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Montana Western senior publishes two poems

February 22, 2011

The journal, which accepts student-based work only, is sponsored by the The University of Central Oklahoma’s English Department and is published each academic semester.

Redfield’s poems “Litany” and “Small Cloud” will appear in the Winter 2011 issue. She received notification of the two poems’ acceptance in January 2011.

“I instantly told Professor [Gary] Lundy, called my mom, told my fiance, and then went on a spectacular, joyous, painless run,” Redfield recalled. “It’s very exciting for me to have my poetry published.”

Redfield, a native of Livingston, Mont., is a visual art major with a creative writing minor. Although her immediate family is not comprised of writers, Redfield said they cheer on her passion for writing with great enthusiasm.

“I had a tough time choosing between art and writing because they were my two loves when I was in high school,” Redfield stated. “I started with art and then took some writing classes and fell in love with that department and the students in it. I settled for a minor in creative writing and now do both things.”

Redfield said her writing style earned her the title of a “collector” in one of her early classes with professor Lundy. Her writing is a process of collecting small pieces of work until they merge into one longer piece or several small pieces. Redfield finds this manner of writing lends itself to all genres.

“I don’t have a favorite genre,” Redfield noted. “In fact, I prefer to meld them all together into a genre that does not really have a definition. I believe fiction, nonfiction, and poetry are all much more intertwined than most people realize.”

A fan of nature and the outdoors, Redfield is an avid runner, biker, climber, backpacker, and any activity that involves “good clean air.” Her love of nature and her love of painting appear in her writing as two primary sources of inspiration.

“I can say things that are much more interesting if I write it out, and it gives me a way to capture the moments I collect,” Redfield added. “I write about my home, the lifestyle I grew up in, and of course the mountains. I also write about color a lot, a spill-over from my painter-self. I feel like I know myself better when I write.”

After several years of courses, Redfield remains grateful she found Montana Western’s unique Experience One (X1) program where students focus on one class at a time, three hours a day, for a period of 18 days before moving on to another class.

“It fit me perfectly,” she explained. “A small place, the same kind of people as in my home area. I loved the art department when I came and visited. I was intrigued with the entire X1 system at Montana Western, which ended up working for me so well I don’t think I could ever go back to a semester system.”

With her upcoming graduation in May Redfield is contemplating future plans and the many things she would like to do.

“I’m thinking about graduate school,” Redfield stated. “In the meantime I will be painting, gathering up things to make a ceramics studio, writing, and working on writing and illustrating a children’s book.”

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