Welcome to this year's stories and poems for the Proctor Artsfest Juried Art Show!
This is year four of this project, and this year I shared with the audience at the reading my goals for Art Inspired Stories: to get people to embrace the experiencing of visual art fearlessly so that every time they see a work, they immediately wonder what's beyond the edges, and what they would do one they arrived there.
There are 22 compositions in this year's series. Fourteen of them were read at the show on Saturday, August 5th. As always, some stories are more poetry, others
more prose. Some are esoteric or
philosophical, and some are just plain silly. Some are simply dialogue. Some stories shouted at me right away, and
some whispered that there was an idea there if only I was brave enough to seek
it out.
Stories read at the show are denoted with **
Stories read at the show are denoted with **
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Pieces Created for the Proctor ArtsFest 2017
Juried Art Show
Use of any of the photo images on this page without the express permission
of the individual artists is strictly prohibited
After Election Day
by Jillian Fried, Acrylic
It all seemed to clear when we marched,
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Image
copyrighted by the Artist
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issues were sharply contrasted
I understood the difference
between us and them.
It was self-evident when we cheered,
that the platform defined lines
of black and white
between right and wrong.
Now the cheering and the marching is over.
The pavement is littered with confetti,
deflated balloons, crumpled cardboard
the ardor of citizen patriots.
The clarity of black and white is fading.
Shades of red and blue mixing to gray
infiltrate my sense of right and wrong
and nothing is quite as clear.
Looking with honest eyes, I don't see
opposition, I see my neighbors.
Our fervor was encouraged to embattle,
and now we are supposed to stop.
Today we are a nation.
What were we yesterday?
Blue Poppy
by Karen Marie Petrillose, Watercolour
Coryphee of fields
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Image
copyrighted by the Artist
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wind-bent stems sway together
reflecting the sky
Not painted in hot
like your blossoming cousins
flaming red, orange
Stealthy, you trick us
luring with a modest blue
till we are so close
A burst of stamen
vibrant contrast catching us
off guard with brilliance
While you blithely dance
to a sacred melody
Mother earth sings you
