Testimonials
To watch the birth of my film and to see its postproduction accelerate during my four-week stay was not only exhilarating, it was also a reflection upon what Willapa Bay AiR fosters, which is to make human enterprise great. To film and edit 8-10 hours per day and then to have another 3-4 hours of study and reflection in the evenings was integral to the project's evolution. I am so grateful for having access to a private ecology, a place that has humbled me and filled me with a sense of grace. I sorely miss the bay and its adherence to tidal time. The ebb and flow of its existence emboldened me somehow. I can only speak for myself, but I know the bay was the elixir of Willapa Bay AiR that allowed me to labor with great purpose and it continues to fortify me today.
-Jeannette Louie, Visual Artist, Livingston, NJ
Little did I know that when I got news of the residency at Willapa Bay AIR, frank would emerge during that idyllic time, and it would change my life. Thank you for the time I spent there, the peace, the nurturance, and the beauty. As you know, it was my inroad into frank - inseparable from what the book became.
- Diane Seuss, Poet, 2022 Pulitzer Prize Winner for frank: sonnets
Willapa Bay AiR offers a month of time and creative inspiration in one of North America's most spectacular locations, at the very edge of the continent. It was this edginess that fueled my writing, the twinned sense of vulnerability and beauty that Oysterville and the Long Beach Peninsula nurture. As I walked through the village, the meadows, the cranberry bogs, along both the sea and the bay, I was overwhelmed by the quiet abundance, on the fringes of which art was both possible and affirmed.
-G.C. Waldrep, Poet, Lewisburg PA
I'm so amazed by the detail of thought that went into every single aspect of planning the residency program—from cottages designed for comfort and productivity (and nature!) to the community spirit that permeates everything; from generous and well-crafted food to the nurture of the artist within and without. I came with projects in mind, and I was able to do most of what I hoped to do. But beyond the work itself and beyond the experiences of exploration and community, I became a better, more dedicated, more committed artist at Willapa Bay.
-Barbara Presnell, Writer, Lexington, NC
There's something in the AiR in Oysterville. Sweet, clean, inspirational. The energy radiating from its inhabitants, the creatures and woods who breathe it in. The people, the communal dinners, the camaraderie, collaboration, empathy. Perhaps this is what art is: being in art. …to live with, in, and through other artists' failures and triumphs. All these things left me thoroughly reinvigorated and resolute to continue my work. Willapa Bay AiR allowed my imagination to unfurl and stretch its stiff limbs.
-Kevin Mendoza, Composer, San Mateo, CA
was able to devote unfettered time to new lines of research with the goal of experimenting freely and returning home with fertile new paths forward. I expect the exploratory work done in Willapa Bay AiR to develop into fully realized bodies of work over the coming months and years.
-Becky Alprin, Visual Artist, Oakland CA
That wonderful, intense period of nurtured, focused, writing brought me back to the essence of why I write and brought into focus the vast gulf between the art and the business of music.
-James Hurley, Singer/Songwriter, Moorpark, CA
This residency values (and fosters) the artist's role in the world. Every element is designed to cultivate freedom – to think, to work, to move deeper into your chosen form. There is a genuine interest and investment from everyone involved that encourages conversation, communion, and artistic growth. It was a pleasure to spend so much time with people who are deeply invested in worlds that don't cross over neatly with my own – we're all drawing from different wells, but we all draw deeply.
-Adrienne Celt, Writer, Tucson AZ