Greetings Friend,

You’re invited to join us for an afternoon of visual, literary, and musical art with the current residents of The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation. We’re delighted to offer this rare opportunity to tour our campus, meet the artists in residence, and experience their creative work.

1:00–3:30: Open Casitas
Explore our artists’ casitas, enjoy live music along the way, and catch film samples from our resident filmmaker in the Commons House.

4:00–5:00: Readings & Live Music!
Guests will gather in Casita #9S to enjoy readings and performances by our resident artists.

201 Los Panditos
Parking in field on south end of Leibert St. See map below.

Nina Franoszek is a German-American film and theatre director, actor, and educator whose cross-cultural work bridges Europe and Hollywood. With over 100 screen credits and a Grimme-Preis for acting, she deliberately expanded into directing theatre and film in Los Angeles in 1999. Her films and stage productions explore themes of freedom, ethics, and human connection. A member of the German Film Academy, SAG-AFTRA, and the German Actors Guild (co- founder), she’s also a former member of the German Directors’ Guild and a regular International Emmy juror (2007-2025). Franoszek combines artistic expression with social consciousness through a systemic and actor-centered approach to storytelling.
ninafranoszek.com

Lucy Ray is a Melbourne artist raised in Yeppoon, on the traditional land of the Darumbal People of Central Queensland. She lives between Australia and Abu Dhabi, UAE.

She studied art and design, completing a diploma in fine arts at TAFE Queensland and later receiving her bachelor’s degree in interior design & built environment. From there, Lucy worked as an illustrator, digital artist and textile designer before returning to pursue fine art again in 2017.

Since moving part-time to Abu Dhabi in 2019, she has remained connected to the art community in Australia and internationally, exhibiting in Dubai, London, Japan and Melbourne through invitational group shows and collectives.
lucyjwood.com

Gonzalo Rodríguez (b. 1984, Córdoba, Spain) is a visual artist and scholar whose practice bridges painting, research, and critical writing. He holds a degree in Fine Arts and a Master’s in Contemporary Art from the University of Seville. His artistic journey began at the Escuela de Artes Aplicadas y Oficios Artísticos in Seville, and later deepened under the guidance of renowned Spanish painter Antonio López García at the Cátedra Francisco de Goya in Ávila. A member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), Gonzalo regularly contributes essays and reviews to leading art magazines and academic journals.
gonzalorodriguez.jimdofree.com

Jeremy Sorese is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. He has published two graphic novels: Curveball (2015) and The Short While (2021). From 2012 through 2013, he was resident at La Maison des Auteurs, a comics specific residency program in Angoulême, France. In the past few years, Sorese has moved toward painting to prioritize the personal within his work. He has had two solo shows with the gallery AuxierKline: “Pleasure Principle" in October 2023 and “Horn of Plenty” in 2024. His next show will be with the same gallery in May 2026.
jeremysorese.com

Annie Tull’s creative practice is a dialogue between imaginative-realist oil painting, wildcrafted sculpture, and curated environments that explores concepts of mythic transformation and the dissolution of the human self into its environment. Through public activations, thematic exhibitions, and ritual offerings, Tull works across disciplines and vocabularies to produce experiences that bridge architecture, ecology, storytelling, and fine art.
annietull.com

Zoe Kerr is a writer and director based in Dallas and Los Angeles, drawn to bold, unsettling stories that live at the intersection of the emotional and the uncanny.

Her writing and directing have been recognized by the Sundance Institute, Slamdance Screenplay Competition, Austin Film Festival, Launch Pad, the Dramatists Guild, and more. Most recently, her horror pilot Prey For Us was an official selection of both the Nashville Film Festival and PROOF Film Festival.
zoekerr.com

Maija Mäkinen is a New York-based writer and translator from Finland. Her debut story collection, THE GHOSTS OF OTHER IMMIGRANTS, was published in 2023 by New American Press, and her writings on place, belonging and immigrant memory have appeared in literary journals around the world. She is a graduate of the Boston University Creative Writing Program and is currently at work on a novel.
maijamakinen.com

Howdy! My name is Ashlen.

I'm a multimedia journalist and creative based in Washington D.C. I'm passionate about bringing to light complex issues and histories using a blend of writing, photography, and videography. I hold an MFA degree in Creative Writing from George Mason University where I specialized in nonfiction and historical writing. Currently, I am writing a book on the life and works of 12th-century Abbess Hildegard of Bingen and my pilgrimage from where she was born to where she died.
ashlenrenner.com

Liza St. James is a writer and translator from San Francisco. She is a contributing editor at BOMB, a senior editor of the literary annual NOON, and a writing fellow in the Cooper Union School of Art. The recipient of a 2024 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship in Fiction, she lives in New York.
lizastjames.com

Mary Bue is a songwriter, international retreat guide, yoga teacher + yoga school co-founder based in Minneapolis. Named Best Songwriter of 2020 by City Pages, her music touches upon archetypal themes of the human condition: love, loss, survival, dreams, and the natural world. A longtime student of yoga and psychology, Mary weaves symbols, stories & visions into her songs + teachings. Oft-crass yet joyous, her creations explore consciousness with compassion & concern for this beautiful & challenging world. Mary released her 9th album The Wildness of Living & Dying in February 2025. Mary is grateful to finish out the year as Artist in Residence at The Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico September to December 2025.
marybue.com

Sincerely yours,

- Nic Knight, Executive Director