A Ranic (any/all pronouns) is an interdisciplinary performance artist currently living and working in Detroit Michigan. Their work explores themes of gender, twinship, and bodiness usually through endurance-based durational performances.

While at Sable they performed an endurance piece (currently untitled) where they dragged a log in a circle 777 times over the course of 12 hours. They also created a video piece titled “All The Luck I Can Get” where they found and consumed seven four leaf clovers.

A Ranic is a passionate learner who loves playing games and hanging out with their buddies! 

Beth Brill (she/her) is a musician and songwriter from Sterling, Illinois.

While at Sable, Beth explored writing political folk music and contrasting aspirant and earth based folk music. If she went missing from Sable for very long, you could find her in the cemetery down the hill.

Beth loves experimenting with fashion and all creative acts that are integrated into the fabric of life.

Calliandra Marian Hermanson (she/her) is a printmaker and installation artist from Tucson, Arizona, currently living in Baltimore after having completed her MFA at the University of New Mexico.

While at Sable she was being inspired by the plant circumnutation patterns from Charles Darwin’s “The Power of Movement in Plants” and the 17th century microscopic plant illustrations from Nehemieh Grew’s “The Anatomy of Plants.” These both continue her research and interest in human-plant relationships and the history of botany and manifested as drawings, a linocut, a terrible metal engraving attempt and a strange musical experiment.

Books read at Sable:
The Light Eaters, Zoë Schlanger
Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir
Terra Incognita, Sara Wheeler

https://calliandramarianhermanson.com

Jess Gianna (she/her) hails from Staten Island, New York. She works in 35mm and medium format film photography.

While at Sable, Jess used her medium format camera to capture both the vastness of the Green Mountains and the intimacy of the community around her. During Sable’s Art Share, she opened up about her complicated relationship with her body and the ongoing challenges of self-love.

That moment of vulnerability became a turning point—prompting Jess to turn the lens inward and begin documenting herself and her body during her time at Sable.

Jess began singing as a high soprano at the age of five and reached her peak at twelve, when she performed Queen with her theatre group at Carnegie Hall. In that unforgettable moment, she carried the soaring high note in Bohemian Rhapsody.

jessicalgianna.com; @photosbyjess

Monica Hamilton (she/her) is an artist from New England. As a photographer, she is interested in the tension caused by the difference between the truth of the photograph and the thing itself. Often, she’s known for collecting more shells than fit in her pocket. She holds an M.F.A. in Studio Art from the University of Connecticut and a B.S. in Studio Art from Skidmore College, and currently works and teaches at Endicott College in Beverly, MA.

At Sable, Monica read three books, took photographs of the Sable landscape and surrounding area, and found solace in a good river dunk.

Website: https://www.monicahamilton.art/

Instagram: @moonicahamilton

Shaunie Berry (she/her) is a multimedia artist from Denver, CO.

While at Sable during June 2025 Shaunie focused on drawing and letting loose from expectations. She brought simple materials (colored pencils, oil pastels, pens) and focused on finishing a daily drawing in her 11”x14” sketchbook. As Assistant Director of Community & Education at RedLine Contemporary Art Center in Denver, rest and rejuvenation was one of her top priorities. She spent a lot of time connecting with nature and enjoyed disconnecting from social media and the outside world. She has fond memories of listening to the pitter patter of rain on her tent.

In her daily life Shaunie is an advocate for positive social change in various communities and enjoys spending time with friends, being active and cuddling with her Cocker Spaniel, Cookie!

IG: Artbyshaunieb

Website: www.artbyshaunieb.com

Avery Lavoie

Songcatcher/Poet/Block Printing

Photo by Nicole van der Wal

Kat Smith (they/them) is a multi-media artist hailing from Lexington, KY. In their art practice they have a habit of drifting towards fiber arts, print making, zines, and film photography, and a love for blending them together when it feels right!

During their time at Sable, they oooed and ahhhed at lichen in the woods as inspiration for a body of work focused on the mutualistic and non-binary nature of lichen, and the lessons they gift us when we look a little closer. They’re favorite moments at Sable were singing by the fire, playing the poetry game every night, and floating in the river.

A few of their treasured joys in life include connecting people together, finding a good toad (all toads are good), the fool card, and the smell of fresh cut tulsi.

You can find more of their work at materialdrifter.rodeo or on instagram @material.drifter.

Karissa Chouinard

Poetry

Photo 1 by Kat Smith

Photos of Karissa’s work in the Stump Hut at Food and Art Friday, by Nicole van der Wal.

Marina Blough (she/her) was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia and has spent the last 10 years working, playing, and studying in Chicago, Illinois. Her artistic medium is primarily writing, specifically poetry and prosetry, although she is compelled by textiles and spent lots of time during her Sable residency exploring sewing, bookmaking, singing, and movement. 

At Sable, Marina spent many faceless hours swimming naked in the river, pioneering side projects (making cookies) in the kitchen, and learning from others in her cohort. Her “final products” included several poems, several stab-bound books, a dream interpretation station, a collaborative dance with her cohort, and a hand-sewn fish on a stick toy, which legend has it is still floating around the Sable kitchen somewhere. She also greatly enjoyed call-and-repeat song learning, playing Poetry Game, and reading tarot for her Sable companions.

Marina is planning on moving to Vermont within the next few years with her close friend Jenn, whom she met at Sable during the 2025 residency. She has aspirations of returning as a guest artist.

Millie Heckler (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist from Vermont that focuses primarily on movement and breath.

During her time at Sable, she prepared and then embodied a site-specific traveling ceremony, giving voice and body to dormant layers beneath a surface….of dirt, skin, and time. She danced a “solar fugitive” dance, sprinting from place to place (faithfully leaving), while situated in her home of a body-in-motion and a breath beat beating up against itself. Millie is really interested in the power of the moving body to exhaust and dissolve self-limiting fears, doubts and memories...to turn them into something else.

Check more of her work out at: pusherbody.com

Photo Credit: Jacobo Ríos

Oska Renee (they/them) is a dancer and figure skater from Maine. They are in the process of completing their BA at Sarah Lawrence College with a focus in French and Dance.

During their time at Sable they deepened their collaboration with nature, shared dance with the community, ate watermelon by the river, and took their T-shots in the woods. Their final project culminated in a dance that explored their personal narrative of transness (this work is still in process today.)

Shelby Freehling

sculpture, textiles, assemblage, and performance

Vic Spindler-Fox (they/them) is a fiber artist and documentarian from East Tennessee, now making a home in the Rust Belt. Vic’s artistic work focuses on reclaimed and mended textiles designed for daily use, rooted in embodiment and a sense of place, and based around ideas of mourning and memory, scrap and salvage, queerness and ghosts.

During their time at Sable, they made little creatures out of mud and cloth, practiced decomposable printmaking, and meditated on genderless mama-ing and biological clocks using time, thread, words, milk, and decay. 

you can find more of vic's work at mourningtown.com

Adelaide Dicken

Writing, poetry, theatre, community organizing, food

photos by Nicole van der Wal

Angela Sillars

comics and art journaling (pen, marker, watercolor, acrylics); assemblage (found objects, beachcombing, forestcombing); mosaic (glass, stone, beads, found objects)

Photos by Bex Love, Nicole van der Wal, and Ella Floyd

Anna Chapman (she/her) is an artist, community arts facilitator, and an art educator from Cleveland, Ohio. While at Sable, she built props to contribute to communal storytelling performances.

This was her 2nd Sable Residency.

Photo by Nicole van der Wal

Cynthia Zhou

Oil painter and swing dancer

photo by Ella Floyd

g ammondson [they/them] is a performing artist, poet, and pilgrim inhabiting the lands who call upon their heart.

during their time at Sable, g collaborated on and danced in a staged-story about a little trans girl who meets her ancestors in a cave, and they researched their own land-based performance practice, creating an embodied poem about their real and deep romance with two different trees.

they enjoyed the creative flow of writing by hand, mending clothes, collaging zines, floating in the river, and dancing all while in the company of other goofy artists.

g loves the forest and the desert and the mountain and the sea very, very much.

https://eliseammondson.substack.com/

Jo Nakayama-Painter

Visual artist and writer; sculpture; clay, et al

photo by Ella Floyd

Nyah Malone

Dancer, writer, singer

Photo 1 by Nicole van der Wal

Vic Fulton (they/them)

Vic returned to Sable during our July1 cohort to support the Sable Team!

3rd photo by Nicole van der Wal

Allison Wray (she/they) is a Vermont-based lover of life and believer in magic.

During her guest residency she has been playing with birch bark and natural dyes, exploring the ephemerality of textiles held together by tension and friction.

She doesn’t have a website yet, but maybe soon!

Madison McGain (she/her) is a movement artist based in New York City.

Madi was inspired by the container Sable provides for deep care of others, self, and our environment. While at Sable, she was interested in expanding a work about romantic power dynamics. Her creative practice looked like daily movement meditations in the Delectable Studio at golden hour. Having an abundance of time and space that felt rich with reflection and questioning really excited her.

Madi's favorite part of her Sable experience was the wonderful fellow artists that colored the days with kindness, conversation, and laughter. 

photo credit: Daniel Jay 

The Pandora Consort (Guest Artists)

Early Music/ Vocal Music

Kendra Comstock and Angie Tyler returned to Sable for their 3rd Guest Residency.

Jealyn (they/he/it) is a photographer & writer from Brooklyn, NY.

While at Sable, Jealyn worked on documenting Sable, writings, & a new project of making photography more physical through polaroid transfers & world building. 

This is Jealyn’s third time visiting Sable. They grew up visiting family in Vermont in Pittsfield often & feel a special connection to this land. 

Work can be found at ShealynMcFadden.com or on Instagram @thefairyboi

Photos by Jealyn

Liam Henry Hastings (he/him) hails from Brooklyn, NY. He is an improviser, songwriter, poet, and sculptor.

While at Sable, Liam wrote a collection of songs about an orange goo-bearded man who lives inside each of us, the flora & fauna of Sable, a journey out from the past & into the unknown, and the Water House. During his stay, Liam enjoyed watching his fellow artists in the midst of creation, sitting in the kitchen early in the morning, jumping in the river, and frolicking in the grass. 

Liam is a former neurosurgeon specializing in a practice called Duggynewt which uses a toolkit entirely made up of old chicken bones.* Liam performs in the Birds Early Worm, Griffy Jones & the Phantom Band, and Business Romantic, all of which can be found on the internet.

Photos by: Jealyn McFadden

*allegedly

Marissa Rubaiai (she/her) is a Mexican-American, Arab, and interdisciplinary artist who identifies with the LBGTQ+ community and is from Detroit, MI.

While at Sable, Marissa focused on her writing and drawings for a graphic novel. This led her to thinking about how this can be experienced in new ways. On her last day at Sable she turned her story into an immersive experience through the forest trails and plans on continuing this series of installs in other areas. Along with her own project, Marissa loved collaborating with other artists during her time by helping with photoshoots and brainstorming ideas together.

Outside of her personal work, Marissa is a teacher and loves to skateboard.

Social Media/Instagram: @_MRubaiaiArt_ Email: Marissarubaiai13@gmail.com

Photos by: Jealyn McFadden

Reed Davidson (they/them) is a fiber/visual artist living in Pittsburgh.

During their stay at Sable, they enjoyed collaborating with other artists on performance art and book binding as well as working on some personal weaving projects and drawings. Reed loved spending quality time with their sable friends including but not limited to wading in the river and running around in the rain. They were really inspired by all of the multi-disciplinary experimentation and play happening in the space. 

Fun/interesting fact: Reed is known to be a stern and serious fatherly figure who has little tolerance for tomfoolery.

Photos by: Jealyn McFadden

Storm Welch (they/them) is a puppeteer who makes crankies from the Monadnock Region of New Hampshire. 

During their time at Sable, Storm cooked, taught scarf-braiding to their friends, and cleaned their printmaking tools on a tarp under the stars.

They also continued work from their previous residency at Sable, completing a year-long wood block print series exploring the importance of friendship and comradery in revolutionary movements. 

Fun fact: Storm is a triplet.

www.stormwelch.com

@stormthebirdy

Photos by: Jealyn McFadden

Tom Frink (he/him) works in music and music accessories, and traveled all the way from Rutland, VT. 

While at Sable, Tom has worked on writing songs and around the nature of connection and ways it can manifest as deep, personal truths. 

Tom is a music teacher and sometimes surprises his students with his extensive knowledge of Pokémon. You can hear some of his music at stringofsheeps.com.

Photos by: Jealyn McFadden

Duy Hoāng (he/him) is an interdisciplinary artist from New York City, New York. While at Sable, Duy is working on a collaborative project with Mallory Craig using plants to gather water and color pigments for watercolor processes.

Duy was born and raised in Vietnam and migrated to the U.S. when he was 13. 

DUY-H.com

Photos by: Jealyn McFadden

Kim Desjardins (she/her) is a mixed media visual artist from Fairfax, VT. She works in fibers, watercolor, acrylic, clay, found objects and more!

During her 2nd year as a Guest Artist at Sable, she worked large and abstract, utilizing the fresh air and open land as her studio. She used her whole body to create swirling, amoebic, mitochondrial reflections of her inner worlds and emotions.

Kim led her cohort in a needle felting workshop while here. She is an elementary art teacher of 21 years. Speaking of numbers, the two 4-leaf clovers she found while at Sable made her Summer total 96. Kim is pursuing her masters in art education through the Art of Education University. She can be found at @bright.spirit.creative on Instagram or kimannedesjardins@gmail.com

Photos by Jealyn McFadden

Kiribumba (Guest Artists)

Mango Agudelo and Juan Danza

Dance and performance

Photos by Jealyn McFadden

Mallory Craig (she/her/they/them) is a land and cultural worker currently residing in NYC, originally from Massachusetts. 

While at Sable, Mallory is connecting with the land through making natural pigments, stewarding trails, and exploring therapeutic horticulture in this place. 

Mallory’s second grade career goal was to be a koala bear washer. 

www.mallorycraig.com

Photos by: Jealyn McFadden

Mollie McElroy (she/they) is a performance artist living in Marshfield, Vermont. While at Sable, Mollie continued to explore writing and creating a one person show inspired by her work in Playback Theatre and somatic psychodrama spaces. The expansive and connected atmosphere at Sable inspired a new show weaving together ritual and wonder. 

Mollie lives in a tiny cabin with her cattle dog, Faoladh, and loves to watch any TV show or movie about evil villains or True Crime.

Photos by: Jealyn McFadden

Sonya (Sofia) Butseva (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist based between Montreal and the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. She works in various 3-D and 2-D mediums, from puppetry to sculpture, printmaking, and ceramics. Her creative work is centered in the intersections of storytelling and visual arts.

While at Sable, she worked on a series of illustrated ceramic tiles inspired by the old-time fiddle tunes she has picked up while in Vermont. 

She spent lots of time chipping away at her project in the Kern shack, venturing out every now and then to join in on garden time, make beet soup for dinner, or do some fiddling at the picnic tables! Sonya also brought along a miniature puppet show, which she shared with Sable friends on the last day of her residency. 

Fun fact: Sonya has a sweet, fluffy, pancake-loving dog named Fima (alias Mr. Feemy), who is her muse and often appears in her work. See if you can spot him! 

https://www.instagram.com/soso.marionnette/

Photos 1 & 2 by Jealyn McFadden

Berto Guido (they/them) is a dancer and multimedia artist from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a part of the Sable Ensemble this season they had a fantastic time painting puppets and sewing costumes.

Bex Love (they/them) is a clown that plays within the mediums of music, drag performance, puppetry & LIFE!

They are often performing under the name content clown (@contentclown). They just released an album called gender, feels.

Bex is also Sable’s Community Engagement Organizer.

Emerald Peake (they/them) is a writer and visual artist.

This season at Sable they are serving as Chef in Residence, preparing meals for members of the Ensemble, as well as man of the hour in the days leading up to the show.

When not at Sable, they work as a hospital chaplain and tend a garden in West Philadelphia.

Jessica Lee (she/her) is a dancer, teaching artist, facilitator, and Sable’s Director of Operations.

This year she collaborated with fellow Ensemble members to find new movement pathways in her dancing.

She is also the queen of lists, remembering where things are, and asking questions as a part of the creative process.

Kern Samuel (he/him) is a Trinidadian-born artist and educator.

Although Kern is not in this year’s performance of Water in the Wood, he was present for the first week of the Ensemble’s creative process and is integral to the making of this show.

Kern was an original Sable 2014 Artist and is currently on Sable’s Board of Directors.

Otto Pierce (he/him) is the Founder and Creative Director of The Sable Project.

He spent this time (in Water in the Wood creative process) choreographing, writing, and reflecting on life.

Otto is also a carpenter, pizza maker, and the lucky partner of Sara Bachman and the proud dad of Màiri Rose and Juniper Franky.

Al Short (they/them) is a illustrator and craftsperson from the Pacific Northwest.

While at Sable, Al wove baskets, made a painting, processed nettle fiber and talked about dead stuff. They also finished tanning a goat hide named Jasper.

In their free time, Al enjoys foraging edible plants, weaving baskets, animal tracking, farming, and drinking milk.

Fez Silk (she/they) is a singer-songwriter, painter, and poet originally from California, now based in South Royalton, VT. While at Sable, Fez worked on oil painting, clay sculpture, charcoal and ink drawing, poetry, and songwriting, as well as plenty of making friends and baking pies with pumpkins from the garden. 

When not making art, Fez works as a farmer, butcher and cook, and can otherwise be found hanging out with friends, watching obscure movies, reading, and consuming more coffee than is medically advisable. 

Fez is currently working on recording her music professionally and welcomes support. You can do so by listening to the work she has released (YouTube, Bandcamp, Spotify) or by donating to her GoFundMe.

Hadley Evans Nash (she/her) is a theater artist raised in Middlebury, VT and based in Minneapolis, MN.

During her time at Sable, Hadley developed her Safely Thus: Hope and Healing Through Shakespeare program, and worked on a play in progress based on the life of Black Sam Bellamy, a real life pirate! She relished her time at Sable as an opportunity to ground in nature, and to bring that groundedness and ease to her art. 

Hadley is a proud big sister, an ashamed spider hater, and an unironic believer in faeries. Find Hadley at hadley-evansnash.com and her theater company’s work at brickbybrickplayers.org.

Hannah Larney (she/her) is an art educator from Richmond, VA.

While at Sable, hannah wrote, read, and filled pages upon pages in her mixed-media sketchbook/journal. She began to research and write the outline for a zine about what adults can learn from the ways that children draw.

Hannah is also an avid runner, and would like to give special thanks to N. Taggart Hill Rd. for giving her legs a real challenge.

You can sometimes find her online working under the name Yardsnake Press.

Jo Cordasco (she/her) is a multimedia artist working with fibers and found objects. While at Sable, Jo explored brooms, baskets, cyanotypes, and found object sculptures. 

When not at Sable, Jo lives in Philly and works as a workshop technician. She enjoys spending time with loved ones, reading, drinking tea, chit chatting, and going on bike rides.

Leah Beckhoff (she/they) is a poet, astrologer, and dreamworker from Montpelier, VT.

During her time at Sable, she read and sorted through almost 10 years worth of poetry journals as preparatory work for the creation of a chapbook. She also had the opportunity to display a collection of essays on each of the zodiacal signs; which she hopes to self-publish soon. 

When Leah’s not reading, writing, recording her dreams or staring at the stars, she enjoys watching stand up comedy and going for long walks in her neighborhood.