Writing Retreat | Creekside Arts (CA)

Photo Credit: Creekside Arts

Last fall, my partner Ray and I had the incredible opportunity to spend two weeks researching and writing on our respective book projects during a writing retreat at Creekside Arts, an artist collective located outside Eureka in Northern California. Creekside Arts is a non-profit organization that hosts an artist residency program every April and artist retreats throughout the year.

The caretakers of Creekside Arts are Rich and Joey McCutchan (Rich also built many of the on-site buildings and is a talented sculptor himself). They were wonderful hosts during our retreat, offering us eggs from their chickens and free use of their herb garden.

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The Incredible Redwoods of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park

Last fall, my partner and I had the opportunity to spend two weeks at an artist retreat through Creekside Arts, a Humboldt County, California, arts nonprofit.

When not working on our respective writing projects, we explored the Redwood National and State Parks as part of some ongoing research I was doing centered around the redwoods.

Of all the parks we visited in the Redwood National and State Parks, the trees of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park were by far the most impressive.

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A Short Guide to Tidepooling in the San Juan Islands (Salish Sea)

Recently, I had the opportunity to complete a two-week writing retreat as a visiting scholar at the Helen Riaboff Whiteley Center (HRWC) at the UW Friday Harbor Laboratories (FHL) on San Juan Island.

One of my favorite activities when I wasn’t writing or researching was to go tidepooling early in the morning along the shores of the Salish Sea any time there was a minus tide.

I was lucky enough to see a lot of unique critters while exploring different tidepooling hot spots across San Juan Island. Below is a short tidepooling guide that illustrates only a fraction of the incredible diversity of plants and animals I saw during my stay.

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Residency | Cape Disappointment State Park (Long Beach Peninsula)

In May and early June, I spent time at Cape Disappointment State Park as an artist-in-residence in the Sou’wester Artist Residency Program. I spent a week hiking through coastal rainforests, headlands, beaches, and coves on Cape Disappointment and the Long Beach Peninsula.

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Residency | The Rice Place (Oregon)

In May, I spend a week at The Rice Place, an artist residency in Oregon. The Rice Place was named for novelist and memoirist Clyde Rice, who published his first book (the memoir A Heaven in the Eye) at eighty one.

portrait of clive rice
Clyde Rice at The Rice Place

The residency took place at Rice’s former home, a 1930s farm house situated within 10 acres of farmland along the Clackamas River, views of lush foliage from every window.

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Reading | Flipside Fest & Death Rattle Literary 9th Anniversary Showcase

I recently participated in two literary readings: Flipside Fest in September and the Death Rattle 9th Anniversary Showcase in November.

Flipside Fest is a music and art festival put on by the Duck Club in Garden City, Idaho as a way to harness the energy from the Treefort Music Festival that happens in Idaho every spring.

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