Sept. 16: A Day Retreat at Eagle Pond Farm for Poets and Plein Air Painters (Rain date: 9/17)
Date/Time
Date(s) - September 16, 2023
10:00 am - 4:30 pm
Categories
Twiggs Gallery invites poets and plein-air painters to participate in an inspiring full-day retreat at Eagle Pond Farm in Wilmot, NH, where Donald Hall and Jane Kenyon shared a writing life. They were daily informed by the farm, its memories, and a deep sense of place and connection to this land and landscape sheltered by Kearsarge and Ragged Mountains.
This unique opportunity is limited to 6 poets and 6 artists. Deadline to register is Sept. 1. Cost and registration info is below. Please address all questions to:Â Twiggs Gallery Director Laura Morrison at twiggs.exhibits@gmail.com,
The day offers a unique opportunity to create in the same space where Don and Jane lived and worked. Mary Lyn Ray, children’s book author, historian, and preservationist will give a behind-the-scenes tour of the house. Also a close friend and neighbor of Don and Jane, Mary Lyn is a founder of At Eagle Pond, Inc., the nonprofit preserving the Wilmot farm.
Instructor for Poets: Laurie Zimmerman, poet and friend of Kenyon and Hall, will guide the poets to read, write, and reflect on Don and Jane’s work. Poets will be encouraged to reflect on place and poetry in their own lives. The retreat is open to all levels of poets.
Instructor for Plein Air Painters:Â Painter and teacher, Monica Cote, will share poems for inspiration and offer instruction on the many aspects of plein-air painting while the painters spend the day painting outdoors. Painters working in any medium and at all levels of experience are welcome.
Laurie Zimmerman Bio:Â Laurie Zimmerman taught English for 30 years at Proctor Academy, Andover, NH, before moving to L.A. in 2017 to work for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra as their grant writer. Now she’s back in Andover, living and writing from Tucker Mountain.
Her first full-length poetry collection is Bright Exit (Quercus Review Press). Her work has been featured in many literary publications, including Poet Lore, Paterson Literary Review, Orion, Rattle, Image, Verse Daily, and on the Academy of American Poets website. She has received the Quercus Review Poetry Prize, the New Letters Award in Poetry, the River Styx International Poetry Contest prize, and five Pushcart nominations. Laurie enjoyed the privilege of friendship with Don and Jane and she serves on the Board of At Eagle Pond, Inc. For more information on Laurie, please visit:Â https://www.lauriezimmermanpoetry.com
Monica Cote Bio:Â Monica Cote lives in Penacook with her husband and two cats. Having enjoyed teaching art at Merrimack Valley High School for eleven years, she now teaches painting and drawing at Manchester Community College.
Her primary artistic pursuits involve plein-air painting either alone or with friends and fellow artists, and she also has a passion for portrait painting. Cote has been part of several exhibits and competitions, earning an honorable mention in 2018 in Portsmouth Wet-Paint sponsored by the New Hampshire Art Association.
About the Farm at Eagle Pond
The farm at Eagle Pond has long held the story of Donald Hall’s family. But Jane Kenyon found her own here, too. Though she had begun writing poetry in college, she said it was coming to Eagle Pond that made her a poet. It gave her a subject, she said, and a renewed way of looking, as it also gave her a place to enter a new life and learn abiding home. Discarding almost nothing from previous generations, Don and Jane filled the Eagle Pond farmhouse still further with books and art, and writing became the habit of their days. In time, both were named New Hampshire Poet Laureate, and Don also served as U.S. Poet Laureate. https://ateaglepond.org
Cost: $225 (Attendance is limited to 6 poets and 6 painters)
Deadline to register:Â Friday, Sept. 1, 2023
(Please note that the site is not handicapped accessible)
REGISTER HERE
The Retreat Includes:Â instruction, a behind-the-scenes tour of the home, generous access to most of the property, coffee/tea/pastries and box lunch, plus bonus activities.
Bonus Activities: As a bonus, retreat participants are invited to:
• An Art & Poetry Share reflecting on their retreat experience on Thursday, September 21, 2023 from 6-7:30 pm at Twiggs Gallery
• Optional: Participate in a Pop-Up Exhibit of art and poetry along with a Poetry Reading on Sunday, October 1 from 1-3 at Twiggs Gallery. The exhibit will run thru October 15, 2023
Questions? Contact Twiggs Gallery Director Laura Morrison at twiggs.exhibits@gmail.com