Alesa Bernat is the author of Everything Is Fine, a self-published poetry collection about Bipolar Depression. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in print and online literary journals and magazines such as Boreal Zine, Sad Girl Diaries, Black River Review, and North Star. Bernat's poem "Elegy for Heartache Resurrected" received Honorable Mention in the Seneca Park Zoo's 2024 Water Into Words Nature Poetry Contest.
Business Name: Prophetess Portals
Poet by day, Figure Drawing Model by evening.
Poetry, professional photography, and various other art forms-with a mystical, heart-wrenchingly honest approach. Making the little details of life known through art.
Poetry published in: Potsdam Pride & Potsdam DIY's Collab Zine: Potsdam Salvage (Volume One) & Boreal Zine's "Laundry" August/Lughnasadh 2025 Edition.
Photography featured in multiple past SLC Arts Exhibits.
Poetry featured in the following past SLC Arts Exhibits: Decay (2025), Harvest (2025).
Won the People's Choice Award for a poetry piece in the Harvest exhibit.
Born in Nicaragua, Esthela is a poet and visual artist. Author of several books including the pioneering book of ethnobotanical poetry Soplo de Corriente Vital (2008), Coyol Quebrado (2012), the bilingual anthology The Bones of My Grandfather (2018) and Paper Beehive (2022).Her Poetry has been anthologized in The Mind of Plants: Narratives of Vegetal Intelligence, Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Amazon's Sacred Vine, El Consumo de lo Que Somos: Muestra de Poesía Ecológica Hispánica Contemporánea, Ghost Fishing: An Eco-Justice Poetry Anthology, and The Latin American Eco-Cultural Reader. Her work as a visual artist was featured in individual exhibitions at the art gallery of the Municipal Building of St. Lawrence County in Potsdam, NY: Inside the Ancestral Current (2017) and Pollen (2019) sponsored by SLC Arts. Work has also been featured at SUNY Potsdam in 2017 and the Brush Gallergy at SLU (2019-2023). She is now a creative designer for the global fabric and wallpaper company Spoonflower
Jim Bourey is an old poet who lives on the northern edge of the Adirondacks. He has two full poetry collections, Out There and Back Again (2023) and The Distance Between Us (2020) both from Cold River Press. He also collaborated with Linda Blaskey on Season of Harvest (2022 Pond Road Press) and with Jack Mackey, Isabelle Bohls, and Linda Blaskey on Our Various Selves (2025 Cold River Press). His chapbook, Silence, Interrupted (Broadkill Press) appeared in 2015. His work is also in many journals and anthologies. He was awarded a NY State Council on the Arts grant for 2026. He can often be found in dimly lit rooms reading poetry aloud.
Kelley Martin is a writer, arts leader, and community strategist whose work bridges traditional music, dance, writing, and cultural engagement. With more than two decades of experience across the Mid Atlantic and Appalachian regions, she has curated, promoted, and produced hundreds of events—from intimate youth workshops to large scale festivals featuring national artists such as Béla Fleck, Altan, Mary Black, and Dr. Ralph Stanley presented at institutions including the North Carolina Museum of Art, the North Carolina Museum of History, and North Carolina State University.
Kelley’s artistic practice is rooted in cultural preservation and creative innovation. As a writer, she explores her upbringing in rural West Virginia and the ways that leaving—and returning to—remote landscapes shapes identity, memory, and belonging. Now based in the Adirondack–Tug Hill region, she is committed to building an arts ecosystem where collaboration, mutual support, and regional storytelling thrive. This vision led her to found the Tug Hill Artist Network, a collaborative hub for artists working across the North Country.Her passion for inclusive, intergenerational arts experiences has guided her work in education and community programming. As Education Director at the Arts Centre in Martinsburg, West Virginia, she developed puppetry, folklore, and dance programs for children ages 6–12. She has partnered with Johns Hopkins University, North Carolina State University, and the Maryland State Department of Education to design curriculum, lead professional development, and build digital platforms that support arts learning and early childhood development.
Kelley’s leadership in community outreach includes rebranding festivals, coordinating Main Street initiatives for the City of Westminster, Maryland, and developing youth poetry and writing programs for at risk teens in Durham, North Carolina. She has served as a board member, grant writer, and communications strategist for organizations such as Carolina Wren Press, Carolina Ballet, and the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities. A skilled web designer and editor, she has led cross functional teams to build accessible, content rich educational websites for the Maryland State Department of Education.
Across every role, Kelley champions the transformative power of the arts—celebrating heritage, amplifying diverse voices, and cultivating vibrant, connected communities through creative collaboration.
She holds an MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts from the University of Baltimore, an MA in English from North Carolina State University, and a BA in Liberal Arts/Journalism from St. Andrews University.
For more information, visit the Tug Hill Artist Network.