Artist Bios – May 2013

Agatha Beins lives in Denton, TX, where she teaches women’s studies at Texas Woman’s University, bicycles around town, and volunteers at an amazing local farm. She probably also has some muffins cooling on a wire rack right now. You can find her work in The Laurel Review, Blackbird, Pebble Lake Review, Newfound, Devil’s Lake, Mandala, Sinister Wisdom, and Women: A Cultural Review.

Darren Cormier is the author of the short story collection A Little Soul: 140 Twitterstories. His work has appeared in Opium Magazine, Amoskeag, Thrice Fiction, Vine Leaves Literary Journal, among many others, and is forthcoming in Black Heart Magazine and NAP. He is also the editor and creator of the exquisite-corpse novel project The Adventures of Tequila Kitty. He lives in Boston with a growing collection of books.

Joanne Epp’s poetry has appeared in journals such as Rhubarb, The New Quarterly, and Curio Poetry, and on the University of Manitoba’s School of Art web site. She’s also on Say the Word, a new archive of Manitoba poetry. Her first chapbook, Crossings, was published in 2012. She lives near the Assiniboine River in Winnipeg with her husband and two sons. Visit her blog at joanneepp.com .

Sylvia Fischbach-Braden is plorking (working + playing) on her M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Publication Arts at University of Baltimore. She has a book-filled rowhouse, two cats, a grown-up daughter and a supportive husband. She grew up in Indiana and has lived in Baltimore for thirty-odd years. She is a desultory gardener (lacking a plan; from Latin desultorious– leaping, pertaining to a circus rider who jumps from one horse to another).

Vin Grabill has been creating and exhibiting works in video art formats since 1979. He received a BA degree in Studio Art from Oberlin College in 1971 and a Master of Science in Visual Studies degree from the MIT Center For Advanced Visual Studies in 1981. After teaching Video Art at the Massachusetts College of Art from 1984-1988, Grabill joined the faculty of the UMBC Department of Visual Arts in 1988 teaching Video Art and currntly serves as department chairperson. Grabill’s single channel video work and installation work utilizing video has been exhibited nationally and internationally. In addition to individual projects, Grabill collaborates regularly with performing artists, choreographers, and poets in an attempt to find new solutions for the presentation of live arts utilizing live and recorded aspects of the video medium. Grabill has been active in community initiatives throughout his career. He co-founded and served as president of the Association of Maryland Area Media Artists, Inc (AMAMA), a non-profit membership organization that served the needs of independent media artists from 1989-1996. Grabill has also served on advisory panels with the Maryland State Arts Council and The Contemporary Museum, Baltimore. From 1994 – 1998, Grabill coordinated the educational mission of Baltimore Youth Television (BYTV), a program administered by the Maryland Institute College of Art designed to involve Baltimore City middle school children in video production.

Born in Windsor, Ontario in 1960, Gregory Gunn grew up in small towns throughout Ontario before moving to London in 1970. A graduate of Fanshawe College in late 1982 as an electronics technician, he earnestly began writing during that tenure, has continued doing so for over thirty years and is mainly passionate concerning the composition of poetry. Other interests include music, astronomy, philosophy, photography, foreign languages, the history of the cinema, and gardening. Most recently, Mr. Gunn has had or will have poems published in Inscribed Magazine, The Toronto Quarterly, Yes, Poetry, 20 X 20 Magazine, 1000 Acts of Kindness, Crack the Spine, Lines & Stars, Ascent Aspirations, Steel Toe Review, Carcinogenic, The Light Ekphrastic, Cyclamens and Swords, Folly Magazine, Shangri-La Shack, Exercise Bowler, Corium, Burning Wood, Blue Lake Review, Vox Poetica, and Covalence. Also published are six collections of his selected poetry.

Kirk Halgren has photographed since the mid 1960s, initially developing and printing black and white and later taking a college course which explained the science behind photography. His interests include energy medicine, weight training, and ballroom dance on roller skates.  Semi-retired from a career as a computer engineer, he is reviving his hardwood crafts business (which he ran back in the 70s) to create beautiful objects for people to admire and help manage their stressful lives. He is creating a mobile shop/studio in a large box truck with plans to split his time between his home on Cobb Island, Maryland, Amelia Island, Florida and Pomona, Illinois. He envisions a successful business as a fine arts photographer. This is his first publication.

Lorraine Imwold is an artist from Catonsville, Md. She works mainly in printmaking and enjoys exploring and experiencing other mediums. Untrained, Lorraine seeks new and entertaining ways to inform her art, including partnerships and residencies, community projects and the occasional following a white rabbit to see where he leads.  

An introvert by nature, Carol McGraw began to use her art as an alter ego at a young age.  She is fueled by a mix of personal experiences, emotions, and intuition.  Much of her work speaks of challenges she has faced and strong familial ties.  When painting from life, Carol’s work is best known for its bright colors and visceral appeal.  To learn more about Carol and her art, please visit www.carolmcgraw-art.com.

Erin Ouslander graduated from UMBC in 2003 and has been working as a print designer ever since. An avid procrastinator and daydreamer, Erin enjoys thinking about doing things more than actually doing them. It is a miracle she managed to submit anything for this issue. She likes dinosaurs, Michael Jackson, and the color yellow.

Rachel Popham has not been previously published, and is not currently pursuing interesting or artistic life goals. She breathes secrets instead of oxygen, her tears taste like whiskey, her joints are lubricated by Fear Itself, and she is allergic to cold iron. In her free time, Rachel works on construction on her invisible castle, reports on the lives and times of fantastical sheep, and considers important moral and ethical dilemmas, such as whether she should feel guilty about scrawling in the margins of other peoples’ books or whether it is a sin against Ziggy Stardust to dress like David Bowie.

Carly Richmond graduated summa cum laude from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with a B.A. in English, and works for the federal government.  Photography is her creative outlet.  When not taking photos, she can be found knitting slowly, baking with lots of butter, reading voraciously, playing never-ending fetch with her Welsh corgi, and waiting for her next trip to the beach.