Past Events

2023
Ardea Thurston-Shaine, our current artist-in-residence, will display her work and talk about it at the Shelton Timberland Library at 710 Alder St. on Wednesday, March 1. Her program will be from 2 to 3 p.m.
Ardea comes to us from Ontario, Canada, but she’s originally a Pacific Northwesterner and welcomes this opportunity to revive her roots here. She was born in this historic Commander’s House on the beach at Point Hudson in Port Townsend and grew up in Washington and Alaska, spending hours in the woods.
We hope you can join us for the presentation of her evocative work and some interesting conversation.
2022

Thursday, December 15, at the Shelton Timberland Library from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m, Hannah Hamalian presented  “A  Bird at Your Door,” a collection of short films that feature animation, dance, and archival video.

Hannah says the films, edited together, invoke questions about grief and hope, both for the past and for the future.

The Eugene resident discussed her work and answered questions in the latter part of the gathering..

Hannah R.W. Hamalian describes herself as an artist intrigued by how complicated the world is. In her animation and film practice she tends towards an experimental and poetic mode of expression, working with the movement of animation in collaboration with dance and landscape to represent paradox and complexity.

She uses an interdisciplinary approach to aim for the emotional core of an experience and craft immersive soundscapes that create a space specifically designed for asking questions.

Hannah’s work has screened and shown at festivals internationally, including ADF’s Movies by Movers, KLIK Amsterdam Animation Festival, Athens International Film and Video Festival (Ohio, USA), and the Squeaky Wheel Animation Fest (New York, USA). She received her BA from Carleton College and her MFA from UW-Milwaukee. She teaches in the Media Arts department at Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon.

Saturday, August 6: 1:00 p.m., at the Shelton Timberland Library at 710 West Alder Street in downtown Shelton, Florida artist Anna Goraczko made a community cyanotype with local plant materials and other found objects, with participation from a group of library patrons.
Goraczko received a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from Florida International University in 2020 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art from Florida International University in 2008. She is a mixed media artist who employs cyanotypes to document a visual association between physical objects and the visual memory that might distort or abstract them. She uses found objects and material from her family’s archive to expand upon themes of place, memory, and spirituality.  https://www.annagoraczko.com/
Tuesday, July 19,  5:00-6:00 p.m., at Browsers Bookshop, 107  Capital Way N., Olympia, WA.

Writer Vivian Krishnan will read from, and show the artwork in, her book Kula in the Sky, a coming of age tale that celebrates her father’s roots and features pre-colonial Fijian culture.  For more detail, check out https://browsersolympia.com/?q=h.calevent&eid=18487

Thursday, July 21, 7:00 p.m., at Shelton United Methodist Church, 1900 King Street, Shelton, WA.

Pianist and composer Anne Rainwater will play a recital.  Her most recent recording is Dharmaland from Subliminal Sounds.  Other recordings include The Goldberg Variations and Scratch Tracks with percussionist Jude Traxler.  A performer and teacher, Anne is also a writer who is working on a new title, The Musical Ecosystem; A Systems-Level Approach to Analysis, Practice, and Performance.

* June 9, 4:45 p.m., at the Shelton Timberland Library:

Writer Manesseh Franklin will be speaking about the West’s diminishing glaciers. She’s hoping to ski at Mt. St. Helens, adding that to her experiences with glaciers this week. She’s also hard at work revising a MS on her glacier experiences and studies.
* June 15, 5:00 p.m., at Browsers Bookshop,  107 Capitol Way N., Olympia.
Poet Jayne Marek will read from her upcoming book and talk about her residency project at Hypatia-in-the-Woods. Both projects consider how our beautiful Northwest environment shows resilience despite the harms that have been inflicted. How might we all, as writers, respond frankly to what we see in nature—and in ourselves?
• January 22, noon-2 p.m., Browser’s Bookshop, 107 Capitol Way N, Olympia:
Author/Artist Susan Sarver will offer a workshop, “Finding the Universal in the Personal Essay.” Susan observes, “Those first 100 words of your personal essay practically wrote themselves. Suddenly your momentum slows as you begin to wonder, “who cares?” The personal essay aims to connect a private story with the broader world of human experience. In this workshop, we will discuss strategies for drawing universal truths from personal stories and put some of these ideas into practice by writing from a few prompts.” To participate, contact Andrea at Browser’s (but please wait until after Christmas, as the Browser’s staff is running flat out during the holiday season.)
Susan Sarver’s essays have appeared in various anthologies and publications including The Christian Science Monitor, Country Living, Reader’s Digest, and Chicken Soup for the Romantic Soul. She has worked as a newspaper columnist, university writer, and editor. She holds an MFA in creative writing and is the author of Returning to College: Continuing to Learn after 50 (New Forums Press 2017).
2021
• December 4, 1:30 p.m. at the Shelton Timberland Library:
Poet Ann Batchelor Hursey will share stories about the writing of her latest book, FIELD NOTES to Maya Lins Confluence Project Landscapes (Salmonberry Press, 2021). She’ll discuss how her pilgrimage to each of these sites along 438 miles of the Columbia River deepened her knowledge about the land, the river and its First People. Ann completed work on the manuscript for Field Notes during a return residency at Holly House last winter. Her poems have appeared on Seattle buses, in  the Seattle Review, Raven Chronicles, and Crab Creek Review, among  others. Besides collaborating with a variety of artists, she has written poems to compost, community gardens and fair trade. Her chapbook, A Certain Hold, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2012.
Colin Fogarty, Executive Director of Confluence, wrote, “Ann captures the experience of visiting the Confluence sites along the Columbia River System with an open mind, open heart and an enthusiasm to learn more about the Indigenous cultures of our region.”
• December 11, time TBA, Holly House – very limited capacity, please contact director@hypatia-in-the-woods for a reservation:
Book artist Tennille Davis Shuster will demonstrate techniques of masking and marbling paper.
A book designer, letterpress printer, and bookbinder, Tennille is an associate professor and director of the graphic design program at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia. Previously, she was associate professor at Nova Southeastern University, preceded by a decade of professional design practice. Her special interests in paper marbling include Turkish Ebru, Japanese Suminagashi, and Spanish Moiré marbling techniques for the endpapers of her artist books.
• Date and time in late December, early January TBA: 
Landscape Painter Roxanne Everett will offer an outdoor, nature-based sketching workshop, sharing her own sketchbook and assisting participants with theirs. Obviously, this will be weather-dependent, and will be limited to 10 participants. Please contact director@hypatiainthewoods.org to sign up.
Roxanne, who is based in Stehekin and Seattle, has a bachelor’s degree in architecture and a master’s in forest ecosystems, and is a graduate of the Artist Trust EDGE professional development program. Her work appears in galleries and exhibitions throughout the Northwest.

2020

Tuesday, September 22, 2020, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm  https://www.facebook.com/events/3644094419013768/

Moments in Monuments: Stories behind McKenzie Long’s forthcoming book about National Monuments

McKenzie spent seven years rock climbing on the smooth sandstone cracks of Indian Creek, Utah, so when that area was designated as Bears Ears National Monument she got curious about what that meant for a place she loved. This evolved into a much larger journey where she visited and researched 13 national monuments, the story of which is forthcoming in a book from University of Minnesota Press: This Land:a personal exploration of our country’s most controversial national monuments

She focused on large monuments created by presidential proclamation after 1995. These modern monuments are like the scrappy younger siblings of national parks. With a well-established management philosophy, national parks are sexy and sleek and beloved. They get huge visitation numbers. Many people don’t know about monuments, and if they do, they often confuse them with parks. Hear about these misunderstood places, what makes them unique, and the adventures behind her book, including volunteering at America’s most contaminated nuclear site, Hanford Reach; and hiking through remote desert canyons that were recently removed from Grand Staircase-Escalante’s boundary.

Bio:

Born in Ohio and a midwesterner at heart, McKenzie Long is a rock climber, graphic designer, and writer who lives in the Sierra Nevada. Her accomplishments include co-authoring two climbing guidebooks, winning cross-country Mountain Bike Nationals, climbing El Capitan, convincing her sisters to relocate within driving distance, and freelancing since 2011. McKenzie is a two-time writer-in-residence at Hypatia-in-the-Woods in Shelton, Washington.


Saturday, February 22; San Francisco writer Sherry Boschert presented a talk about electric cars, their history and their effect on the future in the meeting room at the Shelton Timberland Library.\


New York playwright Ginger Aña Dayla premiered a portion of her new commissioned play, “Lefty,” January 13.. Her husband, actor Russ Widdall of HBO’s “The Wire,” played the part of Sandy Koufax.


2019

Seattle novelist Cara Diaconoff held a reading Tuesday, Dec. 17, at the Shelton Timberland Library.
Ms. Dianconoff is the author of Unmarriageable Daughters and I’ll Be a Stranger to You.
She is on the faculty of Bellevue College English Department.

Friday, November 8, 2019,  at the Shelton Timberland Library, 710 W. Alder St., Shelton, WA. Emily Eisele, co-founder of Portland-based Bedrock Theatre, presented an afternoon of stories and songs during her Hypatia-In-The-Woods artist residency. Emily shared excerpts from Bedrock’s original musical adaptation of the classic Greek myth, Persephone, as well as brand-new material developed during her time at Holly House. Emily’s artistic work is greatly inspired by the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest and she can’t wait to explore Olympic National Park and trade stories with the Shelton community.

Hypatia-in-the-Woods resident artist Peggy Herring gave a presentation on the research behind her novel, “Anna, Like Thunder.” September 28, 2019, at the Mason County Historical Society Museum.

“In 1808, the Russian Ship St. Nikolai ran aground off the Olympic Peninsula; this novel is based on this astounding historical event and the lives of the people affected”.

Tuesday, August 6, 2019, Deborah G. Shannan presented a program at the Shelton Timberland Library:

Patterns in Nature – What they are, Where to Find them and How to Photograph them
As humans we crave the familiar in a chaotic natural world.  Look closely and you will find a pattern. With a blending of both science and art, come and hear about the types of patterns frequently found in nature.  Learn how to recognize nature’s patterns and how best to make photographs that capture intimate pattern details.
Bio/Artist Statement
Deb Shannan is an intimate landscape and botanical photographer based in Basalt, Colorado.  A former science teacher now turned photographer, Deb captures the small vignettes found within the larger chaotic natural world.  She is intrigued by scale, seasonal change, and the relationships necessary to sustain life. In her images she seeks to find shape, patterns, and textures attempting to provide the viewer with the essence of a quiet and contemplative scene. Her final photographs are often printed using the historic alternative process of hand coated platinum/palladium solutions on fine art paper.
Examples of Deb’s work may be viewed at: https://www.toopics.com/deborahgshannanphotography/

Friday, July 12, 2019, Maryanne Berry, Ph.D, held a workshop at the Shelton Timberland  Library, focused on exploring methods of writing about personal experience.

Dr. Berry is Chair of the English Department at Cardinal Newman High School, Santa Rosa, California.

Alexa Dodd held a workshop on Thursday, June 27, at the Shelton Timberland Library, on ways to write setting.  Visit her website and follow her on Twitter.  Alexa is also on LinkedIn.

Dr. Donna Decker, presented “Intentional Venom,” a program on making sense of mass killings, at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 18, 2019 at the Shelton Timberland Library. She discussed the award-winning Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You, her book about the 1989 Montreal Massacre, the worst mass shooting in Canadian history. Decker discussed her research, including interviews with victims’ families and survivors, her choice to write about a real-life event as fiction, and her university course on school shootings.

Donna is Professor of English and Director of the Women in Leadership Program at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire.

Brooklyn writer and photographer Carolyn Monastra gave a presentation at the Shelton library, Wednesday, April 15, on her work in progress photographing birds, especially those whose range is threatened by climate change, and her Witness Tree book project.

Jan Dove presented a program on book arts, with a look at her work, at the Shelton Timberland Library, March 25, 2019. Check out some of her artist book works at http://jandove.com/pages/artistbooks.html

“Inner Journeys with Collage” Sunday February 17, 12:30-5:00pm at Brilliant Moon, Third and Railroad, downtown Shelton.

Led by Rhoda Walter.  Tap into your inner wisdom to add depth, insight and richness to your psychological and spiritual journey through the process of SoulCollage® as described in Seena B Frost’s book SoulCollage® Evolving. This creative, intuitive collage process offers a simple means of self-discovery, with each collage representing an aspect of your personality or soul. In the class, you will learn more about the SoulCollage® process, experience the joy of finding magazine images that “speak” to you, make your first collage, and give voice to it. Artists and non-artists alike will find this process conceptually engaging.

Free, with all supplies provided. There is a limit of 8 people, with preregistration required. And remember to support your local independent bookstore.

Rhoda Walter lives in Winthrop, Washington.  She has led an ongoing collage group for the past nine years and has offered workshops locally on the SoulCollage® process.

“Winter” Reading and Open Mic, 6:00 pm Thursday, January 24, 2019

Poetry reading by Jayne Marek, Hypatia-in-the-Woods writer-in residence; open mic to follow at The Brilliant Moon, Third & Railroad, Shelton.


Writing Workshop & Reading with Sarah Dalton–Thursday, January 3rd, 2019 , 5:30 pm at The Brilliant Moon store  (3rd & Railroad, Shelton)

We live in a world where caretaking is often invisible work.  Our experiences as caretakers (for young children, our older parents, or disabled loved ones) shape our identities.  The gamut of emotions includes joy, grief, pain, humor, frustration, resentment, humility, and so many more.  Writer and teacher Sarah Dalton explorede poems, prose, and generative writing prompts to get attendees to think about how our caretaking experiences have shaped us.    

2018

WRITING MEMOIR with Savitri Bess–November 19th and November 26th, 4 pm co-hosted with The Brilliant Moon at their store, 3rd and Railroad, Shelton

A YEAR IN IRELAND PHOTOS–November 28th, 4:30 pm at the Shelton Library, Seventh and Alder, Shelton

Our resident writer, Savitri Bess, recently spent a year living and writing on the Irish coast. A spiritual seeker, she is author of  The Sophia Secrets, The Path of the Mother and Offer Me a Flower. She comes to us from Maine, although she plans eventually to move to the Eastern Puget Sound area.

Savitri offered a pair of workshops on writing memoir, each at 4 p.m. on two Mondays, November 19 and November 26, at Brilliant Moon Books at Third and Railroad in Shelton. On Wednesday, November 28, she showed slides from her year in Ireland, this event at the Shelton Library, Seventh and Alder.

November 9th, 4 pm co-hosted with The Brilliant Moon at their store, 3rd and Railroad, Shelton

Our artist-in-residence is Katherine Spears, from Lexington, Kentucky, offered a drawing workshop, free to the public.  Katherine is a graduate of Berea College with degrees in art history and studio art. She has had solo shows in Berea and Lexington, and received various honors including the Hutchins Art Award at Berea. During her residency, she worked on a series of window-sill still-life paintings and some plein-air painting.

October 18th, 6:30 p at The Brilliant Moon, 3rd and Railroad, Shelton

Hypatia’s writer-in-residence Dr. Dorien Nieman, from the Netherlands, spoke on identity and the prevention of mental illness.  Her presentation was

“Become who you are”

In current western societies it is a challenge to remain balanced. Many people experience pressure to be successful. The social media seem to play a role; we are constantly in contact with others via Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp-groups making it more difficult to follow our intuition. Sometimes this can lead to a state in which people become unsure about their own values in life. In the consulting room, I hear the following phrase a lot: ‘I have lost myself’. This can result in stress, anxiety, alienation and  depression. Do we know what the self is and how we can lose or find it? In the work of many writers and philosophers such as Leo Tolstoy, Rainer Maria Rilke, Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger, the topic of finding one’s true self (also called self-actualisation or authenticity) is of great importance. Their insights, combined with recent research results concerning the prevention of psychiatric disorders, will be discussed to find an answer to this fundamental question.

Dr. Nieman’s Biography

Dr. Dorien Nieman is associate professor and clinical psychologist at the Department of Psychiatry of the Amsterdam University Medical Centers, the Netherlands. She is (co)author of more than 100 publications in (inter)national journals, several handbook chapters and two books about topics such as psychotherapy, prediction and prevention of psychiatric disorders.    Her most recent book Prevention in Mental Health Care: Time for a new approach (https://www.routledge.com/9781138918160) is the first to combine recent scientific research results with insights from philosophy and art. Illustrating these points with elaborate case studies Prevention in Mental Health Care promotes a deeper understanding and a new model of mental health care, with an emphasis on prevention an natural recovery.

October 12th, 1:30 p at The Brilliant Moon, 3rd and Railroad, Shelton

Renee Piechocki, artist-in-residence, who comes from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, describes herself as an artist working with photography, video, stop motion animation, and drawing.  She was in residence at Hypatia in the Woods to embark on a specific task: review thousands of photos and videos she captured over the past fifteen years to develop content for a graphic novel and photo book.  During her presentation, she talked about the process to create this project and shared images and texts from two of the books.

Wednesday, September 26th, 6 p at Timberland Regional Library, Shelton

Japanese American writer and visual artist Shizue Seigel will give a slide talk based on her book on the Japanese American incarceration of World War II.

Drawing from her book Good Conscience: Supporting Japanese Americans During the Internment, Seigel will describe how ordinary people became extraordinary advocates for justice and compassion by helping Japanese Americans in their darkest hour. During the frightening and confusing times after the outbreak of war, 120,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated. Almost two-thirds were American-born citizens, and almost one third were children. Among the people who recognized the injustice and did something about it were Walter and Mildred Woodward, editors of the Bainbridge Review community newspaper, and Rev. Emory Andrews, pastor of the Japanese Baptist Church in Seattle.

Seigel is a third-generation Japanese American writer, visual artist and community activist who explores complex intersections of history, culture and spirituality through prose, poetry and visual art. Her work is informed by seven decades of experiential connections across age, class, continents and cultures.

Her books Endangered Species, Enduring Values, an anthology of San Francisco area writers and artists of color; and Standing Strong! Fillmore & Japantown. More information at www.shizueseigel.com

September 6th, 1 pm  at The Brilliant Moon, Third and Railroad, Shelton

Writer-in-residence, Kimberly King Parsons, read from her current novel-in-progress Boiling River (due at the publishers early next year).

August 24th, 1 pm at Brilliant Moon in Shelton  Writer-in-residence Brianna Grantham read from her YA novel-in-progress, Ex Liberis, followed by tea.  Dr. Grantham is a finalist in the 2018 Pacific Northwest Writers Association Unpublished Novel Literary contest in the Young Adult (YA) category.  Her prior published fiction works include “Lyra of the Blue Eyes,” in Where’s My Tiara?, a collection of women’s short-story fiction (available in paperbook and e-book on Amazon).

 August 3rd, 5:30 pm at the Timberland Regional Library, Shelton, WA–Lecture by Hypatia writer-in-residence Raad Rahman, “Sex and Terrorism in Bangladesh:  The Marginalizational of LGBTQ Communities.”  Who has the right to speak about the entire spectrum of LGBTQ expression, and where does this right end?  Bullying?  Death threats?  Murder?  Looking at the killing of Bangladeshi LGBTQ activist Xulhaz Mannan in 2016, this lecture will explore the themes of visibility and repression in a climate of growing terror against minority populations in Bangladesh.  Raad Rahman is a Brooklyn-based Bangladeshi freelance journalist and human rights specialist.  She has worked worldwide for organizations such as UNICEF and the International Center for Transitional Justice.  Nominated for a 2016 Pushcart Prize, her writing has been published in the New York Times, the Guardian, Paris Review, and many others.  In 2013, Harvard’s Kennedy School named her an emerging leader.  She appears courtesy of Hypatia-in-the-Woods artist retreat.

July 20 at Lecture at The Evergreen State College in Purce Hall (Lecture Hall 2), 2700 Evergreen Parkway, Olympia, WA, 7 pm –Award-winning solo show artist Pandora Scooter performed the first public run-through of a new performance piece she worked on at Holly House.

Pandora, the Hypatia-in-the-Woods current artist-in-residence, described herself as a “spoken-word maven.” During her residency at Hypatia’s Holly House in deep woods near Hammersley Inlet in rural Mason County, Scooter worked on the new one-woman show she performed at TESC. “Selfish,” which “centers on women’s equality and issues related to feminism and womanism.”

Pandora Scooter lives with her fiance in New Jersey, and is proud of her daughter, who is pursuing a career as a makeup artist in Los Angeles. Pandora has spent 26 years working on a script analysis methodology for actors, and teaching that methodology and other courses on the factuly of Terry Knickerbocker Studio in Brooklyn, New York.

Co-sponsoring Pandora Scooter’s performance July 20 with Hypatia was the Evergreen State College Trans and Queer Center and the Center for Community Based Learning and Action at TESC.

July 6th at Timberland Library, Shelton, 3-4 pm  Workshop “How to Make Your Dialogue Jump Off The Page.”  Join Hypatia resident and Broadway writer Jenny Stafford in this workshop as she guides participants through the use of dialogue in playwriting and screenwriting, which she claims is “90% of the story.”  Dialogue is how the plot moves forward, how the relationships are formed, and how the characters are developed–and yet it is one of the most difficult kinds of writing to master.  Open to teens and adults, during this workshop Stafford will guide you through tips and writing exercises to make your dialogue jump off the page.

May 31 at 6:00 PM–please join us at Brilliant Moon in downtown Shelton at Third and Railroad, where Hypatia resident Mona Monroe will be showing her work and giving a demonstration.  She is an abstract visual artist, and works across multiple media.  Wine and cheese will be served.

April 11 at 6:30 PMBrilliant Moon in downtown Shelton–a special conversation with resident author Sarah Wadell. This was a wonderful opportunity to learn about her work and the process she uses to bring her work into the world.

Swedish author and scriptwriter with a passion for words. Traveljunkie and nature lover. Likes vegan food, tattoos, and road trips. Often writes about alienation, unexpected encounters and people that disappear.

Hypatia-in-the-Woods supports women in the Arts, Sciences, and Entrepreneurship. We are so pleased to be co-hosting this event with Brilliant Moon, the one-of-a-kind place in Shelton for illuminating books, gifts, herbs, tea, & spices, located at 221 W. Railroad Avenue. Telephone (360) 868-2190.

April 7 at 1 p.m–Poet Liz Dills read from her own work, then conducted an open mic, to celebrate National Poetry Month at Brilliant Moon, Shelton’s lovely independent bookstore at Third and Railroad.

March 17 1-2:30 pm  Hypatia writer-and-artist-in-residence Carol Pulitzer offered a workshop in bookmaking:   “Kindergarten for Adults:  A Quick and Simple Book Project” at the Shelton Timberland Library.

Materials were provided for a hands-on project that started with postcard covered painting, collage, wordplay, stitchery, calligraphy. Participants explored typestyles, design elements, mottos, and other devices.

”Collecting images or text that’s important to someone and then binding it into a quick and simple book is fun and important; after all, a book about you and your interests could turn into a family heirloom,” says Pulitzer. “Books require no internet access, fit in your purse (or pocket), and can sit for years unopened, overlooked, then greet you with open arms when you return to them. I guess what I’m saying is that for me, books are love.”

Pulitzer distributed a bibliography of bookmaking and a list of ideas to try out at home.

Artist and writer Carol Pulitzer writes about New Orleans people and places for NolaVie. Some of her  illustrations and super short stories and  can be seen  at  littletheatre1.com. Her story “Carmelita” was a semi-finalist for the Walker Percy Prize in Short Fiction at Loyola University. Her illustrations have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers, including Anchorage Daily News, Mother Earth News, Senior Golfer, Spirituality and Health. She also designed the Krewe of Iris flag that hangs at Mardi Gras. She attended the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, graduated with honors from the New York Restaurant School.

February 17, 3-4:30 pm  FOR TEENS!  Writer-in-residence Christine Longe shared her playwriting expertise in this workshop for teens.  Workshop covered the basics of dialogue, stage directions, character and story development.  The workshop was designed to inspire, surprise, and get your pen moving!  At the Shelton Timberland Library, 710 W Alder St, Shelton.

February 1- March 5.  Former resident Analee Fuentes was part of a group art exhibit “An Ocean of Impact” at the Giustina Gallery, The LaSells Stewart Center, Oregon State University, 875 SW 26th St, Corvallis, Oregon.  Supports OSU’s 150th anniversary, and the OSU150 Sea Grant Festival.

January 13th at 3 pm   Writer-in-residence Helen Jones will read excerpts from her memoir-in-progress, which braids childhood memories, adult amnesia, and a desert Vision Quest gone awry. Helen has published poetry, fiction and nonfiction in a variety of publications, including The Los Angeles Review, EQUUS, Reed Magazine, and Porter Gulch Review. She won the Orlando award for flash fiction in 2013, and lives in Port Orchard with her Kiwi husband, two horses, two miniature donkeys and three cats.

2017

December 14th, 4- pm  Watercolor demonstration at the Shelton Library meeting room with Hypatia resident Marian Pham.

October 14th, 10:30 am-noon Writing workshop at Brilliant Moon Bookstore, Shelton.  Dieuwke van Turenhout holds a master’s degree in language and literature from Tilburg University, studied international law on an Erasmus scholarship at Cambridge, worked in corporate journalism in three countries (her second child was born in New Delhi, India) and currently lives and focuses on writing in Manila, the Philippines.

Dieuwke finished a course at the Writers Academy in Antwerp in 2015. Her fiction has appeared in literary magazines in several countries, and she won an honourable mention in the Glimmer Train competition for new writers.

Her workshop will focus on how to start writing. “This will include some information on how authors we (ought to) know do or did their thing,” she says, adding that the session will include writing prompts and “little exercises to open the more creative part of our brain,” as well as tips on tension and writing dialogue.

October 14th, 1-4 pm  Hypatia’s 18th Anniversary Party!  Five former Hypatia residents read selections from their writing, and told how their Hypatia residencies changed their lives–Alison Mandaville, Jenifer Lawrence, Darlene Zimbardi, Tessa Floreano Goertz, and Meagan MacVie.  Duet Anne Edge and Phyllis Solter provided music.  Brilliant Moon Bookstore, 116 Railroad Ave, #104, Shelton, WA

September 26th, READING by Tree Bernstein.  Just back from two-plus years with the Peace Corps in Cambodia, Tree read from her work and talked about her Asian experiences at Brilliant Moon Bookstore, 116 Railroad Ave #104, Shelton, WA.

Tree’s assignment in Cambodia was teaching English and art. She is a graduate of The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University with a MFA in Writing & Poetics. She taught college literature and writing in Ventura, California for the past decade.

The photographs in her Postcards From Cambodia series are shot with an iPad camera and are part of an ongoing project to document rural life in Cambodia. Bernstein used the camera as a way to make friends when her Khmer language skills failed.

You can view her website Postcards From Cambodia at www.cambodiapc.me

READING by Washington Poet Laureate Tod Marshall and South Puget Sound poets,  (Hypatia co-hosted) Reading from his anthology WA129 (that’s one poem for every year from statehood to 2018, the end of Tod’s term as poet laureate. Two Shelton poets, and Hypatia’s long-time supporters, Llyn de Danaan and Catherine Alice Michaelis, were among the readers, along with half-a-dozen other Olympia area writers.  September 8th, At Brilliant Moon Bookstore, 116 W Railroad Ave #104, Shelton, WA

Novel-in-Progress with Tessa Floreano  Writer and previous Hypatia in the Woods resident Tessa Floreano spoke about her research and novel-in-progress about a first-generation Italian-American woman and her family in 1930s PortlandSeptember 9th At Shelton Timberland Library, Shelton, WA 710 W. Alder Street, Shelton, WA  (360)426-1362

Experimental Drawing Workshop, August 26.  Experimental Drawing workshop at the Shelton Timberland Library led by Hypatia-in-the-Woods resident Sonja Hinrichsen, a working and teaching artist from Oakland, California.

Using smooth artist pens filled with saturated India ink, participants created a huge drawing – all together. The drawing was cut into smaller compositions which participants took home, and the project will also included the opportunity to cut greeting/holiday cards of different shapes and sizes.

READING  June 22, 2017, 6 pm:  Resident Allison Campbell read from her wonderful, wise and witty poetry at Brilliant Moon Bookstore, 116 W Railroad Ave (Mariano Plaza), Shelton, WA  (360-868-2190)

LITERARY READING by resident Yen Ha 5 p.m., Saturday, May 26th at Brilliant Moon Bookstore.  Yen Ha explains that her work “revolves around the overlap of a strict Asian upbringing and a liberal Western mindset.”

WORKSHOP on the BRAIDED ESSAY, by resident Erica Berry at Shelton Timberland Library

SOUND OF THE HEARTBEAT:  Holistic Cultivation and Music, 1 p.m., Saturday, April 29, 2017 at Brilliant Moon Bookstore, Shelton WA

A performance and multi-cultural workshop facilitated by resident, Mi-na Shay. Through music, precusion, and the heartbeat, she examined the various traditions within our heritage and found connections, comparing and contrasting differences, and finally, renewing and inspiring a sense of relevance and power in traditional ideas and teachings.

A moving combination of wellness-music, meditation, knowledge, and connection

KEEP A KITCHEN DIARY, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Saturday, January 28, 2017 at Brilliant Moon Bookstore, Shelton WA

Artist-in-residence at Holly House, Carol Pulitzer from New Orleans, held a class on keeping a kitchen diary and cooked one of her favorite recipes. Carol called it New Orleans Cookery Meets Pacific Northwest Seafood.

ORGAN RECITAL, Noon, Thursday, January 19th, at St. David’s Episcopal Church, Fourth and Cedar, Shelton, WA

Composer-in-residence, Sheila Bristow, performed a midday organ recital.  Sheila used the Fritts-Richards tracker-action organ at St. David’s to practice during her stay at Holly House, where she worked on two composition projects.

Sheila is organist and director of music at Church of the Redeemer in Kenmore. She has conducted choirs ranging from the 5th-grade class of Daniel Bagley Elementary to the Northwest Chamber Chorus.

Sheila received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in music composition from Cornish College of the Arts and her Master of Music in organ performance from the University of Washington, studying church music and performing in many collaborative recitals. She continues to write and arrange music for services and concerts, and has most recently been moving more seriously into composing both for voice and for instruments.

Her program Thursday incorporated works by Purcell and Bach, among others.

2016

HONE YOUR WRITING SKILLS WORKSHOP, Wednesday, November 30 at Brilliant Moon Bookstore, First and Railroad, Shelton, WA

Holly House Writer-in-residence, Rebecca Fradkin, presented a discussion of short story structure via an examination of James Salter’s ‘Last Night.’ How are stories built? What makes them strong and what makes them collapse?”   You can find the story at

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/11/18/last-night-2

Becky Fradkin studied fiction with Bret Johnston and Amy Hempel and has previously been published by Theaker’s Quarterly and Bradburyesque Quarterly. Her most recent short story will be coming out in Cherry Tree winter of 2016-17. She is also currently Affiliate Editor at the Alaska Quarterly Review. At Hypatia’s Holly House, she worked on her first novel.

WRITING FROM A DEEPER PLACE, during August 14-21th (time/date/place tbd)

Hypatia’s resident Gabrielle Pullen, from Seattle, WA, lead this workshop, focusing on a creative process for women in transition, guided meditation, creativity, and writing from a deeper place.

COLLAGE WORKSHOP, August 9th, 6:30 – 8:30 pm, at the Shelton Timberland Library, 6:30-8:30 pm

Hypatia’s resident Artist Elinor Meeks, from New Jersey, lead this collage workshop.  Some materials were provided and participants were encouraged to bring personal ephemera (paper, letters, photographs, etc.)

BASKETRY WORKSHOP, Saturday, August 6th at Timberland Regional Library, Shelton, WA

Hypatia’s resident Donna Sakamoto Crispin, from Oregon, lead this basketry workshop.

ANNUAL MEETING, Saturday, July 30th, 6:30-8:30 pm at the Capitol Coach House (211 21st Ave, Olympia, WA)

Annual meeting & fundraiser.  Author and performer Mary Lou Sanelli engaged her audience with her latest presentation, “A Woman Writing.”   Mary Lou gave us her take on wordsmithing; thought-provoking and entertaining.  Included Silent Auction items, and libations and nibbles.

WORKPARTY REUNION, July 24-30th at Holly House, 160 Lagoon Lane, Shelton, WA

We rolled up our sleeves and tackled summer maintenance on our residency building, Holly House.  We were joined by volunteers, including locals and former residents–thank you, one and all!

PROCESS and PLAY:  A WRITING WORKSHOP, July 23th, 10:00 am, at Brilliant Moon Bookstore, Shelton, WA

Hypatia’s writer-in-resident Alexandra Sirotovich of St. Augustine, Florida.  A workshop investigating the possibilities that playfulness can inject into the creative process. Through discussion and prompts, we explored strategies for letting go of personal blocks and making space for the playful and truthful artist in all of us. For those who write, are just getting started, and especially for those who are stuck staring at a blank page, this workshop focused on introducing levity to the creative process to push us beyond resistance and doubt.

WRITING MEMORY:  How to Use Your Past to Write Epiphanic Poetry WORKSHOP, June 30th at Brilliant Moon Bookstore, Shelton

Hypatia’s writer-in-residence, Lauren M. Davis.  Participants were challenged to write tangible-memory, and learned how to use poetic form and tactics to facilitate an intimate connection which will resonate with readers, allowing them to recall the importance of their own memories. Learned how to use memories to write a successful poem and to discuss memory writing challenges.
Lauren Davis is from Fort Wayne, Indiana. A recent MFA graduate of the Stonecoast MFA program in Maine, Lauren has studied in North Carolina and Ireland.

COLLAGE WORKSHOP,  June 11th at Brilliant Moon Bookstore, Shelton

Hypatia’s artist-in-resident, Kansan artist Rhonda Davis taught the class that there is no wrong thing to do when it comes to art.  The group used faces from magazines as a jumping-off place to explore visual ideas with a variety of mark-making tools–pencils, pens, colored pencils, watercolor, gouache.  Rhonda stressed “play” and “fun” and “no fear” during the workshop.  She left her four-week residency with a deep appreciation of the Pacific Northwest and a love of oyster shells.

“WISE AGING” MEMOIR WRITING WORKSHOP with Lee Reilly, April 27th, Timberland Regional Library, Shelton, WA.

EARTH DAY CELEBRATION, Friday, April 22nd at Brilliant Moon bookstore, Shelton

Co-sponsored with Great Old Broads for Wilderness.   Works of poets of the wild and the natural world.  Celebrated Olympia poet Bill Yake will read, and Holly Hughes, a resident alumna, read from Passings, her new chapbook about extinct birds.

MEET HYPATIA-IN-THE-WOODS February 20th at Brilliant Moon bookstore, Shelton

Provided information about Hypatia-in-the-Woods, which provides residencies for women in the arts, academia and entrepreneurship, and enriches the community with workshops and readings by its resident scholars, artists and writers.  Information provided about volunteering.  Refreshments, live music, and talks by former residents.

Panel Discussion:  Suicide Prevention, February 9th, Shelton Timberland library with Lisa Richards.

 

2015

WATERCOLOR ILLUSTRATION – A WORKSHOP WITH ABIGAIL VAUGHAN, a Portland, OR artist working in watercolor and sculpture September 15th, at the Shelton Timberland Library
Participants spent time on technique, paint mixing and color blending, interpretation and editing. Students brought a favorite piece of writing, and  short stories or excerpts from a selection at the library. The goal was to complete at least one illustration during the workshop. Artists brought their own supplies.

Abigail has worked as a mural artist in private homes and businesses, a guest artist and teacher at Crosswinds Elementary in Minnesota and custom card printer and painter. She loves to travel and gain inspiration from communities around the world, illustrating stories, poems and life.

WRITE TO CONNECT WITH YOUR AUTHENTIC SELF – A WORKSHOP WITH TRACI SCHATZ, a Portland, OR writer September 28th at the Shelton Timberland Library
In this workshop, fiction, memoir, and poetry provided inspiration to explore, play, and connect more deeply with ourselves, our writing, and with the other people in the circle.  Participants finished the workshop with some complete pieces as well as material to mine for future poems and stories.

Traci Schatz lives and writes in Portland, Oregon, with her partner and their small petting zoo of animals. She has been published in the VoiceCatcher anthology (and went on to become an Associate Editor) and Wordstock 10, among others. She has been enrolled in The Institute of Poetic Medicine’s facilitator training program where she explores poetry as therapy as a tool for empowerment and growth. She has also been a facilitator for Portland Women Writers.

For more details about Traci, visit http://pdxwomenwriters.com/aboutus/facilitators.html. For more information about The Institute of Poetic Medicine: http://www.poeticmedicine.com/

MUSIC COMES TO THE LIBRARY WITH DOUBLE HUG: SONGS & SPELLS FOR DECOLONIZING BODIES, November at the Shelton Timberland Library with Nomy Lamm and Erin Daly, music and dream collaborators for nearly a decade.

In this workshop, participants explored gentle lullabyes for grownups that soothe the nervous system and dress the wounds of civilization. Songs to relax into, songs that cuddle our souls and inspire deep dreams of a world our mothers wished they could give us.

Nomy and Erin have toured the country together several times, spreading their vision in the three-piece hybrid-genre band Tricrotic, and on the New Road Home tour with DavEnd.  They’ve played at festivals including Homo-a-go-go, Ladyfest, Idapalooza, Camp Trans and Outfest. When not immersed in a double hug, Erin roams the wilds of Washington making medicine with the plants she encounters, and Nomy lives in San Francisco writing stories and teaching people to access their voices.

Check out coming events!

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