Poetry and art workshops in July

The library will host workshops for those who want to participate in the Rebecca Eddy competition.

CANASTOTA » Words & Pictures, a memorial contest in honor of Rebecca Eddy, is getting underway with a series of poetry and art workshops during July.

This year, entries will be accepted in poetry and art. The theme for 2017, selected in cooperation with the Canal Town Museum, is “Canals Connect Communities.” Using the theme, participants should create a poem and/ or an artistic rendering to enter the contest.

Participants must live in the MidYork Library region, which includes Madison, Oneida, and Herkimer counties. Judging will be held in three divisions: Grades K-6, Grades 7-12 and Adults.

Optional workshops are being offered for each of the three age groups. Sign-ups are required and space is limited. While workshops are not mandatory, all who participate must enter their work for the contest and juried show.

Art workshops with Therese Gena will be held July 12 at 10 a.m. for grades K-6, July 19 for grades 7-12 at 10 a.m. and July 26 at 10 a.m. for adults. All materials will be provided. Gena is an experienced art teacher, with expertise in watercolor, oil and acrylic. She frequently works on art projects with students at the Canastota Central SchoolDistrict. All workshops will last approximately two hours.

Poetry workshops led by Michael Czarnecki will be held Tuesday, July 18 for grades K-6 at 10 a.m., grades 7-12 at 2 p.m. and adults at 6 p.m. Czarnecki is a poet, oral mem----

oirist and owner/publisher of FootHills Publishing. He teaches community workshops, presents as a visiting lecturer at the college level and has worked as a poet in residence in K-12 schools for 15 years. He is the author of several chapbooks.

All entries must be submitted by Friday, Aug. 11. Poems should be one typed page and may be in any form the writer wishes. Artwork may take any format.

An awards ceremony will be held Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1 p.m. First and second place awards in each division will receive $25 and $10 respectively. All participants will also be entered into a drawing for aprize. One poet will win a 7-inch Fire Tablet and one artist will win an art kit, both valued at $50. All entries will remain on display at the library for the month of September.

The contest was organized by Joan and Doug Eddy as a memorial to their daughter, Rebecca, who died at a young age in an automobile accident. Eddy was a graduate of Canastota High School as well as a graduate of Johns Hopkins University. She was an athlete, an artist, a thespian and a scholar.

For more information, call the library at 315-6977030. The Canastota Public Library is located at 102W. Center St.