BY PATRICIA BREAKEY
DELHI NEWS BUREAU
TREADWELL _ The
Bright Hill Literary Center’s
Word & Image Gallery season
will open with a reception
from 3 to 5 p.m. Sunday
for an exhibit titled “A Celebration
of Winter:
Snowflakes, Groundhogs,
Valentines,
and Other Oddities.”
The exhibit marks
the 16th year of the
Word Thursdays
Literary Workshops
Program.
Several of the
children involved
in the program will
read from their riddles and
poems, followed by a guest
appearance by Rosendale
performance artist and
maskmaker Carl Welden.
Students attending the
program wrote poetry,
riddles and stories, and
created masks and sculptures,
many of which will
be exhibited in the gallery.
Participants range in age
from 5 to 14 and include
Emmaline and Mikey
Freeman, Meredith Hammerslag,
Lucia Marsiglio,
Cain Rodriguez and Alaina
Tweedie of Walton; Lilliana
Bevilacqua, Felix Marner
Bridel, Demitri Jaromack
and Zachary Ross
of Franklin; Abigail
and Nathaniel Dennis
of Treadwell; Asa
and Sibyla Giles and
Angus MacLeod of
Hamden; Elizabeth
Gorsch, Ava Green,
Madelyn and Sophia
Kazmierski, Morgan
Robert and Shaina
Mondore of Delhi;
Patricia and Siobhan Higgins
of Otego; and Zara Zeidman
of Gilbertsville.
Meredith Hammerslag, 13,
said she has been going to
the workshops since she was
5 or 6 years old.
“There are workshops in
the winter and summer, and
I try to do both,” Meredith
said Friday. “They focus on
nature, which I enjoy.”
Meredith said since she
has become one of the
older participants, she
enjoys helping the younger
children learn paper-folding
techniques and other
aspects of the class.
“It’s fun because I am
older, and I have been there
before,” she said.
Bright Hill founder Bertha
Rogers said: “One of the
things I love about the workshops
are the kids, because
they are highly motivated.
They want to work hard and
produce something. They
are bright, interesting kids,
and they are a lot of fun.”
Some of the projects
this season included
Valentine pop-up books,
papier-mache sculptures,
and stories and
riddles based on Anglo-
Saxon 1,000-year-old
riddles, Rogers said.
One of the riddles, by
Felix Marner Bridel, 9,
of Franklin, asks:
“I must try to give all
I have.
You turn my long legs
over and over.
I am striped like a
tiger inside.
I fear both of the opposite
forces of nature.
If you think you are
smart enough to run
through a tree, take a
guess.
Who am I?
Answer: A book”
Welden is a voice-over
artist, performance artist,
core member of the
Arm Of The Sea mask
and puppet theater
troupe and master of
ceremonies.
There will be refreshments,
and the exhibit
is free and open to the
public. The Treadwell
gallery is open 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. Mondays and
Tuesdays; 9 a.m. to noon
Wednesdays; during
Word Thursdays programs;
and by appointment.
For more information,
call 829-5055 or e-mail
wordthur@stny.rr.com.
IF YOU have good news you’d
like to share, call Associate
Managing Editor Emily
Popek at 432-1000 or (800)
721-1000, ext. 217; fax her
at 432-5707; e-mail her at
epopek@thedailystar.com; or
write to her at P.O. Box 250,
Oneonta, NY 13820.
