The Nature of Isolation

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hand drawing of two hands touching, one old, one with a flowered glove

The Nature of Isolation | 2020

In spring 2020, we began collectively experiencing isolation at a scale that was unimaginable just weeks prior. Billions of people had been asked to stay home to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the rapidly spreading coronavirus. As we sheltered in place, not only were we cut off from the people we love, we were also cut off from the natural places we love. Beaches, forests and parks were closed. Warning signs were posted at trailheads, and caution tape was wrapped around playgrounds.

While it was harder than usual to spend time in natural places, we also needed natural places more than usual as a respite from the headlines, as a place to breathe deeply and process grief, and as inspiration as we imagined post-pandemic society, among many other things.

A Call for Submissions

It was against this backdrop that the Spring Creek Project launched a call for submissions, "The Nature of Isolation," inviting writers and artists, the great meaning makers, to explore their home ecosystems and reflect on the nature of isolation during the pandemic.

We wondered: What are you learning from the shelter of your place? What do house plants know about quarantine? What does your garden offer about mortality? What are you learning about renewal from the wilderness of sunlight and rain out your window? How is this microscopic virus changing the biome of your body and mind?

Creative Responses from Around the World

The response to our call was overwhelming. In five short weeks, we received creative work from nearly 300 people. A panel of judges reviewed the submissions and selected creative work from 28 people. Thank you to Jeff Fearnside, Kristi Quillen and Daniela Molnar for reviewing the writing submissions. Next, we asked each writer and artist to record a video of their piece from home. Everyone graciously agreed to try, even though for many contributors this was the first video they had ever made.

The resulting collection includes contributors from across the United States — from California to Pennsylvania and from Oklahoma to North Carolina — and from around the world, with artists and writers in Israel, Canada, the Netherlands, Australia and Nigeria.

While each piece was created in isolation, they speak to our common humanity. Spring Creek Project released one video per day during the month of October 2020. We hope you enjoy the collection, which you can learn more about in this series introduction:
 

Remote video URL

 

The Nature of Isolation Series

Yvonne Blomer and Jenna Butler share their collaborative writing project “Pandemic Almanac: An Essay in Two Voices.”

Jenna Butler is an Albertan poet, essayist, editor and professor. A woman of color interested in multiethnic narratives of place, Butler teaches creative and environmental writing at Red Deer College and runs an off-grid organic farm. (Creative nonfiction)

Yvonne Blomer is an award-winning poet and the author of the travel memoir "Sugar Ride: Cycling from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur." Her most recent book is "Sweet Water: Poems for the Watershed," the second in a trilogy of poetry anthologies with a focus on water Yvonne is editing. (Creative nonfiction)

Ruth Askew Brelsford shares “Looking, and Seeing, with Soft Eyes,” an essay that invites new ways of focusing and perceiving.

Ruth Askew Brelsford is a retired theater instructor. She lives in a log cabin with her husband, three rescue dogs, and menagerie of rescue cats in the mountains of southeastern Oklahoma. When not in quarantine, Ruth teaches creative writing in the local minimum-security prison and mediates in both Small Claims and Child Placement courts. She is a CASA volunteer. (Creative nonfiction)

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shelter in place by Geinene Carson
"Shelter in Place" by Geinene Carson

Drawing inspiration from building a forest shelter, artist Geinene Carson painted a lean-to neural structure that invites questions about our thought life in isolation. Her painting is titled “Shelter in Place.

Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Geinene Carson's foundation in visual art originated with a BFA degree in Painting and Sculpture earned from William Carey College on the Coast, in Gulfport, Mississippi. She furthered her art studies at the Lacoste School of the Arts in France and by living and working in Vienna, Austria, for several years. Now residing in Atlanta, when not in her studio, Geinene is a very present wife, mother of two and advocate for using the arts as a bridge between people. Though her work has varied over the course of her career, her current focus has been on neuro-centric subject matter and creative advocacy connecting with a variety of communities in the realm of neuroscience, rare disease and mental health — inspiring others to express, own and reclaim our thought life in response to the obstacles we face. (Visual art)

A favorite activity of Natalie Copeland has been to hike with friends and a watercolor set, painting scenes from their treks. When the pandemic closed trails and made it impossible to meet friends on mountain hikes, they decided to ease their loneliness and longing for adventure by painting live national park cameras from their living rooms. They then met virtually to share their interpretations with each other. Here, Natalie shares three paintings from the “Plein Air Living Room” project: “Mount Rainier National Park, Paradise” (watercolor), “Glacier National Park, Lake MacDonald” (watercolor), and “Yosemite National Park, Half Dome” (watercolor and ink).

Natalie Copeland is a multi-disciplinary artist and STEAM educator. Raised in the foothills of the Cascade range, Copeland holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from Central Washington University, and is known primarily for her work in Seattle fringe theatre. She is passionate about wild spaces, teaching students to stargaze in the planetarium, and adventuring with friends. She recently released her first book, "WHEEL: A Heart's Hike Through" — a hand-written, hand-illustrated poetry novel. Find out more about this and other projects on Natalie's website. (Visual art)

Poet Cheryl Dumesnil shares her piece “Redwood Song.”

Cheryl Dumesnil's books include the poetry collections "Showtime at the Ministry of Lost Causes" and "In Praise of Falling" (University of Pittsburgh Press); a memoir, "Love Song for Baby X" (Ig Publishing); and the anthologies "We Got This: Solo Mom Stories of Grit, Heart, and Humor" (SheWrites Press) and "Dorothy Parker's Elbow: Tattoos on Writers, Writers on Tattoos" (Warner Books). A freelance writer, editor and writing coach, she lives in Northern California with her two children and her wife, Sarah. She blogs at The Crisis Diaries, and you can learn more about her work on her website. (Poetry)

Tim Fab-Eme shares his poem “We’re Sick Now and the Earth’s Healing Real Fast.

Tim Fab-Eme enjoys playing with poetic forms and the themes of identity, exploitation and the environment. He loves gardening and sometimes thinks himself a farmer. Tim hopes to revisit his abandoned prose manuscripts and treat them the way he treats his poetry. He lives in Rivers, Nigeria. His work is published in The Malahat Review, New Welsh Review, Magma; apt, The Fiddlehead, and FIYAH, etc. Tim studied engineering at the Niger Delta University and he is presently pursuing a BA in English Studies at the University of Port Harcourt. (Poetry)

RK Fauth shares “A Drive Out in the Country,” a creative nonfiction piece in five parts.

RK Fauth is a writer living in Asheville, North Carolina. RK's writing has been recognized by Passages North Literary Journal, Solas Travel Writing Awards, New Millennium Writings, and The Fulbright Korea Infusion. Her poetry most recently appears in The Revolution (Relaunch) and her creative nonfiction is forthcoming in Jacar Press's LGBTQ+ anthology "Acting Up: Queer in the New Century." A virtual Master's candidate at Georgetown University, RK works for the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice as a research assistant to the poet Carolyn Forche. RK is originally from New York and spent most of quarantine in East Tennessee. (Creative nonfiction)

Ian Ramsey reads the essay “Radical Homing” by Tim Fox.

Tim Fox’s eco-thematic writings appear in "Walking on Lava," "Forest Under Story" and "Dark Mountain" 4, 5, 9, 11 and 17. He recently completed a young adult far-future trilogy, "Afterlands Convergence." (Creative nonfiction)

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the eros of home by leslie green
"The Eros of Home" by Leslie Green

Leslie Green shares three pieces of visual art created during the pandemic: “The Eros of Home,” “The Common Root,” and “Immunity.

A ceramic artist and painter for over 50 years, Leslie Green now devotes herself to paintings about the human connection to the natural world. With nature as her teacher, she translates natural forms, processes and relationships into colorful worlds that bring the viewer closer to their own unconscious or conscious nature connections. (Visual art)

Charles Goodrich shares “Who’re You Rooting For?” a poem written during the pandemic.

Charles Goodrich, Senior Fellow for the Spring Creek Project, is the author of three books of poetry, "A Scripture of Crows"; "Going to Seed: Dispatches from the Garden"; and "Insects of South Corvallis" and a collection of essays, "The Practice of Home," and has co-edited two anthologies, "Forest Under Story: Creative Inquiry in an Old-Growth Forest" and "In the Blast Zone: Catastrophe and Renewal on Mount St. Helens." (Poetry)

Cindy Williams Gutiérrez shares her piece “Pandemic Triptych.”

Poet-dramatist Cindy Williams Gutiérrez is inspired by the silent and silenced voices of history and herstory. Her new poetry collection, "Inlay with Nacre: The Names of Forgotten Women," was awarded the 2018 Willow Books Editor’s Choice Poetry Selection and a 2016 Oregon Literary Fellowship. She was selected by Poets & Writers Magazine as a 2014 Notable Debut Poet for the small claim of bones (Bilingual Press), which placed second in the 2015 International Latino Book Awards. Cindy received the 2017 Oregon Book Award for "Drama for Words That Burn." She is cofounder of Los Porteños, Portland’s Latino writers’ collective, and of El Grupo de '08, a Northwest collaborative-artists' salon. (Poetry)

Photographer and poet Gili Haimovich shares three photographs from her time sheltering in place. Her photos, titled “Blocked,” “Caged in the Outdoors,” and “Shrub’s Deity,” invite new perspectives on the plants and animals right outside our doors.

Gili Haimovich is a visual artist and poet. Her photography has been featured in the Contact Photography Festival and The Koffler Centre for the Arts, Canada; Ma'ariv Newspaper, Israel; "Living on a Blank Page," her poetry and photography chapbook; and elsewhere. Her short film "A Dictionary for Those Who Don't Need" won a grant from the Israeli Ministry of Culture and she co-directed a couple of video-poems. She is the author of the poetry book "Promised Lands" in addition to other books of poetry and translation. A graduate of the arts school Camera Obscura and the International School for Interdisciplinary Studies in Israel, she teaches writing-focused creative arts and translates literature from English and Hebrew. (Photography)

To communicate her gratitude to frontline workers, Sarah Hancock created the visual art piece “Helping Hands.” She spent more than 40 hours on the piece, not counting her time developing the concept and design. She wants the piece to convey hope and gratefulness in this troubling time.

Sarah Hancock is a 17-year-old artist who believes in the communicative power of art to promote self exploration and healing. She uses her Instagram account @hysteric_art_by_sarah to share her work, message and tips with an online community. Sarah created "Helping Hands" to show her support for nurses and in this time of isolation demonstrate how kindness can help people grow. The nature of isolation is to support each other and foster growth through this kindness. (Visual art)

Pauletta Hansel shares “13 Ways of Looking at a Pandemic.” and two poems from her “Postcards from the Pandemic” series.

Pauletta Hansel's seven poetry collections include "Coal Town Photograph" and "Palindrome," winner of the 2017 Weatherford Award for Appalachian Poetry. Her writing has been featured in Rattle, Still: The Journal, The New Verse News, The Writer's Almanac, American Life in Poetry, Verse Daily and Poetry Daily. Pauletta was Cincinnati's first Poet Laureate (2016- 2018). She is managing editor of Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, the literary journal of the Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative. Learn more on Pauletta's website. (Poetry)

Cub Kahn shares his photograph “Waking Dream of Another Spring.” He took the photo through the screen of his front door during the pandemic, creating distortions that mirror the feelings of this time.

Cub Kahn is a nature photographer and educator. He is the author of the "Art of Photographing Water" and three other books on photo techniques and his photos have appeared in Audubon, Backpacker, National Wildlife and The New York Times. He cultivates the "Sun, Water and Stone" blog and lives in Corvallis, Oregon. (Photography)

Caroline Kessler shares her lyric essay “A Necklace of Lights” and “Volcanic Tuff,” a poem written during the pandemic.

Caroline Kessler is a poet, editor and facilitator currently based in Oakland / on Chochenyo Ohlone land. She is co-creator of The 18 Somethings Project, a virtual writing adventure and the author of "Ritual in Blue" (Sutra Press, 2018). Her work has been published in The McNeese Review, Superstition Review, Letters, Rivet and elsewhere. She holds degrees from the Washington University in St. Louis MFA program and Carnegie Mellon University. More at carokess.com. (Creative nonfiction and poetry)

During the first six weeks of sheltering in place and working from home because of the pandemic, poet Amy Miller wrote a frenzy of poems to preserve the strangeness of the moment. Here she shares “Working at Home, Day 5,” “Pandemic, Day 15,” and “Pandemic, Day 32.”

Amy Miller's full-length poetry collection "The Trouble with New England Girls" won the Louis Award from Concrete Wolf Press. Her writing has appeared in Barrow Street, Gulf Coast, Tupelo Quarterly, Willow Springs and ZYZZYVA. She lives in Ashland, Oregon, where she works for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival as a print project manager and editor. (Poetry)

Poet Stephanie Niu shares her piece “Just Beyond Our Walls,” inspired by watching a live shark cam online while sheltering in place during the pandemic.

Stephanie Niu grew up in Georgia and earned her degrees in symbolic systems and computer science from Stanford University. Her poems have appeared in The Southeast Review, Portland Review, Immigrant Report and elsewhere. She is the recipient of a 2021 Fulbright Award and currently lives in northern California. (Poetry)

Christine Richards shares her creative nonfiction piece “Tending Plants,” written during the pandemic.

Christine Richards is a physical therapist in Durango, Colorado. She dabbles in music, writing, yoga and meditation, but she is most at peace when hiking through the wilderness of the San Juan Mountains with her husband, Tom, and dog, Choyu. (Creative nonfiction)

Lisa Schonberg shares “It Was a Good Time to Begin Listening to Where I Was,” a sound compilation made from daily recordings from her porch at sunrise during the early months of the pandemic.

Lisa Schonberg (Staten island, New York, 1977) is a composer, percussionist and sound artist with a background in entomology and ecology. She documents insects and habitat through sound work to draw attention to environmental issues. (Audio)

Jonathan Shipley shares “Empty Playground,” a photograph he took during the pandemic.

Jonathan Shipley is a freelance writer based in Atlanta, Georgia. His writing has appeared in such publications as National Parks Magazine, Fine Books & Collections Magazine and the Seattle Times. (Photography)

Judith Sornberger shares her poem “Why She Became a Crow During Covid-19.”

Judith Sornberger is the author of three full-length collections of poems, most recently "I Call to You from Time" (Wipf & Stock 2019) and "Practicing the World" (CavanKerry Press 2018) and five chapbooks. Her nonfiction memoir, "The Accidental Pilgrim: Finding God and His Mother in Tuscany," is from Shanti Arts. Sornberger lives on the side of a mountain in the northern Appalachians, outside Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, among deer, bears and bobcats. (Poetry)

Kim Stafford shares “Oregon Dawn in Spite of the News,” a poem written during the pandemic.

Kim Stafford is the founding director of the Northwest Writing Institute at Lewis & Clark College, where he has taught writing since 1979. He has taught writing in dozens of schools and community centers, in Scotland, Italy, and Bhutan and served as Oregon's poet laureate 2018-2020. (Poetry)

Pepper Trail shares his poem “The Ash,” written during the pandemic.

Pepper Trail is a conservation biologist and poet. His work has been published in Atlanta Review, Windfall, Rattle, Cirque and other journals and his collection "Cascade-Siskiyou: Poems" was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award in Poetry. He lives in Ashland, Oregon. (Poetry)

Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad shares “What the Wattle Knows” and “Through the Shutters,” two mixed media art pieces that capture aspects of her outlook during the pandemic.

Oormila Vijayakrishnan Prahlad is a Sydney artist, poet and pianist of Indian heritage. She holds a Masters in English and is a member of Sydney's North Shore Poetry Project and Authora Australis. Her recent poems and artworks have been published in several literary journals in the United States, Australia and in the U.K. (Visual art)

Ellen Waterston shares her poem “Looking for God in All the Wrong Places.”

High desert writer Ellen Waterston has published four poetry and three literary nonfiction titles, including, most recently, "Walking the High Desert: Encounters with Rural America Along the Oregon Desert Trail" (University of Washington Press, 2020). "Hotel Domilocos" (Moonglade Press, 2017) is her most recent collection of poetry. She is founder of the Writing Ranch, which conducts retreats for writers and the annual Waterston Desert Writing Prize. She lives in central Oregon. (Poetry)

Cooper Young shares “At Home, to Escape the Virus” and “Summer Mornings,” two poems written during the pandemic.

Cooper Young is a mathematician and poet who hails from Santa Cruz, California. His most recent work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Wayfarer, Toho Journal, Lucky Jefferson and Miramar. His new chapbook,"Sacred Grounds," was published by Finishing Line Press in May, 2020. (Poetry)