Author: Vera

Two Ways to Share Your Art

Posted on | by Vera

While we can’t meet in person, the Hoffman Center for the Arts is excited to offer two ways for you to share your work.

Creating in Place: Connecting in a Time of Uncertainty

We’re inviting local artists, writers, and film makers, forced to stay home or apart during the Covid-19 threat, to create works reflecting the impact the situation is having on themselves and the community. How are family, friends, neighbors and colleagues dealing with the isolation and worry, while still trying to stay connected?

Visual artists are asked to sketch, draw, paint in any medium or multi-media, or collage whatever they’re feeling, and submit a digital photograph of the finished work. Three-dimensional works created for the occasion are also welcome, as is photography. Writers are invited to submit poetry, essays, and stories, and film makers can send us links to their works on video platforms like Vimeo or YouTube.

Word & Image: A Dialogue Between Writers and Artists

The 5th Word & Image project will be accepting entries from April 1 through April 30, 2020. This Hoffman Center program pairs artists and writers to create original work, each in response to the other’s.

The twelve selected artists and writers will be randomly paired.  Each writer and artist will be given copies of the other’s submitted work.

Over the summer, each writer and each artist will create new work in response to one of the three pieces submitted by their partner. A writer might create a new poem in response to a watercolor, for example. A photographer might make a new image in response to a prose piece.

The end result will be a gallery show in October, readings by the writers, and a book that captures the entire collection.

 

Writing Program Activities Cancelled Through May

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Out of an abundance of caution, we are cancelling or rescheduling all in-person Writing Program activities beginning March 17 through the end of May.

This affects the following workshops, classes, and author readings.

Writing Lounge:  all in-person sessions of the Tuesday Writing Lounge (both quiet and the peer led craft sessions), will be cancelled through the end of May.  However, we’re launching a Virtual Writing Lounge on May 12th.

Workshops and Classes

  • Apricot Irving’s memoir workshop has been rescheduled to Saturday, September 19th, 2020. Paid registrants have their tuition applied automatically to the new session.  If that date does not work for you, please contact [email protected] for a full refund.
  • PoetryFest 2020 with John Sibley Williams has been rescheduled to October 24, 2020. Paid registrants have their tuition applied automatically to the new session.  If that date does not work for you, please contact [email protected] for a full refund.  Meanwhile there are still a few spots available in his Poetry of Place workshop.
  • John Larison’s workshop has been cancelled.  Paid registrants can choose to donate their tuition, or receive a full refund.

Manzanita Writers’ Events: 

  • Apricot Irving’s author reading on March 21st has been rescheduled to Saturday, September 19th, 2020.
  • Leni Zumas’ author reading on April 18, has been cancelled.
  • John Larison and Nick Dybek’s Authors in Conversation event on May 16 has been cancelled.

If you are participating in workshops and events of any other Hoffman Center programs, please check the calendar to see whether they are still happening.

If you have further questions, please contact us at [email protected]  Stay well!

The Writing Program Team

2020 Poetry Contest Winner Announced

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The Manzanita Writers’ Series announces the winner of the 2020 Poetry Contest

Part-time Manzanita resident, Connie Soper, won the poetry contest held by the Manzanita Writers’ Series and the Hoffman Center for the Arts.  Soper will receive a $100 cash prize for her poem “Digging for France.”

“The charm of this poem is the way a black & white photograph comes to life, awakening all the senses, as it does for the readers, reminding them of their own cherished photos,” said Lana Ayers, the judge for the contest.  “A sweet memory filled with wonder and language delicious as chocolat on the tongue,” she added.  Lana is a poet herself and the publisher of the Concrete Wolf chapbook series and MoonPath Press.

In addition to the winning poet, Lana recognized three poems as honorable mentions—”a strong group of entries that made judging eminently pleasurable and selection terribly difficult.” The contest attracted 38 poets with connections to the Oregon coast, who submitted over 100 poems.

  • “Nice Lady Walking on the Beach,” Kyle Bates
  • “Stilled,” Kelly Sievers
  • “Transmogrification,” Karen Keltz

The next submission period for the Poetry Contest will be January, 2021.

 

 

We Care About Your Health

Posted on | by Vera

As the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to affect the global community, the Hoffman Center for the Arts is looking for ways to navigate the rapidly evolving situation.  While we may consider ourselves relatively isolated at the Coast, many in our community are likely to fall into higher risk for complications from the virus.

Based on guidance from the CDC and other public health organizations, we’re putting the following practices in place:

  • Postponing or cancelling larger events as needed. One of those is our annual donor appreciation event. As circumstances evolve, we will decide about others.
  • Announcing cancellations via social media, our e-newsletter, and the BBQ. Please check the calendar on our web site  to view your event, or check our News and Announcements page for the latest information on cancellations. Please do not call our phone number, as that is only periodically monitored for messages.
  • Moving some events or classes to an off-site venue where possible, to allow for more “social distance.”
  • Waiving our cancellation fee for people needing to forego a workshop or class because of illness.

The most important action we can take is to encourage you to make the best decision for yourself. We care about you and want you to stay healthy

Find up-to-date recommendations and information at the following web sites.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

https://www.oregon.gov/oha/PH/DISEASESCONDITIONS/DISEASESAZ/Pages/emerging-respiratory-infections.aspx

Submission Opportunities for Writers!

Posted on | by Vera

Along with the Hoffman’s Poetry Contest in January, there are a couple more North Coast opportunities for writers to submit their work.  Follow the links for specific requirements and ways to submit.

Cannon Beach Library’s Annual Writers Read Celebration 2020 is calling for submissions now.  This year’s theme is “Views from the North Coast”  This is an opportunity to write about your relationship to the North Coast. What is your vision of the North Coast? What draws you here? How do you feel connected to what you see?  The deadline is January 17, 2020.

The Seaside Public Library Foundation will be publishing its third annual short story anthology to support library programs. Writers are invited to submit a short story (1500 words, maximum) with a theme of books or libraries.

Winning entries will be featured at the Write on Seaside! Fundraiser this spring, where writers will have the opportunity to read an excerpt from their story and speak about their writing process.

Writers should include at least two characters in the story that event attendees can bid on to name for the final version of the story, which will be included in the anthology. Animals and mythological creatures tend to be audience favorites.  Deadline is January 31st, 2020.

Rain Magazine, the publication put out by Clatsop Community College has extended its deadline to February 15th, 2020.  They’re accepting submissions for all writing genres, as well as art.  This issue’s theme is “Broke.”

 

Writing Contest Opportunities

Posted on | by Vera

Local writers should check out these contest opportunities (with cash prizes for the winners) for their work. Hurry because deadlines are coming up!

Oregon Writers Colony is holding its fiction and nonfiction contests.  This year they have a new category–50 Word Stories.  Yes, you read that right.  Submissions are required to be exactly 50 words in length (not counting the title).  The deadline is August 15th, 2019.

Poets are invited to submit their work to the Oregon Poetry Association’s Fall contest. There are a number of categories, including one with the theme of “Our Common Life.” The deadline is September 1, 2019.

 

Announcing the “Art Makes the World Go Round” Raffle

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We invite you to help us “Make the world go round at the Hoffman Center for the Arts”  by purchasing a $10 raffle ticket for art by Karl Werner Kaiser. We chose Karl’s encaustic, Spin 103, as our 2019 garden party fundraiser theme. Measuring 16 x 16, Spin 103 is ready to hang, and would be priced in a gallery for $380. The art is on display in the Hoffman Center for the Arts gallery from June 16 through August 17.

Supporting the Hoffman Center for the Arts is about supporting and elevating arts and culture in a rural community. We offer eight year-round programs: writing, ceramics, visual arts, film, music, horticulture, the art of aging & dying, and the gallery in Manzanita, Oregon.

In 2018 we provided 480 opportunities for creativity- about 9 per week, drawing in roughly 850 participants. From learning to draw, hand-build with clay, write pithy dialogue, or critique a film, our volunteer-led programs provide opportunities for people to engage in pursuing an interest in the arts and to advance their skills, all the while helping create a strong and connected community. We invite you to be part of building the kind of community you want to live in or visit!

We will draw the raffle ticket on the evening of our Garden Party Fundraiser on August 17, 2019. You need not be present to win. The minimum chance of winning is one in 250.

See a full sized image of the piece, learn more about Karl Werner Kaiser and purchase tickets.

Article in Oregon Arts Watch

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Journalist Lori Tobias profiles Liz Cole’s upcoming StoryTime shows for Oregon Arts Watch, a web site focused on Oregon’s arts and culture scene.

“Remember when you were a kid and the teacher gathered your class in a circle and read you a story? Well, turns out you don’t have to be a child to savor story time.

Professional actor Liz Cole came up with the idea of Story Time for Grown-Ups one day while she pondered what she really loved to do. The answer was two-fold: ride a bike and read beautifully written poems and stories. She took her idea for a series of story times to the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita and got the go-ahead. She’s been hosting a story time about once a year for the six years since.”

Read the rest of the article here….

Poetry Contest Winner Announced

Posted on | by Vera

The Manzanita Writers’ Series announces the winner of their first Poetry Contest

A poet who splits her time between Juneau, Alaska and Cape Meares, Oregon won the poetry contest held by the Manzanita Writers’ Series and the Hoffman Center for the Arts.  Helena Fagan will receive a $100 cash prize for her poem “Embrace,” and it will be published, along with a short interview, in the next issue of the North Coast Squid literary journal due out in November 2019.

“I kept returning to the lush opening imagery of this poem, its powerful connection to nature,” said Lana Ayers, the judge in this inaugural contest.  “This poet delivers a sense of gratitude that makes the reader rush to count her blessings as well,” she added.  Lana is a poet herself and the publisher of the Concrete Wolf chapbook series and MoonPath Press.

In addition to the winning poet, Lana recognized three poems as honorable mentions—”a tremendously difficult task with all the talented writers who submitted work to this contest.” The contest was capped at 50 poets, each submitting up to three poems.

  • “Art of Careful Pruning” by Connie Soper, part-time Manzanita resident
  • “Brush Rabbit Summer” by Emily Ransdell, part-time Manzanita resident
  • “Transformation” by Cate Gable, Nahcotta, WA

Submissions for the seventh issue of the North Coast Squid, a journal of writing and art highlighting work from people with connections to the north Oregon coast, will be accepted June 1 through 30, 2019.  A release event with selected readings and an art show will be held on November 2nd.

The contest and the literary journal are part of the Manzanita Writers’ Series.

 

 

Zenker-Greening Joins Hoffman Board

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Toni Zenker-Greening, a resident of Manzanita, has joined the board of the Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita.

Zenker-Greening says her passion for the visual arts accelerated when she retired after 35 years in financial and general management, and began her involvement with the Hoffman Center. She and her colleagues on the Visual Arts Committee have dedicated themselves to raising the Center’s visual arts profile on the Oregon Coast by increasing the quantity, quality, and diversity of visual arts programs and workshops.

Zenker-Greening’s management career spanned a range of for-profit and nonprofit organizations, including serving as CEO of Portland’s Dove Lewis Emergency Animal Hospital, chief administrative officer of law firms in Oregon and California, and president of the International Association of Legal Management.

Her civic engagement included board memberships on the City Club of Portland and the Reed College Women’s Committee. She was also a founding board member of Columbia Riverkeeper.

“I see the Hoffman Center as a magnet for artists seeking a home where they create, inspire, and build a community with art as its foundation,” said Zenker-Greening. “It can breathe cultural and economic life beyond our three villages. It is an open door to possibility for all of us who seek more than a place.”