Quinta Mazatlán is honored to host select works from the poetry-art exhibit, Last Poet in the Woods. Join them for an opening reception, Thursday, February 6, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. to experience a plea to preserve the natural beauty left in our world by artist Reefka Schneider and poet Steven P. Schneider. These paintings and poems are informed by the concept of Biophilia as defined by Pulitzer Prize winning author Edward O. Wilson: “the urge to affiliate with other forms of life.” The Last Poet in the Woods is a bold aesthetic statement to create an enduring testimony to the wonders of the natural world.

Reefka Schneider, Artist, is the creator of the artwork in the highly acclaimed ekphrastic books and traveling exhibits Borderlines: Drawing Border Lives / Fronteras: dibujando las vidas fronterizas and The Magic of Mariachi / La Magia del Mariachi. Reefka’s artwork has been published in Writing Towards Hope: Human Rights in Latin America (Yale University Press) and many prestigious journals. She has had exhibitions of her work throughout the Southwest, including “Dreamwalkers” at the Michael McCormick Gallery in Taos, NM, “Ekphrasis: Sacred Stories of the Southwest” in the Obliq Gallery in Phoenix, AZ; “Daughters of Juarez” in the Parks Gallery in Taos, and more.

Steven P. Schneider, Poet, is the founder of the MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). Professor Schneider, a member of the Texas Institute of Letters, has pioneered the teaching of culturally relevant literature at UTRGV and through his NEA Big Read grants developed innovative community literacy programming. He is the co-creator with his artist wife Reefka of two bilingual, ekphrastic exhibits and books: Borderlines: Drawing Border Lives / Fronteras: dibujando las vidas fronterizas and The Magic of Mariachi / La Magia del Mariachi.

Meet the artists at the opening reception of Last Poet in the Woods, Thursday, February 6, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. for a taste of an exhibit inspired by the contemporary classic Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv. This program is free. For more information, contact (956) 681-3370 and follow Quinta Mazatlán on social media.

Photo Caption: Reefka Schneider and Steven P. Schneider are the creators of Last Poet in the Woods. Photo courtesy of Quinta Mazatlan