Integrative Project Symposium 2026

Vanessa Ryerse is interested in nurturing life with her sleeves rolled up to work, walking barefoot on the good, holy ground. She is a wife, a mother of four, and her name means “butterfly.” A long-time gardener, treasure hunter and vintage seller, these endeavors remind her regularly that life is unpredictable, precious, and sometimes hilarious. This work organically feeds her role as a staff chaplain where she is focused on the NICU, Labor and Delivery, and care of the hospital staff at Washington Regional Medical Center.

Ordained as co-pastor of the experimental church Vintage Fellowship which she planted with her husband Robb in Northwest Arkansas in 2008, Vanessa is also an artist creating from broken dishes which reflect the human need to be fed, both body and soul. She has been deeply formed by gathering, and is interested in relationships, particularly with pulling close what is unwanted – as experienced in damage and death – to explore care and repair as meaning-making work in the collective. Utilizing cast-off materials shows the power of
assembling connection, reflecting a deep belief in the relationality of God as a maker, mother, and creator of the space we all live in. Vanessa sees this work as an answer to the hunger of loneliness, serving a communion meal set for whoever desires to partake.

She will graduate from the MATC program at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology with an emphasis in the arts and thus complete the requirements for full Board Certification as a Chaplain.

Project Abstract
This integrated portfolio can best be understood as a collaborative mosaic. Originally conceived of within a hospital setting, the project evolved to become a stand-alone workshop suitable for grief groups, faith groups, or as leadership development. Each person is invited to choose and assemble pieces of broken dishes into small butterfly silhouettes, which can be gathered into a larger installation or finished into individual memorials depending on the group. The themes of brokenness and meaning-making affirm the complexity of gathering together human beings who are experiencing disorder, damage and death, while the completed butterflies express the hope for wholeness that we all long for, with an emphasis on the gathering. As each person reflects a part of the Image of God, in bringing people together, God’s with-ness is felt in closest proximity to what is broken and disconnected.

Evelyn Dumonte is a work-in-progress, but on paper, she is an interdisciplinary artist, theologian, chronic overthinker, and community-builder whose work explores the intersections of narrative identity, healing, spirituality, and communal belonging and transformation. A future dual-program Seattle graduate with an MATC (2026)/MACP (2028), she is also an Interfaith Chaplain candidate working on her accreditation. With her previous background spanning communications, event planning, strategy, and law enforcement, Evelyn’s artistic practice focuses on liminal spaces we all have in common.

Her latest art project, Soil and Soul, bridges agriculture, social justice, and themes of belonging. Influenced by theological concepts such as radical hospitality and stewardship, she seeks to cultivate environments where marginalized communities are welcomed and activated. Splitting her time between New York and Maryland, Evelyn remains rooted in the belief that every human, everywhere, deserves to live in dignity. For her, art emerges as a means by which individuals and communities can offer their lived realities, articulate shared anxieties, and envision new possibilities. And it’s the possibility of a collective spiritual and creative transformation that continues to inform Evelyn’s hopes, dreams, and doings.

Project Abstract
How do you grow? In her capstone project “Soil and Soul,” Evelyn explores the themes of agriculture and belonging through her partnership with Choate Winery in Fallston, MD. A full-scale vineyard and event space, Choate Winery will host a series of community garden events, local workshops, an agriculture library, podcast “Bookstradamus”, and short documentary films. Evelyn hopes to build a self-sustaining nonprofit program that focuses on communal participation in solving social problems, centering on the value of connection, involvement, and community action and support. The inaugural portion of the project was hosting a monthly full-moon women’s circle. It became a gathering of hope and support. Starting in August, 2026, Choate Winery will host an 8-week community garden project that teaches a diverse group of volunteers how to process their feelings by reconnecting with the soil and seed to sow process.

At its core, the project serves as a source of social and ecological justice and will be cultivated as sacred ground for relation-building and interfaith community meaning-making. We are all stewards of this land entrusted to care for her and each other.

Olivia Tyler Timothy Owen (Otto) is a 26-year-old Seattleite graduating from the MATC program with a focus in community development. Having graduated with their bachelors in psychology from the University of Washington in 2021 and currently pursuing an audio production certificate from Edmonds College, Otto is a true academic with a deep passion for learning. Having come from three years working on the front lines in case management serving Seattle’s homeless population, their heart belongs to serving marginalized and underserved communities. Their integrative portfolio project is a self-recorded album titled A Lumination, which tells the story of a young man’s dream state encounter with Jesus, who teaches him the importance of accepting
and embracing uncertainty as the purest form of truth. Outside of academia, Otto plays bass and is a producer in the band Ankit and the Apricots, assists in facilitating MoJam: a weekly jam session hosted at the Nectar Lounge and continues to write music for their own band, Otto & the Wildside. They also enjoy running and skateboarding around Seattle, reading classic novels, spending evenings with loved ones, and watching the sunset with a lime filled ice cold Modelo in hand.

Project Abstract
This project transforms the principles of liberation and queer theology at the intersection of humanistic psychology to form a self recorded album titled A Lumination: a sonic journey following a young man’s divine encounter with Jesus in a dream state. Divided into four parts, each ‘side’ of the album aims to answer a specific community leading question: who are we, where do we come from, how will we grow and where do we want to go? The young man, Will, experiences a transformation of his perspective on faith; as he is preparing to enter a leadership role in church, the divine spirit illuminates him towards accepting and embracing uncertainty as a pinnacle of faith. Will learns he must not only radically accept himself and his differences, but also embrace the differences of those within his community for the sake of growth and harmony.

The majority of these songs were written as assignments throughout the MATC program or were heavily influenced and inspired by in class readings and discussions, including but not limited to Constructive Theology, Biblical Interpretations, Christology, Service and Sustainability, Mission and Faithful Presence and Listening Labs. Overall, A Lumination serves as the culmination of Otto’s personal and academic growth at The Seattle School and well prepares them for their future in social services, using music as the cornerstone for building genuine personal relationships and fostering community.

Anita Briggs is completing a Master of Arts in Theology and Culture with Ministry and Interdisciplinary concentration from The Seattle School. She has completed Narrative Focused Trauma Care Levels 1 and 2 training at the Allender Center, and she holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Anita’s vocational goal is to help make church a safe place for nervous systems, motivated by her experience as a transracially adoptive parent and the learning about attachment and nervous systems it required. Her leadership philosophy recognizes Polyvagal Theory as essential for understanding humans’ embodied presence and social connectedness in all contexts, including worshipping communities.

For the past ten years, Anita has taught beginner piano lessons in her home-based studio, primarily to neighbors but expanding over Zoom as a pandemic adaptation that stuck when studio families moved out of state. She resides just outside of San Antonio, Texas with her spouse of 29 years and two rescue dogs. She is a parent to three young adult children, one remaining at home.

Project Abstract
This project combines lectio divina and yoga as a preamble to modern
worship, inviting participants to embodiment and contextualization in order to gather with greater capacity to hear the Gospel and respond in love to God and neighbor.

By hearing the lectio divina Scripture in the context of varied yoga poses, participants create possibility for receiving it in a newly accessible way. Participation in the yoga practice itself invites collecting ourselves to ourselves, in hope that when we gather in worship later in the week, we will gather as more whole selves.

Participants were invited to contextualize their experience by bringing an item from their everyday experience and by concluding the practice with writing a “Where I’m From” poem. Our contextualization practices serve as “checks to the community’s existential fancies” (Cone) as we meditate on the Scripture passage.

This project was completed in partnership with Morgan Fletcher, a certified yoga instructor in the Ashtanga tradition.

Ed Jacobs was reared in Puyallup, WA and born in Tacoma, where he lives with his wife Deborah L. Armstrong. He will graduate with a Master of Arts in Theology & Culture, specializing in ministry with an interdisciplinary degree, in 2026. This course of study, combined with graduating from the Seminary of the Southwest and Education for Ministry, from the University of the South School of Theology provides a deep background as he continues his chaplaincy. Ed brings seven years of experience as a chaplain for the Tacoma Fire Department and four years as the lead chaplain/crisis intervention manager for West Pierce Fire & Rescue. Additionally, he has served seven years as the pastor at Nativity House Homeless Shelter. Ed serves the needs of Pierce County and is positioned to continue advocating for the homeless community by organizing memorials and fighting for their dignity in both life and death. Ed has honored one thousand two hundred and seventeen people who died while homeless in the past five years. As a contemplative grounded in the realms of the mystics, Ed embraces the concept of loving God without reason or motive and without knowing the outcome.

Project Abstract
In the spring of 2021, Debra Marie Pruitt was homeless and living on the streets of Tacoma. She had been residing in the Nativity House Shelter, but her stay ended, forcing her to return to the streets. One night she died alone in her tent, and a Tacoma Fire Department chaplain was at the scene. He relayed the information to me, and in my inquiry it was revealed that homeless people who die become invisible, as no systems track their deaths. Ms. Pruitt died, and none of the systems designed to care for the homeless had any idea she was gone. It took months to investigate the situation and to secure a data-sharing agreement with Pierce County, as it had to be approved by the State of Washington.
We established a homeless memorial service held every quarter to honor the lives lost on the streets of Pierce County. In 2003 the total deaths for the year were two hundred and ninety-five. The State Department of Health took over the reporting system in 2004, and the reported deaths dropped by one hundred and fifty-four people. The State Department of Health confirmed, “We currently do not have data specifically related to individuals who died while homeless.” I worked with Pierce County elected officials, Faith Action Network staff, and
members of the legislature to secure a policy change that tracks and reports individuals who die while experiencing homelessness.