2022 Fall Conference Overview 2022 Conference Workshops 2022 Presenters 2022 Schedule
Presenters
Beinlich, Lori
Pressed flower artist Lori Beinlich finds much of her inspiration for her work in hayfields, gardens, and the woods of Northeastern Pennsylvania. Lori creates pressed flower pieces in the form of candles, nightlights, clay pieces, note cards, wooden bowls, wooden trays, jewelry and more. She feels alive with passion, not only for flower pressing and designing, but in gratitude to borrow what the Lord, our creator, has given us in nature and to bring it inside our homes, as artwork. You can find her business, Wildflower & Fern, in her Etsy shop, in a few Art Markets, and in pressed flower art classes.
Browne, Adam
Adam Browne is a worship music leader and sound designer for Lakeview Community Church in Carmel, NY. Over the last 20 years he has also been involved in worship music and creative arts projects and discussions through Campus Crusade and the International Arts Movement (IAM) in New York City. As someone with a passion for building systems and making music, Adam has spent the last few years building his YouTube channel, The Closet Hymnologist, which focuses on practical and philosophical questions related to church music. Adam holds a BFA in Film Production from NYU, and by day, he’s the post production supervisor for Plywood Pictures, a video production company. Adam lives in Patterson, NY, with his wife and two daughters.
Brueckner, David
I've had a love for photography since high school. Lived 15 years in Ireland (where my three wonderful boys were born). Shot quite a few weddings there as well as beautiful landscapes. Reside in St. Albans and still love capturing tomorrow's memories.
You can see David’s work here
Carroll, Abigail
Author of Habitation of Wonder and A Gathering of Larks: Letters to Saint Francis from a Modern-Day Pilgrim. Her poems have been anthologized in How to Love the World and Between Midnight and Dawn: A Literary Guide to Prayer for Lent, Holy Week, and Eastertide. She serves as pastor of arts and spiritual formation at Church at the Well in Burlington, Vermont, and enjoys playing Celtic harp.
Chestnut, Sarah Crowley
Sarah lives and works at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts with her husband and two children. She keeps a small vegetable garden, a sourdough starter and a messy desk. Sarah’s poetry and creative non-fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in CRUX: A Quarterly Journal of Christian Thought and Opinion, Red Rock Literary Journal, LETTERS, The Rabbit Room, Three Things Newsletter, Bearings Online, Peacock Journal, and elsewhere. She hosts a local, monthly gathering, Poetry in the Round for conversation about and between poems. Sarah has an M.A. in Theological Studies from Regent College. She was the 2009 recipient of the Luci Shaw Prize for Creative Writing, and her poem, “Simon Hears Tell of the Crucifixion” (CRUX) won first prize in the 2018 Higher Goals Awards from the Evangelical Press Association. Sarah is an alumna of the Tupelo Press Manuscript Conference and is working on her first book-length collection of poetry.
Dickerson, McKenna
A Vermont-based artist who specializes in oil painting. Her works aim to explore and convey relationships between nature and culture through a combination of observation, research, and up-close, tedious fabrication. McKenna holds a B.A. in art and design from Saint Michael’s College where she also pursued environmental studies. One of her recent project’s, Animalia, explores the biological function and importance of different patterns and textures of various wildlife—primarily from Vermont, but also from Alaska. She directs the MakerSpace at Saint Michael’s College where she teaches art and maker-centric technology to the campus community.
Fitton, Kevin
Kevin Fitton is the author of a children’s picture book, Higher Ground, with Caldecott-winning artist, Mary Azarian. His short story collection, Auras, is available from Fomite Press. He’s published over a dozen short stories in nationally recognized magazines including Jabberwock, Limestone, and The Saturday Evening Post. He holds an MA from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, an MFA from Bennington College, and he’s the recipient of a doctoral scholar award at Western Michigan University where he’s pursuing his PhD in Creative Writing. He lives in Grand Ledge, Michigan with his wife and two daughters.
Fradenburg, Kristine
Kristine graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design in 2008. She’s explored many art forms, traditional and modern. Since graduation, she’s worked as a graphic designer, designing corporate identities and collateral, event invitations, and more. Kristine enjoys teaching art for her church’s annual summer Bible camps.
Jones, Gail
Gail is a professional teaching artist who focuses on working with clay, fiber, and glass. She teaches residencies, workshops, conferences, retreats and classes. She takes inspiration from Scripture. You can see samples of her work at gailjonesart.com.
Moffatt, Kevin
A spontaneous “prophetic painter” of over 400 images during worship. As an itinerant minister of the Word thru art, Kevin looks to paint what God is speaking to the church in those moments while worshiping at conferences and prayer meetings in many states in the USA as well as Europe. A graduate of Maryland Art institute, he majored in print making and architectural design. Kevin’s business, Manna Silks (Mannasilks.com), sells hand-painted silk scarves to stores throughout New England. His art and silk scarves can be found on Mannaart.com.
Newman, Jae
Jae Newman is a poet and adjunct professor of writing and religion at Roberts Wesleyan College, where he also serves as coordinator for the Office of Spiritual Life. He’s author of the poetry book Collage of Seoul (Cascade Books 2015). His work has been published in many national magazines and journals including Ruminate, The Bellingham Review, and Rock & Sling. In 2008, his poem "Honeymoons" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. As an educator, he recently presented at the Poetry Foundation, creating lectures and materials designed to retool the way college instructors and high school English teachers present poetry to young adults. He lives in Rochester, New York, with his wife and children.
Pettis, Pierce
Singer-songwriter Pierce Pettis consistently combines thoughtful and carefully crafted lyrics with emotional awareness and interesting guitar tunings. His songs cover a broad range: songs of faith (That Kind of Love, St Paul’s Song, Meriam), songs that deal honestly with tough emotion (Crying Ground, If It Wasn’t for the Night), songs that tell stories (Farewell, Georgia Moon), songs about family (My Little Girl, Black Sheep Boy), songs that explore racial tensions (Alabama 1959, Legacy), and more.
After a lifetime of crafting finely-wrought, heart-touching songs, Pierce feels he’s finally found his comfort zone. “The biggest change has been realizing that the purpose isn’t fame and fortune… but simply doing good work.”
He grew up surrounded by music, and through his teen years “put together various bands—all of them horrible.” But he persevered, not only playing but writing songs in a mix of rock, folk, country, and R&B genres.
Pierce became a member of New York’s “Fast Folk” movement in the mid-80’s, released an independent album, Moments (1984) before signing with High Street Records, where he released While the Serpent Lies Sleeping (1989), Tinseltown (1991), and Chase the Buffalo (1993).
Pierce signed to Compass Records where he released Making Light of It (1996), Everything Matters (1998), State of Grace (2001), and Great Big World (2004), That Kind of Love (2009), New Agrarians—Songs & Stories of the Southland (2013). Father’s Son, Pierce’s’ newest solo project, was released January of 2019 to widespread critical praise in the US, UK, and Europe.
Pierce’s songs have been recorded by artists including Joan Baez, Susan Ashton, Dar Williams, Garth Brooks, and Art Garfunkel.
Rogers, Paul
A Stowe native, Paul holds a BFA in Photography as a Fine Art from Rochester Institute of Technology. He’s a professional photographer.
Taylor, Eric
Eric holds an MFA in writing from VCFA. His work has appeared in River Teeth, English Journal, Whale Road Review, Plough Quarterly, The Caterpillar, and elsewhere. Nonfiction books include Using Folktales (Cambridge) and an edited version of Some Fruits of Solitude (Herald).
A delightful reading of one of his children’s poems can be found here.
2022 Fall Conference Overview 2022 Conference Workshops 2022 Presenters 2022 Schedule