The Betsy management team hosts a Meet the Artist Reception on Thursday, February 1, 5pm to 6pm in the Library. Meet The Betsy Writer's Room Arist in Residence, writer, Heather Sellers and enjoy an hour of cultural conversation.
Since The Writer’s Room opened in 2012, more than 450 working writers (and other creators) have stayed at The Betsy and engaged in community service programs. To see who’s checking in next, visit our blog at betsywritersroom.com.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Heather Sellers (PhD, Florida State University) is professor of English at Hope College in Michigan, where she teaches fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship for Fiction and a Barnes & Noble New Discovery Writers Award, she has published widely in a variety of genres. Her books include Georgia Under Water, a collection of linked stories; Drinking Girls and Their Dresses: Poems; Page After Page, a memoir of the writing life; and Spike and Cubby s Ice Cream Island Adventure, a children s book.
Multi-media artist Paola Cassola began her career as a journalist and photo-reporter working for Vogue and other International news magazines around the world. Her numerous assignments lead her to extensive travels, covering a variety of universal topics relating to beauty/identity, gender identity, politics, poverty, wealth, health + culture to name a few. These experiences lead to a deeper exploration and understanding of other cultures. Her earliest years were steeped in dance. She continued her love for movement, studying ballet, modern, jazz and contemporary rhythmic dance, which she learned during her travels. Her pursuit of dance continued until an accident caused her body extreme and limited mobility in 2004. This pivotal moment necessitated a drastic change in her life's course, leading her to consider other methods of expression such as acting roles in theatrical performances. Cassola saw this new art form as both a cathartic and spiritual experience and one to help her fully understand her own body-identity. In 2012 she embarked upon a series of performance works where she used photography to document her vulnerability and examine identity and intimacy. In 2014 at the Art Fair in Rio de Janeiro she introduced one of her most notable and courageous performance works which encouraged the public to fully commit to their own vulnerability, by participating with their eyes closed, as they were prompted to trust the artist and follow her lead. Cassola's practice continues to develop different forms of movement and technique that allow her to push the boundaries of the body. Her work aims to question how the physical form can move through space and time either as one entity or in tandem choreography with others.