I wanted to say that when visiting nature or remains of human history we always keep ourselves safe- and dont push it- as well as maintaining a respect for location.
i wish nothing else in life then to feel life from as many perspectives as possible - never at the consequence of damaging anything-
including our own selves.
but i do hope if you read this if you enjoy these images then you will act softly and leave only footprints - as i would hate to think i could be doing damage merely in publishing such locations here.
with the same respect taken in visiting historical 13th century britain do i take with me in the left behind of the early 1900s america- its not quite the same but its what we got and life here seems to plan the next building on a location before the first has even been moved into.
please please respect and do no harm.

I have a problem tooting my own horn!
seriously to the point of i cant even tell people about the fact I just won a grant from the Sustainable Arts Foundation because I feel out of place being not humble...
it feels wrong , but if I write it here - well i can tell people without really knowing it?!
as an artist I think it may be part of my job to toot- after all no one really toots for you - by the time others are tooting for you you don't need to toot yourself?
so anyways here we go I won a grant from these fantastic folks at the foundation.
congratulations to all my fellow winners and best of luck in all future endeavors!
I feel humbled and honored, thank you so much for this and your support.

supporting artists and writers with families

Awardees

Spring 2012 Award Winners

William M. Adler

William M. Adler is the father of one and the author of three books. Adler writes that his first two books, Land of Opportunity: One Family’s Quest for the American Dream in the Age of Crack and Mollie’s Job: A Story of Life and Work on the Global Assembly Line, “describe the gap between American ideals and American realities;” his most recent work, The Man Who Never Died: The Life, Times and Legacy of Joe Hill, American Labor Icon, is a terrifically engaging biography of the songwriter whose life has influenced artists ranging from Wallace Stegner to Joan Baez. Adler’s books tell important stories, compelled by a duty to shed light on Americans whose lives might otherwise be forgotten. In his next project, Adler proposes trying to answer a simple question: Why do we still have fatal mining disasters in this country? We can’t wait to read it.
http://themanwhoneverdied.com/

Jason Engelund

Jason Engelund is a visual artist who has worked in a variety of media. We were particularly taken by his most recent work in which he uses non-traditional photographic techniques to explore abstraction. Additionally, his work for the California College of the Arts Center for Art and Public Life combines social, humanitarian and artistic ideals, and demonstrates beautifully how art can be integrated into one's life and community. He lives in Oakland, California with his wife and daughter.
http://jasonengelund.com/

Thendara M. Kida-Gee

Thendara M. Kida-Gee is a multimedia artist who impressed us with her intensely textured photographs in a series called This Life in Ruins. We also love her most recent work, in which she breathes new life into old photographs by cutting them up and then layering and weaving them into landscape collages. She lives with her daughter in Seattle, WA.
http://www.thendarakida.com

Travis Mossotti

Travis Mossotti is a poet who has published one collection, About the Dead, and is currently completing a second, Field Study, written in his role as Poet-in-Residence at the Endangered Wolf Center, in St. Louis, Missouri. His poems are deeply engaged with nature, and the ways both people and animals interact with it; each poem creates a vivid world, peopled with characters we won’t soon forget. He lives in Missouri with his wife and daughter.
http://saxifragepress.com/

Tom Noyes

Tom Noyes is the author of two short story collections and is working on a third. A writing professor and contributing editor of the journal Lake Effect, Noyes’ writing impressed us with its quiet tone and understated urgency. Its environmental undercurrent is timely and important, but the stories are never “issue” stories; they simply map human relationships in a compelling way. He lives in Erie, PA, with his wife and two children.
http://www.tomnoyes.net/

Spring 2012 Promise Award Winners

Don't be misled by the name: our Promise Award winners show more than just promise -- they are highly accomplished artists and writers who have already demonstrated great success. We're delighted to support them in their future work.

Dorothy Barnhouse

Dorothy Barnhouse is a teacher, a mother of two, and the coauthor of What Readers Really Do: Teaching the Process of Meaning Making, a book about teaching reading. Her work-in-progress, a young adult novel called Horse Man, is a book we can’t wait to buy for our kids. Its main character, Horace Mann, is a smart (but not smart-alecky) eighth grader struggling with life in a New York City public school. The novel is funny and full of terrific word play.

Jung Han Kim

Jung Han Kim impressed us with his realistic portrayals of San Francisco neighborhoods. He has tremendous talent for capturing atmospheric nuance -- his paintings of the same intersection at different times of day and in different weather conditions recall the haystack or cathedral paintings of Monet. He lives with his wife and two children in San Francisco, CA.
www.kimfineart.com

Lisa Olstein

Lisa Olstein is the mother of one son and the author of three books of poetry: Radio Crackling, Radio Gone; Lost Alphabet (named one of the nine best poetry books of 2009 by Library Journal); and Little Stranger, forthcoming in spring 2013. She’s at work on two new projects: one is a collection of poetry, and the second, in collaboration with a musician, is an invented archive which will detail -- via letters, diaries, poems, lyrics, interviews, drawings, and other ephemera written by Olstein -- the lives of four fictional sisters who lived in the Swift River Valley in the early 1900s.
http://lisaolstein.com/

Kelcey Parker

Kelcey Parker is the author of two short story collections, For Sale By Owner, Winner of the 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Award in Short Fiction, and the forthcoming Liliane’s Balcony. Parker’s fiction offers a very different view of domestic life, presenting a picture that’s not always very comfortable, but always fascinating and honest. Her next project, The Bitter Life of Božena Němcová, heads a different direction, offering a collage-biography based on found texts and altered images of the 19th Century writer that Milan Kundera calls the "Mother of Czech Prose." Parker lives in Indiana with her husband and daughter.
http://kelceyparker.com/

Naomi Wanjiku

Naomi Wanjiku marries traditional quilting techniques with a slightly more modern sensibility. We were taken by her quilts which bring elements of abstract expressionism to the world of fiber arts, and also by a series of works weaving together stainless steel in various stages of decay -- truly unique. She lives in San Antonio, TX with her husband and two sons.
http://naomiwanjiku.com