Artistic Discipline: Creative Writing
“As a poet, I am fascinated by how specific and particular details of our individual lives and experiences broaden into the universal.”
Jia Oak Baker is a member of the 2016 AZ Creative Aging Teaching Artist Institute cohort.
The Teaching Artist Institute is a five-month training program that will introduce teaching artists to the variety of settings, programs, and partners that make up the creative aging field, and provide skills-building activities for participants to attain the specialized knowledge needed to work successfully with older adults. Inspired by ArtSage and other national models, the Institute has been developed around the philosophies of person-centered care, a process-based approach, and cultural responsiveness. To learn more about AZ Creative Aging and the Teaching Artist Institute click here.
Jia Oak Baker is the author of the chapbooks Crash Landing in the Plaza of an Unknown City (Dancing Girl Press) and Well Enough to Travel (Five Oaks Press). Her work has appeared in The Good Men Project, Profane, Poet Lore, DMQ Review, Likewise Folio, and elsewhere. Jia is the recipient of Pushcart Prize nominations, a Best of the Net nomination, and the 2013 Tucson Festival of Books Literary Award, as well as scholarships to the New York State Summer Writers’ Institute and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. She received a 2015 grant from the Arizona Commission on the Arts and has also been awarded artist residencies from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation and Hedgebrook. Jia earned a Masters of Education from Arizona State University and a Master in Fine Arts in Writing and Literature from Bennington College where she received a Liam Rector Scholarship. She has served in several editorships and has taught as a literary teaching artist with the Phoenix Office of Arts and Culture. Jia Lives in Peoria, Arizona, and teaches writing at Paradise Valley Community College.
National Poetry Month 2016
In 1996, the Academy of American Poets established April as National Poetry Month. To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of this annual celebration of the poets and their work, the Arizona Commission on the Arts is throwing a spotlight on recent recipients of our Artist Research and Development Grant.
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Perspectives: Jia Oak Baker
"This story of war, survival, immigration, and family has influenced my entire life. The themes of loss, betrayal, identity, and exile are all a part of my manuscript.” Jia Oak Baker, recipient of a 2015 Artist Research and Development Grant.
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