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Youth Education

BEYOND THE FRAME: To Be Native

Residency sponsored by Methow Arts Alliance

in Okanogan County High Schools in April, 2019

Sponsored by the Icicle Fund, Beyond the Frame is a North-Central Washington community-wide initiative revisiting the photographs of Edward S. Curtis and sparking conversations on Native identity, race and resilience, art and culture. 

In April of 2019, I taught a poetry residency in high schools in the Methow and Columbia River Valleys to explore Curtis' photographs through ekphrastic poetry. I am delighted to have collaborated with historian Douglas Woodrow of Okanogan on this project.

Learn more here about Beyond the Frame.

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Photos: Edward S. Curtis, public domain

Ekphrastic Poetry: A Poem's Visual Elements 
                                    in Response to Visual Art

Residency sponsored by Literary Arts Writers in the Schools 

for Lincoln High School at the Portland Art Museum

"Great teaching inspires great results... Thank you for inspiring lessons which truly connected the Museum's collections with poetry.  I truly love the Writers in the Schools marketing phrase "Words Matter." I think your lessons exemplified this… Your lessons were amazingly crafted, rich in content and engaging on many levels with all of us."
—CINDY IRBY, Art History IB teacher, Lincoln High School
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Lincoln High School students at the Portland Art Museum

"Over the course of the writing residency at the Portland Art Museum, Cindy connected deeply with each student in my junior class. Her lessons were thoughtfully crafted with lively poems and probing questions. She gave weekly written feedback and talked with every student about their work. This attention helped them to focus on improving their work, as well as helped them to build self-confidence. It was a delight to work with her."

—TRACEY WYATT, 11th grade English teacher, Lincoln High School

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