Artist Bios – Sum.10

Sara Abbott is the product of an overscheduled childhood, thus thrives on chaos. During the first 720 minutes of her day, she plays zookeeper to her child-size clones or teaches college English. The remaining minutes are for her own personal chaos of half-finished poetry collections, short stories, and handmade books. Oh yeah, somehow amid it all she managed to finish her MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts at the University of Baltimore.

Courtney Beardsworth is a poet living in Baltimore, MD. Her poetry draws heavily from the nostalgia of travel.  She feels deeply connected to the city of Prague, since she has lived there and has Czech heritage. Courtney is currently working on an MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts at the University of Baltimore.

Caity Huddleston grew up on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and now lives and works in Baltimore. She weaves, spins, makes books, and sometimes plays around with the other stuff in her studio.

Mary Huddleston lived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for more than 30 years and recently moved to northern Baltimore County to be closer to her beautiful daughters, son-in-law and adorable grandson. Although she usually paints from nature, she is experimenting with new materials and concepts.

Hope Keshavarz is originally from Orlando, Florida, but currently resides in western Pennsylvania. She is studying to go into the medical field and also participates in the visual arts and musical projects. Her other interests include (but are not limited to) current world events, cats, and cuisine.

Nicole Kimball is a community theatre actress and writer. She lives in Maryland with her boyfriend and various rodent pets. She recently won Script Frenzy 2010 by writing the screenplay titled 30 Tomorrows in less than four weeks. When not writing or acting, she is doing home improvements and/or eating ice cream.

Jim Lord is design director of UMBC’s Creative Services. Although he spends most of his time designing, he enjoys the occasional battle with a paint brush or box of sharpies.

Carrie Perkins is a Vermont artist who transcribes her memories through paint, pencil, ink, and photography. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Castleton State College in fine art, where she studied with Bill Ramage, Rita Bernatowicz, and Gary Fitzgerald. She spent a year in Florence, Italy refining her skills. She studied under Lorenzo Pezzantini and Paul Beal. Carrie currently resides on the small farm she grew up on in northern Vermont. Her studio overlooks the woods and fields that provide much inspiration and sanctuary. Carrie is actively pursuing new styles and techniques with her art, the process of growth is never ending.

Rafe Posey lives in Baltimore with a pack of rescued dogs and cats, far too many books, and the first woman to graduate from West Point. They share a passion for infrastructure, the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, and fine urban planning. Rafe is also an MFA student and adjunct professor of writing at the University of Baltimore.

Meredith Purvis, mild-mannered communications editor by day, kicks up her heels and dances down the night. She received her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore. Her poetry has been published in Journey Student Literary Magazine, Welter and the Little Patuxent Review. Visit her blog at meredithpurvis.com.

Carly Richmond has been interested in photography since taking a black and white darkroom class in high school.  In the (many) years since then, she has taken several digital photography classes.  She graduated summa cum laude from St. Mary’s College of Maryland with a B.A. in English, and works for the federal government.  When she is not taking photos, you can probably find her baking ever-more-elaborate cookies, or walking her dog with her husband.

Heather Rounds’ poems/prose have most recently appeared in PANK, Merge Poetry, and 2River Review. She holds an MFA from the University of Baltimore, where she studied creative writing and design. She currently lives in Baltimore Maryland, where she is working on a collection related to her recent experiences traveling and working in the Middle East and Asia.

Born on May 17, 1957 in Glen Rock, Pennsylvania, Keith L. Shaffer married his beautiful and talented wife Marge in July of ’79. He made his home on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and taught high school English, Drama, and Presentation Technologies at North Caroline High School for just over 30 years. He ran the theatre program there and created a summer teen drama workshop that still operates. He retired from teaching last year to spend more time writing and is currently happily plunking away at his first full-length musical.