Polish Arts Club schedules its 75th scholarship reception

YOUNGSTOWN

The Polish Arts Club of Youngstown is inviting the public to its 75th annual Scholarship Art, Music and Tea Reception from 1 to 4 p.m. Feb. 20 at the Butler Museum of American Art North on Wick Avenue. The free event will include a traditional high tea and cookie reception.

This year the club will honor Pulitzer Prize-winner Czeslaw Milosz on the occasion of his 100th birthday. In celebration of the life and legacy of this Polish poet, prose writer and translator, the club has invited Dr. Philip Brady, poet and English professor at Youngstown State University, to present a talk and bilingual poetry reading of Milosz’s work.

Musical entertainment will be by vocalist Elsa Higby, director of Grow Youngstown. She will perform pieces reflecting her unique fusion of contemporary jazz and traditional Argentinean tango inspired by Astor Piazzolla.

Watercolors by Maryanne Hoffman, Polish-American water colorist, will be displayed.

At the tea, winners of the club’s first high school student art competition will be announced and cash prizes awarded. The contest theme was “Thaddeus Kosciuzsko, Polish General, American Revolutionary War Hero and Friend of Thomas Jefferson.” Art works created by the students for the competition have been displayed at the Southern Park Mall, where visitors voted for their favorite.

In celebration of the 75th year the organization has hosted this event at the Butler, art club members have been offered docent tours of the Butler collection from noon to 1 p.m. with special focus on the temporary exhibit “Transitions.”