IN A TIME repressed emotions and heavy social expectation, we are rarely provided healthy avenues of personal expression.
Writers Artists Night is an opportunity for people to exercise their creativity in collaboration with each other as a form of self-expression.
“Soul-baring,” “profound,” “cathartic,” and “healing” are just some of the words used to describe StateoftheOzarks’ longest-running art event.
Winners & Special Mentions:
Best Writer: Dalton Quick, Over the Scottish Sea
Special Mention: Rachel & Leah Riutzel, The System of Friction
Best Collaboration: Quynn Kent with Lydia Hoskins, The Water
Special Mention: Estella Padgett with Vashon Borich-Leach, What A Family Should Be
Special Mention: Vashon Borich-Leach with Jared Houle, The Crow
Best Presentation: Rachel & Leah Riutzel, The System of Friction
Special Mention: Freeman Payne with Dustin Burkett, To Hell and Back
Best Artist: Savannah Richardson with Phantom Pain by Anthony Cirilla
Special Mention: Kaitlynn Robinson with The Village Under the Scarlett Kings by Marshall Howden
Special Mention: Jared Houle with The Crow by Vashon Borich-Leach
Artist and Writer Check-in: 6PM at the SOTO Headquarters Tent at the Chad A. Fuqua Memorial Park, 312 Esplanade Street, Hollister, MO 65672.
Event begins promptly at 7PM, weather permitting. Dress code is casual. Event is free and open to the public. We recommend bringing comfortable lawn chairs and/or blankets. Also bug spray. A number of folding chairs will also be available for use (first come, first served). The park is an ideal place to allow for “social distancing.”
Please see schedule below for order of presentation —
1 Margie Kay w Curtis Copeland
The Ozark Spooklights
2 Erin Fox w Jenny Judlin
I Walk These Hills and Wonder
3 Dennis Gallemore w Sophie McAdara
Jake Stanton Goes Home
4 Damian Costello w Jeffrey Nanney
Quicker Bicker
5 Lynnette Horn w Freeman
Mañana
6 Cassidy Hunter w Mickey Ragain
Civil War Era Romance
7 Josh Huxtable w Freeman
Cry of Her Heart
8 Jessica Farmer w Shelby Winzenreid
A Daisy Amongst the Roses
9 Lauri Lemke Thompson w Savannah Richardson
The Ant Chronicles
10 Dalton Quick w Lacey Finchum
Over the Scottish Sea
11 Marshall Howden w Kaitlynn Robinson
The Village Under the Scarlett Kings
12 Michelle Waters w Tammy Morton
Frost Flowers
13 Special Reading: Lisa Livingston-Martin w Borderlands
— Intermission —
14 Edwin Woolsey w Janelle Patterson
Springfield Bound
15 Rachel & Leah Riutzel w Kim Cooper
The System of Friction
16 Freeman w Dustin Burkett
To Hell and Back
17 Mona Menezes w Lynnette Horn
The Kitten Garden
18 Michelle Waters w Mary Arneson
Such A Gift
19 Josh Huxtable w James Beaumont
The Winds Blow
20 Estella Padgett w Vashon Borich-Leach
What A Family Should Be
21 Vashon Borich-Leach with Jared Houle
The Crow
22 Camarie Cirilla w Matt Farmer
Gatekeeper
23 Mary Arneson w Trygve Arneson
Into the Forest
24 Clint Unruh w Freeman
Death’s Lonely Journey
25 Quynn Kent w Lydia Hoskins
The Water
26 Edwin Woolsey w Chris Boyd
Leaving Hattie
27 Jenn Parks w Bob Bell and w Freeman
Charles Winslow’s Body
28 Anthony Cirilla w Savannah Richardson
Phantom Pain
Hollister, MO (February 27, 2020) — Online publication StateoftheOzarks.net will again host an annual “Writers Artists Night” competition at Chad A. Fuqua Park in downtown Hollister at 7-10PM, Friday, July 17.
“Our historic Downing District is becoming an artistic gathering spot,” says StateoftheOzarks publisher Dale Grubaugh. “We deeply appreciate the opportunity to work with the City of Hollister.”
Editor-in-chief Joshua Heston is calling for local writers and artists to participate. “The goal is to give our community a voice. We’ve been doing this event since 2015 and it is a constantly evolving event.”
The event’s concept is simple. Local writers submit works to StateoftheOzarks through May 15. In April, writers’ works are distributed to participating artists. Artists are asked to create original work “inspired in some way by the written word.”
“The collaborative aspects of the process are the most important,” shares Heston. “We get some really exciting works. Artists and writers get to work together. Get to meet one another. Get to inspire each other. There is so much hidden talent in our Ozark communities and this is a way of celebrating that.”
Gift-bag prizes will be awarded to top writer, top artist, and best of presentation by an independent panel of judges assembled by StateoftheOzarks. Many additional contestants will also vie for publication in the StateoftheOzarks.net magazine over the coming year.
“It’s part spoken-word night, part pop-up art gallery. We always get a good crowd. I’m just humbled to have a platform that gives everyday Ozarkers of all ages a voice,” says Heston.
Top Artist of the Evening — Mary Arneson, Country Rain
Top Writer of the Evening — Deborah Haggard, The Dust
Best Presentation of the Evening — Rachel Riutzel, Water to Red
Best Writer Artist Collaboration — Dennis Gallemore with Vashon Borich-Leach, The Awful Tower
1 Dave Loftin w Shelby Hutton Winzenried
December Afternoon Feeding the Hay
2 Betsey Mae Graves (in absentia) w Mary Arneson
Country Rain
3 AJ Blanton w Lillian Berry
Prologue to the Three Spheres
4 Michelle Waters w Heath Copper
Dr M
5 Candice Gage w Mikki Sale
Them Hills
6 Deborah Haggard w Savannah Richardson
The Dust
7 Kristina Gilbert w James Shipley
I Am
8 Anthony Cirilla w Janelle Pattterson
No Wine for Ismenos
9 Dustin Snavely w Chris Boyd
American Spirit
10 Paul Thompson w Azalie Baumann
The Watermelon Fairy
11 Jenn Parks w Melody Courley
Toes
12 Jody Godrey w Sarah Hebert
PTSD The Father of Many Diseases
• Joshua Heston
Kewpie
– Intermission –
13 Matt Farmer w Jenny Judlin
A Modern Marvel
14 Trygve Arneson w Savannah Crawford
The Other
15 Josh Huxtable w Heath Copper
Hey There, Grandpa
16 Dave Loftin w Katie Rodick
The Gate Test
17 Rachel Riutzel w Carla Davidson
Water to Red
18 Laurie Lemke Thompson w Mary Arneson
Layers
19 T’iana Sage w Kaitlynn Robinson
Cognizance
20 Ron Davidson w Shelby Moore
The Great Disconnect
21 Dalton Quick w Freeman
Beneath the Willow
22 Kim Danzer w Steffie B
Hush
23 Dennis Gallemore w Vashon Borich-Leach
The Awful Tower
24 Grace Gage w Shannon Bacon
Evadora’s Temptation
25 Lisa Martin with Lacey Finchum
Allegiances
26 Noah Bray w Heath Copper
Collided
For questions, email josh@stateoftheozarks.net