Artist Residencies at Centrum

Artist Trust GAP Awards Announced!

Sixty-four inspiring and accomplished artists working in all disciplines throughout Washington State are being recognized as recipients of the Arts Innovator Award and Grants for Artist Projects (GAP) through Artist Trust, a close Centrum residency partner. 

Artist Trust also announced today the recipients of the first "Arts Innovator" awards, which gives $25,000  to two generative artists who are originating new work, experimenting with new ideas, taking risks and pushing the boundaries in their respective fields. These winners were:

Leo Berk, who creates works relating to real and depicted or imagined space using diverse materials in contemporary industrial processes, including computer modeled and fabricated artworks. Berk has used this technology extensively including exploring Naj Tunich, an ancient cave in Guatemala, and the Quecreek Mine in Pennsylvania. Through his innovative use of technology, Berk is able to create works of art depicting the negative space of these caves. Berk has spent six years learning to use this technology, effectively making it an extension of his own hand and expanding his vocabulary. He is represented by Lawrimore Project.

Margie Livingston, an accomplished painter, who explores the physicality of paint. Using it as a sculptural medium, she creates works that straddle two disciplines. Using acrylic paint, Livingston pours and layers pigment to create her own unique three-dimensional material. She then uses this material to create sculptural works of art that reveal an intimate relationship with her medium. Livingston is represented by Greg Kucera Gallery.

The GAP Awards (learn more here!) also awarded a total of $90,000 to 62 artists of all disciplines across Washington. GAPs provide up to $1,500 for projects which can include (but are not limited to) the development, completion or presentation of new work. Projects ranged from time off to finish a novel, studio repairs, travel across the state, safety equipment and website development--the sum result is a consistent investment in supporting and encouraging artists' projects in order to enrich community life throughout our state.

Part of the Mix: Applying to Artist Residencies

Writer and editor Jennifer Chen recently posted about her experiences at various nationally-known artist residency programs, including her time at Centrum. If you are looking for an excellent artist-perspective on the impact of different residency programs, we recommend her article.

"My filmmaker and writer friend David Licata and I first met in New York City when we both worked at a nonprofit. As a fellow artist, David casually mentioned one day that he was applying to artist residences. As a fresh-out-of-an-MFA program writer, I had no idea what an artist residence was. David encouraged me to apply, suggesting Centrum > in Port Townsend, WA. I got in. For two weeks, I had a whole house to myself with no internet and no distractions. And I wrote like a fiend, but most importantly, played fetch with a dog on the beach."

Her whole article is posted on the Courage 2 Create blog by Ollin Morales.

Autumn Residency Space Open

While the cabins and apartments of the Centrum Artist Residency Program are popular year-round, autumn  remains one of the finest times to be in Port Townsend. The changing weather, the ripe blackberries and apples everywhere you turn, and the close proximity of the beach and Port Townsend's coffeehouses all combine to provide the nurturing location to complete artistic work.

Space is still available in these high-demand months of September and October. If you are an artist looking to complete a project, or if you're simply seeking a retreat location in order to create or revise your work, the Centrum Artist Residency Program, begun in 1980, is all about providing you with the time, space, and serenity that you need to complete your work.
 
At Fort Worden State Park you'll find solitude and a tranquil creative environment. You'll find private, fully equipped apartments and cabins overlooking Port Townsend Bay. You'll find a retreat for the soul.
 
Centrum's Artist Residency program is open to writers, visual artists, composers, choreographers, musicians, and multiple other artistic genres. In addition, recording studio time can be arranged at Fort Worden's Synergy Sound Studio. We also provide two artist's studios of differing sizes, based on your project needs. Residencies are awarded on a space-available basis, in week-long blocks. For more information, please follow this link!

Miho & Diego Return to Port Townsend

They're back! And you can catch them today at the Wednesday Afternoon Farmers' Market... then again at 8pm at the Upstage Restaurant.

The Miho & Diego Duo are favorites here in town, and whenever they are in residence at Centrum they make a point of getting out there and playing for the community. Please come and enjoy their beautiful blend of Japanese and Latin American inspired music. 

After the Farmers' Market they'll head over to the Upstage in downtown PT where they'll be joined by Frank Anderson and Matt Sircely. Miho will be playing some of the music written here at Centrum during her residence as a recipient of the Russell Jaqua Award  for Artistic Excellence. This award is funded by Centrum donors, and is administered in partnership with Artist Trust  in Seattle.

The Miho & Diego Duo makes it a primary goal to encourage cultural understanding through music. To achieve this goal they have developed a program that has been presented in Japan and the King County Library System that introduces youth to Japanese and South American folk music using involvement and participation. They also hold lecture recitals that combine both the educational and musical aspects of South American and Japanese music, as well as the history of marimba. 

To learn more about them and the instruments they play please visit their website Miho & Diego

"Tree People" Go Underground at Centrum

Shortly after joining the Centrum staff I received an application for residency from "The Tree People". I immediately wondered what kind of job I had gotten myself into. Then I followed the links to some of the music Stephen Cohen and his group have been making since the 70s (described as Folk - Experimental - Psychedelic) and realized there was huge "fun" potential in being Centrum's Creative Residencies Program manager.

In June Stephen returned to Centrum with Jeff Stier and Rich Hinrichsen. During their residency they did some recording in the Dan Harpole Cistern, and capped off their time in Port Townsend with a lively performance at favorite local hangout The Upstage.

Stephen recounts some of the hightlights of his 2010 residency on his blog... to read about their Cistern experience and what the group has planned for the recording check out the Tree People Chronicles. You can listen to the first five minutes of the Cistern Symphony... it's #10 on their myspace page.

Here is the working cover for their new "It's My Story" album. 
Photo by Chris Leck 

 

Dancing With Thoreau

Filmmaker Chris Korrow's springtime residency at Centrum helped him finish the music for his latest film, Dancing With Thoreau. (The film will premiere on PBS this fall, and the trailer is available here!)  

Dancing With Thoreau is a unique environmental film that combies dynamic, high-definition footage with interviews and narrative told from the perspective of a naturalist and organic farmer, focusing on our individual and societal connection/disconnection with nature; what that means to us physically, emotionally and spiritually; and how we as individuals can deepen that connection through inspiration and practice, and reap its many benefits.

A primary goal of the film is to inspire people to become more engaged in the wonders of their local environments.

Late-summer and early-autumn residency stays at Centrum are available by calling Centrum at 360-385-3102, x128.

Chris Korrow is a naturalist, farmer, photographer, filmmaker and author. His documentary Garden Insects premiered nationwide on PBS and was seen by an estimated 2.5 million viewers. Winner of two film festival awards, Garden Insects was filmed in Korrow’s backyard garden. Korrow’s art has been a segue into educational presentations on nature, environmentalism and gardening. He has conducted environmental-based professional development for school teachers, and is frequently invited to give lectures and presentations at conferences, environmental meetings, public libraries and to spiritual organizations.

Korrow moved to a rural Kentucky farm almost 20 years ago, built a solar powered home and started an organic vegetable business. Before long, he and his wife had two daughters, and lived a sustainable lifestyle, growing most of their own food, with no phone, no electricity and no hot running water. Times have changed, and even though they still bail their drinking water by hand from a well, the farm now boasts a high-tech office, complete with Apple computers, allowing the two to pursue their creative careers without giving up their original commitment to an environmentally-sound and contemplative lifestyle. Together they have launched Breathe Deep Productions, a media company centering on projects that explore the intersections between nature, agriculture, and spirituality. His artistic goal is to maintain a close connection to nature on his farm in rural Kentucky, and translate what he learns into inspiring film and photography projects, reaching an ever-widening circle of people interested in the intersection of art and the environment.

Korrow was recently awarded a professional development grant from the Kentucky Arts Council for the development of his website. He recently received a grant from RSF Social Finance to purchase 250 copies of his film Garden Insects to be donated to schools and libraries throughout the middle region of the US. Learn more at www.breathedeepproductions.com.

Night Songs

We're delighted to announce that 2008 Centrum Resident Artist Kristina Marie Darling has published her collection of poetry "Night Songs" with Gold Wake Press, an independent Boston publishing house.

Darling is a graduate of Washington University, and the author of multiple chabooks, including "Fevers and Clocks" and "The Traffic in Women." A two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems appear in such journals as Gargoyle, Cider Press Review, and Janus Head.

Literary essays and book reviews have been published in the Gettysburg Review, the Boston Review, Shenandoah, and other magazines.

Darling's awards include residencies at the Vermont Studio Center, the Ragdale Foundation, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, as well as others. She currently studies philosphy at the University of Missouri, St. Louis; and hopes to puruse a doctorate in English literature.

Last Minute Residencies Available at Centrum!

Two cancellations just came in, opening up a couple of residency opportunities before the start of our summer festival season!

Residencies are available from now until June 26th... and if you can get your application materials in right away we will review them quickly and get right back to you.

Check out the Residency FAQ, and send your application via email. Our residencies are self directed retreats where you'll have the freedom and space to work on your literary, musical, visual, or performance art project.

Here are some links to what's happening in Port Townsend:
PT Guide
Visitor's Center

Email Lisa Werner at lisa@centrum.org if you need more information; we expect these two spots will fill quickly.

Karen Hackenberg's "Water Shed"

There's something very exciting going on in Centrum's Studio for Visual Arts here at Ft Worden. Karen Hackenberg is a local visual artist working on her newest installation... a Water Shed built from the salvaged pieces of a burned out greenhouse. Watching sooty lengths of aluminum become a sculpture is one of those unexpected perks that come with running an artistic residency program... I'll share a couple of photos from Karen's Blog  as a little teaser of things to come.

Karen's adventure starts at the local recyling center...

When you think of local reclaimed metal becoming fantastic art, you can't help but think about Margie McDonald . Margie was a collaborator in the de-construction of the greenhouse that will become an integral part of Karen's new work.

I can hardly wait to see the finished product... stay tuned!

Centrum, Day One

More than 30 years ago Joe Wheeler invited Bill Ransom to Port Townsend to help create the what would later become the Centrum Foundation. Bill founded The Port Townsend Writers' Conference, today one of our most successful and exciting residential learning experiences.

Bill just completed a short residency and left us with this poem... a memory of a grand idea, not yet named. Thanks Mr. Ransom!

CENTRUM, DAY ONE

One dusty desk, one box of books, one
portable typewriter with a bad “O” and
one window layered gray with mill-dust.
Despair. “What are we thinking?”
Fog swirls the parade ground and there,
There!  One muddy-bellied red fox,
mallard in its teeth, parts the waist-high grass.
I lift the sash and she stops still, eyeballs me

for one long breath, then trots up the trail
to her den behind the peeling JFK hall.
Now those other settling buildings, their
smashed windows, the overgrown fields
and overwhelming blackberries look like
potential again.  “Just you wait, Sister Fox.
This will be something to see.  This
will be something!”  Quick call to Wheeler:
“Joe, we need a name!”

Bill Ransom
Residency Apartment “A”
Fort Worden
26 March 2010