August dedicated to literary, artistic growth

More than 70 emerging artists and writers from Minnesota and New York City applied for August residencies at the Anderson Center at Tower View.

The month is funded entirely through a grant from the Jerome Foundation in St. Paul, Anderson Center Director Robert Hedin explained. “The grant is designed to enhance the literary and artistic growth of emerging writers and artists” from those two states.

Six individuals were selected; each receives travel expenses and a weekly stipend.

Brandon Neubauer

Multi-media artist

A California native educated in New York, Brandon Neubauer of Brooklyn, N.Y., has degrees in film & television, collage and fine art, and also studied art history. He has exhibited widely in New York and more recently in California, Missouri and Florida.

His art work involves installation, photography, projection and video, using both digital and analog tools. “I strategically project image fragments and simple geometric forms into the landscape and document the result through time-lapse photography,” he explained.

Neubauer also has a freelance career in film and television.

Community service: Sheldon performance students

Lee Romer Kaplan

Fiction writer

New York City resident Lee Kaplan received her law degree from the University of California-Berkeley in 1995. Seven years later she earned a master’s in creative writing. Her experiences include working as an attorney, acting/directing for theater companies here and abroad, and teaching language arts.

While at Tower View, Kaplan hopes to complete revisions to her first novel, “The Flight of the Lesser Kestrel,” she said. “I’m interested in time and memory and language, and how historical violence shapes the people we become.”

Community service: Sheldon performance students

Anne Guidry

Fiction writer

Carleton College graduate Anne Guidry of Minneapolis has been involved with Americorps VISTA and organizations supporting women, immigrants and migrant farm workers. She is affiliated with Teachers on Call as a teaching assistant and paraprofessional.

During the residency Guidry will work on a novella set in central Mexico that was inspired by time spent in 2010 traveling and studying in Mexico.

Community service: Minnesota Correctional Facility

Shannon Brunette

Film and video artist

Shannon Brunette of Brooklyn, N.Y, studied printmaking and women’s studies at the University of Minnesota in addition to her studies in London. Her work has been seen in Minnesota and New York, plus there have been screenings in New Orleans, Fairbanks, Alaska, and Orissa, India, where she was in residence last fall.

During her travels, including time spent in Alaska and Tibet, she gathered sound recordings and images for a future film documentary based on the landscape and culture of those regions.

Community service: Minnesota Correctional Facility

Richard Donnelly

Poet

A poet and creative writer based in Minneapolis, Richard Donnelly writes about office and urban life as well as the small towns and rural folk of the American Midwest. He is involved with the Loft’s Open Voices writing group.

His full-length collection, “The Melancholy MBA,” was published in 2011. During his Aug. 1-15 residency, he is writing and refining poems for his next book.

Community service: Fairview Ebenezer

Eric Vrooman

Fiction/nonfiction writer

Minneapolis writer Eric Vrooman, educated at Carleton College and the University of North Carolina, has taught courses at those schools and the Loft. He is Writing Center director and visiting professor at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn.

He was winner of the Vita.mn summer story contest in 2011. During his Aug. 16-31 residency he will work on “Paper Trail,” a collection of nontraditional form fiction.

Community service: Goodhue County Adult Detention Center

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