Michaelyn Logue
For almost three years, Michaelyn Logue has served as Social Media and Communications Manager for the Nevada County Arts Council. She has done so with grace and style and competence. She also acts as Chair of the Nevada City Farmers Market Board, ensuring that in summer and winter, visitors can hear musicians and poets at the Saturday Market, while getting fresh produce, locally sourced goods, and a needed dose of community. Michaelyn remarked about her job with the Arts Council: “It’s great to feel like I’m making a difference through facilitating artists.”
Judy Crowe, a long-time member of the Nevada County Literary Arts Committee, shared her love of Michaelyn: “She is always there—prompt, helpful, and organized. She’s a good listener and manages to juggle many tasks at once, giving each the attention it requires. Her own artistic work in various mediums is thoughtful, creative, unique.”
Aside from working to make Nevada County a pleasurable place for writers and artists to share their efforts, Michaelyn is also a gifted musician and poet. “Language,” she says, “is born out of trying to understand the indefinable; poetry gets back to that.” She loves playing with words, with language itself. “I try to be available for poetry when it comes.” To that end, many of her poems are ‘found’ poems, honoring the existential moment. She shares that she loves the sound of words. When asked what inspires her work, she responded, “I am inspired by everything and anything. I try to remain open and curious, even to the associations I am making. Often we can be our own worst enemy when it comes to creative projects, by stifling that impulse because we’re afraid it will be too weird, or people won’t connect, when in reality, creating the things that explore our questions, edges and shadows, creates a space for healing and community.”
As mentioned, she is not only a talented poet, but also a gifted musician. She dabbles on piano and guitar, played saxophone in high school jazz and marching bands, plus she sings and now considers the voice her primary instrument. Her father is also a musician and Michaelyn grew up “playing under the piano” while her father improvised for the congregation at Unity Temple in Santa Cruz.
Not many people can include singing at Carnegie Hall on their resume, though she had such an adventure. In the summer of 2007, Michaelyn, along with the Cabrillo College Choir, sang there. It was the world premiere of “The Peace of Wild Things” by composer Imant Raminsh. The lyrics were poems by Morton Marcus, Wendell Berry, and E.E. Cummings. “I could feel the history of the room pushing down on me,” Michaelyn relates. “It was so powerful!”
Growing up in Santa Cruz, Michaelyn attended Cabrillo College in nearby Aptos; it was at Cabrillo that Michaelyn earned an Associates in Music before transferring to San Francisco State where she earned a degree in creative writing. In 2017 she returned to Cabrillo and earned her Site Supervisor Early Childhood Credential, with a focus on developing arts and science based curriculum for the infant, toddler, and pre-school children.
New adventures are on the horizon for Michaelyn; her husband has a business opportunity in the East Bay, so a move is in their near future. She promises to return to Nevada County to visit. Those who know this talented, sensitive woman are saddened at the thought of her leaving.
She will be missed.
This story originally appeared in the April 15th, 2025 edition of the GVNC Culture Connection newsletter.