Adirondack Life and Adirondack Land Trust have announced a project that invites kids to photograph an aspect of the natural world within the Adirondack Park and share why it matters to them.
The project, called “My Adirondack,” will collect submissions from kids between the ages of 5 and 17 from now until Aug. 19, according to a news release on Thursday.
Submissions should include name, age, where in the Adirondack Park the photo was taken, and up to a few sentences about why the image matters to the person who took it.
A news release said that the project provides an opportunity for kids and teens, who will inherit the Adirondack Park, to capture, interpret and share their experiences in nature. Adirondack Life may publish the interpretations in a future issue of the magazine, and the hosting partners will also post them on their respective social media channels.
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“Whatever captures their attention—a flower, a critter, a view, a texture—we can’t wait to see how young people connect the dots between the natural world and their sense of place in the Adirondacks,” Mike Carr, executive director of Adirondack Land Trust, said in the news release.
Submissions can be sent to [email protected] and will be accepted now through August 19.
For more information, visit adirondacklife.com and adirondacklandtrust.org.
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AUBURN — Many of artists featured in “Made in NY 2023,” which opens March 25 at the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, have been inspired by nature.
For some, such as Maureen Church, of Rochester, the goal with her piece “Erie Canal at Dusk” is to capture the beauty around them.
“These paintings are part of a series based on my recent plein air landscape works,” Church said in her artist’s statement. “I use rich colors and wild brushwork to represent the beauty I see in nature.”
Other artists focus on a particular aspect of nature. Henry J. Drexler, of Norwich, still lives near the dairy farm where he grew up. His artwork “Bovine Madness XXXV” begins with images of cows that he manipulates to eliminate depth.
“Whether painted in black and white or fanciful hues, I strive for playful, abstract works of bovine madness,” he said.
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Artist Joyce Hertzson, of Pittsford, actually uses bits of nature in creating her artwork “After the (F)fall,” printing leaves and branches on rag paper.
“The finished print is always full of surprises,” she said in her artist’s statement. “Even using the same set of elements and process, I am never guaranteed the same outcome.”
Other artists use their creations to warn of humans’ abuse of nature. Saranac Lake artist Barry Lobdell’s photograph “Chevron Sky” was taken Nov. 6, when the temperature reached 70 degrees.
“Not a normal temperature for Saranac Lake in November,” he said.
While the weather made for a beautiful photo, he asked: “Is this beauty only skin deep, hiding within it the danger which is inherent in our unnaturally warming planet?”
Bill Hastings, of Ithaca, is a naturalist and gardener who is acutely aware of humans’ impact on nature.
“Every action has an impact,” he said. So with his piece “Sway,” he does his part to reduce, reuse and recycle by “utilizing a ubiquitous material that seems unavoidable in contemporary culture: plastics.”
Concern for the environment led Cyndy Barbone, of Greenwich, to alter her art-making material for her work “Our Rights Are Protected in New York State.” Conscious of the growing water crisis, she decided to stop dyeing her yarn.
“I have replaced color with white or natural by using varying thicknesses of linen to explore how transparency and density in weave structure can convey images, thereby eliminating the vast amount of water used in dyeing,” she said in her artist’s statement. “The illusion of light in the resulting work is a powerful metaphor for the human spirit.”
A total of 320 artists submitted 480 entries for this year’s “Made in NY” exhibition. Jurors Gary Sczerbaniewicz, Theda Sandiford and Kevin Larmon selected 81 pieces from 79 artists for the show, which will run Saturday, March 25, through Sunday, May 28, at the Schweinfurth. The free opening reception will be 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday, and prize winners will be announced at 6 p.m.
Cayuga County-area artists in the show include Mnetha Warren, of Aurora (“Wonder Bread,” 2022), Denise Moody, of Skaneateles (“Her Trunk,” 2023) and Donalee Wesley, of Marcellus (“The Revelation,” 2023).
The exhibition is funded, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
The exhibition will open along with two others at the Auburn gallery: “Triggered, Truth & Transformation” exhibition by New Jersey artist Theda Sandiford and “Positive, Negative, Shallow, and Deep,” by Oswego artist Tyrone Johnson-Neuland. (Editor’s note: Each exhibition will be featured in an upcoming edition of The Citizen’s entertainment guide, Go, and on auburnpub.com.)
Maria Welych is marketing director for the Schweinfurth Art Center in Auburn, a multi-arts center that opened in 1981 thanks to a bequest from Auburn-born architect Julius Schweinfurth. The center’s programs include more than a dozen exhibitions each year and educational programs for children and adults, which feature local, national and international artists. For more information, call (315) 255-1553 or visit schweinfurthartcenter.org.
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“NOT A SOUND is not only a riveting thriller, but a moving portrait of a woman who is stronger than she ever believed possible, against all odds.” -Lisa Scottoline, New York Times bestselling author
INDEPENDENCE – The Independence Public Library is thrilled to announce local author Heather Gudenkauf’s “Not a Sound” as our One Book Indee 2023 pick! “Not a Sound” is a thriller with all the ingredients of a compelling mystery and a good dose of suspenseful twists. The Washington Post named “Not a Sound” one of the ten Best Thrillers and Mysteries of 2017.
Come along on this thrilling ride with protagonist Amelia Winn, a self-deprecating and sometimes exasperated nurse who, following a tragic accident that leaves her deaf, spirals into a depression that ultimately causes her to lose everything that matters – her job, her husband, and her stepdaughter.
As she finally gets back on her feet, she discovers the body of a brutally murdered fellow nurse in the dense bush by the river, deep in the woods near her cabin. She is plunged into a disturbing mystery that could shatter the carefully reconstructed pieces of her life all over again. But Amelia Winn is not so easily beaten; she gets up and becomes stronger than ever because of what she’s lost. Amelia will show you how to get back on your feet after a tragedy strikes your life fast and hard with this one-of-a-kind story of resilience.
Several of the themes in “Not a Sound” informing our programming choices are the impact of trauma and resiliency; Wapsipinicon River history, local legends and recreation; alcoholism; crime scene investigation; and more.
Get ready to meet the award-winning author of “Not a Sound,” Heather Gudenkauf, as she will visit IPL twice during One Book Indee. We are also partnering with many community entities and groups for programming. Some upcoming programs to look out for include Full Moon Snowshoe on Monday, Feb. 6, candle making, and a nature photography contest.
Several exciting activities and programs we have scheduled for kids and teens are CSI: Library hands on investigation with the Independence Police Department, Mystery in the Library for Teens, animals you might find on the Wapsi, One Book Indee Bingo with prizes, and more!
Anyone can pick up a copy of “Not a Sound” at the library, The Brick Kitchen, Elm Tree Gifts, Em’s Coffee Co., S&K Collectibles, the Falcon Civic Center, and any of the seven Little Free Libraries scattered throughout Independence. It’s not necessary to have a library card – just grab an available copy at any of these locations, read it and initial the inside label, then pass the book on to someone else to read or drop it off at the library or any satellite book location. We want to make it easy for everyone to read this book. Just as in previous years, there will be a One Book Indee Challenge for adults with fabulous prizes!
Heather Gudenkauf is an Edgar Award-nominated, New York Times & USA Today bestselling author. Gudenkauf lives in Iowa with her husband and children.
IPL would like to thank our One Book Indee Committee members: Kate Bell, Donna Bundy, Deb DeHaan, Beth Messenger, Michelle Nejdl, Brooke Starling, and IPL Program Coordinator Erin Zikmund. We’d also like to thank the Independence Public Library Foundation, Greenley Family Charitable Fund, Friends of the Independence Public Library, and the City of Independence for sponsoring One Book Indee.
Is ‘flyover country’ an appropriate moniker for the Midwestern U.S., or other overlooked places in the world? Through photography & poetry, this talk explores that question through inspection of the overlooked or the avoided: rust; thunderstorms; work; everyday people doing everyday things; politics; social class; et cetera.
A lifelong Midwesterner, Justin Hamm is the author of four poetry collections, two poetry chapbooks, and a book of photographs. His most recent book is Drinking Guinness With the Dead: Poems 2007-2021 (Spartan Press 2022) . . .
BLOOMINGTON — Most Midwesterners, like Justin Hamm, can say they once had childhood dreams of leaving their hometowns for somewhere “things are really happening.”
Now 42, Hamm is speaking about how he changed his perspective on life in the Midwest through the power of poetry and lens of a camera. The 1998 graduate of Normal West Community High School was featured in a TEDxOshkosh talk published Wednesday on YouTube, titled, “The American Midwest: A Story in Poems & Photographs.”
Bloomington-native Justin Hamm, in Mexico, Missouri, holds a stack of his poetry books in this provided photo from 2022. He was recently featured in a TEDxOshkosh talk.
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Mel Hamm
Hamm, who mainly grew up in Bloomington, theorized before listeners in November 2022 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, that “there really is no such place as nowhere.
Everywhere is somewhere, and everywhere has a story to (it) we can uncover if you learn to use the poet’s or the photographer’s eye.”
Pushing back against negative stereotypes about the region, like the “flyover country” label, he said the Midwest has kept him artistically busy and interested. Some of the prose recited by Hamm told of the beauty of a rust, “the mysteries of barn wood” and forgetting his jockstrap for a double-header baseball game.
Read this Wednesday, June 10, 1998 file story covering a Normal West High School baseball game against Olney High School, including quotes by then-catcher Justin Hamm.
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The former catcher for the Normal Wildcats chanted verses of “Until Death Do Us Part,” as photo slides showing the exterior of Keller’s Iron Skillet & Catering in Bloomington were displayed. He drew parallels in his poem “Rust — Or Perhaps Fine Art” between decay and impressionist painting.
In a Friday interview with The Pantagraph, he said he tries to take photographs that would make good poems: “Quiet little scenes that illustrate something about the region.”
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“Experience another life.”
Hamm explained the title of his latest poetry book, “Drinking Guinness with the Dead.” Drawing from three other previously released books, it was released in March 2022 by Spartan Press, and contains material dated between 2007 and 2021. Hamm said it also has a “book’s worth” of new poems to go with it.
He said one meaning of the title refers to having a few beverages before revising older material. It was weird reading back in time, and he didn’t seem to care or relate to it at first. But Hamm said he didn’t want that to be the case.
He said going back also made him realize he wasn’t doing enough to publicize that work.
Reflecting on his piece titled “A real team effort,” he said he hoped to capture awfully embarrassing moments of adolescence and bring them to life. Hamm said many have told him they can relate.
Poet-photographer and former Bloomington resident Justin Hamm is shown in this 2021 self-portrait.
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Justin Hamm
“They get to experience another life for a while,” he said.
That teleportation also extends to his photography work. Showing stills of rusted-out cars, he said countless people have told them that model was the first they owned.
At another poetry reading and photography showing, Hamm said two farmers lectured him about why a particular style of corn crib was built in Central Illinois but not in South Dakota, because of the immigrants who settled in those regions.
Shown in this 2019 photo provided by poet and photographer Justin Hamm, formerly of Bloomington, is a Central Illinois barn.
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Justin Hamm
See with different eyes
Hamm said he never left the Midwest. He said he got married and went to school in the region, and moved to Mexico, Missouri, where he currently works as a librarian for Eugene Fields Elementary School. He’s a husband to his wife Mel Hamm, and father to two daughters: Abbey, 13, and 9-year-old Sophie Hamm.
He attended MacMurray College in Jacksonville to play baseball, also where he met his wife, and said he got more involved in the English department after hurting his arm. Hamm also explored fiction writing, but said he knew he “was always a poet at heart.”
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Coming back to poetry over time, he said he found success. He did his masters of fine arts degree at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, and followed another Bloomington native who was coaching wrestling in Mexico, Missouri.
Knowing his best friend “Martin” would be there and his wife liked the school district, he said it was a good landing destination. Hamm said they haven’t found any reason to relocate since they moved there in 2005.
Hamm also edited his startup literary magazine, Museum of Americana, for 10 years. Then in 2019, his poem “Goodbye, Sancho Panza“ was studied by 50,000 students worldwide through the World Scholar’s Cup curriculum.
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Around 2009, Hamm said his mother died and he had his first child. That’s when he said he realized his roots are in the Midwest, and leaving was not a certainty. Hamm said he thought he’d better start trying to see things with different eyes.
“Everything that happens in this region is a microcosm of the biggest conflicts and struggles, and also the most beautiful things in the world,” he said.
He said these experiences teach us lessons in human psychology, social interactions and the dichotomy of rural versus urban. There are many different perspectives to view through stories and images, he said, like immigrant experiences and sights of beautiful landscapes.
“When I started to stop and pay attention, I realized how deep that history really is,” said Hamm.
To keep up with Hamm, and read or purchase his work, go to justinhamm.net.
Contact Brendan Denison at (309) 820-3238. Follow Brendan Denison on Twitter: @BrendanDenison
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