Global Art Group Hole in The Air

Courtney Hudak

Artist Statement

12.1.21

Everything
that is responsible for creating something
out of nothing
is poetry

-Diotima

1.
I am invited
to do what I came here to do.

Some invitations are baroque,
others unadorned—

what matters
is to notice the door.

2.
I want to be able to explain
everything, she said.

3.
With years of denial,
one wearies. When weariness

wears thin, one may curl inward
or reach out.

Either way, something
is created from nothing.

4.
Who knows what’s on the other side.
What matters is to go through.

Bio

Courtney Hudak is a writer and attorney, based in Seattle and occasionally Los Angeles. She is a first generation college student who got carried away – after studying aviation and writing at Green River Community College and Seattle Central College, she obtained a BA in Philosophy from Seattle University, a JD and LLM from University of Washington School of Law, and a bonus BA in Psychology from Eastern Washington University.

Courtney’s poetry teachers were Sam Green and Sam Hamill; her literary foundation is radically Pacific Northwestern. Prior to meeting the Sams, Courtney’s first job in Seattle was doing undercover security at the University Book Store. There, she discovered the work of Dorothy Parker, Djuna Barnes, and Gertrude Stein, whose books she carried in her backpack and read obsessively circa 1993-1999.

Courtney is the co-founder and co-editor of Behind a Door, an occasional newsletter highlighting the art and writing of frequently overlooked/underestimated creators.
She represents people seeking asylum on a pro bono basis.
She is a third-generation single mother.
She is the founder and host of the Social Justice Syllabus Book Club.
She is a volunteer book narrator at the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library.
She used to host a weekly potluck at her house, for almost two decades, before Covid.