Paper Garden Literary Contest Winners Celebration

As the Meadowlake Studios’ camera panned the smiling faces and nervous laughter filled the McMinnville Community Center for the 2012 Paper Gardens Literary Contest award celebration.  For 19 years the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County  has sponsored the County wide creative writing contest for ages 6 and up, children, youth and adult in categories of prose and poetry.  This year there were 300 submissions.

Poet, gardener and essayist Charles Goodrich was the judge for Paper Gardens.   Goodrich is the director of the Spring Creek Project for Ideas, Nature, and the Written Word at Oregon State University.  His newest collection of work may be found in his book "Going To Seed"  Dispatches from the Garden” (Silverfish Review Press, 2010).

The celebration was a chance for community members to talk with contest judge Charles Goodrich and meet other writers.  The highlight of Friday evening was hearing almost all of the 2012 winners read their work.

This year’s Chapbooks is dedicated to Ken Myers.  Since 1993 Ken Myers had been involved with the layout and production the Paper Gardens chapbooks.  His dedication and long support is one of the reasons Yamhill County writers have been published by Paper Gardens.  Rachel Burchard, founder of the contest would be proud to know Ken Myers still the literary touch.  The Chapbook cover art is by local paper cut artist Cindy Stinson-Chennell.    Chapbooks are available for sale by contacting the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County. 

Look for Meadowlake Studios Encounters: Paper Gardens 2012 on McMinnville Community Media MeMinnville Community Media.

2012 Winning Entries
Adult Prose
1st Place: “Lesser God” by Dennis Bershaw
2nd Place: “Joys of a Mailbox” by Larry Kurtz
3rd Place: “Runaway” by Loren Willbur

Adult Traditional Poetry
1st Place: “As It Should Be” by Mike Paull
2nd Place: “A Step” by Melissa K. Terrill
Adult Free Verse Poetry
1st Place: “Undone” by Julie Stubblefield
2nd Place: “My Surgeon” by Jen Jo
3rd Place: “Lullaby” by Susan Easterly

Adult Haiku
1st Place: “Small Steps” by David Hallett
2nd Place: “Spring” by Ann E. Patton
3rd Place: “Hovering Over Mt. Shasta” by Brenda Huante

Adult Poetry of Place
1st Place: “Tyler, Age 2, Picks Blackberries” by Fran Hunter

Youth Prose
1st Place: “The Patient” by Erica Keaveney
2nd Place: “The Old Lafayette Estate” by Kristi Thompson

Youth Free Verse Poetry
1st Place: “Sideways” by Bethan Bonebrake
2nd Place: “Short Answer Questions and First Lines” by Natasha Balwit

Youth Haiku
1st Place: “Creative Juices” by Margaret Halstead

Children Prose
1st Place: “The Wreck of the SS Star Liner” by Kiran Sawhney
2nd Place: “Video Adventure” by Lakshmi Austen Sawhney

Children Free Verse Poetry
1st Place: “Quiet” by Hannah Siepmann
2nd Place: “The Ocean” by Tatum Frey
3rd Place: “Orchestra Sparks” by Sara Lin Asada

Children Haiku
1st Place: “Snowball” by Emily Cinnamon
2nd Place: “Fire” by Pruette Karl
3rd Place: “Rain” by Kyra Ellen Sieber

Children Poetry of Place
1st Place: “Our Library” by Juan Hernandez

Increasing the Literary Density of Yamhill County

Barbara Drake was excited about the Terroir Creative Writing Festiva   coming up next Saturday. April 14th at the McMinnville Community Center.  I talked with her this morning at McMinnville Public Market.  She was staffing the Arts Alliance of Yamhill County booth. 

Barbara Drake is the guiding spirit of the Terroir. Writing Festival  It was November of 2008 or 2009, when she, then President of  Arts Alliance, stood before a large Arts Alliance membership gathering and asked for help in realizing her dream of a creative writing festival. 

“What we want to do.”  she said. “We want to increase the literary density in Yamhill County.”   

Barbara has done just that.  The first Terroir Creative Writing Festival in 2010 was a huge success.   The well known Portland writer Ursula LeGuin was a speaker and there were writing workshops by well known Northwest writers.   Terroir 2011 was also successful.  Author of the Earth’s Children’s series Jean Auel  was a speaker and again there were excellent writing workshops by Northwest writers.

This year’s Creative Writing Festival is shaping up to be as good or better than previous years.  The line up of Northwest writers speaking,  writing workshops and readings is impressive.

The musician and writer who opened the recent Oregon Book Awards presentation, Willy Vlautin will talk about finding inspiration in Oregon.  Portland suspense writer, author of “Kill you Twice”, Chelsea Cain will give a work shop on writing a best selling thriller.  There is a Poetry workshop by gardner and poet Charles Goodrich whose new book is ‘Going to Seed: Dispatches from the Garden” and who is the judge for the Arts Alliance’s annual  Paper Gardens Writing Contest .

One of my favorite Northwest writers Matt Love will be doing a work shop on writing creative non-fiction.  Leanne Grabel will have a work shop on writing and producing your own play.   Those who are thinking about a memoir, Evelyn Hess  will give a work shop on writing memoirs. 

There will be readings by novelists and poets.   The poetry journal of place Windfall Journal  editors and authors Bill Siverly and Michael McDowell will read and many other local poets.   There will be an opportunity for writers take a risk and to stand up at an “open mic” and read their work to an appreciative audience.

For those who love the feel and touch of the old fashioned book, you are not forgotten, the founder of Book Arts Center of McMinnville Marilyn Worrix will have a work shop on the handmade book.

If you are a writer the  Terroir Creative Writing Festivalwill give you access to some very good Northwest writers from varied disciplines.  In the workshops you pick up tips to help you improve your craft.  The entire event will introduce you to other local writers.   The registration form is on the website and you can register Saturday morning, April 14th at the Community Center.

As Barbara said. “What we want to do is increase the literary density of Yamhill County.”

Terroir Creative Writing Festival April 14, 2012

Three weeks until the Terrior Creative Writing Festival opens Saturday April 14 at the McMinnville Community Center.  Registration is at 8 am, talks, workshops and readings begin at 9 am and go until 4:30.

Barbara Drake, poet, teacher and co-founder of the Terroir Creative Writing Festival  and indicated she was coordinating the program for the Festival.  There is an impressive program of authors, Chelsea Cain , LEANNE GRABEL , WILLY VLAUTIN ,  MATT LOVE , CHARLES GOODRICH , and EVELYN HESS and many others.

Willy Vlautin will talk about finding inspiration in Oregon.  Matt Love will discuss creative non-fiction and Leanne Grabel will have a workshop on writing and producing your own play.

A chance to meet writers, talk writing and books and listen to writers reading their work.

Elizabeth Santone, Featured artist at Meet the Artist at Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery

Final adjustments

Elizabeth Santone was one of the featured artists at the Portland Art Museum's Rental Sales Gallery Meet the Artist event on Saturday, February 25th.  She talks about her paintings and her inspiration.


Director for the Portland Art Museum’s Rental Sales Gallery, Jennifer Zika is a wonderful host and although our filming with a big tripod was an slight obstacle in the Gallery’s limited space, she made us feel welcome.


In 1959 the Women’s Council of the Portland Art Museum appointed a Gallery Board which opened the Museum’s Rental Sales Gallery staffed by volunteers.  The Gallery’s mission is to promote the arts in Oregon, to provide a showcase for Oregon artists, and to increase public awareness of the Art community.  Gallery commissions proved revenue for the Museum and help support the Artists.  


According to The Oregon Encyclopedia membership in the Portland Art Museum is a prerequisite for renting artwork from Rental Sales Gallery.  Artworks is consighnment, price set by the artist and rental fees are on a sliding scale.  The Gallery host three artist shows a per year, in April, June and October.  Currently more than 250 artists from Oregon and Southwest Washington are represented.  All work is original and juried.  There are 600 art works in the Gallery at any one time and over 2000 works all together.  Art mediums include; oil, acrylic and watercolor paintings; wood, metal and stone sculpture; drawings; collages; photography; and framed prints.

Monthly Meet the Artists events began in the Fall of 2010.  Each month on the last Saturday the Gallery provides an opportunity to get to know 4 or 5 artists represented by the Rental Sales Gallery.  There is the chance to look around the Gallery, enjoy a nibble, a sip of wine and listen to featured artists talk about their work.

In addition to Elizabeth we filmed the presentations of Ok Ji Radda and Janet Lauvau Holt.
 

 

Ok Ji Radda

                                          

 

Janet Holt

Metaphor for creativity: There are no mistakes on the bandstand

 The TED talk by jazz musician Stefon Harris There are no mistakes on the Bandstand demonstrated how a "mistake" like an out of key note, was an opportunity if the other players who where listening and responded to what they heard.  Harris talked about the Bandstand as a special place, a place without past and without future.  The bandstand is a place of the complete present.  Musicians in the present and responding to one another in a natural way results in opportunities for creativity.  Harris and the 3 players with him showed how it worked when they let a note by one lead toward a new directions.

No mistakes on the bandstand is a natural metaphor for creativity in almost any creative endeavor.   Bandstand is the creative moment.  The here, the now.  With the understanding or assumption there needs to be a excellent level of craft, there are no mistakes, just a deviation from an expectation and an opportunity for a new and creative direction.  Harris did not talk about level of craft, he assumed a high level.

As metaphor bandstand to have no mistakes is to be open to change, be ready to adjust and avoid being judgmental, especially on the bandstand at the time of creating the art.

Curiousity and Danger, Connections at my fingertips

I love this time we live in.  Connections at my fingertips.  On Facebook I "like" Prairie Schooner the literary magazine.  Their page sends out a "share" to FilmMaker Magazine  with an article Ten Lessons on Filmmaking from Director Marjane Satrapi.

Filming Meet the Artist

Our recent video project is the Meeting the Artist Event at the Portland Art Museum Rental Sales Gallery we filmed February 25th.  So film making is on my mind.  Not at the level of Satrapi's "Persepolis".

Of Marjane Satrapi's list of ten lessons I like 1. Learn to tell your story, 2. Create Don't Produce, 4. the best films come from the best collaborations, 5. Don't waste your time on Divas, 6. Try Dallas (she means go to places where not everyone agrees with you), 7 Suffering is optional, 8. Shoot for beauty, 10. Remember Humor.

How easy it is to learn things these days.  Curiosity can also be dangerous.  Access from afar is very possible and real.

Earlier today I watched a TED talk All Your Devices can be Hacked  by Avi Rubin.  He presented a horrifying list of devices that can be hacked and controlled.  Pace Makers, Cars, phones, two way radios, and stealing key strokes from your computer.  Access is not easy, it takes knowledge, some very esoteric knowledge, but access can be achieved.  Some of the methods are beyond me.   In Rubin's talk there were seeds to several 21st century spy stories and some pretty good mystery stories.

Those who say privacy is dead, get over it.  Yep.  I hear you.

Jim Gullo: "Trading Manny" Father Son Baseball journey

I had forgotten about Dizzy Trout.

Last week Jim Gullo and his son Joe came to the McMinnville Community Media studio to do an Arts Alive interview with Lynda Phillippi.   Jim wanted to talk about his forth coming book "Trading Manny" , the story of a Father teaching his son Joe to love Baseball during the steroid scandals which made respecting baseball very difficult.

I was never a big baseball fan.  Although I remember the summer of 1953 or 54 I searched the neighborhood, the school, the city for a card on mostly Detroit Tigers and then Boston Red Sox pitcher Dizzy Trout.  He wasn’t that great pitcher and he was a bit long in the tooth, but  I loved his name and he wore glasses, so I could relate.  I had rookies Jim Gilliam, Harvey Haddix and Ray Jablonski to trade,  I was even willing to throw in 10 rare red cat’s-eye marbles.  I never found Dizzy’s card.  I read that year “Disappointment  is necessary to develop character”, I wasn’t convinced.  In 1955, the World Series went to the Brooklyn Dodgers over the New York Yankees, and my interest in baseball fanned out. 

By 2006 when Lance Williams and Mar Fainaru-Wada book  "Game of Shadows" came out, followed in 2007 by the "Mitchell Report", it was not a shock or even a surprise that baseball players were abusing steroid drugs to get a competitive edge.   Only 89 players?

It turns out I was not the only one who thought 89 might be a low ball number.   In 2007 Jim Gullo/s his seven year old son Joe, whose baseball hero was Manny Ramirez, was asking,      Page 20 of "Trading Manny"   “Look Dad,” he said, waving a card of a player who had not been named by Mitchell or associated with drug use.  “This guy hit forty-eight homers in 2001 and hasn’t hit more than twenty-one since.  He was probably using drugs, wasn’t he?”

To redeem his own love of baseball and to be true and honest to Joe in a time when baseball was down, Jim Gullo and his son went on a quest to find the truth about steroid use and to seek the soul of baseball.  “Trading Manny” is the story of their journey.

On the same day as the Arts Alive interview Jim posted on his BLOG an instructive chronology of “Trading Manny” from the inception of the idea to the publishing of the book.  If you have a book idea and are getting ready to get to the writing, check out the blog post.

On Febrary 28th, Jim and Joe Gullo talk with Arts Alive host Lynda Phillippi about their journey and the writing of the book.    You Tube has a 15 minute limit.  The 30 minute show is the above is Part One and go to Part Two to see the last half of the show.


Jim Gullo lives in McMinnville.  In addition to the forthcoming "Trading Manny" he has a recent novel  "Fountain of Youth".  He is the editor and publisher of a web magazine http://www.oregonwine.com covering Oregon wine industry.