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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Lost Cathedral | Book Launch | Campfire Stories Reading Series (Boise, ID)

In September, I published Lost Cathedral, a poetry collection that elegizes the beauty of loss and grief surrounding human-caused extinctions. Published by Cornerstone Press (University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point), I worked on the book for seven years.

I received four arts fellowships and grants (including an Idaho Commission on the Arts Literature Fellowship) and completed five artist residencies in three states in my relentless pursuit of capturing emotional authenticity in the book, artistically, historically, and scientifically.

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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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Readings | Boise State University MashUp & Erma Hayman House Art Day

This fall, I had the opportunity to participate in two Boise-based readings. This post covers information and photos from both readings.

MashUp | Boise State University College of Innovation and Design

This September, I participated in the College of Innovation and Design’s MashUp: Little Lectures in an Odd World event series. The series pairs experts in different fields who each present a talk about their research. Afterwards, audience members have to combine the two talks into questions to ask the presenters.

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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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