Summit Artspace will be celebrating the unique artistic impact of the works of Edgar Allan Poe next month, as the center is displaying works reflecting Poe’s fascination for the unknown and surreal through their new exhibit, Poe’s Garden.

Visual and literary artists from Summit, Portage, Cuyahoga, Medina and Stark counties are invited to submit works for the upcoming exhibit, Poe’s Garden.

Amie Cajka, head of communication at Summit Artspace, hopes that both students and staff at UA will consider submitting their work.

According to the Summit Artspace Call for Artists webpage, visual works of art will be accepted for submission until midnight on Sept. 23. Literary works will also be accepted until Sept. 23 or until 200 submissions have been received.

Literary works must be submitted in a .pdf format, typed and double spaced, without names listed in the file; as they will be tagged by staff at the Summit Artspace. Poetry submissions should be less than 50 lines and short stories should be no longer than 1,000 words.

Visual artworks can be submitted as any high quality digital image file. All media types are acceptable for submission except video works.

According to a Summit Artspace press release, “Poe’s Garden will be a place where the deliberate, wide-ranging variety of visual art will thrill, astonish, create dread and awaken and provoke the viewer with images, imagined worlds and artistic technique.”

Art pieces will be judged by a blind jury on factors such as their power to sustain mystery and the ability to “awaken dread and delight in the viewer or listener,” the press release said.

Senior Lydia Da Vincent, a graphic design major, finds the center very welcoming and recommends artists to submit their work.

“I love Summit Artspace,” Da Vincent said. “I have submitted pieces into two of their shows so far and everyone has been super friendly.”

Da Vincent also noted that events at Summit Artspace are usually attended by many people and that artists looking for exposure in the Akron area should plan to submit their work.

Entry fees for all art is $15. Poe’s Garden will be open to the public from Oct. 18 to Nov. 9 and an artist reception will be held on Oct. 18 from 5-8 p.m.

Winners for the visual and literary competitions will be announced at 7 p.m. followed by readings of the literary winners’ works.