WAUKESHA – Originally a conversational dialogue between visual and poetic artists who were doing residencies at the same time at the Ragdale Foundation in Lake Forest, IL, the Poetic Dialogue grew into a project. An exhibit resulting from the project was displayed in the University of Wisconsin-Waukesha library in fall 2004. A new exhibit was installed April 10 this year and will remain on display in the library through May 6. In addition, two participants in the project will travel here to speak on Tuesday, April 24, at noon, and this year’s edition of the student art and literary magazine, The Windy Hill Review, will be introduced at the same event.

Visual artist Beth Shadur and poet Lois Roma-Deeley will make presentations.

Roma-Deeley’s first full-length collection of poems, Rules of Hunger, earned her a National Book Award nomination as well as nominations for an Arizona Library Association Author Award and a Pushcart Award. Roma-Deeley has published in more than six anthologies including the American Book Award winner, Looking for Home (Milkweed Editions). She has published in numerous national literary journals and was one of four featured poets at the Chicago Humanities Festival venue: ARTIST DIALOGUE: Poetry/Women/Art. She has studied under several prominent poets, including Pulitzer Prize winner Rita Dove. Roma-Deeley holds an MFA (poetry) from Arizona State Universityand a Ph.D. (poetry) from the Union Institute and University. A native of New York State, she currently is Poet-in-Residence at Paradise Valley Community College in Phoenix, AZ.  

Part of the group who originally conceived the project, Beth Shadur, expresses narratives visually, telling stories and creating connections through symbols and sometimes jarring combinations of images from diverse cultural backgrounds.  She combines various natural forms, architectural references, and both real and imagined objects, often incorporating objects traditionally associated with women. The “hand” in her current work weaves a narrative that is oblique, often personal, and sometimes political or issue-oriented. She has exhibited widely in the US and abroad and has created more than 125 large public murals as public, private and community art projects both in the US and Great Britain. She serves an Artist-in-Education at the Illinois Arts Council and Urban Gateways in Chicago, IL. Shadur’s work appears in many publications, books and catalogues as well as in private and public collections.

Open to the public at no charge, the show is on display in the Library, which is open from 7:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Friday, 1-5 p.m. Saturday, and 3-9 p.m. Sundays. The program is open to the public as well, and it, too, is free.

UW-Waukesha has the largest enrollment among the 13 freshman-sophomore University of Wisconsin Colleges campuses. For information about programs, admission, or financial aid, contact the Student Services office at (262) 521-5040 or visit the Web at www.waukesha.uwc.edu.

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