On December 2nd, 2011, Art Intersection hosted a reading introducing the community to our new writing program.
Writers, Laura Cruser, Mark Haunschild, Beth Staples, Fernando Perez, Allyson Boggess and Rosemarie Dombrowski will start the new year with six introductory workshops designed for all levels of writers.
Poetry, memoir & fiction workshops are scheduled from mid-January to mid-April.
Each workshop meets for 4 hours, 2 hours on 2 Saturday mornings, with the first meeting about form and content and the next meeting to share student’s work.
Here are the workshops:
They are all $40
To reserve a space in any of the workshops- email us at info@artintersection.com
Course Schedule and Descriptions
Course 1: How to Give Your Story Liftoff: Keep Your Feet on the Ground
Session I: Saturday, 28 January, 9-11am
Session II: Saturday, 4 February, 11:15-1:15pm
Location: Art Intersection
Instructor: Laura Cruser
We all want our stories to soar, but sometimes it’s easy to forget that to fly a kite well, we must hold onto the string. This workshop will offer strategies for staying grounded throughout the writing process: for starting a story and for seeing it through, for freshening the creative palate and for finding help when your kite does, indeed, get tangled in the trees. Plan to exit the class with a new short story in-hand.
Course 2: Bringing Characters to Life
Session I: Saturday, 4 February, 9-11am
Session II: Saturday, 11 February, 11:15-1:15pm
Location: Art Intersection
Instructor: Beth Staples
Using portrait photography as inspiration, this class will help students create, develop and bring a character to life on the page. Students will spend time studying examples of memorable characters, learning techniques for building and crafting character through writing, and then developing their own character as the basis for a story.
Course 3: Gleaning Poetry from Art: Writing Poetry Inspired by Visual Works of Art
Session I: Saturday, 11 February, 9-11am
Session II: Saturday, 18 February, 11:15-1:15pm
Location: Art Intersection
Instructor: Allyson Boggess
This course explores the practice of writing poetry ekphrastically–that is, the writing of poetry in response to, and inspired by, works of visual art. We’ll look at examples of ekphrastic poetry from literature together and discuss the techniques we can use to generate new writing from observing works in other mediums. Ultimately, we’ll try these strategies out by viewing art on exhibit at the Art Intersection Gallery and producing new poems in response. The goal is to experience and reflect on the power of translating this intersection of art forms.
Course 4: Looking Glass: Where You Stand Makes a Difference
Session I: Saturday, 31 March, 9-11am
Session II: Saturday, 7 April, 11:15-1:15pm
Location: Art Intersection
Instructor: Fernando Pérez
As writers, what we choose to look at and what we choose to reveal are up to us. Either way, in poetry, details make the difference. If writing is like holding a camera to your eye, and breathing slowly and deeply, either waiting patiently for the right moment or taking a risk and shooting, then the details matter. We will consider the details of a poem in the same way that light lends itself to the perfect photograph. Using photos as inspiration, we will assemble words that leave an impact on the eye and on the brain.
Course 5: Haibun: The Poetry of Walking
Session I: Saturday, 7 April, 9-11am
Session II: Saturday, 14 April, 11:15-1:15pm
Location: Art Intersection
Instructor: Mark Haunschild
Popularized by Matsuo Basho in the 17th century, haibun is a classical Japanese form of travel writing that combines prose and poetry. In this class we will practice the art of “walking meditation” as we reflect on the mundane aspects of moving through our day-to-day lives. Working from these observations, students will draft a lyric essay that reflects extra-ordinary insights drawn from ordinary occurrences. We will discuss ways to convey our travels with concrete, descriptive, and evocative prose, and will practice writing haiku poems that crystallize the insights that arise from the world in and around us.
Course 6: Personal Fragments: Using Collage to Create Memoir
Session I: Saturday, 14 April, 9-11am
Session II: Saturday, 21 April, 11:15-1:15pm
Location: Art Intersection
Instructor: Rosemarie Dombrowski
The task of writing a full-length memoir is daunting even for a seasoned writer. Thus, through the technique of collage, we’ll begin crafting sections of what could potentially become a long(er) memoir, ultimately unifying sections with the subtle repetition and interweaving of sensory imagery, phrases, people, and objects. The technique of threading sections together allows us to focus on the subtleties, nuances, and sounds of narrative as well as the gaps, spaces, silences, on the page, and within the memoir itself.
Faculty
Allyson Boggess teaches poetry at Chandler-Gilbert Community College and writing at Arizona State University. She is a graduate of ASU’s creative writing MFA program and currently lives in Phoenix.
Laura Cruser co-coordinates the literary programming at Art Intersection and has taught writing to elementary, middle, and high school students through grants from the Arizona Commission on the Arts, and Arizona State University’s Young Writers Program and Programs for Talented Youth. She is currently an instructor of English at ASU, where she received an MFA in Creative Writing. She lives in Tempe.
Rosemarie Dombrowski is the founder and editor of the poetry journal merge and is the co-founder and host of the Phoenix Poetry Series, now in its fourth year. She received a PhD in American Literature from Arizona State University, where she has been teaching the past thirteen years. She lives in Scottsdale.
Mark Haunschild is the faculty advisor of poetry for The Superstition Review and co-coordinates the literary programming at Art Intersection. He received an MFA in poetry from Arizona State University and an MA in English Literature from California State University, Chico. He lives in Tempe.
Fernando Pérez discovered the impact writing could have at an early age. When he was five, his family dog ran away and Fernando’s father recalls that he grabbed a pencil and wrote: “Bif es gon.” For Fernando, writing is like reaching for a camera, a paintbrush, or a butterfly net and capturing life. He received an MFA in poetry from Arizona State University. He lives in Tempe.
Beth Staples works at the Piper Center For Creative Writing as Managing Editor of the literary journal Hayden’s Ferry Review. She teaches fiction writing at Arizona State University and Mesa Community College. She received her MFA in fiction writing from ASU and currently lives in Phoenix.
