I am a writer and multi-disciplinary artist in Tucson, Arizona. I create and produce stories, visual works, gatherings, and performances as a way to help us feel kinship with other people, plants, animals, and places.
My novel, THE LIGHTEST OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE, about loss and adaptation in a post-apocalyptic America, was published by Algonquin Press in July 2019. My essays and articles about globalization, US-Mexico border issues, the environment, health and the arts have been published in literary magazines, anthologies, and online news outlets.
I have directed multiple dance/theater projects as a solo director and for the now-defunct New ARTiculations Dance Theatre. Those works explored issues such as endangered species (Rosemont Ours, 2013), water (FLOW, 2012), urban revitalization (The Invisible City, 2008), and food systems (We Are What We Eat, 2008). Recent projects include: The Forest Is the Moon in Slivers, a interactive lecture/performance about the Sky Island forests of Southern Arizona; and Standing with Saguaros, a year-long project bringing participatory activities, innovative storytelling, and performance to Saguaro National Park in celebration of the National Park Service Centennial. I am also a co-founder and member of Movement Salon, an improvisational performance group that incorporates dance, spoken word, and live music to create ephemeral compositions.
I also make photographs, papercuttings, and shadow puppet theater about wildlife, and the human body. I hold an MA in geography from the University of Arizona where in 1998 I founded you are here: the journal of creative geography (still in publication!).
I was the 2014 recipient of the “Lumie” Award for Established Artist from the Tucson Pima Arts Council and the Arizona Commission on the Arts annual Artist Project Grant (2012). My work has been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Kresge Foundation, the Arts Foundation of Southern Arizona (formerly Tucson Pima Arts Council), and others. I have been a resident artist at Djerassi, Blue Mountain Center, the Mesa Refuge, the Rasmuson Resident Artist Program with the Island Institute in Sitka, AK, and was the Centennial Artist-in-Residence in Saguaro National Park.
I have taught creative writing and dance in schools, communities, and institutions for over a decade. I am a writer/editor at the Southwest Folklife Alliance, dedicated to preserving and celebrating traditional knowledge and cultural expression in the Greater Southwest.
Teaching/Speaking/Editing
I am available to work with communities, organizations, and schools, offering presentations, classes/workshops, or residencies, or to help design and implement arts engagement strategies. I also work as a writer/editor.
Contact me
kimieisele@gmail.com
AWARDS/HONORS
Awardee, MOCA Night Bloom Grant. July 2025.
Awardee, MOCA Night Bloom Grant. July 2024.
Sewanee Writers’ Conference Fiction Fellow. July 2024.
Storyknife Women’s Writing Residency. Homer, AK. June 2021.
Project Creosote New Works Grant, Arts Foundation of Tucson & Southern Arizona. June 2021
Arizona Commission on the Arts Artist Opportunity Grant, Sept. 2020
Research & Development Artist Grant, Arizona Commission on the Arts. 2020.
Cultural Climate Leadership Fellow, Julie’s Bicycle, 2020.
Columbia Center for Oral History Research Summer Institute Fellow, 2019.
Catalyst Initiative Cohort, Center for Performance and Civic Practice. 2017.
New Works Grant, Arts Foundation for Southern Arizona. 2017.
Second Place, Long-form radio story “Listening to Yellow Cedar,” Alaska Press Club Awards, 2016
Centennial Artist-in-Resident, Saguaro National Park, Tucson, AZ. 2016.
Island Institute/Rasumson Resident Artist Fellows Program, Sitka, AK. 2015.
Djerassi Resident Artist Program. Woodside, CA. 2014
Tucson Pima Arts Council “Lumie” Award for Established Artist. 2014
New Works Grant, Tucson Pima Arts Council. 2013
New Works Grant, Tucson Pima Arts Council. 2012
Artist Project Grant, Arizona Commission on the Arts. 2012.
Blue Mountain Center Artist Program, Blue Mountain, NY. 2008.
Mesa Refuge. Pt. Reyes Station, CA. 2008
Dynamic Duo Award for “Making a Difference” (with photographer Josh Schachter), Compass Health Care, Tucson, AZ. Sept. 05
Roster Artist, Creative Writing, Arizona Commission on the Arts. Sept. 05-present.