Senior Caity Halvorson, an art and writing student from Hot Springs, Mont., has made life-long pasttimes the foundation of her diverse academic interests.

Halvorson is pursuing majors in both creative writing and electronic arts and minors in English, computer science and studio art.

Halvorson said in an email she comes from a family of artists. She has learned from her sister, an artist; her father, a photographer; and her mother, a quilter. Halvorson said she discovered her joy in doodling, crafts and stories.

“I’ve always been interested in stories. Ever since I can remember I have been creating ‘imaginings’ in my head. It just took a while before it occurred to me to write them down,” she said. “I remember teaching my classmates how to draw dragons in kindergarten, and once I got into junior high school, I never went anywhere without my story notebook.”

Halvorson does not limit herself to writing particular genres or using specific artistic mediums. “I write [and] make whatever appeals to me at the time,” she said. “I like the creative process in whatever form it happens to come in — whether with words, pixels or hands-on materials, I’ll probably enjoy working with it.”

Halvorson will work primarily with electronic formats for her senior thesis. She said she generally writes in areas of fantasy, science fiction and surreal fiction. Among the different art forms, Halvorson prefers the art of writing.

Professor of English Lex Runciman has noticed Halvorson’s passion for writing.

“In a Caity Halvorson poem, a sentence can sweep across lines and stanza breaks, making for larger effects than those available to prose. And she brings to her work the best sort of writer’s ambition. She wants to push her language and imagination toward those recognitions, those truths, beyond the mundane, beyond the clichéd,” Runciman said in an email.

Not only does Halvorson occupy herself with what one might consider “artsy,” such as reading books, writing and attending plays, she also enjoys gaming, martial arts, fencing, karate and bellydancing. Halvorson is the president of Linfield’s Fencing Club.
In the future, Halvorson plans to produce freelance work on top of a currently undetermined day job. She has applied for Fulbright grant to study and write while living in Romania.

Michele Wong/For the Review
Michele Wong can be reached at [email protected]