Artist Conversation: Marc Anderson and Catherine Young

As part of our Dick Scuglik Memorial Fellowship, we present an artist conversation with visual artist Marc Anderson and writer Catherine Young. The fellowship is awarded annually to a writer working in ekphrasis — writing about art. The writer is paired with a Door County visual artist. The two exchange work and generate new work in response. This year’s visual artist is Marc Anderson of Sturgeon Bay. The writer awarded this year’s fellowship is Catherine Young of Blue River, Wisconsin.

Join us for a conversation with the two artists about their process creating new poems and visual art in response to what the other artist has shared. A light reception will follow. This residency is made possible by the donations of Kimberley Schey Scuglik, in honor of her late husband who loved painting and writing.

Marc Anderson was born and raised in central Wisconsin. He began working as a professional artist while studying illustration at the University of Wisconsin-Stout, first as a caricature artist then as a freelance illustrator. The drawing skills and quick decision-making required in those fields would become foundational as he waded into fine art painting. Continuing down this career path, Marc discovered the world of plein air painting and, in 2021, was included in the “Top Ten Artists to Collect Now” special feature in Plein Air Magazine. His work has received numerous national awards. In 2023, Marc, and his wife Anna, open M. Anderson Gallery in Sturgeon Bay’s Steel Bridge Creative District.

Catherine Young is a disabled writer and performing artist whose work is infused with a keen sense of place. A Wisconsin Poet Laureate finalist, Catherine is author of the ecopoetry collection Geosmin (Midwest Book Award) and the environmental memoir, Black Diamonds: A Childhood Colored by Coal. Her writing has been published in the anthologies The Driftless Reader, Contours, Permanent Vacation II: Eighteen Writers on Work and Life in Our National Parks, Imagination and Place: Cartography and in Essential Voices. Her work appears internationally and nationally in literary journals, including Ekphrastic Review, About Place, Ascent, Minding Nature, Hippocampus, and Midwest Review among others. Catherine’s poetry has been published as broadsides for Fermentation Fest Farm Art / Dtour Passwords and Madison Metro Buslines. With artist Stephanie Motz, she created the freely distributed broadside “Invocation: Call It Home” to celebrate place and encourage ekphrasis. Her commissioned poetry includes the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance, Wormfarm Institute, and the twelve-state Midway Atlas. Catherine holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and degrees in Environmental Science, Physical Geography, and Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She leads writing workshops and records the weekly Landward podcast. Rooted in farm life, Catherine lives with her family in Wisconsin’s Driftless Area where she is totally in love with meandering streams. She deeply believes in the use of story and art as tools for transforming the world. More is found at: http://www.catherineyoungwriter.com/ https://wdrt.org/landward/.