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.”
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.
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
