Seabeck Haiku Getaway 2017 (Seabeck, WA)
The Seabeck Haiku Getaway took place October 26-29, 2017.
The theme of the conference was: Taste.
The schedule included many workshops, writing sessions and crafts such as etegami and kite-making, writing sessions.
As cartoonist-in-residence, I drew comics during the event and presented them on the last day of the conference.
Quick links:
Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 |
The road to Seabeck | Shark in the lagoon | Seabeck Conference Centre
Name tag | Shark in the lagoon | Scott Mason | Kite making | Talent Show | Kukai | fog | fog rainbow |
Etegami | Cathedral in the Wood | Anonymous haiku workshop |
The road to Seabeck
Seven women drove from Vancouver, B.C. to Seabeck, Washington in a rented van: Lynn Jambor (our excellent driver), Terry Ann Carter, Vicki McCullough, Jacquie Pearce, Julie Emerson, Elena de Sousa.
Waiting for the Coupeville-Port Townsend ferry
Ferry from Coupeville to Port Townsend
Seabeck Historical Inn
Registration
Angela Terry was on the porch distributing the registration package. It was a beautiful day.
The Historic Inn was cozy with fireplace on.
Outside the convenient store across the strees, pumkins were awaiting carving.
Seabeck Haiku Getaway 2017
Day 1 - Thursday October 26, 2017
All activites took place in this building.
Participants created their own name tag. My reversible namegag featured a Pacific Northwest frog design and Japane rubber stamps on the other side.
Conference
7 p.m. After some problems with the projector, the conference began with introduction by Michael Dylan Welch, and a game of haiku bingo.
Michael selected the Bolero of Ravel as the theme song for the conference. He showed us the final scene of the movie Les Uns et les autres by Claude Lelouch featuring the bolero. The music got stuck in our head for the rest of the conference..
Guest speaker Scott Mason read haiku.
An amazing reading/performance of'Tokaido' by Terry Ann Carter.
Day 2 - Friday October 27, 2017
Sunrise
I walked to the waterfront to see the sunrise.
When I reached the dock of the swimming beach, I saw a V in the water and a fin sticking out of the water! There's a shark in the lagoon! Tanya McDonald told me it's a mud shark. It's about 1 meter long, but still... A shark!
When I got closer, I saw there were actually two sharks in the water.
Conference - Day 2
In his workshop “Haiku Is _______”, Michael Dylan Welch invited participants to fill in the blank. At the end of the workshop, he drew a huge X on the board, challenging the definition of haiku.
Michelle Schaefer made us laugh by introducing her writing workshop about “Unsavory Characters” with a funny commercial featuring naughtyraccoons. The haiku written during the workshop were funny, disgusting, and unusual. You can write haiku about everything!
Sumi-e and Haiga Exhibit
Exhibit of sumi-e paintings by Darlene Dihel
Etegami Postcard Painting Workshop
The workshop was led by Darlene Dihel, assisted by Dorothy Matthews and Melinda Brottem
Darlene Dihel introduced us to etegami, a painted greeting given to familyon friends for New Year's. You hold your brush really high, and move slowly. It creates squiggly lines. In etegami, the clumsier it looks, the better, says the teacher.
Everybody was excited to try. We were given four watercolour paint (yellow, blue, red, black) in a recycled CD case.
The teacher provided drawings of pumpkins, apples, grapes, wine glasses for reference. Even though we all used the same image, the results are different.
Here's a pumpkin by Michael Dylan Welch and a bullfrog by John Stevenson.
Dinning hall
Elehna de Sousa presented photos of food to inspire us to write taste haiku.
Kathabela Wilson introduced us to her “Family Stew”, with flute music by Rick Wilson.
Ruth Marcus encouraged us to write haiku to her beautiful mandala in her workshop “Ekphrastic Mandala Haiku”
She distributed postcards featuring her mandala so we can write our haiku underneath.
Reading in Cathedral in the Woods
At 2 p.m. we walked to the Cathedral in the Woods for an outdoor reading.
The program started with a participatory reading of poems from The Wonder Code. Participants were handed out color-coded cards and invited to read poems.
Then, Elena de Sousa read from various publications, and ended with a reading of a rengay written with Michael Dylan Welch.
Nicholas Klacsanzky gave an emotional reading from “Zen and Son”. His book features haiku by his father George Klacsanzky as well as his own haiku written in response to his father's.
Julie Emerson, David Berger, and Jacquie Pearce read their Plums kasen renku
David Berger introduced us to the buried treasures of Hood Canal: razor clams.
Clam digging is a family activity.On low tide, everybody goes on the beach to dig for clams with shovels or tubes. If you see bubbles on the surface of the water, it means there's a clam buried in the sand. It's called a Clam Show.
Explore
In the mid-afternoon, I skip some sessions to explore the grounds of the Seabeck Conference Centre. There's lots to do at Seabeck: bouncy bridge, peace pole, totem pole, fairy garden, rabid woolf, lagoon mud shark, cathedral in the wood, waterfront, cemetery, coffee shop, braille map, tree house, sundial.
Bouncy Bridge
Tree house
Rabid Woolf
This Halloween decoration freaked out lots of people with its realistice features. Tanya McDonald and Michelle Shaefer were brave enough to go visit it at night.
Seabeck Conference Centre
Aroun 6 p.m. I saw the half moon. A perfect half moon, halfway through the conference.
Haiku kite-making workshop by James Rodriguez
Hao Shen
Visiting mathematician Hao Shen gave a talk about “Mathematical Thoughts in Ancient Chinese Poems” The crowd enjoyed hearing him read poems in Chinese, especially Basho's haiku 'Old Pond'.
At 9 p.m. Susan Constable led the first anonymous haiku workshop. Participants placed their haiku in a snake basket.
Movie night
At 10 p.m., we watched a short film about homeless baseball player featuring a haiku by Michael Dylan Welch.
Various - Day 2
Saturday October 28, 2017
Conference - Day 3
Collective Meditation
At 7:30 p.m., before breakfast, about 10 people met for a early morning meditation led by Nicholas Klacsanzky
Around 10 a.m. I took a walk in the woods to experience the fog.
Because of the frog droplets, the morning sun rays were visible through the trees.
At 10:50 a.m., there was a spectacular fog rainbow in Hood Canal. I lasts about 20 minutes.
Porad Haiku Award
Announcement of the 2017 Porad Haiku Award results by Richard Tice (contest coordinator) and Terry Ann Carter (contest judge), with flute music by James Rodriguez.
I took a selfie while the photographer was setting up for the group photo.
Angela Terry led “A Taste of Haiku” experiential writing workshop. She gave us a ziploc bag containing 2 baby carrots and four packets of 'taste': vinegar, salt, sugar, hot sauce. We tasted each flavor and wrote haiku. We discovered vinegar tastes really good with carrots.
For the Kukai, participants submitted poems written at or about Seabeck or recent poems about autumn subjects. We selected our 7 favorite poems.
“Personal Taste in Haiku” panel discussion featuring Terry Ann Carter, Scott Mason, John Stevenson, and Michael Dylan Welch
Sunset
Host Michael Dylan Welch wore asquid hat to introduce the performances: music, dance, poems, and even a joke by John Stevenson.
Sunday October 29, 2017
Conference - Day 4
Outside the convenience store, the pumpkins were now carved.
On the final day of the conference, participants sat in a circle to share their favorite moment of the conference. I presented 14 comics I created during the conference.
Guest speaker Scott Mason was given a book signed by all participants of the conference.
After lunch, it was time to leave Seabeck. What an amazing conference!
Fog on the ferry
As soon as the ferry left the coast, we were surrounded by a blanket of fog.
The fog on the ferry.
waiting at the border,
Thanks to the organizers of the Seabeck haiku Getaway 2017for a fabulous conference!
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