Manatee middle school teacher chosen for Hermitage residency

A Manatee County middle school teacher is one of five artists chosen for a Hermitage State teacher artistr residency this summer.

Joy Hawkins, a reading and literature teacher at Buffalo Creek Middle School, will spend July 11-31 at the Hermitage Artist Retreat.

Like all Hermitage artists, fellows work and stay for free in exchange for sharing art with the community. The program is funded in part by a grant from the Allyn Foundation.

Hawkins plans to work on a poetry blog and a historic novel started years ago about Jenny Wiley, a pioneer woman to whom Hawkins is a seventh-generation descendant.

The Hermitage, a not-for-profit artist retreat at 6660 Manasota Key Road in Englewood, invites painters, sculptors, writers, playwrights, poets, composers and other artists from all over the world for residencies. Artists are asked to contribute two services to the community during their stay.

Information: Call 941-475- 2098 or go to HermitageArtistRetreat.org.

Herald staff report

This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Manatee middle school teacher chosen for Hermitage residency."