Congrats to Centrum Residency Alumni Joanne Mulcahy! Joanne is a writer and educator in Portland Oregon. Here's a press release about her new book Remedios: The Healing Life of Eva Castellanoz. We look forward to welcoming Joanne back to Centrum in 2010.
Ms. Mukherjee, fiction novelist and accomplished poet, came to Centrum from Shanghai for a December residency. While here working on a novel, she also read at Lehani's Poetry Night, and attended the Readers' Party at Northwind Arts in Port Townsend.
JT Stewart was in residency this September, at the same time as her friend and Centrum faculty member Nisi Shawl . Stewart is a poet, writer, playwright, editor, teacher, and performance artist. She has been an invited writer-in-residence at Hedgebrook, a private retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island, where a distinguished writer's scholarship was established in her name. JT was in touch about her poem "One of These Days"...
Just want to tell you about my poem "One of These Days," which now has a print home in CITY ARTS (Oct. 2009), the free magazine published by Encore Media w/distribution in Seattle, the Eastside, and Tacoma. (Think street boxes, coffee shops, restaurants, bookstores...)
"One of These Days" appears in an article about the Hugo House open mic series CHEAP WINE & POETRY - "Lighten Up: Show Us Your Purple Teeth." The other poets include: Cody Walker, Jeremy Richards, and Elizabeth Austen . Folks in the wine business make comments about the poems and make recommendations for wines to accompany them. You can see the poem on the Hugo House Website.
Darsie Beck is a bit of a Renaissance man... a professional artist, landscape designer, stone carver, journal keeper, and a teacher. He arrives for his annual Centrum Residency armed with computer and printer, sketch pad and yoga mat, running shoes and infectious smile. Before leaving he will have filled page after page with writings and illustrations of his time here. When he first shared his journal pages with me, I wished I had joined him on his early morning sojourns around the grounds and along the coastline of Fort Worden. In that moment I fully understood the power of these "retreat-like" residencies to breath life and vitality into the creative process.
Darsie is coming back to Centrum this spring. This time he will spend part of his residency presenting a workshop, Discovering Your Essential Nature. He will be joined by Port Townsend Visual Artist Gloria Lamson and by Aletia Alvarez, co-founder of Madrona MindBody here at Fort Worden. There is still time for you to register for the workshop, which will be held May 1st, 2nd, and 3rd 2009.
I just got my subscription email from the New York Foundation for the Arts. Here's an excerpt to their December 23rd online newsletter NYFA Current:
"Over the past year, NYFA Current has been committed to documenting the art-making process and its relation to present-day politics, particularly the economic downturn and issues in our environment. We’ve published three special issues—on New Orleans and art after the storm; a green issue featuring innovative social-art projects; and an issue on unregulated public artworks in rural and urban spaces. In the coming year, NYFA Current subscribers can expect continuing up-to-date coverage on the economy and how artists, foundations, and galleries are being affected. We’re also producing a special issue themed on money, spotlighting the financial crisis and, among other things, what artists can do to protect themselves." Timely, interesting, and helpful information well worth the subscription.
I read several great little pieces on New Works by artists all over the country, and particularly enjoyed a sneak peek at the latest edition of New American Paintings - juried exhibitions in print.
