Photo by Charlie M. Hartman MC Hyland with a handprinted broadside of “A Walk for Brie” one of six poems written and printed during her two week residency at the Grand Center for Arts and Culture.

NEW ULM — The Grand Center for Arts and Culture hosted MC Hyland as a two-week artist-in-residence at Celler Press during the end of April through the beginning of May.

Throughout this time, Hyland created six poems by mindfully walking with random companions from New Ulm.

Those selected to walk with Hyland emailed her at an earlier date through the Grand. Among them were Brie Taralson, owner of Lykke Books, and Terry Sveine, former mayor of New Ulm. Hyland felt that six walking dates produced plenty of work for her two-week time frame.

“I think in three weeks I could have finished what is set out to do, but two weeks has gotten me started and in a good place,” said Hyland.

Hyland came up with the idea for walking and writing poetry while earning her PhD in English Literature from NYU. Inspired by a Wordsworth poem, Hyland began to meditate on the idea and continued the practice of walking and writing poetry on and off for the past 10 years.

For her residence at Cellar Press, she meticulously typeset her broadsides with the aid of tweezers for her 12-point type.

“It takes five hours to set one poem,” Hyland said. “I watched some movies; it’s like people who knit in front of the TV. As of this fall, I’ll have done letter press printing for 20 years, so I have the sense memory of where letters are in case and that speeds it up.”

Hyland thinks of each poem like a letter written to her walking companion. The book made in New Ulm will only have 13 copies total. Her plan is to give broadsides to the people she walk with and then they will have the option to get the whole portfolio, which is a piece of art.

“It’s something I love to do, writing poems where I try to connect with people,” said Hyland. “Writing poems where I’m trying to have a conversation through poems. This was an exciting opportunity to come to a new to me town, to be in a studio, and meeting people, and writing to them. New Ulm is wonderful because the people I walked with all knew each other, so that’s been really cool and special.”

Hyland just released a book, “The Dead & The Living & The Bridge” with Meekling Press in April. It can be found online or through her website at mchyland.com. She also has a book “Walks & Weathers,” that will be published by Beauty School Editions in late 2025.

“The reason I love writing in this way is because there’s a connection with people. Writing to them is a way of using art to connect. All of my work is geared towards making a connection with not just with me, but also connecting other people with each other,” said Hyland.