News & Events

Laura Hope-Gill's Poetry and Photographs by John Fletcher Jr. to be Featured at UNC Asheville

January 28, 2011

UNC Asheville's Ramsey Library will present the collaborative work of poet Laura Hope-Gill and photographer John Fletcher Jr. during the month of February. An exhibit of their paired poems and photos will be on view in Ramsey Library's Blowers Gallery from February 1-28. Hope-Gill and Fletcher will also present a slideshow and poetry reading at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 8 in the library's Whitman Room.

Hope-Gill and Fletcher's book, "The Soul Tree," features photographs of uniquely beautiful southern Appalachian landscapes accompanied by lyric poems, which illuminate themes of vision, faith, healing and the sacredness of nature. The Blowers Gallery exhibit will feature some of the images and poems from the book as well as more recent work inspired by "The Soul Tree." The exhibit and the slideshow/poetry reading are free and open to the public.

Hope-Gill is the Poet Laureate of the Blue Ridge Parkway and a recipient of a North Carolina Arts Council fellowship. She is also the founder and director of WordFest Poetry Festival in Asheville, and an instructor in UNC Asheville's Great Smokies Writing Program. Fletcher is a photographer for the Asheville Citizen-Times. His 20-year career has included clients such as USA Today, The Associated Press, The Washington Post, and The New York Times.

The gallery is free and open to the public daily and most evenings. For more information, call 828.251.6336 or visit the Blowers Gallery Web site.