Solstice Jewels - ARTscend 2019 Chapbook

Aug 22, 2026

Upload by Skyler

Solstice Jewels gathers creative writing and visual art from ARTscend 2019, an artist and writer residency centered on Marys Peak in Oregon’s Coast Range. Guided field trips explore the mountain’s ecological, physical, cultural, and aesthetic values through waterfall treks, loop hikes, and geology road trips. Poems, creative nonfiction essays, and artworks respond to seismic activity, water flow, solastalgia, solitude, and gratitude—deepening relationships with place through language and image.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time22 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Acknowledgements

Contents

Poetry

Creative Nonfiction

Visual Art

25 Solstice Jewels by Kate Feldman Digital photography Introduction: Marys Peak is the highest peak in the Oregon Coast Range. At 4,098 feet, it has been a waypoint, a beacon, and a guide for many generations. The mountain is in the ancestral homeland of the Kalapuya, Wusi ’n, and Yaqo’n people, who have been in relationship and kinship with this land for thousands of years. The ARTscend Marys Peak program invites artists to expand their understanding and appreciation of the ecological, physical, cultural, and aesthetic values of Marys Peak. In 2018, the inaugural year of ARTscend, 40 visual artists explored the peak with sketchbooks and cameras in hand. In 2019, 30 writers tucked journals into their backpacks to do the same. Each year artists and writers chose one of three fields trips to participate in: a waterfall trek, a loop hike to the summit, or a geology road trip. The field trips were guided by Marys Peak Interpreters, volunteers who have received interpretive training with the Marys Peak Alliance and Siuslaw National Forest. After the field trips, artists and writers returned home and got to work painting, drawing, and writing. This collection of creative writing and art was curated by the Spring Creek Project as part ofARTscend 2019. Whether you've been admiring Marys Peak from a distance or exploring the trails for years, we invite you to deepen your relationship with the mountain through the writing and art featured in this book. Acknowledgements: Editing and design Sari Ann Baum, Spring Creek Project Intern Carly Lettero, Spring Creek Project Program Manager Special thanks to the Marys Peak Interpreters for their expertise and volunteer time with the Marys Peak Alliance of the Alliance for Recreation and Natural Areas, to the Marys Peak Group of the Sierra Club for co-sponsoring ARTscend, and to David Eckert for his unwavering dedication to protecting Marys Peak. Cover Art is “The Gathering Place” by Jennifer Lommers CONTENTS Summer 2 0 1 9 Poetry Charles Goodrich Seismic Activity on Marys Peak………. 6 Closure………. 8 Solastalgia………. 9 Ingrid Wendt Bear Grass, Marys Peak, June 2019………. 10 Jeff Fearnside Uplift and Creekfall………. 10 Anita Sullivan Refugio………. 16 Maria Renée Johnson Flow Paths………. 24 Creative Nonfiction Meredith Jacobson An essay on a mountain on white paper………. 18 Potential shapes all movement, That deep transpirational pull. Wet follows aridity, full tails empty Paths sketched by who came before. It is how one walks upon the earth. Notice you are always drawn closer, Pressing down into that dark sponge. Yet, somehow, you ’re buoyant— Ever-rising, up. Maria Ren é e Johnson Flow Paths Rain, embodying trust, believes in the landscape. Whose cambers and curves Are the great deciders. From the crow’s perspective The water falls, then spirals. A sigh of every droplet, carrying An invitation to continue. Ushered by intrusive igneous Pressed against between-spaces Layers of crust with their own story; The reinvention of time. Some stall—for a moment. Then, slow slides on eager leaves Who sweep over with the weight, Bowing with knowledge of kinship. Collected by tongues of mammals Or, inhaled at the handshake of roots Or, into the river, finding parallels. Integration is another warm coil. Collected by tongues of mammals Or, inhaled at the handshake of roots Or, into the river, finding parallels. Integration is another warm coil. And, an eventual rebellion: Gravity has never been a lonely force, Finding rest while others make rise, A redirection from ground to sky. Visual Art Kate McGee Steep………. 7 Marjorie Kinch Lower Parker Falls………. 13 Kris Mitchell From the Heart of the Mountain………. 14 Carol Fairbanks A Peak Experience………. 15 Anita Sue Andrews Untitled………. 17 Debi Friedlander Marys Peak Glow………. 22 Marcia Shapiro Flowers on Marys Peak………. 23 Kate Feldman Solstice Jewels………. 26 Jennife

FAQs

What is ARTscend 2019 on Marys Peak?

ARTscend Marys Peak is a program inviting artists and writers to explore Marys Peak’s ecological, physical, cultural, and aesthetic values through guided field trips and subsequent creative work.

What kinds of field trips are offered each year?

Participants choose one of three field trips: a waterfall trek, a loop hike to the summit, or a geology road trip, guided by Marys Peak Interpreters.

What types of creative work are included in this chapbook?

The collection includes poetry, creative nonfiction essays, and visual art pieces responding to themes such as landscape, water, seismic activity, and connection to the mountain.

Aug 22, 2026

Upload by Skyler