The Upstate Artists Guild and Hudson Valley Writers Guild are proud to present Poetic License 2026, a project bridging the worlds of poetry and visual art in the Capital Region.
Poetic License, presented by the Hudson Valley Writers Guild and the Upstate Artists Guild, is a collaborative project connecting poets and visual artists in New York’s Capital Region.
Each year poets submit image-driven poems that are shared with artists. Artists create new artwork inspired by the poems they choose.
The poems and artwork are then exhibited together in a public gallery show.
Poets submit image-driven poems
Artists create work inspired by selected poems
The poems and artwork are exhibited together
Poet: Sylvia Barnard
Artists: Tina Johnston, Laurie Goodhart
Poet: Mimi Moriarty
Artist: Tess Lecuyer
Poet: Will Nixon
Artist: Timothy Reidy
Poet: Cheryl A. Rice
Artists: Laurie Goodhart, Joleen Rockhill
Poet: Tim Maloney
Artist: Thom Francis
Poet: Pam Jacobson
Artists: Tracy Loring, Laurie Goodhart, Tess Lecuyer
Poet: Patrice Malatestinic
Artist: Erica Veil
Poet: Marianne Jones
Artist: Tess Lecuyer
Poet: jil hanifan
Artist: Tess Lecuyer
Poet: Jenny Doughty
Artist: Tina Johnston
Poet: Matt Rector
Artist: Ginger LaFreniere
Poet: John Savoie
Artist: Ginger LaFreniere
Poet: Cynthia Stephens
Artists: Nina Stanley, Patrice Malatestinic
Poet: Elaine Kenyon
Artist: Susan Himmel
Poet: Traci Neal
Artists: Elaine Kenyon, Maureen Kelly
Poet: Mary K. O’Melveny
Artists: Laurie Goodhart, Rebecca Schoonmaker
Poet: Bob Sharkey
Artist: Rebecca Schoonmaker
Poet: Andy Fogle
Artist: Stephen Mead
We are seeking image-driven poems that invite the reader to see, hear, smell, taste, or feel the world of the poem.
Your poem might evoke a moment, a scene, a memory, a dream, or a place. The imagery may arise from the physical world or from imagination. What matters most is that the poem creates vivid sensory experiences that visual artists can respond to.
