{"id":13835,"date":"2018-09-13T11:11:43","date_gmt":"2018-09-13T11:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/?p=13835"},"modified":"2025-03-10T10:26:40","modified_gmt":"2025-03-10T17:26:40","slug":"convergence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2018\/09\/13\/convergence","title":{"rendered":"Convergence of campus arts, literary community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Douglas Esser
\nTo the National Weather Service, the Convergence Zone<\/a> is an area north of Seattle where strong westerly winds blowing around the Olympic Mountains converge in sudden rain showers, thunderstorms or snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The University of Washington Bothell is in the zone, literally and figuratively. The MFA in Creative Writing & Poetics in the School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences (IAS)<\/a> has adopted the zone as a metaphor for its Fall Convergence<\/a> symposium, which brings writers and artists to campus to mix with students. Interactions continue through the year in From the Convergence Zone, a series of visits by two authors each quarter. Another event, the Spring Festival, features a guest artist and serves as a capstone for graduating MFA students to showcase two years of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe try to give students as many opportunities as we can to interact with contemporary writers,\u201d said Amaranth Borsuk, an assistant professor and associate director of the MFA program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Srikanth
Photo: Srikanth Reddy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The highlight of this year\u2019s lineup is an April appearance by New York poet and artist Cecilia Vicuna<\/a> who will have an exhibit at the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle at the same time. Known for using yarn and found detritus in her art, she\u2019s scheduled to create an installation at UW Bothell. Responding to the natural and human-made landscape, it may involve the wetlands or the Ancestors sculpture on campus, Borsuk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vicuna\u2019s visit is part of From the Convergence Zone and also part of the IAS dean\u2019s distinguished speakers series. A native of Chile, Vicuna is known for honoring indigenous knowledge with her art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Steven
Photo: Steven Dunn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Vicuna’s work with yarn references the Incan Khipu, the ancient record-keeping method using knotted strings. Her work with detritus found at various sites draws \u201cattention to ephemerality because these art installations are meant to decay and disperse,\u201d Borsuk said. \u201cThey are precarious, and they remind us of our own precarity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty and students may join in Vicuna\u2019s UW Bothell installation, forging ties between environmental science and the arts, Borsuk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019d love for her to respond to our site,\u201d Borsuk said, \u201cto answer ecological questions about our impact on the environment and to honor the indigenous people of our own region and the knowledge they bring to the land.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fall Convergence, set for Sept. 29 at the North Creek Events Center, features readings by poet Srikanth Reddy and fiction writers Danielle Dutton and Steven Dunn around the theme of \u201calternating facts.\u201d The idea is to expose students to contemporary writers who use factual material. The event will also engage students with questions in popular culture \u2014 \u201calternative facts\u201d \u2014 and the choices artists make in using research, history and their own life experiences, Borsuk said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Danielle
Photo: Danielle Dutton \/ Bill Adams photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Visiting writers build a sense of community among writers and students, and the Convergence and Spring Festival create spaces where that can happen, said current MFA student Woogee Bae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Convergence was founded in 2012 by IAS Professor Jeanne Heuving. Author events through the year are open to the campus and the broader community at no charge. They usually are held in the evening, as are MFA classes, for increased accessibility. In addition to events on campus, the MFA program partners with Seattle institutions, such the Henry Art Gallery, the Hugo House writing center, Seattle Arts & Lectures and various bookstores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jeanne
Photo: Jeanne Heuving at 2017 Convergence \/ Marc Studer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe really feel that, although Bothell is a few miles outside the city, it\u2019s very much connected to the literary activity that\u2019s happening in Seattle proper,\u201d Borsuk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Convergence also creates a sense of community on campus with faculty and students who are interested in the arts and gives them the opportunity to interact with the visitors on questions that are relevant to any thinker, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt brings together people who are doing all kinds of creative work on our campus,\u201d Borsuk said. \u201cIt makes accessible writers and artists we would not otherwise have the chance to interface with. I also hope it enriches our standing in the broader community by opening up our campus to the wider public and showing that this is not something just meant for academia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Convergence showcases artistic thinking and practice in ways that don\u2019t always get featured on our campus,\u201d said Ted Hiebert, an associate professor and MFA director.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-year program has an average cohort of 13 students. Unlike many MFA programs elsewhere, students are not separated by genre. Poets and fiction writers take workshops together and are encouraged to try different kinds of writing \u2014 poetry, prose, memoir, fiction \u2014 and to try performance or installation art, photography or film to \u201cexpand their repertoire of what it means to work with language at this moment,\u201d Borsuk said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borsuk, who has been teaching poetry and creative writing at UW Bothell since 2012, is herself a poet and writer. Her most recent work is \u201cThe Book,\u201d published in May by The MIT Press. It describes the changing form of physical books over history showing continuity to digital books. On Nov. 27 she will speak in the Pub Night Talk series on \u201cThe Shapeshifting Book: From Clay Tablet to Paper, To Touchscreen.\u201d Borsuk also is the faculty mentor to Clamor, UW Bothell\u2019s literary and arts journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MFA student Bae, who received an English degree at SUNY Buffalo, looked for a program with the help of an adviser who knew Bae wouldn’t fit in traditional tracks. They discovered UW Bothell\u2019s website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat really drew me to the program was its emphasis on poetics and contemporary experimental poetry,\u201d Bae said. \u201cIt just made sense to continue my creative studies in an environment that encourages my curiosity and innovation without pressuring me to have all the answers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Faculty are supportive, affirming and enthusiastic about the works students are producing, Bae said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOften times, when I tell people in Seattle that I\u2019m an MFA candidate at Bothell, their first response is, \u2018I\u2019ve heard that program is really experimental and weird,\u2019 and it\u2019s really delightful to hear,\u201d Bae said. \u201cI\u2019m glad Bothell\u2019s being recognized as a place that challenges those literary traditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bookselling
Canadian poet Christian Bok, right; Chris Zempel, bookstore manager, in green in 2017. \/ Marc Studer photo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just as winds meet in the Puget Sound Convergence Zone, visiting writers mix with MFA students at UW Bothell’s Fall Convergence. The Sept. 29 symposium features readings around the theme of “alternating facts.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_is_archived":false,"_archived_contact_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[202,218],"tags":[308],"school":[],"class_list":["post-13835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-news","category-community-engagement","tag-symposium"],"acf":{"related_links":{"toggle_visibility":false,"link_1":"","link_2":"","link_3":"","link_4":"","link_5":""},"highlight_box":{"toggle_visibility":false,"title":"","content":"","button":"","button_style":"angled-purple-button","button_screen_reader_text":""},"contact_type_1":{"toggle_visibility":true,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"contact_type_2":{"toggle_visibility":false,"contact_title":"","email":"","phone":"","box":"","address_line_1":"","address_line_2":"","location":""},"social_media":{"toggle_visibility":false,"facebook_url":"","instagram_url":"","linkedin_url":"","twitter_url":"","youtube_url":""},"blog_archive_sidebar_visibility":false},"yoast_head":"\nConvergence of campus arts, literary community - News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uwb.edu\/news\/2018\/09\/13\/convergence\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Convergence of campus arts, literary community - News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Just as winds meet in the Puget Sound Convergence Zone, visiting writers mix with MFA students at UW Bothell’s Fall Convergence. 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