Join us during Amherst Arts Night Plus on September 5, 2019 for our monthly celebration of local art! At our open mic, poets, writers, and performers of any kind are welcome! Come early to view the pop-up, contemporary art exhibition in the Homestead by our featured artist. The open mic begins at 6:00 p.m. and will be followed by this month’s featured readers. Those who would like to share their work should arrive between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. to sign up.
“Mt. Norwottuck and Apple Trees” 15 X 22″ oil crayon 2018
Featured artist: Lorna Ritz, pop-up exhibition on view 5-8PM
September’s pop-up exhibition will feature a series of drawings of the Holyoke Range by Lorna Ritz. Taking the the range Emily Dickinson could see from her windows as inspiration, Ritz’s drawings focus on Mt. Norwottuck. The range, which was glacially formed, is one of the only east-west axis range mountains in the country. In her process, the mountains feel so close you could almost touch them. Ritz works many hours at a time, several days in a row to complete her drawings. Each piece has an immediacy to it, but the time it takes to complete means the light is ever-changing; it’s her own personal artistic paradox. The drawings are the consequence of technique, skill, and concept.
Featured reader: Libby Maxey
Libby Maxey’s new book of poems, ‘Kairos’, was released in summer 2019. She has a BA in English from Whitman College and an MA in medieval studies from Cornell University. She is a senior editor at the online journal Literary Mama, where she has been a part of the Literary Reflections department since 2012, and she reviews poetry for The Mom Egg Reviewand Solstice. Her own poems have appeared in Kestrel, Pinyon, Emrys, Crannóg Magazine, and elsewhere. Her nonliterary activities include singing classical repertoire and mothering two sons. She lives with her family in Western Massachusetts.