MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Art Center’s Restore project features a writers’ workshop with Georgina Marie and Casey Carney this Saturday, May 11, from 1 to 5 p.m.

Adults and children age 12 and up of all levels of experience are welcome to attend the concluding Restore Writers Workshop.

“We invite the community to join us for this final Writers’ Workshop of the Restore project in a safe, positive space to write and share new work,” explained Georgina Marie. “We’ll explore object writing, and invite participants to bring an object of significance for a planned writing prompt.”

Participants have an opportunity to contribute to MAC’s second chapbook of written work and prints. With the deadline for submissions extended to Saturday, May 11, this workshop will be a chance to refine and edit work for submission in a group setting with guidance provided by both co-leaders.

The first chapbook, “Resilience – a community reframes disaster through art,” is available for purchase at MAC or on the MAC Web site. They also invite all Restore workshop participants to join them after the workshop for a celebratory restorative potluck.

Georgina Marie is a Lakeport poet. She has been writing poetry for 16 years, is a regular contributor to the Record-Bee’s Creative Expression segment, and is involved in her literary community as a writer, supporter of writers, and organizer and participant of poetry readings and events.

She was one of three finalists for the 2018-2020 Lake County Poet Laureate term, and is a current member of the MAC board of directors. She participates in readings in Lake, Napa and Mendocino counties.

In 2018, she led her first writing workshop, facilitated a monthly writing circle and created her first poetry chapbook, “Finding the Roots of Water,” an exploration of living in a county devastated by fire, accepting vulnerability, and expressing the emotion of grief and loss.

A regular participant in MAC’s Resilience writing and painting workshops, she co-curated the 2017-18 Resilience chapbook with Carney and others.

A writer, teacher, performance artist and photographer, Casey Carney served as the Lake County Poet Laureate from 2014 to 2016. In this role, Carney curated, co-produced and hosted more than 15 readings featuring local poets and highlighting the lineage of poetry in Lake County.

During her 2014 Poet Laureate Reading Series, Carney featured each of the seven Lake County Poets Laureate that preceded her.

At the 2016 transition event of her term, more than 200 community members gathered at the Soper-Reese Theatre in Lakeport to celebrate the vibrancy of poetry in Lake County.

Originally from Southern California, Carney holds a master’s degree in dance education and has choreographed, performed in, and produced numerous dance concerts.

Please register in advance at www.middletownartcenter.org/restore , email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 707-809-8118. The cost is $5. Pre-registration is required, as space is limited.

The Restore project, now drawing to a close, included classes in creative writing, printmaking, sculpture and mixed media. The project, includes the collaborative artwork Vertical Pathways for Rabbit Hill, which will open on May 17 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Rabbit Hill.

The opening reception for “Community Works,” which includes works created in the Restore project including mixed media and prints, will open May 18, also from 5 to 7 p.m., and will be on view at MAC until June 9 .

The Restore project was made possible with support from the California Arts Council, a state agency with additional support from local organizations, businesses, and individuals. Visit www.ca.arts.gov to learn more about the California Arts Council’s important work in communities and schools throughout California.

Middletown Art Center is located at 21456 State Hwy 175 at the junction of Highway 29.

Be a part of the growing arts scene in South Lake County by becoming a MAC member, by joining MAC this Saturday and participating in Restore, or by attending one of the many arts and cultural events or classes at MAC.

Be sure to catch “Living Color,” an exuberant exhibit of work in paint, print and mixed media on view through May 12.

The gallery is open Thursday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Visit www.middletownartcenter.org or “Like” Middletown Art Center on Facebook to stay up-to-date with what’s happening at MAC.