The
Healing
Arts

Marvin Bell was born in New York City in 1937 and grew up on rural Long Island. He holds a bachelor's degree from Alfred University, a master's degree from the University of Chicago, and a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Iowa. He is the author of fifteen books of poetry, including Nightworks: Poems, 1962-2000 (Copper Canyon Press, 2000); Ardor: The Book of the Dead Man, Volume 2 (1997); A Marvin Bell Reader: Selected Poetry and Prose (1994); The Book of the Dead Man (1994); Iris of Creation (1990); New and Selected Poems (1987); Stars Which See, Stars Which Do Not See (1977), which was a finalist for the National Book Award; A Probable Volume of Dreams (1969), which was a Lamont Poetry Selection of The Academy of American Poets; and Things We Dreamt We Died For (1966). He has also published Old Snow Just Melting: Essays and Interviews (1983).

Marvin Bell's work appears in hundreds of anthologies of poetry and essays. His honors include the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships, and Senior Fulbright appointments to Yugoslavia and Australia. He is a long time member of the faculty of the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he is the Flannery O'Connor Professor of Letters. In March 2000 he was selected to be Iowa's first Poet Laureate.

Click here to view a short promotional video Marvin shot for a poetry reading competition.

Bill Kucha was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1945 and has spent most of his life on the Oregon coast between Depoe Bay and Newport. He received his BFA from Boston University in 1967 and his MFA from City University of New York in 1969. He has always been a teacher as well as an artist, and his workshops on technical and creative aspects of the visual arts are well known in the Pacific Northwest and beyond. Bill's work has been purchased through the State of Oregon and State of Alaska 1% for Art Appropriation programs.Oregon has been chronicling Portland Oregon through visual art much in the way Amsterdam has done, and Bill is much involved in that public art.

Bill's paintings and sculptures have been praised in dozens of galleries from Portland and Eugene and Salem, Oregon to Olympia, Washington to Malaga, Spain. The City of Portland has purchased and exhibited Bill's paintings in corporate collections in area hospitals including Oregon Health Sciences University. His painting A Place in Italy My Wife Wants Us to Live graces the top of this web page.

Though Bill's self-portrait seen here is a bit on the solemn side, his warmth and wit and lifelong work for justice and peace flow from his person and his works. The healing arts begin with healing artists.

CONFERENCE PROGRAM:

Friday, October 22:

“Life Imitates Art”

“The Power of Personal Storytelling”

Brooke Zimmers,
Shoreline CC

“Meditation and Art”

“Emerson and Healing”

Michelle Kelly and Edith Wollin,
North Seattle CC

Don Foran,
Centralia C

“Contemporary Poetry: Craft of Culture”

“Linking Rock ‘n Roll to Literature: Music 100 Meets English 102"

Kate Reavey,
Peninsula C

Beth Stevens,
Pierce C at Puyallup

“Poetry Lab ”

Bob Mohrbacher,
Pierce C at Puyallup
Jennifer Whetham,
Green River CC

“Hard Hospice: The Humanities, The Dying, and The Surviving”

Allen Braden, Jennifer Olson-Rudenko, Dr. Dave Howard,
Tacoma CC
Susan Rich,
Highline CC
Deborah Brink,
Lower Columbia C
Dr. Peter Pereira,
High Point Community Medical Clinic

“Earth Quakes: How Japan Shook Me Up for Good”

“Distance and Learning”

Susan Casey,
Seattle Central CC

Jim Fisher and Janet Lucas,
Peninsula C

"Music has Charms to Soothe a Savage Breast". . . William Congreve(1697)

“The Romantic Era and The Healing Arts”

Brenda Richardson,
Grays Harbor C

Fred Thompson,
Peninsula C

Writers/Literary Magazine Caucus

Jered Leising, Robyn Condit,
Cascadia CC
Moderators

Artists Caucus

Jim Reddin,
Shoreline CC
Erik Sandgren,
Grays Harbor C Moderators

Michael S. Bernstein, MD,
St. Mary Medical Center

Saturday, October 23:

The Healing Arts