HCA welcomes two new program leads Adria Badagnani and Kestrle Rayfield-Foote!
It is with great excitement that Hoffman Center for the Arts welcomes two new program leads, Visual Arts Program Lead Kestrle Rayfield-Foote and Writing Program Lead Adria Badagnani! Please read on to get to know Adria and Kestrle better through a brief Q&A with Executive Director, India Downes-Le Guin.
India: Can you share a little bit about yourself, your professional background, and how you ended up on the Oregon Coast?
Kestrle: My family lives on the coast, and I’ve been a frequent, extended visitor for the last decade. I moved back to Oregon full-time after receiving a degree in Interaction Design from the Glasgow School of Art and then completed a degree in Botany through Oregon State University. Since moving back I’ve concluded that there is, in fact, no place quite like home, at least when your home is here. I’ve been working in visual arts for the last two years, and focus on plant pigments and textiles in my personal work.
Adria: With the heart of a poet, I’ve worked in the arts for the past 20 years as a creator of live performance, as well as behind the scenes in film & television production. I love working within creative and collaborative environments to shape vision and ideas into a form that brings people together to share an experience. My partner and I moved to the North Oregon Coast in 2019 at a time I was writing professionally, shifting priorities, and wanting more connection with nature and its expansive quietude. We had been coming to Manzanita with greater frequency until it was clear this is where we wanted to make home and raise our family.
India: What drew you to Hoffman Center for the Arts, and what are you most excited about here?
Kestrle: Over the last ten years, I’ve seen first-hand the enthusiasm for art and learning that people take away from classes and experiences at the Hoffman center. Having been working with the team responsible for that joy for the last year, I am excited to continue working with those volunteers and programs to continue to bring educational, accessible art opportunities to our community as the visual arts lead.
Adria: I started coming to events before I moved to the area and made a point to attend whatever was happening at the HCA. I felt a pull to this center of creative activity and community gathering, even as a visitor. (My first visit to Manzanita was in 2004!) Now that my family has put down roots here, I’m excited to work with the different programs to spark inspiration and collaboration, as well as deepen my connection to writing. Not only do I look forward to expanding our writing community and scheduling a calendar of literary events to support the writing practice, I’m also eager to learn to draw and take a clay studio class!
India: You are both artists! Can you share a bit about your own work and what you love to do?
Kestrle: I would charitably describe myself as a collector of mediums. Currently I am focused on textile arts, and I spend most of my time dyeing, crocheting, sewing, embroidering, and beading. I really enjoy vibrant colors, and scrumptious textures, and textiles are uniquely suited to both.
Adria: I love working with paper and pen, and still compose by hand before I transcribe a digital version and shape a poem on the screen. Many of my poems have a lyrical component, and I enjoy mixing melodic and percussive language to enhance the tone. The different stages that a piece of writing goes through from thought to scribble to transmission on a page or spoken word is a fascinating and confounding process. I also translate German, and am working with the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke, which is like time travel inside of language.
India: Kestrle, please respond to this prompt with a drawing: in 2025, the visual arts program at HCA intends to…
Kestrle:
India: Adria, please respond to this prompt with a Haiku: in 2025, the writing program at HCA intends to…
Adria:
plot a point in space
fill with readings, people, place
words weave, write our world
Please join me in welcoming Adria and Kestrle to Hoffman Center for the Arts! Their leadership and enthusiasm has already made an incredible impact.
