Artistic Hands & Poetic Voices A Celebration of the Arts in Botetourt County is Sept. 24

Botetourt County Libraries in cooperation with Artemis Journal and Open Studios Botetourt are pleased to offer Artistic Hands and Poetic Voices of Botetourt County, a celebration of local art and poetry, on Tuesday, September 24 from 6 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. at the Blue Ridge Library, 28 Avery Row, Roanoke, VA 24012. The event is free and open to the public.

Artists Linda Atkinson, Amy Herzel, and Dreama Kattenbraker, all of whom are with Open Studios, will showcase artwork at the event.

Poets Curt Alderson, Maurice Ferguson, Anita Firebaugh, Tim Miller, Molly O’Dell and Pauline Hollar Pauley will read from their work.

About the Artists

Amy Herzel works in mixed media. She has professionally exhibited her work nationally over the past 20 years. She was trained in the Classical tradition at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Painting and Printmaking and also holds an M.Ed in Art Education. She currently teaches for Roanoke County, writes an occasional blog (https://notyourkitty.blog/), and designs textiles and prints through her business Pseudo Pompous (https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/pseudopompous). Her Fine Art Portfolio can be found at www.pseudopompous.com

Linda Atkinson creates hand-carved and painted wood sculptures that use allegory, symbol and metaphor to explore the human condition as well as such subjects as love, spiritual journey and self reflection.  Linda has a studio and gallery in Botetourt County and welcomes visitors by appointment, and her work can be seen online at Lindaatkinsonart.com.

Dreama Kattenbraker has traveled the world and explores multiple themes in her mixed media artwork. She moved to Fincastle in 2002 with her husband, Gary. Making art with clay, paint, fabric, natural and found objects gives her ways to process and question personal, political and mythical interests.

About the Poets

Curt Alderson came into the world of poetry and storytelling late but, once there, he knew he’d be “a lifer.” In addition to poetry Curt is a lover of the short story. He recently started featuring his stories and poems on his podcast The Shade Tree Poet.   

Maurice Ferguson lives in Buchanan, Virginia with his wife and a menagerie of stray animals. He retired after working 26 years for outpatient and inpatient substance abuse and alcohol treatment programs. Since retirement, he has volunteered at the V.A. Hospital, the Fincastle Jail and the Transitional Living Center. Over the years, he organized and conducted a poetry and prose contest for the Virginia Department of Corrections and collaborated with Janet Lembke in publishing a poetry anthology of prison writing titled The Walls Crumble: A Prison Anthology. He has published poems in several journals, including Artemis Journal, Roanoke Review, Piedmont Review, and Inlet and Foreword Magazine. He has been the literary editor for Artemis Journal for many years.

Anita Firebaugh is an award-winning journalist and news writer. Her work appeared for more than 30 years in The Fincastle Herald and most other local publications. She lives on a farm with her husband and is currently working on Botetourt County’s official 250th anniversary magazine, to be published in 2020. She has a master’s degree from Hollins University.

Tim Miller is a Botetourt County native who spends his free time reading, mountain biking, trail running, and getting lost in the Blue Ridge Mountains and beyond. During the week he is the education and outreach coordinator for Mountain Castles Soil & Water Conservation District.  On the weekends he organizes outdoor events for Muddy Squirrel.

Molly O’Dell lives in Buchanan where she loves to float the James. She received an MFA in 2008 from the University of Nebraska. Her poems and essays have been published in national and regional medical and literary journals including JAMA, Chest, Family Medicine, Platte Valley Review, Whitefish Review, Magnolia, Pine Mountain Sand and Gravel, Virginia Literary Journal, and Artemis. Off the Chart, a chapbook informed by her medical practice in Buchanan, was published in 2015.

Polly Hollar Pauley has studied philosophy, poetry, and law at The College of William and Mary, Hollins University, and The Washington and Lee School of Law.  She and her husband live on her ancestral farm, where she writes, gardens, and teaches their two children.

Join these artists and poets for an evening of visual stimulation and word salads that will leave you thinking and feeling that something wonderful is happening in Botetourt County.

–Submitted by Artistic Hands and Poetic Voices. “Fincastle Art” Photo by Cathy Benson

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