Silen Wellington is a sculptor of sound, artist of people, genderqueer shapeshifter, storyteller, mercurial name collector, and lover, among other things.
At the age of 6, they turned a corner and found themself in a wispy winding wood, where willow branches stretched their fingers and took a child by the hand. They saw wild dreams in the woods, places to giggle, places to weep, places to fall in love, places to swing and sneak and snarl, places to grieve, places to dance unadulterated and completely bewildered bliss.
“What is this place?” the small child asked.
A warm breeze tickled the child’s smile and the answer seemed to swell in them much like an eclipsed moon returning to full — all its phases waxing in just one word:
Music.
And so the child sat down and began talking to the trees. It was a playful and fanciful dialogue indeed, discussing faeries and meadow brooks and sunsets. As Silen grew older, the tree bark grew knotty limbs and scars. It became a relationship far more complex than play, as relationships are wont to do when a heart starts expanding. The conversation meandered into shadow, finding beasts that a child wouldn’t want to imagine in a world of their own making. Music helped speak to these beasts, though, and offered a way to honor the shadows.
Today the discourse expands evermore, and perhaps even less predictably. Avidly interdisciplinary, Silen likes to combine music with other art mediums, be that spoken word, visual art, ritual performance, soft and heart-expanding story, loud and fiery eye contact, otherworldly and melting trysts, or something else entirely.
Physically, Silen lives on Cheyenne, Arapaho, & Ute land in what is otherwise known as Fort Collins, Colorado. Metaphysically, they explore the space between the atoms, cross the distance between Earth and Pluto, swallow soundwaves, and dine with the unseen. Physically (and perhaps metaphysically too depending on one’s perspective on such matters) they have studied with Patricia Burge, John Drumheller, Carter Pann, Nathan Hall, and Daniel Kellogg.
Besides writing music, Silen enjoys writing poetry, harvesting stories, continual transformation, unhinged-unfettered-unapologetic dance, and falling in love.