Artist-in-Residence Program

North Woods and Waters is excited to announce the launch of NWW’s first Artist-in-Residence project. Starting in late May 2024, NWW will be partnering with St. Croix Valley-based writer and poet, Laurie Allmann, to engage youth and adults in writing mentorships, poetry readings, storytelling, and the creation of new works throughout the northwest region of the St. Croix River watershed.

The project aims to increase access to written and spoken forms of art focusing on the themes of culture, history, and place. Free public programs, events, and mentorships will help to foster a greater sense of regional identity and community while offering skill-building opportunities with a local artist. Ultimately, this project will also serve as a launching point in developing a template that will continue to support St. Croix regional artists for years to come. 

Writer-in-Residence for 2024-2025:

Laurie Allmann

North Woods and Waters Heritage Area

Artist Statement:

I am a poet and creative nonfiction writer who expresses stories through print, multi-media and spoken word performance. My work is grounded in the natural world and driven by curiosity. I see value in the role of the animateur: n. (from the French), “One who animates, enlivens, brings to life; in practice, one who seeks to artfully convey a complex or technical idea in such a manner as to capture the imagination of an audience, using creative or unorthodox methods to illuminate specialized fields of knowledge.” Personally and professionally, I draw inspiration from scientists engaged in environmental research and the windows they offer into understanding the complex patterns behind the wonders that surround us.

Local Voices Project

By Laurie Allmann

August 2025

The St. Croix watershed is rich in stories. Each person who lives here carries a whole world around inside of them, whether they came to this place from somewhere else or whether they have lived their entire lives here. With the Local Voices Project, we get to meet some of these people, to hear where their personal paths have taken them, what they value about this place. We learn about their families, their work, their experiences. We learn how they define home. Each person arrives to the conversation from a different stage in their lives: sometimes the histories overlapping—as with the Mettlers—but always with a unique perspective.

See the stories by following this link.

 

 

David Mettler
Alyssa Auten
Carla Lydon
Tom Anderson
Alex Legeros
Deb Morrison
Roberta Dunkley
David Odendahl
Mary Jo Mettler
Guillermo Cuellar

Views from Midstream: Reflections on my residency

By Laurie Allmann

May 2025

I am well beyond the midpoint of my year-long artist residency with North Woods & Waters of the St. Croix Heritage Area, overdo to pause and reflect on the course it has taken. 

This is the first year NWW has offered a residency program. In the future, NWW artists may be photographers, painters, sculptors, or work in other media. In my case, the art is writing with a tendency toward poetry.

I’ve been creating new works inspired by the landscapes of the watershed, which feels as natural as breathing. There is endless diversity to be found in these lands laced by the St. Croix and its tributaries: so many wild places to explore for anyone who is passionate about the natural world. 

I’ve kayaked the St. Croix and spent time in protected places such as Franconia Bluffs Scientific & Natural Area and well-known parks such as Wild River and St. Croix State Parks. But I’ve also wandered in early immigrant cemeteries and driven down gravel roads in small rural communities. I’ve pored over historical accounts and maps, learning about everything from Paleo-Indian burial mounds to ghost towns where railroad cars once hauled loads of cream-colored bricks mined from clay deposits and manufactured on site. I’ve quietly explored the edges of named and unnamed streams whose waters are headed toward the St. Croix. I’ve watched the birds migrating through and those that have stayed behind for the winter, their plumage now brightening with the arrival of spring.

I love to wander solo in such places, and thought it would be the highlight of the residency. But the truth is, I’ve been equally inspired by my experiences with the people who live in the region: moved by their writings and stories, by the ways they’ve found to make good things happen in their communities, by their open-hearted love for this place. 

Picture a hot July day at Anderson Park in North Branch. People are strewn along a boardwalk through a marsh, watching and listening to the life around them, jotting down their observations in little notebooks; observations that will soon take the shape of poetry. 

See the group of people seated at a ring of tables in a library, snow falling outside the window. They have brought photographs that define their idea of home. When each person holds up their photos and describes why they chose them, many are brought to tears. People nod and smile. They understand. 

Listen to the plots of the books being imagined by a 12-year-old, a 14-year-old, a 23-year-old who have set their sights on publishing, their heads swimming with scenes and characters and journeys set in different eras. 

Look at local landscapes and architecture through the eyes of a Taylors’ Falls historian who finds beauty and context in the past; learn from her how it illuminates the present. 

Sit down for a few minutes with the organic farmer and orchardist who manages to be warm and friendly despite long, long, long days. Wander the trails of the acreage that she and her husband have transformed into a local hub where people gather for a ginger ale or hard cider, food from a food truck, and a slew of programs ranging from music to art.

Listen to a high school boy from Sandstone talk about how he feels lucky to live “way out;” that going outside clears his mind. 

Hear a young violinist from Sunrise playing classical music he chose because it made him think of rivers.

Listen to the story of how family land became an Isanti county park, and how donations from a friends group of the park helped to make it larger.

See the man’s hand resting on the beautiful, richly grained cane he carved, topped by the head of a duck that peers out at the world from between his fingers. Ask him to tell you what it was that made him want to live along the Kettle River. 

With mere months left in the residency, I don’t look at maps of the St. Croix watershed the same way. My mind is brimming with the places I’m seeing for the first time, that I hadn’t discovered in my earlier wanderings. It’s also filled with the faces and stories of the people I’ve met who live here, who help to recall the past and shape the present every day; who recognize and cultivate good things in their communities. Now that’s what I’d call art.  //

Writer-in-Residence Appearances & Events

This list is updated as programs are scheduled throughout the residency period and more details become available.

Past Events:

  • August 3, 2024: “Writing from Watersheds,” Irving and John Anderson County Park, North Branch, in partnership with North Branch and Cambridge Libraries. Interactive program for families and youth ages 8+, younger ok with parent. 
  • September 17, 2024: Author reading, Cambridge Public Library
  • October 13, 2024:  Reading with writers Laurie Allmann & special guest Marcia Bjornerud, Franconia Sculpture Park
  • November 14, 2024: Poetry & Music from the Watershed, Chisago Lakes Area Library, with violinist Donovan Stertz
  • December 14, 2024: “Defining Home” writing workshop, Cambridge Public Library
  • January 21, 2025 7 p.m.: “Live! with North Woods and Waters” Now at the midpoint of her year-long NWW writers’ residency, Laurie will be sharing new poetry, stories and perspectives from her explorations of the watershed.
  • Feb. 4, 5-7 p.m. “Defining Home” Writing Workshop, Princeton Area Library, Princeton, MN. 
  • March 4, 4-5:30 p.m., “From Page to Stage” Writing for Spoken Word Performance. Youth, ages 12-17, Mora Public Library, Mora, MN
  • March 21, 6:30-8:30 p.m., participating poet, Open Mic, Halberg Center for the Arts, Wyoming, MN
  • Sunday, April 6, 2:00-4:00 p.m., Once Upon a River, St. Croix Falls High School, St. Croix Falls, WI
  • Monday, April 7, 5:30-7:00 p.m., “Defining Home” Writing Workshop, Pine City Public Library, Pine City, MN. 
  • Tuesday, April 22, 5:30-7:00 p.m.,”Near Nature,” A bird’s eye view of wildlife and wild places to discover in Chisago County. All ages. Rush City Public Library, Rush City, MN.
  • Saturday, April 26, 1:00-2:00 p.m., Keynote Presentation: “What Fills the Open Space: Savanna Stories,” EarthFest, Wild River State Park, Center City, MN
  • Thursday, May 15, 6:30-8:00 p.m., Author/Poetry reading, Sandstone Public Library, Sandstone, MN.
  • Tuesday, May 20, 4:30-6:00 p.m., “Telling Wild Tales” writing workshop, Mora Public Library, Mora, MN.

    This project is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the East Central Regional Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.