Artist in Residence Lecture, Francis Kazemek

Date: July 16, 2008
Contact: Scott Williams, [phone] ext. 240

Petrified Forest National Park Artist in Residence Program Lecture Series

Petrified Forest, AZ – The public is cordially invited to attend a Phoetry Hike and Workshop provided by Francis Kazemek the park’s current artist-in-residence. The “Phoetry” Hike and Workshop will combine poetry and photography to create poems describing the experiences generated on a short ¼ mile hike from Tawa Point to the Painted Desert Inn. The artist will share some of his poetry and will explain the concepts of Phoetry during the workshop.

Francis Kazemek is a poet and is presently a Professor of Education at St. Cloud State in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Kazemek is the 4th of 12 artists this season in the Petrified Forest’s artist-in-residence program. He will be at the park for two weeks gathering inspiration derived from this unique landscape that the natural world has to offer while working on his next creative writings and poetry. Kazemek has taught elementary through university level students and has been involved in adult literacy education during the last twenty-five years. He has been a faculty exchange professor at Odessa State University in Odessa, Ukraine and at Cape Coast University in Cape Coast, Ghana. His poetry and short stories have been published in various magazines and journals. His scores of academic articles on aspects of literacy/literature education in general and uses of creative writing in particular have appeared in many professional journals.

The Phoetry Hike and Workshop will start at 10:00 am, Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at Tawa Point located in the north end of the park and will end at the Painted Desert Inn at Petrified Forest National Park. Please note that the full duration of the Phoetry Hike and Workshop will be approximately 2 hours. The Tawa Point parking area is located off Exit 311 on Interstate Highway 40 in the north-end of the park. Please bring a notebook and/or bring a digital camera for use in the workshop.

The Petrified Forest National Park Artist-in-Residence Program was established to bring park visitors and artists together to foster understanding and appreciation of the natural and cultural resources of the park and the Colorado Plateau. Please look on the park’s website for more information on artist presentations that will be scheduled at the park.

For more information call [phone] weekdays, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time; or write to the Superintendent, Petrified Forest National Park, P.O. Box 2217, Petrified Forest, AZ 86028; or e-mail the park.