The Seminary Explores

Award-winning vocalist, writer and multi-genre performing artist Queen Esther joins Katy Giebenhain for a conversation about her developing one person show and what’s been visible and not visible in her first impressions of Gettysburg. A winter artist-in-residence at the Gettysburg National Military Park, Queen Esther is based in New York City. Jazz, Blues, Black Americana, alt-rock, swing, gospel and beyond – these are the musical waters she swims in. Among her extensive collaborations is the avant-blues duo Hoosegow she formed with guitarist Elliott Sharp. Blues Matters Magazine calls her “… modern, yet not flashy while holding true to herself with firmness and a forthright approach and style.”

Many thanks to our host site for this interview, Waldo’s and Co. on the Square in Gettysburg.  The Artist-in-Residence program is made possible by the Gettysburg Foundation and The National Park Arts Foundation, with support from the National Park Service.

Special thanks also to The Seminary Ridge Museum.

Jason Hatch is a retired U.S. Army soldier who served for 20 years including in Iraq and later as a military attaché at embassies in sub-Saharan Africa, before retiring as a major in 2013.  Jason shares his personal journey and how his experiences led him to advocate for those children who find themselves caught in the horror of war as victims and even as soldiers themselves. His recent work includes a drama called Rope Tension about two Civil War drummer boys, one Union and one Confederate, thrown together one night after a battle.  Jason was the Artist in Residence at the Gettysburg National Military Park in early 2020.

Additional thanks to the Seminary Ridge Museum on historic Seminary Ridge in Gettysburg, PA.

Fresh from a day of hanging large format portraits of Garmair Marines in the woods near the National Park Visitor Center, documentary photographer and film-maker Louie Palu took time for a chat with Katy Giebenhain and The Seminary Explores. Palu has navigated combat zones, mining shafts, Arctic terrain and many other sites and situations in his role as artist and photojournalist. For his mid-July to mid-August 2019 residency on the Gettysburg Battlefield he installed the portraits (taken in Afghanistan) and began new work in response to his experience in Gettysburg. Palu’s many awards include a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Grant (2012) to cover the Mexican Drug War and a Milton Rogovin Fellowship at the Center for Creative Photography.

The Artist-in-Residence program is made possible by the Gettysburg Foundation and The National Park Arts Foundation, with support from the National Park Service

On their own they are each brilliant. Together – doubly so. In a conversation with Katy Giebenhain poets Corey Van Landingham and Christopher Kempf talk about their current projects, the nitty-gritty details that ground creative work, the expectations of war poetry and what a learning pleasure it is to be back in Gettysburg where each of them has previously taught. The couple was awarded a joint residency in the Gettysburg National Military Park by the National Parks Arts Foundation.

The Artist-in-Residence program is made possible by the Gettysburg Foundation and The National Park Arts Foundation, with support from the National Park Service.

Many thanks to our host site for this interview, Waldo’s and Co. on the Square in Gettysburg.

James McCarthy tells stories – in more ways than you can shake a stick at. He also cultivates storytelling in others. A singer-songwriter, member of the Screen Actors Guild and Master Teaching Artist in the state of Hawaii, McCarthy joined Katy Giebenhain for a Seminary Explores conversation during his fall 2018 artist residency at the Gettysburg National Military Park. With a master’s in education from Harvard, an MFA in acting from University of Hawaii at Manoa, and a BFA in Music from Lesley University, his training and experience spans genres and time zones.

Thanks to our host site for this interview, Waldo’s and Co. on the square in Gettysburg. The Artist-in-Residence program is made possible by the Gettysburg Foundation and The National Park Arts Foundation, with support from the National Park Service.

This may sound like unexpected advice from a Photographer, but what you think is stunning could get even better. It is one of many tips Jim Schlett discusses with Katy Giebenhain in this conversation. The Virginia-based artist-in-residence at the Gettysburg National Military Park for late summer 2018 shares perspectives from commercial and art photography and extensive visits to National Parks across the country. This year, four artist residencies at four different locations share a link to President Abraham Lincoln. Schlett has been attending daily ranger talks, interacting with visitors and Park staff, and, of course, taking many pictures.

Thanks to our host site for this interview, Waldo’s and Co. on the square in Gettysburg.

You’ll see and think about landscapes differently after hearing about the work of Dawn Waters Baker. The Dallas, Texas-based painter brings her rich perspectives and large-scale attention to spaces on and above the battlefield as an Artist-in-Residence at the Gettysburg National Military Park. She has shown extensively and her paintings are in a number of collections. “Stunning, atmospheric and spiritual” are the impressions Katy Giebenhain came away with after her Seminary Explores conversation with the artist. The culmination of paintings Waters Baker is beginning here during her residency will be exhibited in the show “Civil: Works Inspired by the Civil War” at Mary Tomas Gallery, March 2019 (Reception TBA) in Dallas.

Thanks to our host site for this interview, Waldo’s and Co. on the square in Gettysburg

The Artist-in-Residence program is made possible by the Gettysburg Foundation and The National Park Arts Foundation, with support from the National Park Service.

Gettysburg National Military Park artist-in-residence Rick Stark reflects on who we choose to memorialize, contemporary and Civil War poetry, moral injury, nature and what it is like to be a military veteran living on the Battlefield for four weeks which include the famous first week of July.

Rick Stark and Chris Lauer examine hand made paper for Rick's poetry.

Florida-based artist and sculptor Sean McGraw joins Katy Giebenhain for a conversation about his work and perspectives during his second Gettysburg residency awarded through The National Park Arts Foundation. The classically-trained artist and founder of Historical Sculpture LLC is living on the Battlefield from May 15-June 15, 2018. McGraw is focusing on WWI soldiers as well as Civil War soldiers. He sketches at the Eisenhower Farm and interacts with visitors in addition to researching the 100th anniversary of the U.S.’s major offenses of Argonne and St. Mihiel, studying doughboys training in Gettysburg and France. The Artist-in-Residence program brings artists working in a wide variety of media to the site of the Battle of Gettysburg. It is made possible by the Gettysburg Foundation and The National Park Arts Foundation, with support from the National Park Service.

Thanks to our host site for this interview, Waldo’s and Co. on the square: www.waldosandco.com . Waldo's warmly welcomes the Park's artists-in-residence to Gettysburg.

During her residency, Tucson-based writer Julie Swarstad Johnson will be working on poems inspired by stories of pacifist faith communities around Gettysburg before, during and after the time of the battle, with a particular focus on the experiences of the Sherfy family (owners of the Peach Orchard). Her own practice as a member of Mennonite and Quaker congregations will add perspective to the historical role these communities. It is an opportunity to understand examples of pacifism and faith in American public life. She took time from her research, writing and explorations for a conversation with Katy Giebenhain about her project. The author of Jumping the Pit by Finishing Line Press, Swarstad Johnson is a Library Specialist at the University of Arizona Poetry Center.

Julie Swarstad Johnson will give a free public poetry reading March 3rd at the Gettysburg NMP Museum and Visitor Center at 3:00 p.m.
The event is sponsored by a grant from the Gettysburg Foundation and other generous sponsors. For more information about the event call 717-334-1124.

Thanks to our host site for this interview, Waldo’s and Co. on the square in Gettysburg.