Christy Sheffield Sanford
I live in Saint Augustine, Florida. Born in Atlanta, I've lived in Athens, GA, Columbus, OH and Gainesville, FL with extended stays in London, Bologna and Aix-en-Provence.
The photo on the right was taken by Margaret Ross Tolbert in Gainesville, FL at 326 Bijou. I was there for an Artist-Writer Residency and gave a talk on “The Fold,” a Colloquium Presentation to a small group May 26, 2023), Residency was Initiated in Honor of Frances Thornton Miller Tolbert.
RECENT BIO UPDATES: I won Arts & Letters Unclassifiable Contest* and was a finalist for the 2024 Calvino Prize. My work has recently appeared in Action/Spectacle, Hole in the Head Review and is forthcoming in an online edition of Gulf Coast. The Next, under Dene Grigar Director, has completed "Red Mona" 2.0 and the Archive Colledtion for Washington State University Archives, The Next.
"Starry Night: a Constellation" was the Third place winner in Slippery Elm's 2024 Deanna Tulley Multimedia Contest, and there is a second video "Sequin Sequel (NOLA Takeaway/ Takeout)" available at the Parley Lit site.
CURRENT WORK: Two strong influences inspire my current practice: 1) Stéphane Mallarmé's Un Coup de Dés Jamais N'Abolira le Hasard – the landscape, the constellation, silence, paths of motion, dissonance, the fold, the temporal body and reader participation and 2) the Web Revolution – joining disciplines, coding, adopting a horizontal worldview, linking entities, realizing kinetic potential, thinking dimensionally, collaborating and involving reader-viewers.
Thank you for visiting. Website is being revamped!
* The Wreck Tangles of Désirée Acking quote from Michael
Martone judge of the Arts & Letters Unclassifiable Contest:
"A fast-acting, highly combustible and comestible collage, 'Wreck Tangles' invoked in me, with its dreadlocks of images and words, a kind of vasovagal syncope, a heady high, that such an arrangement of sight and sound could blow-up my blood pressure, make my heart trill, put me flat on the floor. This fibrillating fiction maps an anatomy of a new novel nerve, the 13th cranial nerve, a twisted caduceus indeed."
See below four pages of how the piece looks:
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EducationF O R M A L
E D U C A T I O N Master of Arts Degree, Creative Writing and Interarts, McGregor School of Antioch Univ., Yellow Springs, OH, 1991-93. Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology, (Minor in Art and Philosophy), Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 1970-72. Undergraduate, Major in Art and Philosophy, Rollins College, Winter Park, FL, 1958-60. Graduate Poetry Workshop with David Kirby, Guy McKenzie Poetry Chair, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, 1987. Adult Education Master's Degree Program (Sixty-two Hours): Ohio State University (Forty-seven Hours), Columbus, OH, 1978-80 and University of Georgia (Fifteen Hours), Athens, GA, 1978. F E L L O W S H I P S & R E S I D E N C I E S Cassis Artist in Residence, “Cassisair,” Created “Prying Willamette Open,” Animation with Image and Text, Colloquium Presentation to Associate Artists, Cassis, FR, February 1-15, 2019. Associate Artist at The Atlantic Center for the Arts, Master Artists: Visual Artists Pat Steir and Eve Ascheim, New Smyrna Beach, FL, 1998. Associate Artist at The Atlantic Center for the Arts, Master Artists: Poet Diane Ackerman and Visual Artist Carolee Schneemann, New Smyrna Beach, FL, 1988. Associate Artist at The Atlantic Center for the Arts, Master Artists: Poet Ron Bayes and Visual Artist Terry Allen, New Smyrna Beach, FL, 1987. Associate Artist at The Atlantic Center for the Arts, Master Artist: Poet Maxine Kumin, New Smyrna Beach, FL, 1984. ILLUSTRATED TALKS AND READINGS Sanford, Christy Sheffield. Kolaj Fest, “The Future is Now, Was Then, Too,” Café Istanbul, New Orleans, LA, June 16, 2024. Sanford, Christy Sheffield. NMWP Unconference, “Image-Text, Essay-Poem” (Early Title: Pecha Kucha for Creative Writing), Presented excerpts from “A Slice of Stains,” NMWP is a Division of ELO (Electronic Literature Organization), Bournemouth, England, May 14, 2024. Sanford, Christy Sheffield. Pecha Kucha, Vol. 20, Turn the Page, “Vanishing Point(s),” St. Augustine Amphitheatre, St. Augustine, FL, March 1, 2024. Sanford, Christy Sheffield. Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship of St. Augustine, December, 2023. Sanford, Christy Sheffield. “Ode to Daring (You just have to Get Crazier.),” E-Literature Bound to Platforms: Exploring Opportunities for Narrative Connection and Disconnection, Electronic Literature Organization, ELO, Presenters: Lai-Tze Fan, Marjorie C. Luesebrink, Christy Sheffield Sanford, Erik Loyer, Caitlin Fisher and Will Luers, May 28, 2021. A few of the lectures I’ve given through Create!, the Arts Council, Crescent City Library, and the City of Palatka (Our Town NEA grant). Contemporary Black Sculptors including Yinka Shonibare (England), Martin Puryear (USA), Barbara Chase-Riboud (France), El Anatsui (Ghana), Kara Walker (USA), and Mary Sibande (South Africa) to be held at Putnam County Library, Palatka, FL,February, 2016. Poetry Walks: Co-led with Charlotte M. Porter a sunrise poetry walk for the Bartram Conference. St. Johns Riverfront Park, stopping to read from Coleridge, Wordsworth, Bartram, Harriet Beecher Stowe and others, Palatka, FL, October, 18, 2015. Libraries: Gave talk on Special Collections for example illuminated manuscripts, maps, and architecture: Library of Congress, E. Gene Smith Library, Bibliothèque Nationale de France, University Groningen, British Library, Peabody Library, Morgan Library, Beinecke Library, Harold Washington, and others. Crescent City Library, Crescent City, FL, November, 12, 2014. Art in Public Places II: Sculpture Parks: Storm King, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Gibbs Farm, Central Park, Hirshoren Museum, Botero Plaza with work by Mel Chin, Sophie Ryder, Beverly Pepper, Yinka Shonibare. Promoting Community Awareness for the Our Town: Art Works, National Endowment for the Arts initiative, Larimer Arts Center, Palatka, FL, December 7, 2013. African-American Sculpture: First Half of the 20th Century with special emphasis on Harlem Renaissance Sculptors: Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, Sargent Claude Johnson, Richmond Barthé, Selma Burke, Augusta Fells Savage, Elizabeth Catlett, Crescent City Library, Crescent City, FL. April14, 2012. Art in Public Places I: Contemporary Sculpture: Louise Bourgeois, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, David Nash, Anish Kapoor, Alison Saar, Jaume Plensa and Maya Lin. Promoting Community Awareness for Our Town: Art Works, National Endowment for the Arts initiative, Larimer Arts Center, Palatka, FL, December 8, 2012. Eco Arts: Five Approaches (Appreciators, Meditators, Recyclers, Activists, and Crafters). Included work by Hoefnagel, Ruysch, Monet, Turner, Butcher, Steir, Smithson, Goldsworthy, Lin, Gaudi, Nevelson, Chamberlain, Sze, Beuys, Coe, Anatsui and others, sponsored by Create! and Arts Council of Greater Palatka. Larimer Arts Center, Palatka, FL, December 4, 2010. Wet Talks: Part of Margaret Tolbert’s Aquiferious Project. Read excerpts from my long-poem “How to Talk to A River” (a string of morphemes and purls), Thomas Center, Gainesville, FL, January 6, 2016. Poetry Reading with Selections from my West View Walks. Moving throughout the historic cemetery stopping at places that evoked memoir-poems, Palatka, FL, April 26, 2014. |
RecognitionG R A N T S
STATE OF FLORIDA FELLOWSHIP (Interdisciplinary Category), Recognition for Work Associated with the Spoken Opera, The H's: the Spasms of a Requiem (Writer, Pro- ducer, Co-Director, Video Collaborator), 1994-95. NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS FELLOWSHIP, Literature Creative Writing, Poetry, Washington, DC, 1992. HARN MUSEUM OF ART (University of Florida), Performance Funding for The H's: the Spasms of a Requiem, 1992. NEW FORMS FLORIDA (Funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, Metro-Dade Cultural Affairs Council and Florida Department of State), Creation Phase Funding of The H's: the Spasms of a Requiem, 1991-92. CONTEMPORARY ARTS CENTER, New Orleans, LA (Supported by The National Endowment for the Arts and The Rockefeller Foundation), Interdisciplinary Artists Grant, Performance of Sur les Pointes: The Ballerina and the Sea Anemone, 1989-90. STATE OF FLORIDA FELLOWSHIP (Literature, One Award with Recognition in Two Categories, Fiction and Poetry), 1987-88. ALDEN B. DOW CREATIVITY FELLOWSHIP, Funding and Residency for Creation of a Web-Essay, “The Roots of Nonlinearity: Toward a Theory of Web-Specific Art- Writing.” Creativity Center, Northwood University, Midland, MI, 1999. CITY OF GAINESVILLE OUTSIDE AGENCY GRANT FOR PERFORMANCE ART, Performance funding for Sur les Pointes: The Ballerina and the Sea Anemone (Sponsor: The Gainesville Writers' Workshop, Inc.), 1988-89. CITY OF GAINESVILLE OUTSIDE AGENCY GRANT FOR PERFORMANCE POETRY, Performance Funding for "Longing for Progress: Making Love through the Ages," (Sponsor: Gainesville Writers' Workshop, Inc.), 1987-88 |
PublicationsB O O K S
SUR LES POINTES (The Ballerina and the Sea Anemone), Prize Winner, White Eagle Coffee Store Press, Fox River Grove, IL. THE KISS, published by Radio Room Press, Toledo Poets Center, The University of Toledo, Toledo, OH. THE H’S: THE SPASMS OF A REQUIEM (A Meditation on the Effects of Romanticism, Modern Architecture and the Love of Adventure in the Life of a Suicide Victim), Bloody Twin Press, Stout, OH. THE ITALIAN SMOKING PIECE (With Simultaneous Translation), Helicon Nine Editions, Kansas City, MO. THE COWRIE SHELL PIECE (With Baroque and Rococo Strains), Flockophobic Press, Ltd., New York, NY. BRIDE THRASHING THROUGH HISTORY, Bloody Twin Press, Stout, OH. ONLY THE NUDE CAN REDEEM THE LANDSCAPE, Apalachee Press, Tallahassee, FL. The following books were published by Fusion Press, St. Augustine, FL, 2020: GREAT LAKES (Map-Induced Trance States) (formerly published online at George Jr.) HOW TO TALK TO A RIVER (A String of Purls) PERIPHERAL VISIONS DAYBOOK THE INTERIOR LIFE OF A SKIRT (An Aspirational Memoir) THE MEN WHO KISS ME GOODNIGHT OR THE WAY OUT THE OSTINATO AND THE FURNITURE OR STIFFEN (Semi-Finalist for Tamaqua Award, Hidden River Arts) TWILIGHT AT CRESCENT BEACH (Littoral and Caelum) WEST VIEW WALKS: The Quick and the Dead ANTHOLOGIES “Living off the Fat of the Land,” “Jailhouse Boogie Blues.” PoetryXCollage Vol. 7, Kolaj Press, New Orleans, LA, Dec. 2024. “Voyageant de Port en Port à l’Initiale ‘M’ (Plateau de fruits de mer)” (“Traveling Through Ports that begin with ‘M’ (Seafood Medley),” Women: Une Anthologie de la Poésie Féminine Américaine, Edited and Translated by Olivier Apert, Temps Cerises, Montreuil, France, June, 2014. “Turn of the Century Time, Lines,” American Poets Say Goodbye to the 20th Century, Edited by Andrei Codrescu and Laura Rosenthal, 4 Walls 8 Windows, New York, 2008. “Dreams of Snakes, Chocolate and Men.” Sex & Chocolate: Tasty Morsels for Mind and Body, Edited by Lucinda Ebersole and Richard Peabody, Paycock Press, Washington, DC, Feb. 14, 2006. “Rachel's Recovery.” Another South: Experimental Writing in the South, Edited by Bill Lavender, New Orleans, Nov. 27, 2002. “Bigamy in the Desert.” Coffeehouse: Writings from the Web, Edited by Levi Asher and Christian Crumlish, Manning, Greenwich, CT, 1997. “Traveling through Ports that Begin with M” and “Hurricane! Alex!” Isle of Flowers, Anhinga Press, Tallahassee, FL, 1995. “Le Roman des Agrumes” (The Romance of Citrus),” “Le Roman des Reptiles (The Romance of Reptiles),”Valérie, visitant les V de la Floride (Valerie, Touring “Vs” in Florida)” “L’ABCdaire de L’Amour (The ABCs of Love),” Aires 11, Des Poètes Américaines: écriture, Chosen and Translated by Michel Pasquier and Olivier Apert, St. Sainte-étienne, France, 1990. “Voyageant de Port en Port à l’Initiale ‘M’ (Plateau de fruits de mer) (Traveling Through Ports that Begin with “M” (Seafood Medley),” Aires 9, Des Poètes Américaines: Corps, Sainte-étienne, France, 1989. “The Romance of Citrus (Sectional Version),” “Dreams of Snakes, Chocolate and Men,” The Stiffest of the Corpse, Edited by Andrei Codrescu, City Lights Books, San Francisco, CA, 1989. “Machine Scored Short Answer Poem #3 (I Want),” North of Wakulla, An Anhinga Anthology, Edited by Mary Jane Ryals and Donna Decker, Tallahassee, FL, 1989. “The Romance of Citrus (Sectional Version),” “Traveling Through Ports that Begin with ‘M’ (Seafood Medley,” “Dreams of Snakes, Chocolate and Men,” “The Romance of Imprinting (Cases of Bonding and Possession,” and “Scattered Fog (Caresses and Bruises Received in the Mist).” American Poetry Since 1970, Edited by Andrei Codrescu, 4 Walls, 8 Windows, New York, 1987. LITTLE MAGAZINES and SMALL PRESSES Long Publishing History Coming Soon! WEB-SPECIFIC and ELECTRONIC LITERATURE coming |
Community ServiceF U N D R A I S I N G
BARTRAM TRAIL SUB-COMMITTEE, PUTNAM COUNTY TRAILS 2015 VISIT FLORIDA $5,000 Found grant and assisted. Principals were Sam Carr, Committee Head, Janice Mahaffey, Ken Mahaffey Committee Members and partner Charles Rudd, Palatka Main Street Manager. 2014 FLORIDA HUMANITIES COUNCIL GRANT $10,000 Found grant and assisted. in the application process: Principals were Jonathan Griffith, City of Palatka; Sam Carr, Committee Head; Ken Mahaffey and Christy Sanford Committee Members. ART IN PUBLIC PLACES: AD HOC COMMITTEE 2012-14 NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS GRANT: OUR TOWN: Project Designer and Principal Grant Writer for City of Palatka in partnership with the Arts Council of Greater Palatka. $25,000 NEA Award with local match $28,000 plus funding from community groups. The Aquifer Project: a Three-part Grant: 1) Sculpture Acquisition, 2) River Reflections, a Light-Water Performance by Florida School of the Arts, and 3) Design Elements Planning, which evolved into a Green Print with Dr. Mary Padua’s University of Florida students. Primary Committee: Jonathan Griffith, City of Palatka; Denise Aiken (Arts Council Director; Roberta Correa, Community Liaison; Charles Rudd, Palatka Main Street Manager; Christy Sanford, Project Designer. $1,100 Money raised from local arts and service groups for honorariums given to working sculptors to show and discuss their work. I gave two free lectures on Contemporary Sculptors and Sculpture in Public Places: Venues for Contemporary Sculpture $500 Given by Arts Council to support Florida School of the Arts Dancers Invited Nader Tehrani, Head of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Architecture and Planning, to come to Palatka, give a workshop and talk to the public. He consulted with those working on River Reflections. Fifty members of Florida School of the Arts, faculty and students, participated in the event. Faculty Member Daniel Askew was principal Flo Arts Representative. HISTORIC PRESERVATION LARIMER ARTS CENTER 2010 $50,000 FLORIDA DIVISION OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES, SMALL MATCHING GRANT Principal Grant Writer for City of Palatka and Arts Council of Greater Palatka to obtain funding for Phase I, Handicap Accessibility for lower lever education area. Grant writing partner was Elisabeth Virnstein, Arts Council Board Member. Though not required, City provided some funding. LARIMER ARTS CENTER 2009 $3,000 DOWNTOWN TAX INCREMENT DISTRICT Projection System: Screen and Projector. Principal Writer for Arts Council of Greater Palatka. Partners were Elisabeth Virnstein and Denise Aiken for the Council.. TILGHMAN HOUSE 2009 $220,000 SOUTH SIDE TAX INCREMENT FUNDING I brought the allocation to the South Side Historic Neighborhood Association for a vote. Before that, I had an extensive history of attempting to win funds from Florida Division of Historical Resources. Terry Luke and Karen Sagett were tireless in efforts to obtain Tilghman House renovation funding. TILGHMAN HOUSE $2,500 BETTER PLACE Planning TILGHMAN HOUSE $15,000 BETTER PLACE plus $8000 the City collected from Insurance. Funding for new roof. Twice went to Tallahassee as principal grant writer for the Tilghman House Renovations, sponsored by Palatka Main Street and Palatka Art League. Key team members Terry Luke, President Palatka Art League; Karen Sagett and Catherine Butler, Palatka Main Street Manager. The second time Karen Sagett and I through Palatka Main Street prepared the grant, which was approved by the Florida Legislature but vetoed by Governor as were most that year. HISTORIC CENTRAL ACADEMY 2008 $48,000 FLORIDA DIVISION OF HISTORICAL RESOURCES SMALL MATCHING GRANT. Banker and Volunteer Kip Calhoun was primary grant writer for Historic Central Academy Preservation & Community Development Corp. I provided short term assistance. Grant was for a temporary roof. URBAN FORESTRY PALATKA HEIGHTS PARK 2005-6 $10,000 CINGULAR WIRELESS AND KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL GRANT. Applicants: City of Palatka Parks and Keep Putnam Beautiful. Tree and Plant Restoration of Palatka Heights Park, hit hard by 2004 hurricanes. Match $5,743 Christy Sanford Principal Writer with partner Sherrie Lowe Head of Keep Putnam Beautiful. FRED GREEN PARK 2006 $5,910 Florida Urban and Community Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: Tree Grant for Fred Green Park. Match $6,977 Keep Putnam Beautiful. Christy Sanford Principal Writer with Keep Putnam Beautiful head Sherrie Lowe.. ROTARY PARK 2005 $4,995 Florida Urban and Community Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: Tree Grant Rotary Park Match $5,885 Christy Sanford was Principal Grant Writer with Keep Putnam Beautiful head Sherrie Lowe Partner. WASHINGTON STREET $7,093 Florida Urban and Community Forestry Division of the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: Tree Grant Washington Street. Match $8,459 Principal Grant Writer with Keep Putnam Beautiful head Sherrie Lowe Partner ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION ST. JOHNS RIVER ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER This is a study in why you should write down your ideas. Inspired by Charlotte M. Porter, I wrote a concept paper for an environmental center. This was refined and enlarged by Elizabeth and Bob Virnstein. The plan ended up in the hands of Quinton White, Head of the Marine Institute in Jacksonville. He shared it with Jim Maher at the State of Florida FDEP who shared it with Georgia Pacific. They needed a mitigation project. The realization evolved into a children's museum, not what we envisioned and not an environmentalist's dream. Nevertheless, the power of writing down ideas remains. |