The center of attention

The dream of being able to live in a beautiful setting with nothing to do but work on your chosen art probably begins shortly after your parents begin covering the refrigerator with anything you make with pen, pencil or crayon.

More than 30 talented artists and scientists are currently living that dream among the trees and wildlife at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, located at Cascade Head on the Oregon Coast just north of Lincoln City.

Sitka Resident Talks are an opportunity for the community to learn about them through brief, virtual presentations. Meet the following residents on Thursday, Jan. 20:

Avantika Bawa

Avantika Bawa lives and works in Portland. Originally from New Delhi, India, she received an MFA in painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BFA in the same from the Maharaja Sayajirao University, Baroda, India.

Ahimsa Timoteo Bodhrán is a multimedia artist, activist, critic and educator, weaving visual, acoustic, performative, textual and terrestrial techniques. A Tulsa Artist Fellow and National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, he is the author of “Archipiélagos; Antes y después del Bronx: Lenapehoking” and “South Bronx Breathing Lessons.”

MK Chavez is a Black Latinx writer and educator. She is the author of “Dear Animal” and several chapbooks. Chavez co-curates the reading series Lyrics & Dirges, is co-director of the Berkeley Poetry Festival and is poetry editor at Bronzeville Quarterly.

Roxanne Everett is a contemporary landscape painter who is inspired by wilderness areas of the US and abroad. Roxanne worked first as an architect and later received a master’s degree from the University of Washington in forest ecology.

Georgina Reskala is a Mexican-Lebanese photographer living and working in Santa Monica, California. She received a BFA and an MFA from the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. In 2017, she was shortlisted for the Hariban Award in Kyoto, Japan.

By Mariah Reading

Mariah Reading is an eco-artist and strong advocate for the existence, preservation and accessibility of the outdoors. She was born and raised in Maine, where the surrounding landscape gave her a deep appreciation of nature’s beauty that was reinforced by a degree in Visual Arts at Bowdoin College.

The event will begin at 4 pm via Zoom. For more information, go to sitkacenter.org or call 541-994-5485.