Matthew
Bower. Nightscape.
Woodblock Print. 17" x 22". 2005.
During the fall 2008, five residents from different disciplines and stages in their careers will live and work on campus for one to four months at no charge. Each resident will bring with them a vision of the creative work that they would like to conduct within the unique geographical location of the Sitka Center. The residents will share their work with the local community through presentations, workshops, and community service projects. The Residency Program has provided more than 175 artists, writers, and natural science scholars the opportunity to conduct their own work while deeply engaging with the environment of Cascade Head and the Salmon River estuary.
Louisa Conrad
Oct 1 – Nov 20, 2008
Vermont
MFA California Institute of the Arts
During her residency, Louisa Conrad plans to make an anthropological and visual model surrounding Chinook Salmon, which is a starting off point in mapping the Large Marine Ecosystem of the California Current. Louisa plans to create numerous drawings that layer information such as data collected from interviews with local and commercial fisherman. The end result will be a comprehensive investigation placing the collapse of the Chinook salmon fishery within a larger ecosystem.
Matthew Bower
Oct 3 – Jan 15, 2009Currently living in Alaska
BFA Kansas City Art Institute
While Matthew Bower experiments with small sculptural pieces in wood, plasters, glass, and ceramics, the core of his creative work while at Sitka will take place in the printmaking studio. Matthew plans to use data collected from available studies to construct compositions focused on changes that have occurred over the past thirty years. The most unique character of this work is likely to come from the careful observation of the surface qualities of materials shaped by the ecosystem; small surface molds of the most dynamic ancient driftwood, stones and fossils, silt beds and intricate marshland vegetation in the field.
Mary Ann O'Donnell
Dec 12, 2008 – Jan 15, 2009
Currently living in China
PhD Cultural Anthropology, Rice University
Mary Ann O'Donnell's project “Prosthetic Construction” is a collection of image poems and ethnographic essays on the environmental impact of urbanization. This project engages the cultural history of Shenzhen, China's oldest and largest Special Economic Zone, anthropological theory, and China's aesthetic history. Mary Ann plans to finish two image poems while at Sitka, “Prosthetic Construction”: “Urban Gardens” and “Seaworld/s”. Her Sitka residency will enable her to contextualize the co-dependent meanings of cities and natural preserves. The Siuslaw National Experimental Forest and the Salmon River Estuary provide ecological benchmarks for understanding the impact of large-scale urbanization.
Kim Stafford
Nov 26, 2008 – Jan 26, 2009
Portland
PhD English Literature, University of Oregon
During his residency, Kim Stafford would like to develop his body of creative work. Kim plans to complete a book of poems (“Considerations”) for submission to a publisher. He would also like to work on a collection of essays (“Where Everything Changes: Essays of Place”) and on a novel-in-stories (“Affinities: Voices from the House of Travelers”).
Dawn Stetzel
Oct 1, 2008 – Jan 15, 2009
Iowa
MFA University of Massachusetts
Dawn Stetzel's project, “Art and Ethnobotany: Connections of Plants, People and Place” involves her connection to a local ethnobotanist while at Sitka, her absorption of the native plants and the environmental concerns of the area, and the sculptural installations that she produces in response to her research. In Dawn's most recent body of work, titled “Fragile Environments,” nature becomes a metaphor in which she reflects her interest in a heightened awareness of the neglect found within our surroundings. She hopes for this awareness to lead to a caring attentiveness toward our natural environment, and a care for each other.