When you lay your eyes on a piece of artwork, it can inspire you to think particular thoughts or words. And sometimes when you read literature, certain imagery comes to mind.

At the Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art this weekend, you'll get a chance to experience both at the same time with the new exhibit by weaver/photographer Dobree Adams and author/book designer Jonathan Greene in "Segues: Works in Wool/Works on Paper, A Collaboration of Vision and Voice." The exhibit will run from Jan. 17 through April 11 with an opening reception from 4 to 7 p.m. today.

Born in Mississippi, Dobree Adams has become one of Kentucky's most recognized and respected fiber artists. She had her first encounter with weaving, or at least where the materials came from, playing with sheep as a child growing up in Texas. Even though she began making her own clothes as a teenager, her focus soon changed from sewing to science.

After Adams graduated from Wellesley College in Massachusetts, she became a junior physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

She ended up living in numerous locations on the West Coast in her 30 years in the scientific field, which included working as a data engineer for Boeing before moving to Kentucky in 1973. But whether Adams was working on creating computer systems, clothes or in her vegetable garden, she noticed a certain aesthetic consistently came through.

"The interesting thread was a design thread," Adams says. "Only in looking back do I see that."

That thread would later materialize in a real way thanks to Jonathan Greene. Greene published his first poem in 1959 and first book in 1966. An author of 28 books, he later became an award-winning book designer and publisher of Gnomon Press in Frankfort, Ky., a small press specializing in photography and literature.

Greene lived two doors down from Adams' parents, who told her about Greene and suggested they meet. And as Adams recalled, there wasn't exactly fireworks.

"He appeared on the back step and he was the last thing I wanted to see," Adams says laughing. "However, I changed my mind pretty fast."

They formed a romantic bond, marrying in 1974, but Greene also helped Adams rediscover her creative thread after giving her a book titled "Off Loom Weaving."

She went from building her first loom out of "four sticks and a handful of nails" to taking numerous classes to learn the techniques of the craft.

Now, Adams and Greene live on a 100-acre farm in Frankfort, Ky., where they raise a flock of Lincoln Longwool sheep, which Adams uses to create her hand-spun and hand-dyed rugs and tapestries. Adams describes her work as impressionistic with a focus on a variety of landscapes with complex colors, emphasizing Adams' close relationship with the land. Since the Lincoln Longwool is quite durable, Adams offers a playful suggestion for when time eventually takes its toll on her fiber art.

"Eventually, you put it on the back porch for your dog to sleep on," she says.

Adams' and Greene's exhibit at the Albrecht-Kemper is a result of a rare collaboration between the two artists. In addition to 17 weavings, there are 23 photographs and four large photographs, some of which are used by Adams to help viewers pinpoint the inspiration of her fiber art. Greene's poetry accompanies many of Adams' pieces, and the exhibit also features several broadsides, which Greene describes as a "synergy" of Adams' photographs and poetry by Greene, Adams and other authors. One series of broadsides is entitled "Mountain/No Mountain," which was created to raise awareness of the devastating effects of mountaintop coal mining in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. Greene thinks the combination of words and imagery ultimately enhances the artistic experience.

"You have a whole lot more knowledge of what the artist was trying to do," Greene says.

When Terry Oldham, Albrecht-Kemper's museum director, heard about Adams' and Greene's exhibit, he wanted to bring it to St. Joseph due to its unique artistic layers.

"I think it's going to appeal to a large segment of the population because there's multiple ways to reach them, not just a way," Oldham says.

If seeing the work of these two artists isn't enough to entice you, how about the works of more than 200 local and regional artists?

This weekend also will mark the beginning of the Annual Membership Exhibition, which highlights prints, paintings, photography, sculpture and multi-media. The exhibit runs from Jan. 17 through March 14, with a reception from 4 to 7 p.m. today featuring an awards presentation at 6 p.m.

Oldham says this particular exhibit is a yearly favorite at the museum.

"The membership exhibition always packs the house," he says. "It's just a whole art world, and it's really good. There's really some talented people in this exhibition."

For more information on the exhibits, call 233-7003 or go to www.albrecht-kemper.org.