MTB
BEGINNER RIDES
Tuesdays June 4 - Oct 22
WEEKLY EVENT TUESDAY BEGINNER MTB RIDES with Mark Nassan
Every Tuesday Evening 6pm - 8pm // FREE
Join us at the Blueberry Hill Trails in Elizabethtown every Tuesday evening (weather permitting) for group mountain bike rides with local guru Mark Nassan. This is geared towards beginners but all levels are welcome for this fun, supportive, laidback group ride. Mark provides skills, tips, and techniques along the way, so you’re sure to learn something new every time.
Meet at the Bronson Way parking area with your bike, helmet, water, and snacks. Registration is not necessary — feel free to bring a friend and spread the word.
CLASS SEE, THINK, AND MAKE LIKE A FILMMAKER with Fanxi Sun
6pm - 8:30pm // *choose: $20 | $50 | $80
Join 2024 Teaching Fellow Fanxi Sun, grab your smartphone and start shooting like a filmmaker! Learn how to compose, move, and sequence shots to visually deliver information and make a compelling short film. We will cover the most fundamental concepts and theories related to cinematography and editing, as well as a walkthrough of the free editing software DaVinci Resolve. We’ll also practice learned skills in shooting and editing. Advance registration is required.
Thursday May 30 + June 6
CLASS POTTERY ON THE WHEEL with Lanse Stover
and Michele Drozd: Tuesday Evenings
6pm - 8:00pm // *choose: $100 | $150 | $200
Join us in the clay studio this summer for this alllevels, 5-week pottery class. We’ll get our hands dirty and make great pots! This fun class guides the beginner through basic techniques: working with clay, the centering process, pulling cylinders, and creating functional ware on the wheel. For more advanced students, we will teach new tips and techniques for getting the right form and making larger pieces. We will be learning basic glazing techniques, and preparing our pots to fire in the wood kiln. Each participant will take Class fee includes materials, firings, instruction, and five Saturday open studios. Registration is required.
Tuesdays June 4 - July 2
CLASS POTTERY ON THE WHEEL with Lanse
Stover and Michele Drozd: Thursday Mornings
10am - 12:00pm // *choose: $100 | $150 | $200
This is the same class as offered on Tuesday evenings (see previous listing), but held on Thursday mornings. Advance registration is required.
Thursdays June 6 - July 4
Wednesdays June 5 - 26
MEN’S GROUP with Jeremiah Reiner
6pm - 7pm // FREE
Men's Group is a powerful space for fostering connection, growth, and support among men. In this group, individuals will come together to share their experiences, challenges, and triumphs in a safe and non-judgmental environment. Through open and honest communication, we will explore topics such as relationships, personal development, mental health, and masculinity. We’ll aim to provide valuable insights, perspectives, and resources that can help participants navigate life's complexities with greater resilience and understanding. Moreover, the camaraderie and solidarity found in Men's Group can create lasting bonds and friendships, offering a sense of belonging and community that is essential for overall well-being. Registration is not necessary.
CLASS COMPOST IT!
11am - 1pm // *choose: $5 | $10 | $15
Saturday June 8
According to the USDA, food scraps and yard waste currently make up 20-30 percent of what we throw away. Composting keeps waste out of landfills and is a sustainable and inexpensive way to create soil amendments for your garden - think of it as nature’s way of recycling! In this course, you will learn how to compost food scraps, leaf litter, and more in your own backyard. We will cover different methods, dealing with wildlife, and how to make good quality compost. Advance registration is required.
Read full descriptions and register at craigardan.org/events
Thursday June 13 + 20
CLASS MORE THAN PRETTY WORDS: WHAT DO POEMS DO? With Michele Parker Randall
6pm - 7:15pm // *choose: $10 | $20 | $30 per class
Join 2024 Teaching Fellow Michele Parker Randall for a unique poetry experience. This course uses former US Poet Laureate & Pulitzer winning poet William Meredith’s idea that poets/poems fall into three roles: apologist/praise, witness/dissidence, and solitary agent/confessional. Attendees can expect to learn what each role means, explore sample poems, and be encouraged to attempt each style in guided writing exercises. No experience is . Advance registration is required.
June 13: The Role of Observation & Apologist/Praise
June 20: Witness/Dissidence & Solitary Agent/Confessional Poems
June 14 - Sept 13
EVENT WIC N’ PICK SERIES
Select Fridays 10am - noon // FREE
We’ve partnered with Essex County Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to offer educational on-farm experiences for families enrolled in the county WIC program. We provide educational, hands-on experiences with our livestock, in our gardens, and in the kitchen to generate excitement about healthy food and to increase knowledge about where food comes from, how to produce it, and how to prepare it. WIC families must register for each session through Essex County WIC.
Thursdays
June 27 - August 8
July 8 - 15
Public Event on Saturday, July 13th at 4pm // FREE
In collaboration with artist Tal Beery and scholar Joshua Moses, Uncertainty Academy: Adirondacks is a unique residency program and roundtable discussion series at Craigardan exploring responses to the uncertainties—both material and psychic—arising from the climate crisis and other cascading crises.
Six residency participants, each representing a diverse spectrum of perspectives on uncertainty, purposefulness, fear, friendship, and transformational responses to the climate crisis, will immerse themselves in unstructured reflection, project development, and evening discussions throughout the week.
In this exchange, we will identify unifying commonalities amidst seemingly radical differences. We will address various scales and their interrelationships, from the individual, community, organizational, and non-human realms. Our hope is to cultivate unlikely juxtapositions of perspectives, creating a riotous garden rather than a uniform lawn.
The residents will present a public roundtable discussion on Saturday, July 13th at 4pm (during Craigardan’s annual Summer Firing event - SEE NEXT PAGE) where the valuable insights and diverse viewpoints shared during the residency program will be accessible to a wider audience, contributing to a more extensive dialogue on navigating the uncertainties and complexities of our shared challenges.
Registration is not necessary, we hope you’ll join us!
Read full descriptions and register at craigardan.org/events
EVENT UNCERTAINTY ACADEMY: ADIRONDACKS
Saturday, July 13th
3pm - 8pm
FREE // suggested donation
Join us for our annual summer event! We’ll celebrate the fire that brings us together, the summer harvest, and the community of artists, scholars, and creatives all around us.
This year we’ll raise a glass and cut the ribbon on our newest addition on campus, the Applebarn. To toast we’ll light all of the fires: the wood kiln, the pizza oven, and the campfire. We’ll also dedicate the new trails and open them up to guests for exploration.
It will be a fun afternoon full of art, friends, music, food, and fire. Come with family and friends to explore the grounds and trails, hang out by the fires, picnic on the lawn, and get your hands into some art-making
We’ll be firing the wood kiln all day, cooking pizza’s in the wood-fired bread oven, and engaging guests with music, art + farm activities, a studio sale of pottery + artwork, and a special public roundtable presentation by our artists + scholars from the Uncertainty Academy at 4pm (see previous listing).
This is a free, “open house” style event. Come and go throughout the afternoon — but we hope that you’ll also consider making a donation to help support Craigardan’s programs and ongoing campus development. Last year’s event helped us award more than $70,000 in scholarships and fellowships to artists and scholars in 2023.
During the firing celebration we’re picnicking on the lawn with gorgeous views overlooking the mountains. Throw a blanket out in the eld or choose a table in the tent. Pizzas are available hot out of the wood-fired oven all day; and drinks and cookies are available at the bar. Food and drinks can be purchased individually, but they’re also included with an advance donation.
SUGGESTED DONATIONS
Be a part of our new campus and our work to support interdisciplinary innovation in the Adirondacks and around the world. **All gifts of $10,000 or more will be matched 1:1 by a generous donor!
$25 order a pizza on the lawn
$40 receive a pizza, drink, and make a donation
$80 receive 2 pizzas, 2 drinks, and make a donation
$150+ receive 2 pizzas, 2 drinks, and make a supporting gift
Donate online at www.craigardan.org/events
EVENT (2nd) ANNUAL SUMMER FIRING CELEBRATION
Tues + Thurs July 16 - 25
CLASS EXPERIENCING CLAY with Kiki Liu
Tuesdays + Thursdays, July 16, 18, 23, and 25
6pm - 8pm // *choose: $80 | $120 | $160
Come join 2024 Teaching Fellow Kiki Liu for four evenings of experiencing clay, and immerse yourself in the beauty of ceramics. Together, we'll explore and experience the material, connecting with it through our hands and bodies as we shape the clay. Throughout the course, we'll cover a variety of techniques, emphasizing hand-building which is suitable for both sculptural and functional works.
This class is specifically designed to provide beginners with a solid foundation in clay, enriching their creative journey with this wonderful material. Fee includes instruction, materials, and firings. Advance registration is required.
CLASS BACKYARD BEES
1pm - 3pm // *choose: $10 | $15 | $20
Friday August 2
August 17 + 20 +22
Join our beekeepers as we open up Craigardan’s hives for an inspection. See what the inner workings of a bee hive look like and try to spot the queen! You’ll learn about bee behavior, how bees make honey, and what role they play on the farm and in the ecosystem. We’ll also taste-test some honey from around the region and talk about basic equipment and what it takes to get started. Advance registration is required.
CLASS GROUNDS FOR CREATION with Allison
Dobbs and Leanne Rabessa
Thursdays + Tuesday,:Aug 15, 20, 22
6pm - 8pm // *choose: $10 | $20 | $30 per class
Join 2024 Teaching Fellows Allison Dobbs and Leanne Rabesa for three evenings of live music, art, and the common ground between them. Imagine yourself inside your favorite work of art or music. What might you see or hear? What tools could you use to explore this new environment? And how can you become a co-creator of the experience?
This course is part reflection, discussion, concert, and art workshop, and is open to all artistic levels. We recommend attending all three sessions, but they can also stand on their own. Learn to unlock the creative world around you - all you need to bring is a curious mind to join a creative community of which you might not realize you are already a part. Advance registration is required, you may register for one class or all three.
September 2 - 9
September 12 + 14
EVENT BUILDING A ROCKET KILN with Lisa Orr
We’re hosting potter Lisa Orr on campus this week to build a quick-firing kiln that is fueled with wood (but not a wood-fired kiln!). With a few easy-to-source materials, this is a kiln that anyone can build in their backyard which fires pots to high temperatures in only a few hours. Lisa will be presenting a talk on Friday, September 6th at 5pm, demonstrating the kiln and providing instructional handouts. Learn more about Lisa on page 21 and follow our website event listing for updates and information on the kiln build.
EVENT EMPTY BOWL, FULL HEART MAKERS DAYS IN THE CLAY STUDIO
Thursday, September 12 // 6pm-8pm Saturday, September 14 // 10am - 12pm FREE
Come join Craigardan and Empty Bowl Full Heart in creating bowls for the 2024 fundraiser to support local food pantries. No experience is necessary!
Come on Thursday the 12th, Saturday the 14th, or both days. We’ll be creating bowls by several methods that will later be glazed and fired in the You'll be getting your hands “dirty” with clay and learning how the process works while supporting local food initiatives. And, you’ll be invited back for the wood ring to experience the multi-day process and see the work come out of the kiln. This is a fun event for adults and teens 12 and older. Registration is appreciated.
Thursday September 19
CLASS APPLIED POETICS OF PUPPETRY, PERFORMANCE AND VOGUE with Theresa-Xuan Bui
6pm - 7:30pm // *choose: $10 | $15 | $25
Come explore different gestures of movement through the lens of puppetry, performance, and vogue with Theresa-Xuan Bui as a means of understanding one’s relationship to self and how we move about the world. Theresa will first teach the fundamental philosophies of puppetry, performance, vogue, and how they correlate. We will then explore varied movement sets exemplifying how these art forms can translate to one’s body. The class will conclude with open time to simply practice and reflect amongst each other. Welcome to all regardless of skill set in artistry, fitness, and/or dance. Advance registration is required.
Wednesday September 25
WOOD KILN FIRING
POTLUCK
Wednesday all-day firing, dinner at 6pm // FREE
Stop by the kiln house any time on Wednesday (5am - 10pm) to experience the wood kiln firing - a centuries-old mix of science and art! This multi-day process from loading to unloading is a community effort that includes: prepping the kiln, wadding the pots, stacking the wares and bricking the door, a 30hour firing, a two-day cooling, and the final excitement of unloading the pots.
Join us for a kiln-side pot-luck dinner on Wednesday the 25th at 6pm, no registration necessary, just bring friends and a dish to share. We’ll have the pizza oven hot with pies coming out all evening. The kiln unloading will take place on Saturday at 9am. The public is also welcome to watch and/or assist with the unloading process. In keeping with tradition, some of the pots will be available for sale on Saturday morning. It's a great chance to purchase ware directly from the artists, fresh from the kiln.
Saturday October 28
EVENT TRAIL-WORK DAY
1pm - 5pm // FREE
Craigardan’s 320-acre campus is a patchwork of new fields and previously logged forest navigated on a network of skidder tracks and new trails. We need your help clearing debris, stabilizing soils, and creating paths to open up new possibilities for walking, skiing, biking, and exploring the property. Grab a friend and spend some time with us rain or shine. Refreshments and equipment are provided. Pre-registration is appreciated.
Friday January 17, 2025
EVENT WASSAIL
5pm - 7pm // FREE
Join us for an evening of merriment in honor of our fruit trees. The old English tradition of Wassailing was a celebration to wake the fruit trees for the year to come, ward off evil spirits from the orchard, and encourage a bountiful harvest in the fall. In our version of the practice we will gather and sing songs to our apple trees while sipping hot cider. A small loop ski trail will also be open for skiing and snowshoeing after the celebration. Please dress warmly, bring a headlamp, bring skis or snowshoes if you’d like, and bring any poems or songs that you'd like to share. Pre-registration is appreciated.
COMMUNITY
+
FRIDAY APPLEBARN TALKS with Craigardan’s 2024 Artists-In-Residence
Every Friday: May 10 - October 11 5 - 6pm // FREE
This year we’ll host the series in our newly finished Applebarn on the main campus. Join us throughout the residency season for this free public series of informal artist talks, readings, and presentations. We’ll learn about works-in-progress from our artists and scholars-in-residence with informative and inspiring presentations in many disciplines.
The following weekly schedule includes bios from the presenting artists for a sneak peek at who you’ll meet. Each artist presents for only 15 minutes, adding up to an alternative Friday “happy” hour. This is a wonderful way to kick off your weekend! Bring a friend, all are welcome.
*Please note: the artist bios have been shortened for publication. Unabridged versions can be found on our website.
NYS RT 9N // ELIZABETHTOWN, NY
APPLE 9216
12932518.242.6535 WWW.CRAIGARDAN.ORG SERIES CRAIGARDAN BARN SUMMER literary works-in-readings progress scholarly research poetry ceramics + craft music creative inquiry
Sonya Huber Sonya Huber is the author of eight books, including the essay collection Love and Industry: A Midwestern Workbook, the writing guide Voice First: A Writer’s Manifesto, the award-winning essay collection on chronic pain, Pain Woman Takes Your Keys, and the activist memoir-in-a-day Supremely Tiny Acts. She teaches at Fairfield University and in the Fairfield low-residency MFA program.
Lu Chekowsky is an Emmy-winning writer and creative director who built a successful career in media through gut, intuition, and addiction to approval. Lu’s essays and poems have appeared in journals including: The Rumpus, Pigeon Pages, The Maine Review and her work has been supported by Mass MoCA, Tin House, SPACE on Ryder Farm. She is a 2023 New York State Council on the Arts/New York Foundation for the Arts Fellow in Nonfiction Literature.
MAY 17
Laura Chessin is faculty in the Graphic Design Department at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts. She has a BFA in studio arts from Cornell University and an MFA in Graphic Design from RISD. Her creative practice ranges over many disciplines including typeface design, fiber arts, video, and publication design. She plays traditional Appalachian fiddle and is an avid outdoorswoman. She was raised in Schenectady and developed her love of mountains in the Adirondacks.
Zora Ilunga-Reed is a textile and performance artist from New York City. She is curious about radical imagining, collaborative dreaming, and how the stories we tell can alter our realities. Her work has been shown at Westbeth Gallery and Spirit del Art Gallery in Manhattan.
MAY 24
Leena Janmohamed is a ceramic artist and visual designer currently working and living in Los Angeles, CA. In her ceramic practice, she primarily works with large-scale sculptural depictions of the human form. Leena completed a double degree program at the University of Washington Seattle in 2022, graduating with a BA in Interdisciplinary Visual
Arts and a BBA in Marketing. Recent group exhibitions include “The Collaboration: LA” in Los Angeles, and “Tidal 3” and “Am I Unmuted?”, both in Seattle. Her most recent series, “Body Prison”, explores the constraints and freedoms of a physical body from the intersectional perspective of a brown woman in the US.
Jen Parsons is a Colorado-based writer and mother of two children who bear a strong resemblance to her but are infinitely wiser at a younger age. A selection from her memoir received the 2023 Tucson Festival of Books Nonfiction Literary Award. Jen’s work has brought her residencies at Vermont Studio Center, Wellstone, and Writing by Writers. She also participated in the Writing by Writers DRAFT program. She has received awards for her humor from The Erma Bombeck Writing Workshop, which she brings up at the dinner table when her kids let her know she is not, in fact, funny. She is at work on a pre-invention memoir: after the loss of her young husband, she took her kids to the mountains where she first found love, to show them how to find a life they could love, too.
MAY 31
Shawndel N. Fraser is the Craigardan + John Brown Lives 2024 JBL! Fellow. Shawndel is an Environmental Psychologist, Public Intellectual, and Artist whose work and words catalyze transformation through interdisciplinary engagement. She creates a new nature–culture imagination by developing pragmatic solutions rooted in the social and natural sciences, esoteric wisdom, artistic practice, and healing modalities to create safe(r)environments. As a generalist / multi-disciplinary artist, Shawndel may employ ceramics, fiber art, digital media, writing, bookbinding, metals, jewelry, papermaking, and traditional crafts as needed. As a social scientist and open “Ajna” thinker, she weaves connections between philosophy, current events, (socio)cultural norms, aesthetics, pride, and practices. Her goal is ultimately to uncover opportunities for “innerpersonal alchemy” to drive cultural transformation and consilience rooted in ecofeminist deep-ecology.
Christienne L. Hinz is a Ph.D. in modern Japanese history and has published articles on
MAY 10
entrepreneurship among 19th to 20th-century Japanese women. She is a Pushcart Prize and Best American Essay nominated memoirist, a poet, and a Master Gardener specializing in organic gardening, orcharding, and sub/urban ecosystem restoration. A beekeeper, a ceramicist, and a textile artist, Christienne enjoys life with her partner of 25 years, and her two children.
JUNE 7
Magalí Morales is Craigardan’s 2024 Trillium Fellow. Magali is a mother, writer, spiritual counselor, and bridge builder who has always lived in the space between worlds, translating languages, cultures, and worldviews. She is Mexican and Guatemalan. She grew up between the big city and her grandmother's farm. She loves science and spirituality. She was a psychotherapist and became a spiritual healer. Magali´s work takes place at the intersection of healing trauma, dismantling oppression, and using ancient spiritual tools to solve today´s problems. She is a passionate climate and social justice activist. Magali has completed the first book in a duology, Daughter of the Mountain. She lives with her family in the Redwood forests of California, in the unceded territory of the Zayante tribe of the Awaswas nation.
Nathan Blum is an MFA Candidate in Fiction at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches creative writing and serves as editor-in-chief at Nashville Review. Originally from the Hudson Valley, he graduated with a degree in English from Bowdoin College, where he received the Micoleau Family Fellowship. Selected by Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and shortlisted for the Iowa Review Award, his writing appears or is forthcoming in Westchester Review, Jewish Book Council, Cagibi, and Ploughshares
JUNE 14
Michele Parker Randall is Craigardan’s 2024 Teaching Fellow. Michele reads and writes poetry and prose and has authored The Museum of Everyday Life (Kelsay Books) and A Future Unmappable, chapbook (Finishing Line Press). Her work can also be found in Nimrod International Journal, Atlanta Review, Tampa Review, Bangalore Review, and elsewhere. Michele gets to teach Poetry,
Personal Essay, Fairy Tales, Reading Lyric, and Literature of Mental Health/Neurodivergent
Literature at Stetson University. She will happily talk for hours about all things Poetry, and she feels strongly that neurodivergent narratives and art can make a difference in reducing the stigma imposed on those living with mental illness.
Juliet Phillips is a teaching and visual artist from Brooklyn, NY living in Pittsburgh, PA whose work follows a narrative that winds its way through painting, drawing, animation, papermaking, and ceramics. Her work explores myth, memory, and family lore through forms, figures, and stories that fit together in a curious dream-logic to tell a tale of real and fantastical worlds. She received a BFA in painting from Boston University.
Sam Hutner writes fabulist fiction from her home in Cleveland, Ohio. Her writing has appeared in Blink-Ink, and she won Cleveland’s first Story Wars After Dark competition. She has also been a guest on the RadioFreeWrite podcast. She earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Georgia College and State University.
JUNE 21
Katherine Orfinger is a writer, artist, and recent graduate from Stetson University, where she earned her BA in English. She will go on to study at Rosemont College. Her work has appeared in Touchstone, Aeolus, Beyond Words, Outrageous Fortune, and others. Katherine’s writing is influenced by her Jewish faith and queer identity. Her hobbies include tinkering with analog cameras and spending quality time with her best friend, who happens to be a cat.
Fanxi Sun is Craigardan’s 2024 Teaching Fellow. Fanxi (b. Huzhou, China) works with moving and still images, sound, and installation. Sun’s works have been shown at film festivals and exhibitions across the world, including Odds & Ends Experimental Film Festival (Charlottesville VA), VIDEOAKTION #4 (Berlin, Germany), SPE Combined-Caucus Exhibition (Denver CO), Three Shadows Photography Art Centre's "Unbounded" (Xiamen, China). She was the finalist of the 21st Trawick Prize at Bethesda
Urban Partnership and artist-in-residence at the Alex Brown Foundation. Sun holds an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University, where she now teaches as an adjunct professor.
Emilia Gonzalez is an emerging ceramic artist. As a Colombian-Canadian, she is constantly exploring questions around hybrid identities, belonging, and community. She began to play with clay at a young age in her grandmother’s pottery studio and has recently re-connected with the practice. Her work is inspired by nature’s textures, shapes, colors, sounds, and cycles. Emilia is also a community facilitator and an action research scholar, where she weaves popular education and arts-based methods into social transformation processes. She is an introvert with a passion for meaningful social connections, who loves experimenting in the kitchen, bikepacking, climbing rocks, and drinking tea.
JUNE 28
Kononwa'tshén:ri ión:kia'ts Onkwehonwehnéha. (Kononwa'tshén:ri is my indigenous name.) Sue Ellen Herne ión:kia'ts Kiohrhénsha. (Sue Ellen Herne is my English name.) Wakhskaré:wake, Ahkwesáhsne nitewaké:non. (I'm Bear Clan from Akwesasne.) I have over forty years of experience in creating thought-provoking paintings and installations with a focus on Haudenosaunee (specifically Mohawk) culture and Language. Images of my work may be found in: Iroquois Arts: A Directory of a People and Their Work
Johannsen, Christina B. and John P. Ferguson & The Association for the Advancement of Native North American Arts and Crafts, 1983. Three Centuries of Woodlands Indian Art - a collection of Essays edited by J.C.H. King and Christian F. Feest, 2007 Iroquois Art, Power and History by Neal Keating, 2012. In 2018 I joined a full-time Kanién’keha (Mohawk) language program sponsored by the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe. I have been a Kanien'keha Educational Assistant for the Ahkwesahsne Mohawk Board of Education's Skahwatsi:ra program and I'm currently studying in the Ratiwennahní:rats program sponsored by the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center in Kahnawake. I continue to make art in a variety of media.
Bessie N. A. Mbadugha delights in the power and beauty of the written word and has been an avid reader and multidisciplinary writer for as long as she can remember. Born in Tanzania to a Nigerian father and an American mother, Bessie began her writing life tapping stories on her father’s typewriter. As an undergraduate student at Lafayette College, she authored an English honors thesis and served as the Editorin-Chief of AYA, a Black literary journal. Bessie published her Chemistry doctoral thesis at Emory University and has written several funded grants as a chemistry professor and as a volunteer for local nonprofits. Most recently, Bessie was an award-winning education journalist for Evanston RoundTable, before returning to the classroom as a guest educator. Bessie enjoys composing poetry and weaving stories and is currently working on a compilation inspired by her mother, a poet.
Fran Hoepfner is a writer and teacher from Chicago living in Brooklyn. She got her Bachelor’s in English from Kalamazoo College and her Master’s in Fiction Writing from Rutgers University in Newark. She is the senior editor for the independent film magazine Bright Wall/Dark Room, and her other nonfiction work and criticism have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, New York Magazine, Slate, and Gawker. Her short fiction has appeared in Peach Mag, Burrow Press, and Joyland. She is currently working on a novel about Antarctica and a nonfiction book about classical music.
JULY 5
Emily (E. A.) Caris is a queer writer, educator, and recent graduate of the MFA Program in Poetry at Rutgers University-Newark. Currently a high school teacher, Caris has also taught creative writing and literature for several universities and nonprofits, including the New England Literature Program, a cooperative education program based out of the University of Michigan, and juvenile justice organizations where she organized poetry workshops and readings. Her writing appears in Sweet Tree Review, Arkana, and elsewhere. An organizer of a queer basketball community and a frequent backpacker, she currently lives in Brooklyn with her partner and their mutt.
Christie Gardiner is an award-winning author, poet, writer, and performer. Her literary oeuvre includes four ecumenical books, four anthologies, journal publications, booklets, articles, and the writing of her own videocast/ podcast. Additionally, Christie has made numerous appearances as a regular contributor to local media, has cohosted two podcasts, has performed on stages across the United States, and serves as a facilitator of writing retreats for women. She works in poetry acquisition for Inscape literary journal and holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Utah Valley University. Christie’s current focus is poetry and creative nonfiction that explores the intersection of spirituality, nature, trauma, and healing. Recent and upcoming publication credits include poems and essays in Humana Obscura, The Poetry of Travel, The Dewdrop, Wild Greens Magazine, Reverie Literary Magazine, Wild Roof Journal, and Inscape Journal
Beth Reitmeyer is a visual artist who likes to make people happy with her colorful installations. Her work investigates landscapes and the joy of unexpected yet beautiful spaces and places that are discovered as one explores the land and structures within it: clouds, rivers, caves, geodes, and stars. Beth attended Northwestern University (MFA), The School of the Art Institute (Post Baccalaureate program), and Pennsylvania State University (BFA). Her work has recently been exhibited at the First Art Museum, Nashville; ChaShaMa, New York; The Elizabeth Foundation, New York; OZ Arts, Nashville; 1708 Gallery/Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA; FIGMENT, Chicago; The Downing Museum, Bowling Green, KY; Kindling Arts Festival, Nashville; Zg Gallery, Chicago. Recent awards include the Tanne Foundation award and grants from the Metro Nashville Arts Commission/National Endowment for the Arts.
JULY 19
Emily Eileen Carter has been writing since she was seven years old, documenting the world around her, spinning yarns, and conjuring up creative characters for fiction. Her writing has a strong sense of place and equally complex characters conjured from her upbringing in North Carolina. In addition to fiction, she writes
web content, news stories, poems, and essays. Writing is a sacred spiritual practice and passion that inspires her each day.
Amanda Kelly is an artist, miniaturist, and educator. She recently graduated with her Master of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Radford University. Kelly’s award-winning artwork has been exhibited in various art galleries and museums including The Museum of Museums in Seattle, WA, the Var Gallery in Milwaukee, WI, and the Olin Galleries in Salem, VA. She has also been featured in The Common Reader’s article by Jeannette Cooperman “What Miniatures Can Reveal”, Esquire’s article by Scott Huler "Inside the Weird and Wonderful World of Miniatures”, and The Book of Mini by Kate Ünver. Her commercial work includes creating miniature sets and content for clients like Coca-Cola, Disney, XBOX, and General Mills. Originally from New York, Amanda currently lives in Virginia with her wife and 3 cats.
Tessa Holmes is a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily with oil paints, photography, and food. Inspired most by the seasons and plants of Vermont, Tessa is also a chef who owns and runs her own catering company and culinary academy. She cooks the same way she makes art - the whole is greater than the details and the feeling of nourishment lasts. She has been cooking and making art professionally for over 22 years. What began as a hobby and love for creating and preparing delicious recipes, happily developed into a professional career and business. She specializes in whole food cooking with a focus on vegetarian and plantbased dishes. This past year she is turning her attention to writing and illustrating a cookbook and starting the Blossom Culinary Academy.
JULY 26
Kiki Liu is Craigardan’s 2024 Teaching Fellow. Kiki is a multimedia artist who blends diverse mediums to create captivating work that sparks contemplation. Through visual storytelling and design, Kiki celebrates aesthetic beauty while challenging conventional norms and inviting viewers to experience art. She continuously seeks to redefine the boundaries of design, shaping the world around us through her work.
Hendree Milward is a poet from West Hartford, Connecticut. A math professor by trade at the state community college, he is often drawn to formal aspects of writing. His themes touch on imagination and the contradictions of thought. Formerly a poetry DJ at a couple of college radio stations, he now archives those recordings on buzzingwire.org.
Emily Sullivan Smith is an Associate Professor and Foundations Coordinator at the University of Dayton’s Department of Art and Design where she is also a Sustainability Scholar through the Hanley Sustainability Institute. Her studio practice is multidisciplinary and includes sculpture, printmaking, and fibers-based work. She focuses on the reciprocating behaviors between humans and the natural world, using materials and methods in support of ideas. Recent exhibitions include; a solo exhibition, Universe, at the Springfield Art Museum in Springfield, OH, a group exhibition, More is More at the Akron Art Museum, and, Earth Matters at Watermark Arts Center in Bemidji MN where she was awarded a juror’s prize. Her work is included in several collections including, Sherwin Williams Global Headquarters in Cleveland, OH, the Lincoln Financial Group in Fort Wayne, IN, and Summa Health’s Arts Collection in Akron, OH.
AUGUST 2
Audrey Danze Blood is an artist and printmaker based in Austin, TX. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking and a Certificate in Collegiate Teaching in Art and Design from The Rhode Island School of Design in 2018 and her Bachelor of Arts in Visual Art from Bowdoin College in 2013. She has worked as an educator at The University of Texas at Austin, Rhode Island School of Design, St. Mark's School, and at the deYoung Museum. She has worked as a printmaking lab technician at The University of Texas at Austin, as a research and studio assistant at Zea Mays Printmaking and Haystack Mountain School of Craft, and as a farmer in Sunderland, Massachusetts, and in Austin, Texas.
Jessica Mendoza is a writer, tutor, and professor in Long Beach, CA. She holds a B.A. in Screenwriting and will earn her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at CSULB in the spring of 2024. She has been previously published in
The Good Life Review, Streetlight Magazine, The Dillydoun Review, and La Piccoletta Barca.
Jessica spends most of her time feverishly grading essays and raving about the semicolon’s usefulness to her students, who kindly humor her fits of punctuation passion.
Emily Olick Llano is a Colombian-American ceramicist, printmaker, and fiber artist. She began making pottery in 2020 and has a strong affinity for whimsical surface design techniques. Emily’s previous works in fiber, pulp, and ink have drawn from her maternal lineage and explored themes of bicultural identity, Colombian heritage, and indigeneity. She attended the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts on Deer Isle, Maine, and holds a B.A. from Bowdoin College and an M.A. from Stanford University. Emily currently resides in Northern California with her cat, Alfie.
AUGUST 9
Michiko Theurer is Craigardan’s 2024 Master Artist Fellow. Michiko is a multimedia artist, performer, and community transformation facilitator who loves geeky dancing and shared pots of tea. As a biracial and multi-modal artist, she is drawn to in-between spaces, and to the ways that these in-between spaces (of disciplines, of media, of cultures) can support joyful engagement with ecological and social complexity. She holds a doctorate in violin performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder and is completing a second doctorate in musicology at Stanford University through a transmedia autobiographical project that cultivates space for collective presence, grief, and gratitude. She has performed and created installations at public libraries and music venues across the United States and Canada, and she adores every single dog she’s ever met.
Karina Yanes is a ceramic artist whose work addresses her experience existing at the intersection of three cultures as a Puerto RicanPalestinian-Midwesterner. Her work explores how living between cultures impacts a person’s development of identity and understanding of belonging. Karina was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. She received her undergraduate degree in Studio Art from Denison University and is currently a graduate student in Ceramics at the University of Florida. Karina is a recipient
of the 2024 NCECA graduate fellowship and has participated in the Open Studio Residency at Haystack School of Craft and the CIRCA Graduate Residency Exchange.
Jennifer Steil is the British-American author of the novel Exile Music, which won the Grand Prize in the Eyelands 2020 Book Awards and the Multicultural and Historical International Book Awards. It was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Lesbian Fiction Award. Previous books include the novel The Ambassador’s Wife and the memoir The Woman Who Fell From the Sky. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, New Orleans Review, Saranac Review, Kenyon Review, World Policy Journal, Best Women’s Short Fiction 2023, Gay & Lesbian Review, Action, Spectacle, The Week, Time, Life, The Washington Times, and Vogue UK.
AUGUST 16
Seemi Choudry is a Pakistani-Venezuelan American Muslim. The story of immigrants has been a through line in her professional career and within her written work. For over a decade, she has joined fearless leaders across the country to ease the burden of migratory resettlement. As an immigrant and firstgeneration South Asian Latina woman, she understands the challenges when taking up space in places that were not designed for people of color. What matters to her most is sharing the authentic stories of minority voices. She believes literature is meant to liberate and hopes to do that through her published work.
Karla Krupala is a New York-based painter who works in acrylic and gouache on surfaces like wood and paper. She received a BFA in Painting and Literature from the University of North Texas and an MFA in Painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Informed by her queer identity and experience being a single parent, she has been an art educator for over two decades. She currently teaches art to middle school students and is originally from Houston, Texas.
AUGUST 23
Allison Dobbs is Craigardan’s 2024 Teaching Fellow in collaboration with Leanne Rabesa. Allison is a freelance violinist and visual artist based in Boston, MA. A passionate teacher and chamber musician, Allison has enjoyed
developing curricula offering flexible and unusual entry points into learning. She was a recipient of a Mass Cultural Council Grant in 2021 for her PlayTogether Go curriculum, a chamber music program that commissioned original works from composers of underrepresented communities. She was also part of a curriculum cohort for the Castle of Our Skins organization, creating multidisciplinary lesson plans for Anthony Davis’s opera X and Anthony Green’s chamber work Catto’s Courage in 2022 and 2023. Allison’s recent engagements as an orchestral musician include section positions with Great Bay Philharmonic and MassOpera, and principal positions with NEMPAC Opera and the Brockton Symphony. She studied visual art at the Cooper Union and violin performance at Texas Tech University and the Boston Conservatory.
Leanne Rabesa is Craigardan’s 2024 Teaching Fellow in collaboration with Allison Hobbs. Leanne is a violist based in Jamaica Plain, MA, and is active as a performer, composer, arranger, and teacher. Her wide-ranging interests span from arranging obscure works for the viola ensemble and revising the viola curriculum for the American String Teachers Association to researching connections between music and visual art. In whatever time is still left, she can often be found knitting, cooking, or reconstructing the orchestra parts of Klebanov’s viola concerto from the solo part and the single extant recording. Leanne earned both BM and MM degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she studied viola with George Taylor and chamber music with the Ying Quartet, Zvi Zeitlin, and Charlie Castleman, among others. She lives surrounded by her personal library and a lot of yarn with her two spoiled cats.
Brian Mihok is a writer and filmmaker. His work has appeared in Fast Company, American Short Fiction, Cagibi, The Disconnect, Vol 1 Brooklyn, and elsewhere. His novel, The Quantum Manual of Style, was released in 2013. He also edits matchbook, an online literary magazine of short prose. Find him, his writing, and his films at brianmihok.com.
Samuel Bowser earned a Ph.D. in Cell Biology in 1984. Over the subsequent 40 years as a biomedical researcher, he investigated the movement of cellular organelles, cellular membrane surface dynamics, the mechanism of chromosome separation during cell division, the function of non-motile cilia in kidney cells, and the adaptation to low temperatures by free-living cells inhabiting marine habitats in coastal Antarctica and Svalbard, as well as in the deep sea. Sam is now “retired” and has rekindled his childhood fascination with fossils (substituting dinosaur bones with fossilized cells). He is also an art enthusiast and during his career has collaborated with many filmmakers, poets, and painters. Sam uses"sciart" to educate lay audiences about science and hopes to do so until he, too, is a fossil.
Michael Heyman is a scholar and writer of literary nonsense, poetry, and children’s literature. He is a Professor of Literature at Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he teaches courses on children’s literature and music, poetry, performance poetry, monsters, and Arthropodiatry. He is the head editor of The Tenth Rasa: An Anthology of Indian Nonsense (Penguin). His poems and stories for children and adults can be found in the journals Poetry International, The Dirigible Balloon, Voicemail Poems, Solstice, and FUSION; and in the books The Puffin Book of Bedtime Stories, The Moustache Maharishi and other unlikely stories, and This Book Makes No Sense: Nonsense Poems and Worse, the latter of which he also edited. His scholarship has appeared in the ChLA Quarterly, Bookbird, The Horn Book Magazine, European Journal of Humour Research, and The Lion and the Unicorn.
Harri Nourse is a British ceramicist whose work primarily focuses on texture, whether that's through developing her own glaze that crackles off and 'exposes' the ceramics or creating an ultra-smooth surface with its own unique pattern. Where texture is concerned the possibilities are endless! She also takes inspiration from the work of her greatgrandmother, who was also a ceramicist, and other 20th-century women potters who may
not have been recognized at the time for their contributions to the development of modernday ceramics. Harri celebrates their work in several projects, most notably in her collections “Romance and Gamble” and the “Ruth Duckworth Series” both of which were exhibited at Ceramic Art London.
SEPTEMBER 6
Lisa Orr completed an MFA at The New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1992. She has been awarded a Fulbright and National Endowment for the Arts fellowship through Mid-America Arts Alliance. Orr taught high school ceramics in Austin, Texas, and travels extensively for lectures and workshops. She creates low-fire pottery intended for use in everyday life. Though rooted in the deep history of ceramics, her forms are fluid and often gently asymmetrical—a combination of the clay’s natural expression and her own inspiration in the moment.
This is a special edition of the Applebarn Series: Lisa will be discussing her Rocket Kiln design, presenting the kiln she built at Craigardan, and providing handouts to build your own quick-firing kiln.
SEPTEMBER 13
Molly Hurley has an MFA in Community Arts from Maryland Institute College of Art and a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from Rice University. From previous work with organizations such as Beyond the Bomb, The Prospect Hill Foundation, Women Cross DMZ, Daisy Alliance, and Reverse the Trend, she has garnered experiences in advocacy, philanthropy, social media and website development, and research. She serves as a Youth Advisor to The Prospect Hill Foundation’s Nuclear Committee and co-runs a monthly column for Inkstick Media with Lovely Umayam, founder of Bombshelltoe Policy x Arts Collective, in which they critically analyze pop culture phenomena and their ties to national security. She’s also published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In her art making practice, she most often comes back to explorations of connection: she believes it is the connections between the individual and the community that, in union, form the basis of both individual and community identities.
AUGUST 30
Betsy Power is a recovering businesswoman and sculpture artist with a focus on large-scale outdoor work. She has found a form of healing in the curves and contours of sculpture - a poetry of self in physical form. Through the medium of clay, she explores the intricacy of emotions that go hand-in-hand with being human and that often feel indescribable through words. Transformation through the discovery of self, layers as a reflection of the complexity of life, and erosion as an analogy of the nature of memory, are themes that continue to fascinate and find their way into her sculptural work. Betsy lives and creates in Portland, OR.
Chad Michael Lange is a San Francisco-based fiction writer who holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, California. Lange has received two residencies at MacDowell and Millay Arts. The Jentel Foundation, The Ragdale Foundation, Hambidge Center, and Dorland Mountain Arts have also given him fellowships. He has been awarded grants from the Squaw Valley Community of Writers and the California Arts Council (to teach creative writing to LGBTQIA+ youth). His short fiction has appeared in Catamaran, Fourteen Hills, and ZYZZYVA.
SEPTEMBER 20
Suma Nagaraj is a writer, editor, and content consultant with over 15 years of experience in print, digital, and social media. She has an MFA in creative writing (fiction) from the University of San Francisco and is currently hard at work revising all that she submitted to earn her master's degree. She dabbles in poetry when prose weighs her down and vice versa. She lives in Bangalore, India, purely only in the physical sense. Mentally, she can always be found luxuriating in wordland.
Hannah Rose Roberts holds an MFA from the University of California, Riverside, where she received the Chancellor's Distinguished Fellowship. The winner of the 2022 Master's Review Flash Fiction Contest, her nonfiction is forthcoming in Ploughshares and her fiction has appeared in HAD, Earth & Altar, and Major 7th Magazine. She lives in Los Angeles and spends too much time at Costco.
SEPTEMBER 27
Virginia Chang, Ph.D., is an end-of-life doula, educator, and writer. She supports the dying and their families/caregivers to approach the end of life in a positive, meaningful, and affirming way. She works as a doula privately and volunteers for VNS Health. She teaches for the University of Vermont End-of-Life Doula Professional Certificate program, as well as is an established mentor in the field. Virginia has been featured in the media, such as CNN, AARP, and PBS, and has written on death, mortality, and doula work in magazines and journals, such as Scientific American and Intima. She is inspired by her work as a doula and writes to remember the stories of the dying. She is grateful for their words of wisdom on living a life with meaning and purpose. Virginia lives, works, and writes in New York City.
Linda Pagani is an interdisciplinary artist whose early photographic work initiated a career-long inquiry into the sensorial experience of an environment. Early exposure to artisanship has greatly influenced Pagani’s process and materials. Working with older technologies (analog camera, paper-making, enameling) and materials (copper, porcelain, glass), she bases her work in quiet and studied form. Having studied Interior Architecture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Pagani went on to complete a four-year Studio Diploma in Fine Arts at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. She has received awards and fellowships for her work, including the Karsh Prize in Photography, and her alma mater’s prestigious Traveling Fellowship. Her work is held in private and public collections, including the Brigham Women’s Hospital Collection, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Pagani lives and works in Lexington, MA.
Chauna Craig is the author of the story collection The Widow’s Guide to Edible Mushrooms, winner of a Next Gen Indies award for short fiction, and Wings and Other Things, both published by Press 53 Her fiction has appeared most recently in the anthologies Flash Fiction America (W.W. Norton) and Mountains Piled upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene (WVU
Press), and her creative work has been recognized in the Pushcart Prize anthology, and by Best American Essays and Best American Nonrequired Reading.
OCTOBER 4
Elissa Lash has published pieces in The Rumpus, Atticus Review, Memoir Monday, Silver Rose Magazine, the MV Times, Edible Vineyard, and the anthology - The Covid Monologues MV. Recently she won the Flash Fiction contest for Silver Rose Magazine and was featured on the podcast WrenCast. She’s workshopped writing with Sabrina Orah Mark, Nick Flynn, Margo Steines, Beth Kanter, and Marcelo Hernandez Castillo. Elissa is completing work on a memoir about her years as a sex worker which was a finalist with the Kenyon Review’s Editorial Fellowship Contest. She founded the theatre company Double Helix and is a founding member of TBD Improv. She currently lives in a small rural town in Massachusetts with her partner and their children.
Lauren McElroy is a queer, Black multidisciplinary, and experimental fiber artist currently working in fashion design, dyeing, punch needle embroidery, and on themselves. It is Lauren's highest intention that their work be meaningful, and healing, and to change the world with thoughtprovoking words and imagery. Lauren creates art that has integrity and stands for peace, truth, justice, and purpose. With their work, they support communities, sustainable agriculture, and people doing good work in the world.
Elise Jeanmaire was a finalist for the Ploughshares Emerging Artist Contest and the Queer-Art Mentorship with Torrey Peters. She has attended the 2022 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, was awarded a fellowship for the GrubStreet Novel Generator program, and will begin querying her debut novel, WAITING FOR PROVIDENCE, in early 2025. When she isn't writing, Elise rides a moped from the 70s, plays in a punk band called Long Stories, and practices yoga. She lives in Providence with her wife, Kristen, and their dog, Gustavo.
OCTOBER 11
Dr. Lise Deguire is a clinical psychologist, author, and burn survivor. After being severely
burned as a four-year-old, she spent much of her childhood in the hospital, undergoing countless surgical procedures. Dr. Deguire is the author of the multiple award-winning book, Flashback Girl: Lessons on Resilience from a Burn Survivor. Dr. Deguire attended Tufts University, graduating summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her doctorate in clinical psychology from Widener University and is in solo practice in New Jersey. Dr. Deguire has appeared on NPR, NBC, ABC, FOX, and Sirius XM. She is a TEDx speaker, and a national keynote speaker and has presented for The American Psychological Association, the World Burn Congress, The Security and Exchange Commission, and The American Burn Association. She writes for Psychology Today, and has been featured in Huffington Post, Thrive Global, Tiny Buddha, Grown and Flown, and The Elephant Journal.
Carly Marie DeMento is a poet and writer for climate-change startups living in Encinitas, California. She recently began to submit her poetry at the age of 40. Her work has appeared in the North American Review, Kestrel, and Green Hills Literary Lantern. A 2023 finalist for the James Hearst Poetry Prize and a 2023 finalist for the Laurence Goldstein Poetry Prize, her work has been supported by the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference.
Hannah Plummer is a New Jersey-based multidisciplinary artist who focuses on process-driven and site-specific practices. She graduated in 2023 with a degree in Fine Arts from Gordon College and discovered great peace in creating land art in the Chebacco Woods and rocky coastline of the surrounding North Shore of Massachusetts. Hannah incorporates sculpture, paper craft, painting, sketching, and printmaking into her practice, but takes a special interest in creating immersive and interactive mixed-media installations. Through her practice, she explores the intrinsic value of creative expression and experimentation in our daily lives - a restorative and generative act that fosters connections with others, material surroundings, and the intangible.
CRAIGARDAN (krā gärden) is a RESIDENCY PROGRAM that supports artists and scholars from around the region and around the world.
We bring people together for place-based and interdisciplinary learning; providing:
CREATIVE RESIDENCIES
PUBLIC COURSES
COMMUNITY FARM PROGRAMS that span diverse artistic and knowledge disciplines in order to foster: CURIOSITY INQUIRY COLLABORATION which generates positive social change through collective creativity.
CONTACT
CRAIGARDAN
www.craigardan.org
info@craigardan.org
518.242.6535
9216 NYS Route 9N
Elizabethtown, NY 12932
