Mary Hall Surface (Photo: Courtesy of Mary Hall Surface / Amalfi Writers’ Studio)
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 three 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.
July 9 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.
July 16 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.
July 23 Setting: Explore Place and Time
Step inside 20th-century photographer Berenice Abbott’s Pennsylvania Station to explore how setting can generate plot, character, and theme.
Surface is a teaching artist, playwright, and theatre director and producer. She presents workshops nationwide in creative writing, reflective writing and drama as a Kennedy Center teaching artist and museum educator. She was a faculty member at Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom.
3 sessions
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