Welcome to incoming Writer-in-Residence Catherine Coan!

Poet and installation artist Catherine Coan is onsite working on a new collection of poetry in the residency office at the Marion Davies Guest House, October 17 through December 19, 2018. Her public programs take place Tuesdays, 10/30, 11/27 and 12/11/18. All are invited to chat with her about her literary practice during her public office hours, which are 11am-2pm on 10/22, 10/29, 11/5, 11/14, 11/19, 11/26, 12/3, 12/10, and 12/17. Call ahead to the Beach House to confirm availability at 310-458-4904.

Note: Catherine Coan is spending her tenure at the Beach House writing and revising poetry. Coan's visual art, which includes the practice of ethical taxidermy, is a part of her artistic practice, and she discusses this work and its connection to her writing during her first public event in October. However, Coan’s project as Beach House Writer-in-Residence is solely concentrated on poetry and the art of writing. 

Artist's Statement on Ethical Taxidermy:

I practice ethical sourcing in my taxidermy work. This means that I do not use animals who have been hunted or killed for my work. I have relationships with breeders, farms, and others who provide me with animals who’ve died of natural causes. I also sometimes repurpose taxidermy which has already been completed. – Catherine Coan

Catherine Coan is a poet, professor, and hybrid taxidermist living in Los Angeles. Her poems have appeared in journals such as Poetry, Poetry Northwest, the Seattle Review, and Terrain. Her first book of poems, Aviation, was published by Blue Begonia Press (Yakima, WA) in 2000. Catherine grew up in Montana, went to school in the Pacific Northwest, and has lived in L.A. for eighteen years. She is deeply interested in the wisdom and humor that can be discovered at the intersections of the human and animal worlds, and her hybrid taxidermy can be found at fine art galleries in Los Angeles and nationally. More at catherinecoan.com