Wordgathering at Syracuse University, and she curates the Blind Academy blog. Her first book Neoteny: Poems is available from Finishing Line Press. Find more at http://emilykmichael.com.
Kirsten Doyle & Margaret Cliggett
Untitled by Kirsten Doyle & Invisible Needlework by Margaret Cliggett
Margaret Cliggett is a poet and holistic Psychotherapist specializing in Mindfulness. Educated in Creative and Expressive Arts, this is her second year participating in Poetic License. She loves the Poetry Barn.
Betty Ann Robbins-Greenwald & Joanie McLean
Into Winter Sun by Betty Ann Robbins-Greenwald & Into Winter Sun by Joanie McLean
Joanie McLean is an ecologist and poet who lives, works, and writes in Silk Hope, North Carolina. She holds degrees in Botany from UNC – Chapel Hill and in Wetland Ecology from Duke University. She has published two chapbooks, Place and Up From Dust, is the winner of the New Millennium Writings Prize for Poetry, and a three time finalist for the James Applewhite Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared in many journals, including Reed, Mount Hope, Turning Point Journal, and Spillway. Her latest poetry collection “Every Single Thing” is available from Homebound Publications.
SL Rika & Dan Wilcox
The Crow Flies by SL Rika & Writing Crows by Dan Wilcox
Dan Wilcox is the host of the Third Thursday Poetry Night at the Social Justice Center in Albany, N.Y. and is a member of the poetry performance group “3 Guys from Albany”. As a photographer, he claims to have the world’s largest collection of photos of unknown poets. His chapbook Gloucester Notes is available from FootHills Publishing of Kanona, NY. You can read his Blog about the Albany poetry scene at dwlcx.blogspot.com.
Michael Doyle & John Davis
Untitled by Michael Doyle & dawn by John Davis
John M. Davis currently lives in Visalia, California. He’s taught at the University of Toronto and MacMaster University in Canada; received the Ontario Literary Arts Award as well as support from Canada Council; and worked at the Open Studio in Toronto for seven years (learning Lithography). His poetry has appeared in numerous journals, including The Comstock Review, Bloodroot Literary Magazine, Descant (Canada), West Trade Review, Reunion: The Dallas Review, Silk Road, Gyroscope Review. “The Mojave”, his third chapbook, was published by the Dallas Community Poets. The piece selected, “dawn”, originally appeared in California Quarterly.
Rebecca Hart & T.G. Vanini
Burning Fish Oil by Rebecca Hart & At the twelfth moondark by T.G. Vanini
An Englishman born in Hong Kong, T. G. Vanini has lived for 35 years in Woodstock, New York. His book of poetry, Dear Cloudface, was published in 2018 by Post Traumatic Press. He performs and records his songs and song-poetry with The Princes of Serendip; their most recent recording is Yumpatiddly Bee: Silly Songs (Jaiya Records, 2019). He also contributes his violin to the performances of some of the area’s best songwriters, bands and Celtic sessions. All the while he has pursued an active career as a mathematician.
Barbara Esmark & Norma Ketzis Bernstock
Cemetery by Barbara Esmark & Blizzard by Norma Ketzis Bernstock
Norma Bernstock’s poetry has appeared in many journals and anthologies including Stillwater Review, Exit 13, Connecticut River Review, Paterson Literary Review, Lips, Meta-Land—Poets of the Palisades II, Pennsylvania Seasons and the International Bilingual Anthology, Bridging the Waters, II. Her poems have been featured on WJFF Catskill Radio, have been honored by the Paterson Poetry Center’s Allen Ginsberg Awards and have received a Pushcart nomination. Norma’s chapbook, Don’t Write a Poem About Me After I’m Dead, was published by Big Table Publishing. A second manuscript is in the works.
Kristin Reimer & Will Nixon
Enchanted Menagerie, 2020 by Kristin Reimer & 4 am friend by Will Nixon
Maxine Kamin & Cheryl A. Rice
Gulfside by Maxine Kamin & Solutions by Cheryl A. Rice
Cheryl A. Rice: I first saw myself around the age of four. We lived on the first floor of a house, a greyhound upstairs. There was a broken-down pavilion in the yard we were warned to stay away from, stars piercing the roof. I am supported by those ancient stars, paid to excess by the moon and her fickle appearances. Support comes first from within. If there is any applause about, enjoy it for what it is—the current phase of consent. flyingmonkeyprods.blogspot.com | cheryl.a.rice.02@gmail.com
Camille (Cami) Fischer & Mary Ann Murray
Little New Paltz Village by Camille (Cami) Fischer & color theory by Mary Ann Murray
Mary Ann Murray is a recent transplant to the Hudson Valley, from Oakland, CA. She works as a freelance editor, and when she isn’t restoring her 170-year-old house you can find her hiking through the Catskills and Adirondacks, or taking in the lovely view of the Hudson from where she lives in Athens.
Andrea Park & Arvid van Maaren
Upstate and Planning for Upstate by Andrea Park and Upstate by Arvid van Maaren
Arvid van Maaren became an avid bookworm owing to the endless stories her mum and the library fed her. Her love for words led her to teaching and translating some silvery languages. Her love for lyrics, water and art led her to poetry. Her writing teacher advised her to skip stories and start verse; the subsequent writing waves have already resulted in some publications…leaving a yen for more! Arvid was born in Rotterdam some 51 ages ago and adores housesitting in the UK, USA and Spain.
Wendy Sheasby & Broeck Blumberg
Fire Lady and Catching Fire by Wendy Sheasby & Watching Fires by Broeck Blumberg
Broeck Wahl Blumberg’s poems have appeared in Ithaca Lit, The Journal of Expressive Writing, Shrew, Stillwater Review, The Meadowland Review, Snow Monkey, The Crafty Poet, and in an Off Broadway play, “On the Outside Looking In.” Resident of Montclair, NJ, she is a retired US Correspondent for a political-business magazine based in Tokyo.
Diane Christi & Elizabeth Kirkpatrick-Vrenios
Final Moments by Diane Christi & Whiteout by Elizabeth Kirkpatrick-Vrenios
Dorothea Marcus & Renee Emerson
Sugar Cane Girl by Dorothea Marcus & Secret by Renee Emerson
Renee Emerson is a homeschooling mom of six, and the author of Church Ladies (forthcoming from Fernwood Press, 2022), Threshing Floor (Jacar Press, 2016), and Keeping Me Still (Winter Goose Publishing, 2014). Her poetry has been published in Cumberland River Review, Windhover, and Poetry South. She adjunct teaches online for Indiana Wesleyan University, and blogs about poetry, grief, and motherhood at www.reneeemerson.wordpress.com.
Hana Gordon & Joseph Paulson
‘First Light’ and ‘Daybreak’ by Hana Gordon & Dawn by Joseph Paulson
Joseph Paulson is facilitator of the Viva Poets! workshop at Beyond Baroque; Venice, CA. And is a reader for the literary journal Months to Years. He graduated UCLA with a degree in history. His work was recently featured in the literary journal Antilang.
Dan Mccormack & Ellie O’Leary
Grid-Apple_Lenoir_R_04-02-21 by Dan Mccormack & That One Apple by Ellie O’Leary
Linda Lauro-Lazin & Mary Newell
‘Stations of the Hudson: Tangled Bank’ and ‘Stations of the Hudson: Dependent Upon Each Other’ by Linda Lauro-Lazin & Bank Tangle by Mary Newell
Mary Newell authored the chapbooks TILT/ HOVER/ VEER (Codhill Press 2019) and Re-SURGE (Trainwreck Press 2021), poems in journals and anthologies, and essays. She is co-editor of Poetics for the More-than-Human-World: An Anthology of Poetry and Commentary. A former Assistant Professor, she curates the Hudson Highlands Poetry Series. Newell (MA Columbia, BA Berkeley) received a doctorate from Fordham University with a focus on environment and embodiment in contemporary women’s writing. https://manitoulive.wixsite.com/maryn.