FREE | Every Friday: May 10 - October 11 | 5 PM - 6 PM
Join us throughout the residency season for our free public series of short and 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 all disciplines. This is a wonderful way to kick off your weekend! Bring a friend, all are welcome.
Location: Main Campus. Look for Craigardan Event sign at the end of Main Campus driveway (two “doors” west of the farm store, towards Keene). Google Maps Link
Emily Eileen Carter
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
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
Tessa Holmes is a multidisciplinary artist who works primarily with oil paints, photography, and food. Inspired most by the seasons and plants of Vermont, she often employs bold colors and thick textures in a post-impressionistic manner to create an exaggerated view of the natural world around her. Being a professional photographer, and always with her camera, she finds the world a constant source of glorious ready made compositions to capture. Sometimes the photographs are beautiful enough on their own, but usually, she prefers cutting up her prints to create new dreamscape collages or painting directly from the photographs using heavily applied paint to the canvas with only a pallet knife. She likes rich vibrant colors and quick gratification. Details hold little appeal unless they are found by accident. Joy, beauty, and nourishment are the goals. 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 plant-based dishes. The focus has been working primarily as a retreat chef but this past year she is turning her attention to writing and illustrating a cookbook and starting the Blossom Culinary Academy.