Hillary Harrison of Charleston, WV has been selected as the 2025 New River Gorge Creative-in-Residence. A writer and artist, Hillary will spend the entire month of January living and working at Lafayette Flats Boutique Vacation Rentals in downtown Fayetteville on the rim of New River Gorge National Park and Preserve.
Hillary grew up in a small town in West Virginia before moving to Louisville, Kentucky where she majored in photography, found her people, and stayed for sixteen years. While there she published Bejeezus, a print magazine that began as a black and white zine and later became a full color, nationally distributed magazine, focusing on arts and culture in places outside of big cities. Hillary was one of the co-founders of the short-lived, but fondly remembered Butcher Block, an art gallery and DIY event space in Louisville’s Butchertown neighborhood. She co-founded the Kin Ship Gallery, which evolved into Kin Ship Goods—an independent brand she owns with her husband, dedicated to making life a little cozier for everyone.
During the residency, Hillary has plans to work on several projects.
A Collection of Short Stories: Recently, a publisher approached Hillary about creating a collection of autobiographical short stories centered on growing up in West Virginia during the 1980s and 90s. As one of six children, in a family with over eight generations in the region, she has no shortage of stories and characters but has found it difficult to carve out the time to finish the collection.
Film Photography: Hillary wants to photograph in and around Fayette County, using only film, a fading medium to capture the ephemeral nature of the locations chosen—places and spaces weathered by time, industry, and environmental changes.
Daughters of Appalachia: Hillary is also working on a new series for her Keepsake Substack and Kin Ship Good’s blog. It’s called Daughters of Appalachia and is a series of profiles and interviews with people who identify as Daughters of Appalachia. She plans to interview some folks in and around Fayette County and eventually use the profiles and interviews to create a coffee table book.
In addition to enjoying the time and space the New River Gorge Creative Residency will afford her, Hillary is also looking forward to spending time in Fayette County, one of her grandfather’s favorite places. Some of her favorite childhood memories were made here and she is looking forward to making more.
For the past decade, Lafayette Flats Boutique Vacation Rentals has sponsored and hosted the New River Gorge Creative Residency, a program that supports the development of creative people by providing a unique opportunity for at least one person each winter to live and work on an artistic project at Lafayette Flats.
Learn more about past New River Gorge Creative Residents:
2023 – Creative Community (Hannah Watters, Nicole Westfall, and Brian Michael Reed)
2022 – Michele Sons, L. Renee, and Nevada Tribble
2021 – Jessica Sands and Amy Pabst
