Born in Memphis, TN, raised in Arkansas, Stevie is a lover of many things: music and food being the first. Her passions have led her to many places and currently she is based in the Hudson Valley where she is doing an artist residency at Free Columbia. Her project involves food-based research with fellow resident, Madi. She is also involved in the Hudson Valley community through the radio waves! You can tune into her show on WGXC 90.7fm radio every fourth Sunday from 7-8pm! And sometimes you can catch her DJing live…Keep an eye out!

Madi Varns (she/her) is a multifaceted maker visiting Free Columbia from the state of Texas! She graduated from the University of Arkansas with a degree in painting and ceramics, but has

a creative practice that extends beyond traditional mediums. This fall she will be engaging in a collaborative food-based research project with fellow artist-in-residence, Stevie Selby!

Elka Miller is an artist, illustrator and painter. She grew up in Borden Indiana where she spent her days building fairy houses and making imaginative illustrations of animals and creatures. Elka has a deep love for nature and all things magical. She graduated from the Ann Arbor Waldorf school in 2020 and moved to Berlin Germany where she resided until 2024. Elka’s unique visual language expresses the duality of her own biography. Her whimsical earthy childhood alongside her grimy, dark Berlin coming of age, allows her illustrations to speak of her life experiences and thoughts. She explores the magic of letting her thoughts go and allowing the creations to move through her onto the medium she is working with.

Eloise Avery is a 24 year old artist and painter currently in residence at the Free Columbia artist residency. She previously lived in Philadelphia where she attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts graduating in 2024 with a degree in painting. She graduated from Green Meadow Waldorf School in 2019 where her deep love for all artistic expression was nurtured. For her senior project she studied biodynamic agriculture at the Pfeiffer center and graduated with a certificate in 2019. Her work as an artist explores themes of human beings and nature, our relationships to it and to each other. The ways in which we perceive the material and spiritual nature of life itself. 

Website: https://eloiseavery.myportfolio.com

Raised in Takoma Park, Maryland with family roots in folk music, graphic design, and pottery, Gabel is a lifelong artistic explorer, currently working primarily in ceramics and music. Following a degree in Community Development from Clark University, he moved to Western Massachusetts as an apprentice to Christy Knox of Natural Elements Pottery where he was exposed to wood-firing, and began a deep journey into aesthetic design in clay. Creating beauty in functional pottery, and investigating the atmospheric qualities of form in sculpture, he is interested in art and creativity as a synthesis of the material and non-material worlds.

Website: etcceramics.com

Luna is a ceramicist and painter. She loves to work with her hands so clay has always drawn her. She grew up primarily in Northern California by the coast. The ocean has always been an inspiration to her. Although this little town in New York has no ocean nearby she has found plenty of inspiration in the people, the woods and the wonderful studio spaces. goes here

Farranika is a singer, songwriter, and musician currently based in Columbia County, NY. Originating in the faraway land of California, she grew up surrounded by artists and creative thinkers, and has enjoyed the trials and tribulations of exploring her own artistic practice more recently.

At heart, I’m just a wildly curious human who’s into a bit of everything. From writing random thoughts to chasing balls on the sports field, to meeting new people (hi, yes, I’m that person who talks to strangers) I’m always up for something new.

Fun fact: I picked up cooking during this residency, and now I’m kind of obsessed. Rumor has it, my dishes are pretty legendary just ask around.

Feel free to reach out, chat, share memes, ideas, or conspiracy theories about anything  I’m all ears!

Find my socials and my website here. 

Ig-Lashitaluniya 

Website- Link

Belu is a singer, songwriter, and musician bound to no genre who is from Brooklyn, New York. Blending concepts in science, spirit, sound, and feeling, Belu’s music is a thing of wonder, whether she is playing acoustic and singing, or experimenting with synth, loops, and experiential electronic sounds.

Miranda is a wanderer, imperfectionist, and queer multi-disciplinary artist  interested in the off-centered experiences of clay, dance, and performance. Their work is sewn in the fields of Wood-Fired Ceramics, Wild Paper Sculpture, Contact Improvisation, and Butoh. We: clay, movement, and Miranda, are interested in the facilitation of therapeutic care, arts education, and anti-capitalist intervention through collective practices of dance, ceramics, and improvisation.

Noah is storyteller who studied at the Emerson storytelling program in 2024 before coming to Free Columbia and working at a local Campbell. Noah brings wherever he goes a wonderful amount of humor while also dealing with the challenges of the world, and in his hour long story he wrote and presented during his residency, these themes came through.

Lily is a storyteller and teacher from New Zealand who joined the residency program in winter of 2024, bringing humor, passion, and myths, and wonder through spoken word.

Harrison came at the very beginning of the residency program with a powerful project in film about subjects of life and death, epiphany, and storytelling. The film can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADn6KZ-t9UE

Soren Dietzel is the Residency Director at Free Columbia. He is a saxophonist, songwriter and biography facilitator. He spent ten years playing saxophone in bands in Duluth Minnesota. When he moved to New York to pursue his own music he approached Free Columbia for space and mentorship support. It was out of this that came the form of Tuesday potlucks and eventually the residency program itself. 

Check out some of his creativity here:

https://youtube.com/@revolvingparlor?si=umQXrqeGJzjVWiVK