Megan Riehle

At the end of my time at the University of Puget Sound I was awarded Barry Bauska Award to the outstanding senior in English with a focus in Creative Writing. I was chosen for this award by the entire English department at the university.

Colin O'Loughlin 

Director of Residence Life at the University of Puget Sound 

coloughlin@pugetsound.edu

(253) 318-0866

William Kupinse 

Crosscurrents Faculty Advisor and Professor at the University of Puget Sound 

wkupinse@pugetsound.edu

(253) 359-2079

Carole Ann McQuade 

Administrative Assistant at the University of Puget Sound 

cmcquade@pugetsound.edu

(253) 686-5913

Alex Christopher 

Private Client for Childcare 

alexhchristopher@gmail.com

(503) 740-5535

Independent Research: 

The Multimodal Novel: Reading Landscape

In the summer of 2024 I did three months of independent research through the University of Puget Sound summer research program. This project was as much a creative endeavor as it was a research project. Through literary and theoretical research I aimed to understand the mechanism of literary form and the effect of form/medium on a piece's readership. I began to reimagine a literary landscape in which multimodal works shape a new form of literacy/reading which dissolves the imagined boundaries between visual and literary art. Taking inspiration from books like House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski, Towards a Composition Made Whole by Jodie Shipka, and My Favorite Thing is Monsters by Emil Farris, I endeavored to begin drafting my own multimodal novel. To begin this work I drew on dozens visual mediums. I made organic plant dyes, sewed quilts from dyed fabrics, made block prints, illustrated comix sections, experimented with the film photography and film development processes, did scientific field drawings of different bird species, and used photoshop to make digital collages. Once complete, audiences will engage in reading through many of their senses and with a set of considerations which lie outside the demands of conventional reading. With the inclusion of written narrative, the thoughtful disruption of text with image, the inclusion of process based arts, and the maintained integrity of a handmade work, a reader is asked to immerse themselves in the novel and its settings. Understanding the interdependence of this text and its visual
arts reinforces the thought that multimodal (and multimedia) works press against media tradition to create new meaning and ways through which to make meaning. 

Independent Publishing:

The Lighthouse Collection 

In the summer of 2022, after completing my first year of college at the Evergreen State College, it occurred to me that I was constantly surrounded by immensely talented folks working in myriad mediums. Being immersed in creative community gave birth to the knowing that creative work will always exist in notebooks under bed frames and stacks of canvas collecting dust in garages but we can chose when and how we share with one another. I gathered 21 visual and literary artists—all friends or classmates of mine. I asked each of them if they'd like to be published in a collection of work that would be distributed all over Portland in public spaces. These artists sent me their most prized works and over three months I turned them into a 61 page chapbook. I did the work of gathering, organizing, designing and printing the collection. I then distributed the collection in coffee shops and book stores all over Portland and Tacoma as well as sending copies to university libraries in five states. With this project I aimed to help our creative work reach new audiences and to create space where our works lived in community—changed by their proximity to one another for the better.