BELFAST — The Belfast Poetry Festival announces local artist Sheep Jones as its official Festival Artist. The Festival steering committee has selected several of Jones’s paintings to represent this year’s festival, celebrating its 19th year, on fliers, programs, and other materials. In addition, there will be an exhibit of Jones’s paintings at the Belfast Free Library’s Kramer Gallery throughout the month of October.

Jones’s paintings invite the viewer to contemplate the story the artist hints at.

In a Festival news release, she says, “I am a narrative painter, so books, movies, and best of all, other people’s tales, lend themselves as building blocks to create an interesting story in paint.” She continues, “My paintings begin with layers. I always am looking for the puzzle pieces to suggest a narrative. Disparate images finally come together and start to hint at some kind of sense. Often, people will look at one of my paintings and recognize in it their own story, their own past, their own dreams.”

Jones was raised in Waterville and studied art at the University of Southern Maine. After years living out of state, Jones returned to Maine and now has a studio in Belfast.

There will be an opening reception Tuesday, October 8, at 6 p.m., in the Kramer Gallery. A writing workshop inspired by Jones’s exhibit will take place later in the month.

The 19th Annual Belfast Poetry Festival will take place October 17-20 in various venues in downtown Belfast. Highlights of the weekend’s events include a Belfast Poet Laureate Reading and reception at Waterfall Arts, a Haiku Death Match at the Colonial Theater, a performance by Songs From Here with Sarah Tuttle, Erica Ball, and guest poets at the Belfast Free Library, a Community Open Mic at the UU Church. For a full listing of the events, visit www.belfastpoetryfestival.com.