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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – Middletown Art Center is seeking artists interested in responding to the natural environment of Middletown Trailside Park through materials and content.
Participation is a unique opportunity to address continuous recovery through thoughtful artistry and/or restoration.
Projects should integrate the spirit and materials of the park and the ‘locus’ of Lake County.
The first public art venue in Lake County, EcoArts Sculpture Walk was founded in 2003 and featured work by 20 to 30 regional artists annually.
MAC opened in the spring of 2015 to expand arts access and provide a year-round arts venue.
That fall, the Valley fire devastated 76,067 acres in the South Lake County area, including the park, Sculpture Walk and 1,300 homes.
Though the park was transformed, the Sculpture Walk reopened in 2019.
The 2020 exhibit was stymied by COVID-19 but several works from the 2019 exhibit remain on view in the park.
“This 15th year of the Sculpture Walk our primary purpose remains supporting revitalization of the land, mending of damaged ecosystems, and inspiring a dialogue with nature both for artists and visitors”, said MAC Director Lisa Kaplan. “Historically, most work was removed in November, at the beginning of winter, but strong work that contributes to ecosystem revitalization may be permitted to remain onsite.”
A visit to the park is encouraged to observe the changed and recovering environment. Trailside Park is open from dawn to dusk daily and located about 1.5 miles outside of Middletown off Highway 175 at 21435 Dry Creek Cutoff.
Additional samples and videos of work and the 2019 exhibit guide can be found at www.middletownartcenter.org/ecoarts .
Applications and concept sketches may be submitted anytime before April 12.
Photos of work in progress or finished work are welcome. Applications can be found at www.middletownartcenter.org/ecoarts and should be submitted via email to
The MAC Gallery is open Thursday through Monday, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or by appointment at 707-809-8118.
You can also see the current show virtually at www.middletownartcenter.org/home .
The MAC continues to adjust and innovate during this time of COVID-19. Social distancing and masking are always observed.
Find out more about MAC events, programs, opportunities, and ways to support the MAC’s efforts to weave the arts and culture into the fabric of life in Lake County at www.middletownartcenter.org .
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Beginning writers often tell me their real lives aren’t interesting enough to write about, but the mere act of shaping a poem lifts its subject matter above the ordinary.
Here's Natasha Trethewey, who served two terms as U. S. Poet Laureate, illustrating just what I’ve described.
It’s from her book “Domestic Work,” from Graywolf Press. Trethewey lives in Illinois.
Editor’s Note: This column is a reprint from the American Life in Poetry archive as we bid farewell to Ted Kooser, and work to finalize the new website and forthcoming columns curated by Kwame Dawes.
Housekeeping
We mourn the broken things, chair legs
wrenched from their seats, chipped plates,
the threadbare clothes. We work the magic
of glue, drive the nails, mend the holes.
We save what we can, melt small pieces
of soap, gather fallen pecans, keep neck bones
for soup. Beating rugs against the house,
we watch dust, lit like stars, spreading
across the yard. Late afternoon, we draw
the blinds to cool the rooms, drive the bugs
out. My mother irons, singing, lost in reverie.
I mark the pages of a mail-order catalog,
listen for passing cars. All day we watch
for the mail, some news from a distant place.
American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2000 by Natasha Trethewey, “Housekeeping,” from Domestic Work, (Graywolf Press, 2000). Poem reprinted by permission of Natasha Trethewey and the publisher. Introduction copyright @2021 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.
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- Written by: Ted Kooser
