This workshop is full
Join our continuing exploration of artists’ lives and artwork spanning a variety of time periods, geographies, cultures, identities, art forms, and media. We’ll also analyze representation of these lives and consider connections to our own world. As a member of our workshop, you will present once, selecting your own focus, e.g. the artist’s life, artwork, influences, challenges, themes, philosophies, and/or legacy. Presentations, which usually run 20-40 minutes, should include interesting research findings, thought-provoking discussion prompts, and, ideally, some images.
Much of each session is spent on in-depth discussion by a group of very engaged participants. A list of possible resources will be provided for each artist, but it’s up to the presenter to determine if any should be watched/listened to/read ahead of time. Tentative Year 5 artists are: Eileen Agar, Siona Benjamin, Edward Burtynsky, Elizabeth Catlett, Kapwani Kiwanga, Gabriele Münter, Marianne North, Claes Oldenburg and/or Coosje van Bruggen, Cecilia Paredes, Rose B. Simpson, Gunta Stölzl, and Salman Toor.
Facilitator
Trudy Akler loves to analyze literature and art, and, through them, learn about the world, especially women’s stories and histories. Long-term experience includes arts and gifted education, book club presentations, the Global Art Project for Peace, and a lifetime of creative projects. Other passions include Qi Gong, meditation, poetry, and the wonders of sunrises and stardust.
Note:
This is a smaller-group workshop with one in-depth presentation and extensive discussion per session. Please see the attached “Is the Artists’ Lives Workshop For Me?” section below.
This Workshop is ideal for people who:
- Thrive in a smaller workshop. We hold our enrollment maximum at 12. We find this allows for deeper, more equitable discussions, greater relationship building among members, and an overall stronger supportive group feeling. It also means we can focus on one presentation/artist per session.
- Are excited about exploring the lives and art of ALL the artists on our list. You are expected to present once. For the other 11 sessions, the presenter may request that we read/watch/listen to texts ahead of time in order to participate fully in our discussions. Regardless, many of our members enjoy further study using some of the text suggestions provided for each session.
- Love the idea of an in-depth dive into an artist’s life and work. Your presentation research goes well beyond what someone could find in a simple Google search.
- Enjoy the autonomy of designing their own presentation. The 2-hour block is yours to fill, keeping in mind that a good part of it is for group discussion. The total presenting time usually runs 20-40 minutes, but our members find creative ways to incorporate discussion and sometimes other activities. Some people start with a question or activity to get the ball rolling, while others sprinkle discussion prompts throughout the presentation, and still others leave all the discussion until the end. It’s up to you. We usually take about a 10-minute break near the middle of the 2-hour block. Since we are studying art and artists, it’s ideal if you can include images. But you do not have to do a slide show. There are many creative ways to present your work. Please ask if you need suggestions.
This workshop won’t be a perfect fit for people who:
- Can or want to only do a quick bit of research and then read their findings to us. Please see above.
- Only have one artist on our list that they want to research and present. Once we receive our workshop group list, we invite members to submit their top 3 choices, allowing about a week to consider the options. We then work with people’s choices, coming up with the best schedule for the whole group. People often do get their 1st choice but, on rare occasion, in order to make things work, sometimes people don’t even get their 3rd choice. Our members are flexible and understand that we are ALL exploring and learning about ALL the artists on our list.
- Are uncomfortable with art and discussions involving nudity, various genders and sexual orientations, different backgrounds and life philosophies, a feminist viewpoint. Of course, not all the material we cover deals with this, but sometimes it does. As well, some participants choose to share related personal information to enhance our discussion.
A special shout out to Firefly Creative Writing from which this format is respectfully borrowed.