ithaca writing studio is a curated, community studio for the arts in Ithaca, New York
ithaca writing studio is a small, intimate studio space on Slaterville rd. in Ithaca, New York. It sits on a large swath of land that winds down to six-mile creek. This is a personalized space for writers, visual artists, fiber artists, performance artists, et al to come together to teach, to learn, to create and share creative passions, pursuits and interests with their community. It’s a mutual aid, DIY, punk rock style, fireside poet’s society inspired arts and writing space that is always under the construction of the imagination!
There is relational power and radical connection possible in the spaces where we gather together as a community to make art in all its forms. When this space is utilized for classes and other small programs, the goal is that it is an inclusive and liberated space that aims to contribute to a thriving community of writers and artists from Ithaca and all over the country. We do that in our miniature setting and with the support of Ithaca and the surrounding communities. Diversity, intersectional feminism, queerness and mental health advocacy is at the forefront of planning for future classes in this space.
While the studio is maintained and privately operated by poet and visual artist Georgia Van Gunten, the space will hold some weekend writing and visual arts workshops with writers from all over the United States. These workshops can welcome up to 12 individuals to attend a weekend with classes that can last up to 4 hours each day and culminate in a reading and small, wrap party for the participants and their invitees. There will be several of these workshops in 2025 and more in 2026. There will also be other small, intimate classes including more arts options TBA.
About the Founder:
my name is Georgia Van Gunten. I am a writer with a BA from the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University and an MFA in Poetry from Vermont College of Fine Arts. I have long been a poet at work in my community: I have been a loyal audience and performer at writing events in every city I have lived in, from Austin, Texas to Taos, New Mexico, I have been an organizer and a dedicated supporter of writing and arts events especially in Santa Fe, New Mexico and now in Ithaca, NY. I have taught poetry and other genres of writing at New Mexico School for the Arts as well as the Indian American Institution of the Arts in Santa Fe, NM. My work has appeared in fledgling publications across the nation and I have been awarded small writing prizes and residencies throughout my lifetime. I have also self-published many chapbooks and zines and support artists who publish and disseminate their own work
What motivates me now is community and the deep urge and desire to contribute to the writing and arts community in Ithaca, NY. I am more punk rock than academic, yes, I mispronounce words and no, my degrees did not make me an expert in my field. Rather, I believe that the writing and arts genres are like bread and water as much as they are like the religious experience, ecstasy, orgasm. We are fed by writing and arts, we are kept alive by them, and we also have a deep primordial urge to create and consume art that appeals to our deepest instinct to live FULLY.
With that in mind, I have opened my own private studio space to the writers and artists in my community. This venture has been at my own expense and is still in the infancy stages of becoming. As I navigate how best to organize and present this project? I ask for patience and above all else? I appeal for your support and your presence.
I believe in the craft of magic, and I utilize those tools in my own life. The studio space is influenced by House magic, by Hedge magic, by the natural world of plants and animals AND I do not believe the term “witchcraft” is negative in any capacity. Please keep this in mind when reaching out about utilizing or entering the space.
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Contact
ithacawritingstudio@gmail.com