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Meliors Simms, Writer in Residence

I’m both a writer and an artist, interested in exploring innovative and sustainable ways to present creative ideas through written and visual languages.  My work is mainly about ecological sustainability and its relationship to personal actions and beliefs. I'm using the wonderful luxury of the time and space provided by the Sunrise Rotary/HGHS residency to develop a suite of new poems and related artworks about extreme environments and extinction.

So far in the residency I've been spending time with English, Art, History and Social Studies classes, as well as a class from the Hillary Centre, looking at how making handmade books can be an expressive medium for sharing information and ideas.  A handmade book is a wonderful way to present a poem, adding another dimension to the text, and hundreds of students have been making books with me in the past few weeks. 

In addition to classroom sessions, I frequently open up the Artist in Residence studio for girls to drop by during their lunchtime.  These open studios are like explosions of intense creative acitivty with up to 16 girls painting, drawing, writing, making books and sharing ideas and enthusiasms.   

It's thrilling to be part of the fearless exploration that young people apply to this kind of creative expression. My own projects are being shaped and inspired by our interactions and their fresh interpretations of many conventions. 

Blog: www.meliors.net

Shop: www.meliors.etsy.com

Video: www.youtube.com/meliors6