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.
October 8 Perspective: Inside and Out
Discover how differently narratives unfold when told from shifting points of view, inspired by 20th-century Hungarian-American artist Lily Furedi’s Subway.
October 15 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.
October 22 Memoir: Delve into Identity
Take inspiration for memoir writing from 20th-century Catalan artist Joan Miró’s painted visual memoir, The Farm.
October 29 Story: Imagine Possibilities
Create characters and narratives inspired by the evocative room and objects of Welsh artist Gwen John’s A Corner of the Artist’s Room in Paris.
November 5 Layers: Weave Tales
Consider how seemingly different reflections and memories can weave together in writing, inspired by the mixed media work, Winning, by 20th-century African American artist Emma Amos.
Surface is a teaching artist, playwright, theatre director and museum educator. She presents workshops nationwide in creative writing and drama as a Kennedy Center teaching artist and was a faculty member at Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom.
5 sessions
General Information
