Culture
Women of Appalachia Project Seeks Fine Art, Spoken Word
< < Back to ?p=134108The Women of Appalachia Project (WOAP) is sending an open “Call for Artists” for the 2015-2016 season of its fine art and “Women Speak” exhibitions.
This year’s exhibitions and presentations will be held in seven venues throughout Ohio and West Virginia. Women 16 years and older, living in any of the many Appalachian counties, are invited to submit their work for jury.
Past events have highlighted the work of visual and spoken word artists, from Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky.
The mission of WOAP is to showcase the way in which female artists respond to the Appalachian region as a source of inspiration, bringing together women from diverse backgrounds, ages and experiences to embrace the stereotype – to show the whole woman, beyond the superficial factors that people use to judge her, represented by visual interpretation through fine art and “Women Speak,” an evening of poetry, story and song.
Visual art and manuscript submissions for this year’s events will be juried by four seasoned artists, curators and writers. Marcia Lanzer Nighswander is a photojournalism professor in Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication and a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer. Winsome Chunnu-Brayda is Program Director of the Multicultural Center at Ohio University and curator of the Multicultural Center Art Gallery.
Kathleen Burgess is senior editor at Pudding Magazine—the International Journal of Applied Poetry and served on the Ohio Teachers Writer’s editorial board. She judged the National Looking Glass Chapbook Competition, The SouthWest Writers Contest, and Ohio Poetry Association contests and is a Pushcart Prize nominee. Cathy Cultice Lentes is a poet, essayist, and children’s writer. Lentes’ I Have My Own Song For It: Modern Poems of Ohio was the winner of the Year 2000 Appalachian Poetry Competition sponsored by Now & Then: The Appalachian Magazine and The Center for Appalachian Studies and Services. For more juror information go to facebook.com/WomenofAppalachia.
WOAP provides an opportunity for local artists and the community to come together. All exhibitions and performances are free, due to the support of ARTS/West and Ohio University in Athens; Parkersburg Art Center, Parkersburg, West Virginia; Pump House Gallery, Chillicothe, Ohio; The Columbus Poetry Forum, Columbus, Ohio; Sips Coffee House, Mt. Vernon, Ohio; and The Bowen House, Logan, Ohio.
Athens singer/songwriter Colleen Carow has participated in “Women Speak” a number of times.
“My songs are inspired by women in my life who have gotten back up again. I hope they inspire others to put on their boots, too,” she said.
For information concerning the submission process for the Women of Appalachia Project and to download the prospectus, visit womenofappalachia.com or email womenofappalachia@gmail.com. Submissions deadlines are Sept. 27 and Oct. 2, 2015.
