Hermitage Artist Retreat Announces New Beach Program

September 13, 2021 – Sarasota

The Hermitage Artist Retreat presents “Finding Resonance: The Vibrations of Art, Poetry, and Theater” with poet Lynnell Edwards, visual artist Nathaniel Donnett, and theater creator Shayok Misha Chowdhury. The three Hermitage Fellows will share and discuss their latest works in progress. This outdoor event is Friday, October 8, 6 p.m., live at the Hermitage Beach, 6660 Manasota Key Road, Englewood. The event is free with a $5 per person registration fee. Capacity will be limited due to social distancing. Registration is required at HermitageArtistRetreat.org. 

These three experts in three different art forms come together to discuss their practice and latest works. Lynnell Edwards returns to share new and previously published works of poetry inspired by her experiences. Nathaniel Donnett brings insight into his approach to creating art through “Dark Imaginarence,” a term coined by Donnett describing a way of life where one can think, make, act, and exist creatively. To complete the conversation, Shayok Misha Chowdury speaks about his process at the intersections of creation and performance across mediums. In the conversation to follow, these three artists will discuss the forces that inform their art with a particular focus on interactions between the seemingly distinct mediums.

Lynnell Edwards is author of author of several poetry collections, including This Great Green Valley, Covet, The Highwayman’s Wife, The Farmer’s Daughter, and the Kings of the Rock Hot Shop. She is the associate programs director for Spalding University’s School of Creative and Professional Writing in Louisville, Kentucky. Edwards is a founding member of Louisville Literary Arts and serves on the Kentucky Women Writers Conference Board. A recipient of the Al Smith Fellowship, Edwards holds a Ph.D. in rhetoric and composition and a master’s degree in creative writing, both from the University of Louisville.

Visual artist and cultural practitioner Nathaniel Donnett lives and works in Houston, Texas. Donnett’s practice holds metaphysical and phenomenological spaces that consist of mixed media, textiles, installation, sound, sculpture, video, collaborative practices, and public art. “Dark Imaginarence,” a neologism coined by Donnett, describes a way of life where one can think, make, act, and exist creatively. Donnett received his BA in Fine Arts from Texas Southern University and is a 2021 MFA Candidate in Painting at the Yale University School of Art. Donnett is a recipient of a Fresh Arts Houston commission and a Project Row Houses commission for his ongoing project, “What’s The New News,” as well as a Downtown Wayfinding Signs Project public art commission. In addition, Donnett is the recipient of the Houston Arts Alliance Individual Artist Grant, a Harpo Foundation Grant, an Idea Fund/Andy Warhol Foundation Grant, and an Artadia Award. His work has been shown at The Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (Virginia Beach, VA), The Mennello Museum (Orlando FL), The Ulrich Museum (Wichita, KS), The McColl Center (Charlotte, NC), The American Museum (Washington, DC), The Kemper Contemporary Arts Museum (Kansas City, MO), The Theresa Hotel (Harlem, NY), Harvey B Gantt Art Center for African American Arts and Culture (Charlotte, NC), The Community Artist’s Collective at The Mattatuck Museum (Waterbury CT), The Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston, (Houston, TX), Project Row Houses (Houston, TX), The University Museum (Houston, TX), and The New Museum (New York, NY).

Writer and director Shayok Misha Chowdhury is a multifaceted artist and theater-maker. He is the creator of VICHITRA, an experiment in queer South Asian imagination, commissioned by Ars Nova, The Bushwick Starr, HERE Arts Center, Joe’s Pub, Sound Scene, and New York Stage and Film. Currently a Project Number One Artist at Soho Rep, Chowdhury is an alumnus of The Public Theater’s Devised Theater Working Group, Soho Rep’s Writer/Director Lab, Ars Nova’s Makers Lab, New York Theatre Workshop’s 2050 Fellowship, and residencies at the Hermitage, BRIC, The Drama League, and SPACE on Ryder Farm. Recent: Brother, Brother (New York Theatre Workshop) with Aleshea Harris; MukhAgni (Under the Radar); How the White Girl Got Her Spots and Other 90s Trivia (Joe’s Pub). In the works: Public Obscenities (Soho Rep); Rheology (HERE Arts Center); SPEECH (Playwrights Horizons) with Lightning Rod Special. A NYFA/NYSCA, Fulbright, and Kundiman Fellow, Misha has been published in The Cincinnati Review, TriQuarterly, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Asian American Literary Review, and elsewhere. Misha received his Bachelors in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity at Stanford University, his MFA in Directing Theater at Columbia University, and studied Lecoq-based physical theater at the London International School of Performing Arts. He has taught and directed at Stanford, Brown, NYU Tisch, CalArts, Fordham, Syracuse, and Williams.