Upcoming classes at Alarka Institute, Cowee, North Carolina

Upcoming Courses with Alarka Institute

October 7th (Saturday) - Expressing the Power of Place

This all day workshop (9 to 5) is for beginning and experienced writers who are committed to communicating the importance of place - where you live, where you hike, where your drinking water comes from – and what matters about its present and future state.  Participants will spend their time engaged in both dialogue and writing exercises at the new Alarka Institute Studio space in Cowee Valley. The class is limited to 10 people and the cost is $65. Materials and lunch included. 

October 21th (Saturday) - Fall art and phenology workshop at Alarka Institute 

Participants will explore nature journaling utilizing a variety of art genres, and will gain an understanding of basic phenology (record keeping on a daily basis of environmental phenomena).  A short hike of about 2 miles is part of the day's exercises, and lunch is included. Limit: 10. $65

ABOUT Alarka InsTITUTE

Alarka Expeditions/Institute is a Cowee, North Carolina based business owned by Brent and Angela Faye Martin.  Brent and Angela are both artists and writers, having led courses and outings for over twenty years in the southern Appalachian mountains, with expertise in birds, plants, trees, as well as cultural and natural history.  We can provide you with a range of outdoor experiences, and can work with you to fit your interests and skill levels. Custom designed hikes, along with basic birding, botany, forests, and Little Tennessee river trips are a few areas of our expertise, and we also offer group courses on winter tree identification, nature journaling, phenology, and cultural/natural history.  We are based next to the Nantahala National Forest and the Cowee National Historic District, the largest National Historic District in western North Carolina. The area’s natural beauty led the 18th century botanist and artist William Bartram to describe it as “one of the most charming mountain landscapes perhaps anywhere to be seen.”  

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Brent Martin is a lifelong conservationist and educator, having recently worked over a decade as Southern Appalachian Regional Director for The Wilderness Society, and prior to that serving as Executive Director for Georgia Forestwatch and Associate Director for the Land Trust for the Little Tennessee.  He is the author of three chapbook collections of poetry - Poems from Snow Hill Road (New Native Press, 2007), A Shout in the Woods (Flutter Press, 2010), and Staring the Red Earth Down (Red Bird Press, 2014), and is a co-author of Every Breath Sings Mountains (Voices from the American Land, 2011) with authors Barbara Duncan and Thomas Rain Crowe   He is also the author of Hunting for Camellias at Horseshoe Bend,  a non-fiction chapbook published by Red Bird Press in 2015.   His poetry and essays have been published in the North Carolina Literary Review, Pisgah Review, Tar River Poetry, Chattahoochee Review, Eno Journal, New Southerner, Kudzu Literary Journal, Smoky Mountain News, and elsewhere.   He recently completed a two year term as the North Carolina Poetry Society's Gilbert-Chappell Distinguished Poet for the West.  He has led Power of Place workshops for the Carolina Mountains Literary Festival, Jackson County Arts Council, The Wilderness Society, and elsewhere. 

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Angela Faye Martin is a singer-songwriter, artist, and naturalist, and has worked for The Wilderness Society, Georgia Forestwatch, Armuchee Alliance, and the Pacific Rivers Council.  She has written and produced three albums - One Dark Vine, Anniversary, and Pictures from Home,  which was produced by Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse fame.  She recently wrote and narrated the critically acclaimed documentary, The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse, which is currently screening internationally at various film festivals and in the US. 

For more information contact Brent and Angela Martin at:

828 524 7400

alarkaexpeditions@gmail.com

www.alarkaexpeditions.com