2026 ARTISTS
Session II
DIA FELIX
Dia Felix is a writer, filmmaker, and media producer currently living in the Hudson Valley region of New York State. A literacy tutor for children and adults and mentor to students working with video technology, Felix’s multi-modal writing practice engages poetry, prose, collaboration, and multilingual composition. She is the author of a chapbook of poems, You You You and the experimental debut novel Nochita. Critically praised for its haunting language and its tender but fierce female protagonist, Nochita was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. Felix’s writing has appeared in Ping Pong, a journal of the Henry Miller Library, The Feminist Wire, and the Poetry Project Newsletter where she has taught workshops. She has created video and media for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, SFMOMA, the Exploratorium/San Francisco, and the Museum of Arts and Design/NY. Her poem "COOLEST MONTH," was commissioned by the Headlands Center for the Arts project "Wall Space" and was given monumental display on one of their historic buildings. Felix will devote her Escape To Create residency to complete her poetry manuscript -in-process and will create works of short fiction.
She will give a reading of her new works on Sunday, February 22nd, 4pm – 6pm as part of our annual artist reception at Anne Hunter Galleries in downtown Seaside.
Judith Dupré
Author Judith Dupré’s works of non-fiction illuminate the marvelous, especially as revealed in art, architecture, and religion. The recipient of numerous prestigious awards, Dupré is a 2015 National Endowment for the Humanities Public Scholar, a three-time MacDowell Colony fellow, and finalist for the 2025 James Patterson Literary Grant. Reviews of her books, editorials, and essays have appeared in major U.S. media including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Forbes, USA Today, and many others. An inspired visual storyteller published in 15 languages, Dupré’s writing connects people to ideas, structures, and places, creating new understanding and joy. Dupré returns to Escape To Create (2017) to develop Bird on a Wire: A William James Mystery, the first historical novel in a trilogy that pivots on the singular insights of philosopher/psychologist, William James. Set in the Gilded Age amid the rapid expansion that fueled the transformation of American society, the novel grapples with issues of belonging, identity, and power against the backdrop of the first form of mass entertainment, P.T. Barnam and the three-ring circus.
Dupré will contribute an illustrated presentation of her novel in process on Wednesday, February 25th, 10:00AM-11:00AM at Coastal Branch Library.
Bryant Whelan
Bryant Whelan’s multi-disciplinary artworks are constructed from botanicals and beach drift collected during walks in nature. Through a process originating in photography and photo transfer, the Fairhope, Alabama artist combines drawing, painting, stitching, and collage to create delicate images from natural elements. Her aim is to share her fascination with the intrinsic beauty of natural forms and evoke wonder and reverence for the incredible biodiversity of the coastal environment and shoreline. Her unique work has been exhibited widely in the region and is held in private collections across the country. Whelan was honored as the 2024 Alabama Audubon Bird of the Year Official Artist. She also teaches experimental printmaking techniques and botanic eco-printing in venues across the Southeast. While E2C artist-in-residence, Whelan will produce a dedicated body of new work for exhibition and will create a handmade book to be titled A Botanical Florilegium of Coastal 30A as a celebratory record of the biodiversity of 30A.
Images of Whelan’s artistry will be exhibited at Anne Hunter Galleries where she will give an artist talk during our annual reception on Sunday, February 22nd, 4PM-6PM.