Current Resident Artist

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 CONTACT _Con-3B55BC251 \c \s \l Judith Arcana is a native of the Great Lakes region who moved to Oregon in 1995. She writes poems, stories, essays and books; her work appears widely in journals and anthologies, online and in print. Judith is a skilled reader and performer who has worked with diverse audiences in the US, England and Canada for more than thirty years.

In early 2010, Judith invented the ZAP Writing Workshop and led the first one as a fundraiser for Portland’s Red & Black Café in March (another one’s coming in mid-July); she also created/organized the Locally Grown Poetry series at the Hollywood Farmers Market in Portland (on the last Saturdays of June/July/August this summer).

She collaborated with Portland’s Ash Creek Press to create The Ash Creek Series: In 2008 they made a signed/numbered edition folding broadside (POEMS) and a chapbook manuscript in a cartoon envelope (Family Business). In 2009 they brought out 4th Period English, a chapbook of poems that works like a play: the characters are high school students arguing about immigration in the USA.

Judith’s full length poetry collection What if your mother (2005) offers poems and monologues examining a constellation of motherhood themes: abortion, adoption, miscarriage, the contemporary biotechnology of childbirth, and the daily experience of mothering. Her first two books, Our Mothers’ Daughters (1979) and Every Mother’s Son (1983), have been read/taught in high school and college classes for decades. Grace Paley’s Life Stories, A Literary Biography, Judith’s book about the much-admired writer/activist whose stories, poems and street-level actions have been lauded globally since the sixties, came out in 1993. Since Grace’s death in 2007, Judith has organized annual Portland celebrations of her life and work.

Judith taught literature, humanities, writing and interdisciplinary topics in women’s studies for forty years in high schools, colleges, libraries, living rooms, a state prison and a county jail. Long ago and far away, she was a Jane, working in Chicago’s pre-Roe underground abortion service and teaching about pregnancy, childbirth/nursing, and women’s health and sexuality in schools and community centers.

She holds a PhD in Literature, an MA in Women's Studies, an Urban Preceptorship in Preventive Medicine and a BA in English. She’s received awards and grants from Oregon Literary Arts, the Deming Memorial Fund, the Puffin Foundation, the Rockefeller Archive Center, the Institute for Anarchist Studies, and the doctoral faculty of Union Graduate School, as well as residencies and fellowships from Ragdale, Soapstone, the Montana Artists Refuge, the Mesa Refuge and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. Her books and book-like objects are usually available in several of Portland’s independent bookstores & online. During her residency, she’ll work on a fiction manuscript and some poems; she’ll do at least one reading at MP5 this summer. More info about Judith – and samples of her work – are available on her website:  http://www.juditharcana.com/. 

The Residency Mission

The mission of the Milepost 5 Artist-in-Residence Program is to provide a healthy live/work experience for practicing artists. Each Resident Artist is encouraged to develop and present work during his or her stay, while also actively participating in the Milepost 5 community.

About the MP5 Artist Residency Program

A visiting artist is provided with a free, furnished space for a two- to three-month period. The program is interdisciplinary, and Milepost 5 is committed to providing a supportive environment for artists working in literature, film, performance, and the visual arts.

The Resident Artist works closely with the Milepost 5 creative director and residents to develop projects—such as art exhibitions, artist talks, workshops and performances—to be launched during the residency. As an active member of the community, the Milepost 5 Resident Artist also functions as an ambassador for Milepost 5 in Portland-wide projects.

Milepost 5 Resident Artists are selected through an application process; local, national, and international artists are eligible. Currently, the residency does not provide a stipend.

The live/work space can accommodate two people, so a partner may accompany a Resident Artist during his or her stay. Two-person creative teams may apply for the residency, but the joint submission must include separate applications for each artist.

We are currently not accepting applications for future residencies.

Next application period will be summer 2010.

Artists-in-Residence for 2010

September-December 2010: Marianna Tres. Originally from Buenos Aires, Arguntina, Tres received her MFA from Portland State University in 2004. She has exhibited her installation of photography work throughout the United States including at the Portland Art Museum’s 2006 Oregon Biennial. During her residency, she will be working on a video and photography project exploring the lasting affects upon herself and her extended family by the military dictatorship that existed in Argentina between 1978 and 1983.

Past MP5 Artist Resedencies

April - May, 2009 Gary Wiseman and Meredith Andrews. Gary Wiseman is a Portland-based artist, curator and event planner whose work ranges from performance to inter-media. Wiseman has exhibited and performed in Australia, Canada, New York and Portland. Wiseman has shown with Flux Factory (NY), Nuit Blanche Festival (Toronto), the PICA TBA Festival, The Reed College Cooley Gallery, Gallery Homeland and the Igloo Gallery.

Jan - Mar, 2009: Justin Gorman. Justin Gorman is a Portland-based artist and a recent graduate of Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA). Gorman has had installations at Audio Cinema, Upper Playground, Mark Woolley Gallery and Pause Gallery, all in Portland, OR. He has exhibited work nationally at Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, and at Capers Gallery in Salina, KS. Gorman's work was included in Portland Modern, Issue 4: Saturation, curated by Kristan Kennedy and Matthew Stadler. For more information visit www.buildproduction.com.

January-March 2010: Avantika Bawa. Born and raised in India, Bawa currently lives in Atlanta, Ga., where she is a curator, educator, and self-described “thing-maker” concerned with physical, social, and communal space. Her proposed project, “retail/nullified,” will explore the effect of the economic climate on daily life in the Portland area. To find out more about Avantika please visit her website at avantikabawa.com.

Spring 2010: Jay Critchley. An artist and activist in Provincetown, Mass., Critchley has recently been in residence at Harvard University, AS220 in Rhode Island, and Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center in New York City. His work may be viewed on his website: www.jaycritchley.com