Experience the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. Explore new ways to contemplate the gifts of winter inspired by the vibrant Winter Landscape by Wassily Kandinsky, an artist who embraced the transcendent power of color. Designed for writers of all levels, and for the curious, the workshop invites you to look outwardly at art and to look inwardly through writing.
T.S. Eliot's best-known poem is The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, but his greatest is The Waste Land. The seminal, hundred-year-old work can intimidate anyone at first reading, even with excellent footnotes. It's worth the effort to come to terms with The Waste Land's stature, and public humanities scholar Clay Jenkinson is ready to serve as a guide. He covers its creation, its enormous debt to previous literature from Dante to John Donne, and walks you through the poem in a way that helps reveal its creative strategies—and meaning.
Few works of Shakespeare are as instantly recognizable as Romeo and Juliet. Joseph Luzzi, professor of literature at Bard College, takes a fresh look at one of the greatest love stories of all time, paying particular attention to Shakespeare’s original use of language and his ability to capture the inner lives of his characters.
Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for five online workshops that spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. This writing session is inspired by Judith Leyster’ Self-Portrait.
We all know the Cinderella fairy tale, the story of the downtrodden but kind girl forced to toil for her cruel stepmother and stepsisters. But there’s a lot more to Cinderella: In some versions, there isn’t a fairy godmother but rather a magical tree, a fish, or even a flock of turkeys. Folklorists Sara Cleto and Brittany Warman discuss how versions differ, what we can learn from Cinderella, and why the story has had such a lasting impact on Western culture.
Through a detailed consideration of three of Jane Austen’s most memorable works—Mansfield Park, Emma, and Northanger Abbey—explore how she helped reinvent the novel with her powerfully original writing and unique artistic vision. Joseph Luzzi, a professor of literature at Bard College, examines Austen’s remarkable career and astonishing life.
Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for five online workshops that spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. This writing session is inspired by Hale Woodruff’s Georgia Landscape.
Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for five online workshops that spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. This writing session is inspired by Hughie Lee-Smith's Confrontation.
Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for five online workshops that spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. This writing session is inspired by Mary Cassatt’s The Boating Party.
Few authors are as revered as Charles Dickens, one of the most influential novelists in English literature and a writer whose work remains viscerally relevant. Through a detailed consideration of Oliver Twist, Hard Times, and A Tale of Two Cities, Joseph Luzzi, a professor of literature at Bard College, examines how Dickens’ complex characters and the challenges they face illuminate some of the most pressing concerns in the world today.
Discover how visual art can inspire creative writing and how writing can offer a powerful way to experience art. Join Mary Hall Surface, the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, for five online workshops that spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. This writing session is inspired by Berthe Morisot’s The Mother and Sister of the Artist.
Do you know the stories behind delectable Chinese American dishes—such as the connection between scallion pancakes and pizza? Drawing on her new book, Chinese Menu, Newberry and Caldecott honoree Grace Lin shares the tales behind favorite Chinese American food, from fried dumplings to fortune cookies. Rooted in history and folklore, the delightful stories are filled with squabbling dragons, magical fruits, and hungry monks. Journalist Lisa Ling joins Lin to uncover the rich histories of these dishes. Although Lin’s book is for young readers, this delicious conversation is for foodies of all ages.
Discover the power of reflective writing guided by the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon, Mary Hall Surface. Inspired by paintings of the visionary Belorussian-born French artist Marc Chagall and by poetry across time, take the opportunity to slow down, look closely, and reflect to explore love as an animating force in our lives. Designed for writers of all levels, the workshop invites you to look outward at paintings and poetry and to look inward through writing.
Few books have had as much impact on American culture as Harper Lee’s legendary To Kill a Mockingbird from 1960. Joseph Luzzi, professor of literature at Bard College, explores how Lee’s novel probes racism and its pernicious effects, represents life in the South, and creates some of the most memorable characters in American literature.
Few novels have captured the American imagination as strongly as Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man from 1952, a searing account of a young Black man’s quest for identity as he moves from the segregated South to New York, where he becomes involved in the violent world and social upheaval of political activism. Joseph Luzzi, professor of literature at Bard College, guides participants through a discussion of Invisible Man’s sophisticated literary techniques, memorable characters, and artful narrative elements.
During the Cold War, novels, essays, and poems could win the hearts and minds of those caught between the competing creeds of capitalism and communism. They could also lead to blacklisting, exile, imprisonment, or execution for their authors if they offended those in power. Cultural historian Duncan White introduces the key literary conflicts that animated the Cold War from the beginning of the Spanish Civil War to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.
Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is one of the most celebrated novels in 19th-century literature. Joseph Luzzi, professor of literature at Bard College, reveals the novel’s defining qualities and characteristics, with a focus on its Romantic elements, dazzling mix of the supernatural and natural, and construction of compelling characters such as Heathcliff and Catherine. Luzzi also discusses Brontë’s different modes of storytelling.
