STREAMING PROGRAM INFORMATION
- This program is part of our Smithsonian Associates Streaming series.
- Platform: Zoom
- Online registration is required.
- If you register multiple individuals, you will be asked to supply individual names and email addresses so they can receive a Zoom link email. Please note that if there is a change in program schedule or a cancellation, we will notify you via email, and it will be your responsibility to notify other registrants in your group.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
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 a series of five online workshops that explore essential elements of writing and styles through close looking, word-sketching, and imaginative response to prompts.
The sessions spotlight a diverse range of visual art chosen to inspire writers of all experience levels to deepen their process and practice. Each workshop has a limited enrollment to maximize interaction among the instructor and students.
Please Note: Individual sessions are available for individual purchase.
Jan. 5 First Person: Monologues and More
Give voice to the figures in The Mother and Sister of the Artist and to the painting’s creator, 19th-century French artist Berthe Morisot.
Jan. 12 Memoir: Memory and Metaphor
Take inspiration from 20th-century African American artist Romare Bearden’s Tomorrow I May Be Far Away to mine your memories and personal metaphors.
Jan. 19 Poetry: Words as Image
Experiment with diverse poetic forms in response to 20th-century American artist Georgia O’Keeffe’s shell paintings, including the spiraling Shell No. 1.
Jan. 26 Perspective: Inside and Out
Discover how differently narratives unfold when told from shifting points of view, inspired 20th-century Hungarian-American artist Lily Furedi’s Subway.
Feb. 2 Impact: Tone and Mood
Create atmosphere and evoke emotion in your writing, inspired by two works by 20th-century French artist Henri Matisse, including Open Window, Collioure.
Surface is a teaching artist, playwright, and theatre director and producer. She presents workshops nationwide in creative writing and drama as a Kennedy Center teaching artist and was a six-summer faculty member at Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom.
5 sessions
Photo caption (upper right): Mary Hall Surface in front of Edward Hopper’s 1939 painting "Cape Cod Evening" at the National Gallery of Art
UPDATED PATRON INFORMATION
- Unless otherwise noted, registration for streaming programs typically closes two hours prior to the start time on the date of the program.
- Once registered, patrons should receive an automatic email confirmation from CustomerService@SmithsonianAssociates.org.
- Separate Zoom link information will be emailed closer to the date of each session. If you do not receive your Zoom link information 24 hours prior to the start of each session, please email Customer Service for assistance.
- View Common FAQs about our Streaming Programs on Zoom.
