Date and time: Thursday, July 16, 2026. 6:30-8:00pm PT

Location: Online via Zoom

Cost: Free. All Guild members will receive a link via email prior to the meeting.

Description: Abby Braithwaite will share stories from the first four years of the Plas Newydd Farm Arts Initiative, discussing the ways she is bringing regional artists and thinkers onto the land to engage with one of Southwest Washington's largest intact working landscapes.

From willow harvest and basketry workshops to plein air painting and writing retreats, the diverse landscape of Plas Newydd Farm offers a wide array of opportunities for creative engagement and connection. Learn how one family's approach to land and community stewardship is bringing the creative community together on the land.

Located on historic lands of the Chinook and Cowlitz tribes, Plas Newydd farm is a 1700-acre mixed-use farm at the confluence of the Lewis and Columbia Rivers, stewarded by the Morgan family since the 1940s. The Arts Initiative, now in its fourth year, is committed to telling stories of a changing landscape through the eyes of artists as the farm undergoes habitat and wetlands restoration in the coming years.

A lifelong lover of words and open spaces, Abby Braithwaite lives and writes in Ridgefield, WA, and is the initiator and director of the Plas Newydd Farm Arts Initiative. Abby is passionate about creating opportunities for people to connect with the land, rivers, neighbors, and creativity. She has published two poetry chapbooks, and her work can be found around the web and in the print anthologies Places Like Home and Stories From the Trail. She is a volunteer facilitator with Write Around Portland, and she and her husband, David Morgan, are the parents of two nearly-launched teenagers.