Meet the Qf Artist

Ed Madden is the author of six books of poetry and a professor of English at the University of South Carolina. From 2015 through 2022, he served as the inaugural poet laureate for the City of Columbia, SC. Madden received his B.A. in English and French from Harding University in Arkansas, a B.S. in Biblical studies from the Institute for Christian Studies (later the Austin Graduate School of Theology) in Austin, TX, and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Texas. His essay "Jerome leaning over his book" was winner of the Best Spiritual Literature Award in nonfiction and published in Best Spiritual Literature 2023. He is recipient of a 2019 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship, a 2022 South Carolina Governor's Award for the Arts, a 2022 USC Breakthrough Leadership in Research Award, and artist residencies at the Hambidge Center in Georgia and the Instituto Sacatar in Brazil. 

Sophie Farthing (she/her) is a queer poet and multidisciplinary artist living in Columbia, SC. Her work has appeared in outlets including Right Hand Pointing, Beyond Queer Words, Impossible Archetype, and Anti-Heroin Chic. She is the 2024 recipient of the Elizabeth Boatwright Coker Fellowship in Poetry from the South Carolina Academy of Authors. Her project for Queerfish, "In My Father's House," is funded by the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Evelyn Berry (she/her) is a trans, Southern writer, editor, and educator. She's the author of Grief Slut (Sundress Publications, 2024) and Buggery (Bateau Press, 2020), winner of the BOOM Chapbook Prize. She's a recipient of a 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Poetry Fellowship and 2025 South Carolina Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship. Her work has appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, South Carolina Review, Gigantic Sequins, Moist, Taco Bell Quarterly, and elsewhere. She's the creator of the educational series Ecstatic Stanzas. She lives in Columbia, South Carolina with her partner and their pets

Daniel Hankinson (he/him) is a 21-year-old visual artist who recently moved to South Carolina, in part, because he found a welcoming and affirming church that has shown him that to be Queer is not a contradiction to being Christian, but complementary, like colors on a wheel.  He paints with watercolor and acrylic and has a printing press where he does a variety of prints mainly, monotypes, intaglio, collagraph.  His art explores Queer identity and Christian love sometimes from the perspective of pain, oppression, and rage and sometimes explores this beautiful complementarity from the perspective of acceptance, peace, and harmony. Art has become the way he speaks to God, to his true self, to his partner, to his community, and to the greater “world out there.”

Shannon Ivey MFA AEA PCC (she/her) is the founder of the award-winning project #whatshesaidproject and Gather SC, LLC. Shannon is an ICF professional certified coach, actor/director, TEDx speaker, and creative rabble rouser. Shannon spent over 20 years in traditional theater as an acting professor, uniont actor, and director only to wake up to the realization that she had been telling other people's stories that didn't include herself or those she loved. This led her to investigate the power of narrative through Theater of the Oppressed, first-person storytelling events, essay/creative nonfiction, Narrative Medicine, and eventually, coaching.  Shannon is a PhD student at the European Graduate School where she is studying creativity and hope post crisis. She lives in Columbia, South Carolina with one dog and one chicken, where she tries to grow veggies, writes haiku, supports community, and enjoys being a member of the local improv troupe. She is a proud mother to a brilliant son named Marco. Shannon has a medical memoir coming out with the University of SC Press in 2026.-

Michael Naughton (he/him) is a local artist, leadership/life coach and a retired Westinghouse corporate human resources and training leader. He graduated from Penn State University with a BA in Labor Studies and from La Roche University with a MS in Human Resource Management. He is also a graduate of iPEC and has multiple coaching certifications. He is the founder of MTN Lakeshore Coaching a company that provides leadership, life, and transition coaching to individual clients.  Michael is enthusiastic about continuing to develop leaders and helping others through training and coaching. 

He also founded the MTN Lakeshore Gallery, an on-line home for his art. He is a self-taught acrylic painter who loves abstract expressionistic work but loves to experiment with a variety of styles. He is a member of Crooked Creek Art League and has displayed his work in the community often as well as at many different festivals and art shows. He currently has work at the Newberry Opera House, Ellen Owens Salon, Palmetto Fine Arts Gallery and the 911 Lady Street lobby.

Michael was raised in a Roman Catholic family and attended a Catholic school through 8- th grade. He is currently a member of Mt. Horeb Lutheran Church in Chapin, SC. Michael and his husband Roger Lindler have been together for over 22 years. They have six adult children and seven grandchildren ranging in age from 5 to 22 years old. The couple shares their home with George, an 8 year old Golden Retriever and Murray, a 4 year old Labradoodle

Wayne Hall (he/him) is a local artist, teacher, and business entrepreneur, who graduated from Winthrop University with an MFA in Studio Art.  He is the founder and curator of Queerfish, a faith-based organization that promotes self-discovery and healing through art in the LGBTQ community.  He believes that the LGBTQ people have a long, rich, and conflicting history of faith that is often shamed or hidden and should be proudly reclaimed.  Wayne and Robert, his partner and spouse for forty-two years currently own The Swept Yard, a service-based company that specializes in design, supervision, and implementation of custom gardens, borders, and containers.  The couple are loved and supervised at home by their pet-boy Max, an incredible rescue puppy from a locale shelter.