Your humble narrator was awarded a Residential Fellowship for July 2026 at the Clyfford Still Museum. Here was my pitch video:
As noted in the video (did you watch it?) I first became aware of the legendary Abstract Expressionist painter Clyfford Still via Michael McClure, who moved to San Francisco to study painting with him. Still had left San Francisco two years earlier, so Michael ended up studying poetry with Robert Duncan. I’ll link to the official museum announcement below. I have investigated this subject somewhat before in an April 2015 interview with curator Patricia Failing.
Residencies and retreats are tricky business. The ante goes up when you set out to write and they are higher when you have a specific goal or subject in mind, but given that the residency falls during Poetry Postcard season, given that I continue to write 17 syllable poems every day and that I have developed a practice of writing daysongs, I have a good feeling about my month in the Mile High City. If you are in, or near, Denver, let us have a cup of hōjicha tea. (I have again quit drinking coffee, though no one told my stress levels.)
I have tried to wean myself away from depending on outside validation to measure my worth as a poet, but I have to tell you that this opportunity, and the unfettered access to the whole museum (one of the best of its kind in the world) has given me a little high. My gratitude goes out to the museum, the selection committee and my references, including Andrew Schelling and Jason Wirth.
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A committee selected six Fellows from different study areas to engage with the Museum and its collections from July 1 to 31, 2026, as the third cohort of the Clyfford Still Museum Institute Residential Fellowship Program in Denver, CO. The program focuses on three pillars of study: art, education, and social enterprise. The 2026 Fellows include: Lamees Rahman and Martha Tuttle in Studio Art; Paul E. Nelson in Art Writing; Jon M. Wargo, PhD, in Early Childhood Education; and Kathryn Graddy and Michael White in Social Enterprise. READ MORE.
Sweet!!
Fantastic! I’m an Oregonian who grew up and spent much of my life in Denver. This is such a great creative opportunity. Congratulations!
Thank you Drew. Stay tuned.
I have to look at this again. Lot to chew on. Wondering how we can bring Cascadia to west sound
Congratulations Paul!
Compelling video proposal…you rock. All converges to this opportunity for you. No pressure-enjoy the mile high!
Thanks Ziggy. Do you know Still’s work?
“Still in Cascadia” – such a compelling pitch and artistic objective! I am glad they recognized it and awarded you with this honor. You will thrive Paul, enjoy the saturation process.
Congratulations! I think they were smart to pick you & that you’re be perfect writer to explore these open questions. I haven’t been to Nespelem but maybe deep cadmium reddish brown tones color canyons there. My hunch is Stills work relates to place through color & its gesture in relief & changing light.
The faceless portrait with the raised eyebrows and oversized hands doesn’t look like a Still. It kinda more resembles a William Johnson portrait of Gertrude Stein as an indigenous woman.
Hopefully this communication is not presumptuous &irrelevant
Congrats! Denver is fun. Denver Botanic Gardens.
Paul C. from VA
Yes, congratulations! I look forward to what may come of potential for collaboration with early childhood educator in your midst. Does the life of the elder artist have anything to do with our children of today and tomorrow? Is the artist of yesterday still talking to us? And how to bridge to the future in ways more enchanting than moon flight. I love this quote by Johnathan Bate: Could the poet be a keystone sub-species of Homo sapiens? The poet: an apparently useless creature, but potentially savior of ecosystems. – Song of the Earth
Brilliant.
Dear brother
My sincere congratulations to the most deserving, poet, interviewer, personality, and fellow practitioner of the way. A stunning video application from a very humble friend who has touched the lives of so many, including us, poets, worldwide. To use a popular euphemism, that would make you quite an influencer! Congrats be well. Stay safe! Daniel
Daniel, I am grateful for your kind comments. Thank you for taking the time to write, Paul