Contributors
Ashley Suzan Beck (Recipes: Southwest Flavors) was raised in Newport Beach, California, where she inherited her love for the kitchen from her Armenian mother and grandmother. Beck graduated from New York University and is currently working for the Marcus Samuelsson Group. When not styling a shoot or testing new recipes, she fancies running along the East River, knitting, reading Fitzgerald, and dining out with friends. She lives in Brooklyn with her Morkie, Coco, and can be followed on Twitter @AshleySuzan.
Manny Blacksher (Poems) is a writer, editor, and teacher currently residing in Birmingham, Alabama. Blacksher grew up in Mobile and has taught at Alabama State University in Montgomery. However, he has also lived and worked for extended periods on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, in Montreal, Quebec, and in Dublin, Ireland. This fall, he will enroll in Carnegie Mellon's Masters program in Professional Writing. Blacksher's poetry has been published in many literary journals, including Poetry Ireland Review, Raintown Review, and Measure. New work of his is scheduled to appear in Green Hills Literary Lantern and Digital Americana.
Neil & Mary Colmer (Constellation of Stars) have worked out of their Weaver's Bottom Craft Studio in Berea, Kentucky since 1989. They work together and individually to produce everything they sell, from hand-woven wall hangings to tablecloths, mats, rugs, placemats, towels, and more. Everything is made on site in their studio in an environment that encourages visitors ask questions, observe, and learn about their craft. Weaver's Bottom may also be visited on Facebook.
Louise Despont (Drawings) lives and works in New York City. In 2006, She graduated from Brown University, where she was awarded the Weston Price Film Award. From 2009-2010, Despont traveled to India as a Fullbright Fellow, living as a Sanskriti Artist In Residence in Delhi. She has had solo shows at the Nicelle Beauchene Gallery (New York), IBID Projects (London), IMO Gallery (Copenhagen), and, most recently, at Galerie Isa (Mumbai). Her work has appeared in group shows at Phillips de Pury & Co. (New York), Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York), and the High Art Museum (Atlanta). Despont is represented by Nicelle Beauchene Gallery in New York and IBID Projects in London. For inquiries, please contact info@nicellebeauchene.com or louise.despont@gmail.com.
Lauren DiCioccio (National Geographics) is an artist working primarily in the media of hand-embroidery and soft sculpture. She lives bicoastally in Brooklyn and San Francisco and holds a BA in Studio Art from Colgate University. Her work has been exhibited at the Bellevue Arts Museum (Washington), the Laguna Art Museum (California), the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (California) and is on view this summer at the SFO Airport Museum. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at The McColl Center for Visual Art, The Workshop Residence, Recology SF, and the Oberpfalzer Kunstlerhaus. DiCioccio is represented by Jack Fischer Gallery in San Francisco and Tomlinson Kong Contemporary in New York.
Andi Ekström (Fridlyst) is a Swedish designer and furniture maker at he start of his career. He has studied extensively at institutions including Capellagarden (Öland, Sweden) and the College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking Program (Fort Bragg, California). Most recently, Andi produced "Fridlyst" (Swedish for "Sacred") for his Journeyman's Test, a national competition in Sweden. His work took top prize and will be shown at the Designtrade Furniture Fair in Copenhagen, Denmark from August 28-30. For information, email: andre@skanesnickeri.se
Nels Hanson (The Blue Appaloosas) has worked as a farmer, teacher, and contract writer/editor. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz and the University of Montana; his fiction received the San Francisco Foundation's James D. Phelan Award. Hanson's stories have appeared in Antioch Review, Texas Review, Black Warrior Review, Southeast Review, Montreal Review, and other journals. "Now the River's in You," which appeared in Ruminate Magazine, was nominated for a 2010 Pushcart Prize, and "No One Can Find Us," published in Ray's Road Review, has been nominated for the 2012 Pushcart Prize.
Joey Dean Hale (Ben Franklin (disambiguation)) is a writer and musician in the St. Louis area. He received his MFA from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and has published stories in several magazines, including Fried Chicken & Coffee, Roadside Fiction, and Octave Magazine, which features his song "High Noon" on their website. In September 2012, he was the featured writer in Penduline Press. Hale's story, "Access Closed," is included in the 2013 Bibliotekos Anthology, Puzzles of Faith and Patterns of Doubt.
Stefan Hengst (Distressed Brooklyn 2012, concept 1) has a body of work as a designer that spans more than 20 years. Dutch-born and raised, he now calls New York home. Hengst graduated with a BFA from the College of Fine Arts & Design, St. Joost, in the Netherlands. His work has appeared in Italian Vogue, Metropolis, Wallpaper, and the Huffington Post and has recently been added to the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum. Hengst's photography has been exhibited at Boffo Show house (New York), Collegno Gallery (New York), Future 86 art event (Catskills, NY), Bienale 2009 (Cuenca, Ecuador) and Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), and most recently at the UNDERLINE Gallery (New York). Hengst's wall coverings will serve as the background for all four 2013 issues of Works & Days. www.stefanhengst.com
Ben Holmes and accordionist Patrick Farrell (I Just Wasn't Made for these Times) share a love of Klezmer and other folk musics from around the world; classical composers including Satie, Shostakovich, Scriabin, and Chopin; modernist improvisation; the Beach Boys; soundtracks to Spaghetti Westerns; early 20th-century cornet showpieces; and — above all — a love of a solid melody, regardless of the source. Their live performances bring serious musicianship, humor, wit, and pathos to a great variety of music. They like to bill themselves as "New York City's Premier Klezmer/Folk/Spaghetti Western/Improv/Pop/Waltz/Balkan/Freak-Out Trumpet and Accordion Duo." They can be found at ben-holmes.com and pattysounds.com, respectively.
Sarah Logan (Cetera Desunt—The Rest Is Missing) is a sculptural ceramic artist working in Northern California. She was raised in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and received a BFA from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2005. After completing her degree, she continued to pursue her artistic vision through residencies at the Mendocino Art Center and the Lux Center for the Arts. In 2008, she established her own studio in Fort Bragg, California. Sarah is currently preparing work to be shown in October at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah, California, and making new work for a solo show in November at the North Coast Artists gallery in Fort Bragg.
Mari Newell (Basho Fu) was born in the center of Tokyo, but raised in the countryside. Rice fields, little streams, steep bushy hills, and bamboo forests composed her playground — where she became familiar with native plants. Yet, only after she moved to California in 2007 did Newell first learn about plant fiber-based Japanese textiles. Today, she weaves and constantly researches both varieties of plant fiber and hand-woven textiles. Visit www.ryukyutextile.com.
Mossy Pine (Disappeared in the Desert) is the songwriting project of New York-based interdisciplinary composer and performer Chris Seeds. "Disappeared in the Desert" appears on the forthcoming studio album, Caught Up With the World of Fiction. Seeds's other recent work includes collaborations with choreographers Juliana F. May/MAYDANCE, Commentary = Not Thing (2013) and Gutter Gate (2011), and Lindsay Gilmour, Aaaaaah (2012). Seeds studied at Oberlin and played in NYC indie rock bands throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
Emily Strauss (Islands) is a semi-retired teacher and a self-taught poet. She has written her whole life, and has published nearly 100 poems in dozens of venues both in the U.S. and abroad. Strauss hails from the West, and the natural world is often her framework; she focuses on the tension between nature and humanity, using concrete images to illuminate the loss of meaning between them. She believes her task as poet is to concentrate on the natural images she observes closely and capture the ideas that those images release to her. Recently, her work has appeared in ROAR Magazine, Blue Hour Magazine, Penumbra Magazine, About Place Journal, and You Are Here: The Journal of Creative Geography.
Kit Warren (Continental Drift) lives and works in Brooklyn. She has studied at the University of Pennsylvania, the School of Visual Arts, and NYU. After 15 years of working as an art editor and designer at both online and print publishing organizations, she has returned full time to the studio. Warren's career as art editor/designer included much work in the natural sciences and medicine, which currently informs the ideas and the imagery in her painting. Her work has most recently appeared at 440 Gallery, the Long Island Children's Museum, and Proteus Gowanus. This summer, she is an artist in residence at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. To view her work online, visit: www.kitwarren.com.
Eric Wines (Recipes: Southwest Flavors, Director of Events) hosts candlelight suppers and classy cocktail parties. Wines was raised in Detroit, MI and lives in New York City where he is co-owner of Tre restaurant in Manhattan and a member of Skylight Group, NYC's premier event venue collection. In his free time Wines enjoys biking, gardening, and volunteering for The Lowline. Follow him on Twitter @EricWines.
Editorial Staff
Luke Cissell (Border States; Infinite Progress) is a musician and composer who lives in Lower Manhattan. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he was a fiddling champion at the age of eight. In June he released his second full-length studio album, Cosmography. Cissell's String Quartet No. 2 was premiered earlier this year by the Hudson Quartet. He recently appeared on Tara Hugo Sings Philip Glass, a collaboration between the singer and composer released on the latter's label Orange Mountain Music. Play with his jukebox at www.lukecissell.com.
Sarah Marriage is a maker of furniture and other fine wooden objects. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Sarah studied architecture at Princeton University and fine woodworking at The College of the Redwoods. She also serves as Art Director, Designer, Programmer, and Calligrapher for Works & Days. Her work was recently featured in Dwell On Design in Los Angeles and in "Hand Made/Mind Made" in the Dogpatch district of San Francisco. http://sarahmarriage.com.
Cara Marsh Sheffler (Guide) is a writer who lives on Manhattan's Lower East Side. In her past life as an actress, she was featured in Woody Allen's Celebrity and in The Looking Glass Theatre's Off-Broadway production of Much Ado About Nothing. A recipient of the Fagles Prize, she has most recently been working on Our Trespasses, and Guide. She is performing excerpts of Guide in tandem with Luke Cissell's (The Myth of) Infinite Progress around New York City. Sheffler is also providing the libretto for Cissell's adaptation of The Ambassadors. She won the White House Easter Egg Roll in 1986.
contact@works-and-days.com
Ashley Suzan Beck (Recipes: Southwest Flavors) was raised in Newport Beach, California, where she inherited her love for the kitchen from her Armenian mother and grandmother. Beck graduated from New York University and is currently working for the Marcus Samuelsson Group. When not styling a shoot or testing new recipes, she fancies running along the East River, knitting, reading Fitzgerald, and dining out with friends. She lives in Brooklyn with her Morkie, Coco, and can be followed on Twitter @AshleySuzan.
Manny Blacksher (Poems) is a writer, editor, and teacher currently residing in Birmingham, Alabama. Blacksher grew up in Mobile and has taught at Alabama State University in Montgomery. However, he has also lived and worked for extended periods on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, in Montreal, Quebec, and in Dublin, Ireland. This fall, he will enroll in Carnegie Mellon's Masters program in Professional Writing. Blacksher's poetry has been published in many literary journals, including Poetry Ireland Review, Raintown Review, and Measure. New work of his is scheduled to appear in Green Hills Literary Lantern and Digital Americana.
Neil & Mary Colmer (Constellation of Stars) have worked out of their Weaver's Bottom Craft Studio in Berea, Kentucky since 1989. They work together and individually to produce everything they sell, from hand-woven wall hangings to tablecloths, mats, rugs, placemats, towels, and more. Everything is made on site in their studio in an environment that encourages visitors ask questions, observe, and learn about their craft. Weaver's Bottom may also be visited on Facebook.
Louise Despont (Drawings) lives and works in New York City. In 2006, She graduated from Brown University, where she was awarded the Weston Price Film Award. From 2009-2010, Despont traveled to India as a Fullbright Fellow, living as a Sanskriti Artist In Residence in Delhi. She has had solo shows at the Nicelle Beauchene Gallery (New York), IBID Projects (London), IMO Gallery (Copenhagen), and, most recently, at Galerie Isa (Mumbai). Her work has appeared in group shows at Phillips de Pury & Co. (New York), Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York), and the High Art Museum (Atlanta). Despont is represented by Nicelle Beauchene Gallery in New York and IBID Projects in London. For inquiries, please contact info@nicellebeauchene.com or louise.despont@gmail.com.
Lauren DiCioccio (National Geographics) is an artist working primarily in the media of hand-embroidery and soft sculpture. She lives bicoastally in Brooklyn and San Francisco and holds a BA in Studio Art from Colgate University. Her work has been exhibited at the Bellevue Arts Museum (Washington), the Laguna Art Museum (California), the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (California) and is on view this summer at the SFO Airport Museum. She has been an Artist-in-Residence at The McColl Center for Visual Art, The Workshop Residence, Recology SF, and the Oberpfalzer Kunstlerhaus. DiCioccio is represented by Jack Fischer Gallery in San Francisco and Tomlinson Kong Contemporary in New York.
Andi Ekström (Fridlyst) is a Swedish designer and furniture maker at he start of his career. He has studied extensively at institutions including Capellagarden (Öland, Sweden) and the College of the Redwoods Fine Woodworking Program (Fort Bragg, California). Most recently, Andi produced "Fridlyst" (Swedish for "Sacred") for his Journeyman's Test, a national competition in Sweden. His work took top prize and will be shown at the Designtrade Furniture Fair in Copenhagen, Denmark from August 28-30. For information, email: andre@skanesnickeri.se
Nels Hanson (The Blue Appaloosas) has worked as a farmer, teacher, and contract writer/editor. He graduated from UC Santa Cruz and the University of Montana; his fiction received the San Francisco Foundation's James D. Phelan Award. Hanson's stories have appeared in Antioch Review, Texas Review, Black Warrior Review, Southeast Review, Montreal Review, and other journals. "Now the River's in You," which appeared in Ruminate Magazine, was nominated for a 2010 Pushcart Prize, and "No One Can Find Us," published in Ray's Road Review, has been nominated for the 2012 Pushcart Prize.
Joey Dean Hale (Ben Franklin (disambiguation)) is a writer and musician in the St. Louis area. He received his MFA from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and has published stories in several magazines, including Fried Chicken & Coffee, Roadside Fiction, and Octave Magazine, which features his song "High Noon" on their website. In September 2012, he was the featured writer in Penduline Press. Hale's story, "Access Closed," is included in the 2013 Bibliotekos Anthology, Puzzles of Faith and Patterns of Doubt.
Stefan Hengst (Distressed Brooklyn 2012, concept 1) has a body of work as a designer that spans more than 20 years. Dutch-born and raised, he now calls New York home. Hengst graduated with a BFA from the College of Fine Arts & Design, St. Joost, in the Netherlands. His work has appeared in Italian Vogue, Metropolis, Wallpaper, and the Huffington Post and has recently been added to the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum. Hengst's photography has been exhibited at Boffo Show house (New York), Collegno Gallery (New York), Future 86 art event (Catskills, NY), Bienale 2009 (Cuenca, Ecuador) and Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), and most recently at the UNDERLINE Gallery (New York). Hengst's wall coverings will serve as the background for all four 2013 issues of Works & Days. www.stefanhengst.com
Ben Holmes and accordionist Patrick Farrell (I Just Wasn't Made for these Times) share a love of Klezmer and other folk musics from around the world; classical composers including Satie, Shostakovich, Scriabin, and Chopin; modernist improvisation; the Beach Boys; soundtracks to Spaghetti Westerns; early 20th-century cornet showpieces; and — above all — a love of a solid melody, regardless of the source. Their live performances bring serious musicianship, humor, wit, and pathos to a great variety of music. They like to bill themselves as "New York City's Premier Klezmer/Folk/Spaghetti Western/Improv/Pop/Waltz/Balkan/Freak-Out Trumpet and Accordion Duo." They can be found at ben-holmes.com and pattysounds.com, respectively.
Sarah Logan (Cetera Desunt—The Rest Is Missing) is a sculptural ceramic artist working in Northern California. She was raised in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and received a BFA from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2005. After completing her degree, she continued to pursue her artistic vision through residencies at the Mendocino Art Center and the Lux Center for the Arts. In 2008, she established her own studio in Fort Bragg, California. Sarah is currently preparing work to be shown in October at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah, California, and making new work for a solo show in November at the North Coast Artists gallery in Fort Bragg.
Mari Newell (Basho Fu) was born in the center of Tokyo, but raised in the countryside. Rice fields, little streams, steep bushy hills, and bamboo forests composed her playground — where she became familiar with native plants. Yet, only after she moved to California in 2007 did Newell first learn about plant fiber-based Japanese textiles. Today, she weaves and constantly researches both varieties of plant fiber and hand-woven textiles. Visit www.ryukyutextile.com.
Mossy Pine (Disappeared in the Desert) is the songwriting project of New York-based interdisciplinary composer and performer Chris Seeds. "Disappeared in the Desert" appears on the forthcoming studio album, Caught Up With the World of Fiction. Seeds's other recent work includes collaborations with choreographers Juliana F. May/MAYDANCE, Commentary = Not Thing (2013) and Gutter Gate (2011), and Lindsay Gilmour, Aaaaaah (2012). Seeds studied at Oberlin and played in NYC indie rock bands throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
Emily Strauss (Islands) is a semi-retired teacher and a self-taught poet. She has written her whole life, and has published nearly 100 poems in dozens of venues both in the U.S. and abroad. Strauss hails from the West, and the natural world is often her framework; she focuses on the tension between nature and humanity, using concrete images to illuminate the loss of meaning between them. She believes her task as poet is to concentrate on the natural images she observes closely and capture the ideas that those images release to her. Recently, her work has appeared in ROAR Magazine, Blue Hour Magazine, Penumbra Magazine, About Place Journal, and You Are Here: The Journal of Creative Geography.
Kit Warren (Continental Drift) lives and works in Brooklyn. She has studied at the University of Pennsylvania, the School of Visual Arts, and NYU. After 15 years of working as an art editor and designer at both online and print publishing organizations, she has returned full time to the studio. Warren's career as art editor/designer included much work in the natural sciences and medicine, which currently informs the ideas and the imagery in her painting. Her work has most recently appeared at 440 Gallery, the Long Island Children's Museum, and Proteus Gowanus. This summer, she is an artist in residence at the Virginia Center for Creative Arts. To view her work online, visit: www.kitwarren.com.
Eric Wines (Recipes: Southwest Flavors, Director of Events) hosts candlelight suppers and classy cocktail parties. Wines was raised in Detroit, MI and lives in New York City where he is co-owner of Tre restaurant in Manhattan and a member of Skylight Group, NYC's premier event venue collection. In his free time Wines enjoys biking, gardening, and volunteering for The Lowline. Follow him on Twitter @EricWines.
Editorial Staff
Luke Cissell (Border States; Infinite Progress) is a musician and composer who lives in Lower Manhattan. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he was a fiddling champion at the age of eight. In June he released his second full-length studio album, Cosmography. Cissell's String Quartet No. 2 was premiered earlier this year by the Hudson Quartet. He recently appeared on Tara Hugo Sings Philip Glass, a collaboration between the singer and composer released on the latter's label Orange Mountain Music. Play with his jukebox at www.lukecissell.com.
Sarah Marriage is a maker of furniture and other fine wooden objects. Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma and raised in Anchorage, Alaska, Sarah studied architecture at Princeton University and fine woodworking at The College of the Redwoods. She also serves as Art Director, Designer, Programmer, and Calligrapher for Works & Days. Her work was recently featured in Dwell On Design in Los Angeles and in "Hand Made/Mind Made" in the Dogpatch district of San Francisco. http://sarahmarriage.com.
Cara Marsh Sheffler (Guide) is a writer who lives on Manhattan's Lower East Side. In her past life as an actress, she was featured in Woody Allen's Celebrity and in The Looking Glass Theatre's Off-Broadway production of Much Ado About Nothing. A recipient of the Fagles Prize, she has most recently been working on Our Trespasses, and Guide. She is performing excerpts of Guide in tandem with Luke Cissell's (The Myth of) Infinite Progress around New York City. Sheffler is also providing the libretto for Cissell's adaptation of The Ambassadors. She won the White House Easter Egg Roll in 1986.
contact@works-and-days.com
