Conversations from the Barn

It's our final podcast of the 2026 Artist Retreat season! Today, we are joined by theater artist Karen Saari and visual artist Jessica Turtle, who came to the farm just as fall was starting to settle over Everwood. We talked with Karen and Jessica about the role that community plays in their art-making – for Karen, who collaborates with many different artists to realize a production, and for Jessi...

On this episode from Conversations in the Barn, we aren't in the barn! Instead, we sat at the dining room table inside the retreat house and spoke with multi-disciplinary artist Rhonda Willers and writer and musician Sarah Michelle Magill. The reason for this location change was sound-related: the lawn mower was quite loud in the barn (and still a bit present in this recording). However, it also p...

We are joined today by writer Chris Clayton and visual artist Alex M. Peterson. In this conversation, we talk about the gift of time and what it means to be productive, especially as an artist. As Alex and Chris conclude, "productivity" can mean spending 8 hours working on your creative practice, but it can also mean spending a day disconnecting from work, wandering in the forrest, or even taking...

Today's conversation is with visual artist Osvaldo Rodríguez Ruiz and musician and songwriter Thomas Stitcha. Both Thomas and Osvaldo's work at Everwood focused on the idea of home and returning to one's inner child. Thomas and Osvaldo reflected on their early points of inspiration and the people, places, and sensations that make them feel at home. 

In today's episode of Coversations from the Barn, we are speaking with multidisciplenary writer and theater maker Addie Ulrey. Addie spent her week at Everwood as a solo artist on retreat, which brought it's own challenges and opportunities. Addie has recently relocated back to the upper Midwest, and so her time at Everwood was a chance to reflect on space, community, and the art that comes from b...

Today on the podcast we are joined by writer Denise Santomauro and theater artist Karissa Murrell Myers. Denise and Karissa are both based in Chicago, and while they didn't know each other before their week at Everwood (although they did have mutual friends), they are leaving as friends and potential collaborators. In this conversation, we talked about the importance of getting away from the deman...

Today, we are joined by singer, actress, and writer Kate Beahen and dancer, improviser, and deep listener Kaleena Miller. Our conversation focused on the role of sound in art — both as inspiration and as creation. Kaleena explored sound through her own body and voice while dancing in the barn, and Kate, who often works as a singer, explored the silence that comes from writing. We also discuss our...

Today's conversation is with painter, muralist, and illustartor Keighley Sadler and writer Katrina Vandenberg. Keiley and Katrina brought somewhat opposite energies and art styles to Everwood. Keighley's style more outwardly tactile and Katrina's more interwardly focused. Still, their practices complemented each other during their week at the farm. In our conversation with them, we talked about co...

Today we are joined by actor, writer, and visual artist Senyah Haynes and songwriter and musician Molly Brandt. We talked with Molly and Senyah about when they each started to identify as an artist. Does being an artist mean you make all of your money off of your art? Does it mean you work on your art every day? Or is it something else? Molly and Senyah offer their own ideas about what it means to...

Today's conversation is with vocalist and songwriter Maygen Lacey and writer, poet, and birth doula Sarah Auna. We started the conversation off by talkng about the extended capacity Maygen and Sarah both felt as a result of being on the farm. We then followed that thread to explore what that extended capacity allowed for: vulnerability, deep connection, and courage. This conversation is a moving r...

We gathered in the barn at the end of Ann and Ariel's retreat week, after smoke from wildfires in Canada and Northern Minnesota had caused us to close the barn for a few days due to dangerous air quality. Ann and Ariel let the smoke and the land inspire a new piece that combines theater, poetry, movement, textile, florals, and more. We talk about the creation of this new work, and the ways that An...

Today's conversation is with illustrators Jennifer A. Bell and Kayla Harren. Both visual artists, Kayla and Jen applied to spend their retreat week at Everwood together. While they don't often get to collaborate in their professional lives, they are frequently inspired by one another's practice. We talk about the importance of playfulness in making art — especially playing alongside other artists.

Today's conversation is with dancer Tyler Schnese and writer and poet Jason Robert Weidemann. Tyler and Jason retreated at Everwood during the summer solstice. We talk about how they both made use of these longer days during their retreat week, including immersing themselves in place. For Tyler, this meant making dances for themself in a barn in their home state of Wisconsin. For Jason, this meant...

Today on the podcast, we are sharing a conversation from the end of our 2025 Artist Retreat season with writer and musician Suzanne Ohlmann and audio producer Julie Censullo. Julie and Suzanne both were deeply inspired by each other during their retreat week — they say they fell into an easy rhythm of wandering, gathering, cooking, and creating stories together. In this conversation, we talk about...

We are kicking off our 14th season with a podcast conversation with James Kennedy and Ross Thorn. While Ross and James work in different mediums, they both spent their retreat week at Everwood engaging in some explorative world building. In this conversation, we talked about trying new things and how the outside world influences their art. Learn more about James at jameshkennedy.com and more about...

Geoffrey Lamar Wilson , also known by his stage name LAAMAR , is a Minneapolis based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. After spending his 20's studying and performing music in New York, and working the craft coffee cafe circuit in Brooklyn, he returned to his hometown in 2016 to "settle down". He emerged on the local music scene in 2023 with his song Home to My Baby, a song which reso...

Chris  Stedman  is a writer, podcaster, and professor who teaches in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN. He is the author of the books  IRL ,  Faitheist , and the forthcoming  Nothing in Particular , as well as the writer and host of  Unread , named one of the best podcasts of 2021 by the Guardian, Vulture, HuffPost, Mashable, the CBC, and others, a...

Kurt Robert Engh is a theater-maker with the goal to expand the framework of what "theater" is in order to adapt the art form to a twenty-first century audience. He transposes experimental practices to narrative stories, addressing how contemporary audiences consume live performance. He is specifically interested in exploring Midwestern identity, creating characters as complicated as real people,...

This is a special conversation with Em Haas, Everwood Farmstead's 2025 Artist Retreat Administrator. Em joined us at the farm this summer to support the 34 artists who traveled from all over the country and Canada to work in the Retreat. Em is a recent graduate of St. Olaf College with a Bachelor of Arts degree focused on English, Creative Writing and Ancient Greek. Em was also a Senior Admissions...

Nissa Nordland Morgan is a playwright, actor and musician in Minneapolis, MN. She is a member of the Twin Cities' Playwright Cabal and Artistic Director of Twin Cities Horror Festival. Her plays "The Fae", "Incarnate", "Stabby Stab Stab" and "Kin" were performed as part of the Twin Cities Horror Festival; "The Fae" was nominated for Best Original/New Work through TC Broadway World. Her Minnesota F...

Sarah Elstran is an independent musician that bridges the gap between bright-eyed pop composition and hands-on atmospheric live layering of voice. Her vocal loops give us the kind of detail and wide multi-octave range that we might come to expect from a marquee pop star, while her production decisions continually keep us guessing as to what rabbit holes her tracks might fall into next.  thenunnery...

Originally from Colorado,  Genevieve Waterbury grew up in the mountains and in the ballet studio at Boulder Ballet and eventually studied dance at Colorado State University. She then joined Nevada Ballet Theatre in Las Vegas where she collaborated annually with Cirque du Soleil. One of her favorite moments from NBT was working intimately with Cynthia Gregory on character portrayal for the company'...

Nichole Gronvold-Roller is a painter who received a BFA in Art Education from Minnesota State University of Moorhead, an MA in Art Education from Boston University, MA, and an MFA in Painting from Bradley University. In addition to being an artist, Nichole is a full-time high school art teacher in Tremont, IL, where she has been teaching for the past twenty-six years. Furthermore, she is a contrib...

Cori Nakamura Lin (she/her) is a Japanese, Taiwanese, Okinawan-American multimedia visual artist based in Chicago. By painting, documenting, and weaving, Cori is finding her way to a world that prioritizes ecological and community care. Descended from East Asian island peoples and born and raised in the midwest, Cori's art practice is an ongoing self-archive where she examines her own multiple ide...

LESLIE VINCENT is a prolific songwriter and jazz vocalist. Equally at home singing the Great American Songbook, musical theater, and contemporary rock and pop, she has quickly become one of the most notable voices to emerge in the vibrant Minneapolis music scene, being hailed for her joy-filled performances and her "fun, human, beautiful interpretations" (Levi Weinhagen).  Born into a military fam...