Wall Text: “The City Is an Organism,” 2018, charcoal, 10 x 12. Photo credit: Alex Nichols

Denise Newman

California, USA
Writing
Artist in Residence, 2026
↗ https://www.denisenewman.net

Artist Statement

I come to writing cold, asking words to bring me to heat, and vice versa. In my poems, videos, and collaborations I look for ways to catch the liveliness of words in dynamic play with the physical world, as unmediated by my will as possible. I feel my ultimate task as a creator is to help keep language from ossifying—crucial work for the collective imagination.

 

While at Headlands

While at Headlands, I will be working on my book-length poem, Life, an Epilogue, a conversation with my 22-year daughter who died tragically in a car accident on Christmas Eve, 2024. It began as my eulogy for her funeral and I have continued writing to her about her life, the terrible aftermath of the accident, and the future she will never have.

Selected Work