ASK has made their galleries accessible to the public online, 24/7!
Click on an image below to begin the slideshow.
Every month ASK provides a prompt for our members to respond to and this month, the theme is Poetic License: “Our annual exhibition where members can create work based on poems from the Poetry Barn.”
Members are allowed to display up to three pieces each month, with no charge for the first piece.
ASK ha puesto sus galerías a disposición del público en línea, ¡las 24 horas del día!
Haga clic en alguna de las imágenes de abajo para comenzar la presentación. Si desea comprar alguna de las obras, por favor complete el formulario de compra al final de esta página, o escriba un correo electrónico a ask@askforarts.org
Cada mes ASK ofrece un tema para que nuestros miembros respondan, y este mes el tema es Licencia Poética. Nuestra exposición anual en la que los miembros pueden crear obras basadas en poemas del “Poetry Barn.”
Catherine Arra, Vicki Hickman & Renee Zhang
The High Priestess by Catherine Arra, No Need For A Crystal Ball… by Vicki Hickman, The Dreaming Priestess by Renee Zhang
Catherine Arra is a former high school English and writing teacher. Her poetry and prose have appeared in numerous literary journals online and in print, and in several anthologies. She is the author of Solitude, Tarot & the Corona Blues, forthcoming from Kelsay Books, Deer Love (Dos Madres Press, 2021), Her Landscape, Poems Based on the Life of Mileva Marić Einstein, (Finishing Line Press, 2020), (Women in Parentheses) (Kelsay Books, 2019), Writing in the Ether (Dos Madres Press, 2018) and three chapbooks. Arra lives in upstate New York, where she teaches part-time, and facilitates local writing groups. Find her at www.catherinearra.com
Jerrice Baptiste, Patricia Cummins & Pearl Lau
Nostolgia by Jerrice Baptiste, Mango Quartet by Patricia Cummins, Conch On A Shelf by Pearl Lau
Jerrice J. Baptiste is an author of eight books and a poet in residence at the Prattsville Art Center & Residency in NY. She is extensively published in journals and magazines such as The Yale Review, Mantis, The Shawangunk Review; Eco Theo Review; The Caribbean Writer; Bluestem Magazine, Artemis Journal and many others. Jerrice has been the featured poet on Planet Poet in Roxbury, NY, at the Woodstock Poetry Society, and at the International Women’s Writing Guild. She has been facilitating poetry workshops for fifteen years.
Norma Bernstock & Locke Johnston
A Poet Walks the Bowery by Norma Bernstock & Bowery Poetry by Locke Johnston
Norma Bernstock’s poetry has appeared in many print and online journals and anthologies including What But the Music, Voices From Here, Stillwater Review, Connecticut River Review, Paterson Literary Review and Rattle. Her poems have been featured online at Your Daily Poem, read on WJFF Catskill Radio and have received a Pushcart Prize nomination. Norma’s chapbook, Don’t Write a Poem About Me After I’m Dead, was published by Big Table Publishing with a second chapbook in progress.
Michelle Bonczek & Barbara Johnston
The Afterlife of Pennies by Michelle Bonczek, and Scattered In Blue & Primary Abstraction by Barbara Johnston
Michelle Bonczek Evory is the author of The Ghosts of Lost Animals, winner of the 2018 Barry Spacks Prize (Gunpowder Press, 2019) and the recipient of a 2021 Independent Publisher Book Award; three award-winning chapbooks of poetry; and an open-source book on craft, Naming the Unnameable: An Approach to Poetry for New Generations (Open SUNY Press), which is taught in creative writing programs around the world. Her honors include being the inaugural Artist in Residence for the National Parks Arts Foundation at Gettysburg National Military Park with her husband poet Rob Evory; an artist residency at SERDE, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Latvia; and a grant from the Kalamazoo Arts Council. She is a writing instructor and mentor at The Poet’s Billow (www.thepoetsbllow.org).
Gabby Gilliam & Hana Gordon
I Will Celebrate Each Revolution by Gabby Gilliam, & Morning Glory by Hana Gordon
Gabby Gilliam lives in the DC metro area. Her poetry has most recently appeared in Tofu Ink, The Ekphrastic Review, Cauldron Anthology, Instant Noodles, MacQueen’s Quinterly, and Equinox. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming from Black Hare Press, Iron Faerie Publishing, and Not a Pipe Publishing. You can find her online at gabbygilliam.squarespace.com or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/GabbyGilliamAuthor.
Karen L. George & Stevan Jennis
Sleep Words in my Ear by Karen L. George, & Sleep Words In My Ears by Stevan Jennis
Karen George is author of three collections from Dos Madres Press: Swim Your Way Back (2014), A Map and One Year (2018), and Where Wind Tastes Like Pears (2021). Her poetry appears or is forthcoming in Slippery Elm as winner of their 2022 poetry contest, Adirondack Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Indianapolis Review, Salamander, and Poet Lore. She’s received grants from Kentucky Foundation for Women and Kentucky Arts Council. She retired after 25 years as a computer programmer/analyst to write full-time. She lives in Florence, Kentucky, enjoys photography and visiting museums, forests, and historic towns. Her website is: karenlgeorge.blogspot.com
Joan Leotta, Hadass Melamed & Denise Giardullo
Sycamore Roots by Joan Leotta, Sycamore Roots by Hadass Melamed, & Sycamore Roots by Denise Giardullo
Joan Leotta plays with words on page and stage. IN addition to authoring ten books, her varied writings have appeared or are forthcoming, in Ekphrastic Review, Pinesong,, Brass Bell, Verse Visual, anti-heroin chic, Silver Birch, Ovunquesiamo, Verse Virtual, Poetry in Plain Sight, and others. She is a 2021 Pushcart nominee and received Best of Micro Fiction in 2021. In early 2022, she was named a runner up in the Frost Foundation Poetry Competition. Her chapbook, Feathers to Stone , which includes the poem, Sycamore Roots, is scheduled for publication at the end of 2022 from Main Street Rag. She performs tales featuring food, family, nature, and strong women.
Jim Lonergan & Camille Fischer
The Climbing Tree by Jim Lonergan & The Climbing Tree/The Wooded Lovers by Camille Fischer
Jim Lonergan writes from Woodstock NY. He is retired from caddying, cemetery gardening, boat bottom painting, Met Opera front house management, office furniture sales, and most recently lawyering.
Fay L. Loomis & S.L. Rika
Hoopla by Fay L. Loomis, & Hoopla #2 by S.L. Rika
Fay L. Loomis grew up in rural Michigan, migrated to California, and now leads a quiet life in the woods in Kerhonkson, New York. A member of the Stone Ridge Library Writers and the Rat’s Ass Review Workshop, her poems and prose appear most recently in /Medusa’s Kitchen, As It Ought to Be, Stick Figure Poetry, Hindsight, Amethyst Review, Bindweed, True Chili, Blue Pepper, Al-Khemica Poetica, Sledgehammer Lit, /and/Spillwords./ Fay holds a Master’s Degree in art history from Michigan State University and is delighted that her poem and the interpretive art piece are included in this ASK exhibition.
Tamara Neely, Elaine Ralston & Samantha Brinkley
Effort(less) by Tamara Neely, Blue Moday by Elaine Ralston, & Effort(Less) Collage by Samantha Brinkley
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 three 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 many hands.
Nancy Graham & Harriet Forman Barrett
not that we possessed wisdom by Nancy Graham, Seeds by Harriet Forman Barrett, & Tree of Life by Harriet Forman Barrett
Nancy Graham’s poems have appeared in various Irish and UK poetry journals, and she’s been placed or listed in a number of competitions, including double runner-up for the Seamus Heaney Award for New Writing, 2020. In receipt of an Arts Council (Northern Ireland) grant she’s writing towards her first pamphlet, and planning a second poetry competition for the amazing volunteer-led charity Tools For Solidarity. She works in a women’s centre in Belfast.
Lynn Houston, Andrea Park & Terry Haas
Spring Morning on the Rondout by Lynn Houston, Spring Morning on the Rondout by Andrea Park, We Are Birdsong & Buzzing Blue Wildflowers by Terry Haas
Lynn Marie Houston is a reformed English professor turned IT specialist. She holds an MFA in poetry from Southern Connecticut State University and has published 4 books of poems, including her award-winning title The Mauled Keeper from Main Street Rag Publishing. She lives on the Rondout Creek in a cottage built in 1846 and enjoys hiking in the Catskills.
Robbi Nester & Stephanie Basch
Biodiversity by Robbi Nester, & Biodiversity by Stephanie Basch
Robbi Nester is the author of four published books of poetry and editor of three anthologies, all of them Ekphrastic in some way. One of these, The Plague Papers, is available to read for free at www.poemeleon.me/peruse-the-mall
Will Nixon, Debbie Auer-Breithaupt & Maxine Kamin
Fire Tower by Will Nixon, Fire Tower by Debbie Auer-Breithaupt, Upper Esopus Fire Tower & Look Up! by Maxine Kamin
Will Nixon has published The Pocket Guide to Woodstock. With Michael Perkins he co-authored Walking Woodstock: Journeys into the Wild Heart of America’s Most Famous Small Town. His poetry collections include My Late Mother as a Ruffed Grouse and Love in the City of Grudges.
Margaret Cliggett, Angela Gaffney-Smith & Wendy Sheasby
A Divine Idea by Margaret Cliggett, Threaded Through by Angela Gaffney-Smith & Winters’ Dreaming by Wendy Sheasby
Margaret Cliggett is an emerging poet living in New York’s Hudson River Valley. Born a Jersey girl, one of 6 children, she has worked on a factory line, as a Kelly girl, a carpenter, a theatre director and actress, candle store clerk and, of course, a waitress. She can use a radial arm saw and speak a sonnet. With Masters’s Degrees in Theater and Counseling, she is a body-centered psychotherapist. The focus of her writing is on down-to-earth mystical concerns. This is her third participation in ASK’s Poetic License.
Rachel Van Sickle & Jacqueline Oster
Templeton by Rachel Van Sickle, Uninvited Guest & Food Search by Jacqueline Oster
Rachel Van Sickle is a writer based out of Lexington, Kentucky where she pays the bills with her marketing job. She received an MFA in creative writing from Louisiana State University, and her poetry has appeared in Devilfish Review, Fahmidan Journal, Morning Fruit Magazine, Spoonie Press, and more. You can follow her writing struggles and successes on Twitter at @RachelVanSickle
Susan Vespoli & Natalie Boburka
Dear Our Lady of Slow Learners by Susan Vespoli, & Talisman by Natalie Boburka
Susan Vespoli writes poems from Phoenix, Arizona. She is a big believer in the power of writing to keep herself sane. Her work has been published in Rattle, Nasty Women Poets, Anti-Heroin Chic, New Verse News, and others. She has two poetry collections, Blame It on the Serpent (Finishing Line Press, Jan. 2022) and Cactus as Bad Boy (Kelsay Books, August 2022), in which “Dear Our Lady of Slow Learners” appears.
Laurie Kuntz & Marjorie Magid
I Am Having an Affair With the World by Laurie Kuntz, & Heartbroken, He Mourns The Passing Of The Day by Marjorie Magid
Laurie Kuntz is an award-winning poet and film producer. She taught creative writing and poetry in Japan, Thailand and the Philippines. Many of her poetic themes are a result of her working with Southeast Asian refugees for over a decade after the Vietnam War years. Her 3rd chapbook, Talking Me off the Roof is forthcoming from Kelsay Books at the end of 2022. She has published two poetry collections (The Moon Over My Mother’s House, Finishing Line Press, and Somewhere in the Telling, Mellen Press) and two chapbooks (Simple Gestures, Texas Review Press and Women at the Onsen, Blue Light Press), as well as an ESL reader (The New Arrival, Books 1 & 2, Prentice Hall Publishers). Moment Poetry Press has published a broadside of her poem The Moon Over My Mother’s House (www.momentpoetry.com) Her poems, Darnella’s Duty and Not Drowning But Waving have been produced in a podcast from LKMNDS. Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and her chapbook, Simple Gestures, won the Texas Review Poetry Chapbook Contest. She is a reader for Carve Magazine and Button Poetry. She was editor in chief of Blue Muse Magazine and a guest editor of Hunger Mountain Magazine. She produced a documentary, Do Tell, on the repeal of the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Law, and is an associate producer for Strangers to Peace, a documentary on the Colombian peace process and reintegration of guerrilla soldiers in Colombia. She is the executive producer of an Emmy winning short narrative film, Posthumous. Recently retired, she lives in an endless summer state of mind. Visit her at: lauriekuntz.myportfolio.com/home-1
Tina Barry & Deborah Mills Thackery
Don’t Grieve for Fish by Tina Barry, & Koi and Pearl by Deborah Mills Thackery
Tina Barry is the author of Beautiful Raft (Big Table Publishing, 2019) and Mall Flower (Big Table Publishing, 2016). Her poems and fiction have appeared in numerous literary publications such as The Best Small Fictions 2020 (spotlighted story) and 2016, Drunken Boat, The American Poetry Journal, Yes, Poetry, Sky Island Journal, Verse-Virtual, Lascaux Review, Nasty Women Poets, A Constellation of Kisses and upcoming in Rattle. Tina is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee and has several Best of the Net nods. She is a teaching artist at The Poetry Barn and Writers.com.
Alexander Pérez & Dan McCormack
The Reckonings of Spring by Alexander Pérez, & Grid-Daffodills-2&3_Lenoir_R_04-14-22 by Dan McCormack
Alexander Pérez (he/him/his) lives in Albany, NY. Alexander identifies as gay and Hispanic/Latino. He received a James B. Duke Fellowship from Duke University to study literature, holds a BA in English from the University at Buffalo and MA in philosophy from the University at Albany. He has work forthcoming or published in Toronto Queer Literary Magazine, Value Pack Literary Magazine, New Note Poetry, Trolley (NYS Writer’s Institute), The Voices Project and Whisky Blot. Alexander is a member of the Hudson Valley Writers Guild. He began writing poetry in spring 2022 at age forty-seven. Website: perezpoet.press Instagram/Twitter @perezpoet