Instructors & Schedule for “Learning to See ™” - 2011-12
The Brenda Connor-Bey Learning to See™ Legacy Workshop Series focuses on ekphrastic creative writing and explorations of all art forms as well as other ways to "see" in each of the three-session workshops. Partially funded by P&W, The Theodore Young Community Center, the Friends of the Greenburgh Library and Greenburgh ACC, workshops are free and open to the public.
Locations & Registration Contacts
Greenburgh Public Library - GPL Theodore Young Community Center - TYCC
300 Tarrytown Road 32 Manhattan Avenue
Elmsford, NY Greenburgh, NY
Telephone – 721-8209 Telephone - 989-3617
Valerie Griffith (Contact) Norma Jean Barnes (Contact)
Greenburgh Town Hall- GTH
177 Hillside Avenue
Greenburgh, NY
Telephone 682-1574 (SBW) or 686-8187 (BCB) (Contacts)
[This event is funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. with public funds from New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency. This project was also made possible by the Arts Alive program of ArtsWestchester, with funding from the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts and the Theodore Young Community Center, the Friends of the Greenburgh Library and Greenburgh Arts and Culture Committee. All workshops are open to the public.]
Workshop Descriptions
"Exploring Poetry" with Karen Rippstein
Mondays – Sept. 12, 19, 26 - 6:00 - 8:00 pm
Greenburgh Town Hall, 1st floor
In a series of 3 writing workshops, participants will read example poems and practice writings using observation and imagery. They will have a chance to explore their own interpretations in poetry or prose in a non-judgmental setting.
Karen Rippstein is a Certified Poetry Therapist (CPT), Poet and Creative Writing Teacher. She teaches popular writing programs throughout Westchester at Westchester Community College Continuing Ed and Mainstream, the Clinton Street Senior Center in Pleasantville and Mariandale Retreat & Conference Center. Karen is the recipient of ongoing Poets and Writers, Inc. grants and is a member of the Poetry Caravan. She has been published in National Association of Poetry Therapy’s Journal of Poetry Therapy, NAPT Museletter, Letters from the Heart, Personal Journaling magazine, en(compass): The Poetry Caravan Anthology and Layers of Possibility Anthology.
****
"Mapping the Imagination/Finding Our Way in the Creative Process" with Lisa Fleck
Thursdays – Oct. 13, 20, 27 – 1:30 – 3:30 pm
Greenburgh Public Library
To consider the creative process—what it is, how to tap into it, how to follow its chaotic impulses and vision into a poem. Through a series of exercises, these workshops are intended to give beginning or advanced poets guidelines for developing their creativity and their own way of seeing—i.e., to provide participants with a window into a unique worldview that is all their own. Whether the exercises result in a good poem, or simply a stream of consciousness, it doesn’t matter. The exercises are intended as explorations in self-discovery as a first step into the process of creating poems.
Lisa Fleck is a poet, writer and researcher. She is a prior semi-finalist in the “Discovery” Poetry Contest, and a winner of the 37th annual Town of Greenburgh Poetry Contest. Her poems have been published in The Westchester Review, and she has read in many New York venues. Her chapbook, A Sea Change, was published in 2011 by Finishing Line Press. Lisa currently lives with her husband in Ossining, New York.
******
"From Page To Performance" with Golda Solomon
Thursdays – Oct. 6, 13, 20 – 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Theodore Young Community Center
Participants will be encouraged to jumpstart and expand their writing repertory and have an opportunity to use their “out-loud” reading voice and personality. Writing exercises and prompts will include photographs, a special DVD of ‘Mother Wore Boxing Trunks’ by Joan Watson, and reproductions of artwork. There will also be a sharing of favorite poems and authors. The last class on Oct 20, participants are encouraged to invite family and friends for an intimate, “From Page To Performance” in class reading. These LTS Workshops are open to beginner to advanced writers.
Golda Solomon, poet, spoken word performer, professor (Speech, Communication, Theatre Arts) was the host of Po’Jazz (Poetry in Partnership with Jazz) formerly in residence at The Cornelia Street Café, Greenwich Village, NYC. Solomon also gigs around NYC and goes on the road with a fabulous roster of jazz musicians. Her words may be found in anthologies, e-zines, journals and CD’s. Her work has appeared in The Mom Egg, Heal (Clique Calm Books), and she is currently preparing a manuscript for publication. She created “From Page To Performance” workshops for emerging poets and “ready to come out of the closet” writers and brings innovative, on-site organization specific arts programming to workplaces, schools and other organizations. She is a member of WOMENWRITE, nyc and Word of Mouth writers, bringing poetry in performance to the tri-state area. Solomon has a collection of poetry, Flatbush Cowgirl, published in 1999, for which she produced a companion CD, First Set, and a second CD of her poetry, Word Riffs, recorded with Center Search Quest and Saco Yasuma. She also co-produced the CD, Po’Jazz: Takin’ It To the Hollow. Golda is a founding member of IWJ (International Women In Jazz) and two-time awardee performing at All Nite Soul at St. Peter’s, NYC, the “jazz” church and at IWJ’s Inaugural Women In Jazz Festival. Solomon is also a proud poetry outreach mentor for City College (CUNY) and the annual CCNY Poetry Festival. Her most recent accomplishment is being invited and appointed poet-in- residence at The Blue Door Gallery, Yonkers, New York where she facilitates ArtSpeak, ekphrastic creative writing workshops. (partially funded by Poets and Writers). Presently she is honing and adding to her writing skills attending the low-residency MFA Program at Pine Manor College. You are invited to check out her website, www.jazzjaunts.com for all her activities and calendar of performances and you may contact her at gs@goldajazz.com.
*****
"The Sensations of Poetry" with Ann Koshel van Buren
Mondays – Nov. 7, 14, 21 – 2:00 – 4:00 pm
Greenburgh Town Hall
Poetry is the synthesis of sensation; it is a place where the effects of the physical and historical world around us can be diminished or magnified by calling attention to specific sights, scents, and sounds. In this workshop, we will use experiential and analytical methods to unlock the senses that are tamed and sometimes defeated by everyday life. We will re-shape our impressions—and find their best expression on the page. In our own poetry and the works of others, we’ll look at:
Poetry and visceral memory
Poetry and society
The physical impact of the poetic form
Participation in this workshop requires openness, respect, and a willingness to explore the effects of our own words and the words of others.
Ann van Buren is a writer, educator, and activist. She publishes a weekly arts column for her local newspaper in the Hudson Valley where she is part of a community of poets, painters, musicians, and performance artists. In conjunction with her creative endeavors she organizes workshops and panel discussions on renewable energy and sound food policies that sustain strong, local economies. She has an MA in English from NYU and an M.L.I.S. from the Palmer School. She has taught English, Creative Writing, and Research skills for many years. Her work with students of all ages has taken her from NYC to places throughout the US and to The Netherlands, Italy, and China.
****
"Discovering Ideas Where Words Hide" with Karen Rippstein
Wednesdays February 8, 15, 22, 24* SN - 1:30 - 3:30 pm
Greenburgh Public Library
How do we enter into what we see, experience it authentically, and transform a good idea into a great poem? In a series of 3 workshops, we’ll explore the dynamics between art, writing, and our imaginations. We’ll un-mine feelings, memories, and the essence of things before discovering the words that make our poems “speak” to us in a meaningful way. For beginning and advanced writers and all levels in between.
Karen Rippstein is a Certified Poetry Therapist (CPT), Poet and Creative Writing Teacher. She teaches popular writing programs throughout Westchester at Westchester Community College Continuing Ed and Mainstream, the Clinton Street Senior Center in Pleasantville and Mariandale Retreat & Conference Center. Karen is the recipient of ongoing Poets and Writers, Inc. grants and is a member of the Poetry Caravan. She has been published in National Association of Poetry Therapy’s Journal of Poetry Therapy, NAPT Museletter, Letters from the Heart, Personal Journaling magazine, en(compass): The Poetry Caravan Anthology and Layers of Possibility Anthology. Karen lives in Hawthorne, NY with her muse, a white mini-schnauzer pup, Lili.
****
"Every Picture Tells a Story" with Kate Gallagher
Mondays – March 5, 12, 19, 26* (SN) – 1:30 – 3:30 pm
Greenburgh Public Library
Illustration occupies a special place within the art world. Like fine art, illustration can be literal, impressionistic, or conceptual -- but it also carries the specific intention of conveying a message or telling a story. The fusion of story and image, and the interplay between them, is what makes children’s books so fascinating. In this workshop, we’ll look at children’s books as well as editorial illustrations, using both narrative and lyrical poetry to respond – in a personal, experiential way -- to what our eyes absorb. All levels welcome.
Kate Gallagher is a poet and former children’s book editor. She teaches children’s workshops at the Hudson Valley Writer’s Center, the Kids’ Short Story Connection, and in the Scarsdale and Yonkers schools. Through ArtsWestchester she runs a writing program at Hope House, a psychosocial recovery program, and has also led workshops for the developmentally disabled and for women with eating disorders. Kate’s poetry has appeared in the Westchester Review, The Sun, Let the Poets Speak, and en(compass). This is her fourth year teaching in the Brenda Connor-Bey Learning to See ™ series.
* SN – Snow Day
*****
"Sounding It Out: The Music of Poetry" with Ruth Handel
Wednesdays – April 4, 11, 18 - 1:30 – 3:30 pm
Greenburgh Public Library
The long and deep relationship between poetry and music ranges from their historical linkage in lyric and chant to the subtle musicality of free verse written today. This workshop emphasizes auditory and structural connections and offers musical selections as prompts for poetry writing. The classical and contemporary selections (Bach to Beatles) are intended as examples of tempo, tone, rhythm, repetition, variation, silences and surprises that participants may adapt in their writing or respond to as sources of reflection and emotion. Also included for discussion and reading aloud in the workshop are poems about music and those in which sound contributes to (or is independent of) meaning. Ezra Pound, one of the many modernist poets influenced by music, said, “When poetry strays too far from music, it atrophies.” Expect lively sessions of auditory pleasures that cultivate new ways of hearing.
Ruth Handel is a poet and writer who has presented her poems in many Westchester and NYC venues. As manager and member of the Poetry Caravan, she has directed intergenerational poetry writing workshops, currently teaches poetry writing to psychiatric patients, and gives poetry readings in hospitals, shelters, and senior residences. She also teaches poetry classes at the Scarsdale Adult School. Ruth has published a chapbook, Reading the White Spaces (Finishing Line Press, 2009) and has published poems and nonfiction in Controlled Burn, Let The Poets Speak, en(compass), The Jewish Women’s Literary Annual, the Westchester Review, Common Ground Review, the New York Times, and local newspapers. She is Professor Emerita, Montclair State University, where she taught literature and literacy. This is her fourth year as instructor in the Brenda Connor-Bey Learning To See ™ Legacy workshop series.
****
"Images of Emotion" with M. Doretta Cornell
Wednesdays – May 9, 16, 23 – 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Greenburgh Public Library
Imagery in poetry carries emotions subtly and more powerfully than directly naming them could. This workshop, for beginners and experienced poets, will examine the ways emotions are conveyed by images, in poems and visual images, and offer exercises to explore using or sharpening imagery in your poetry. Each session will include a short presentation and discussion, a writing exercise, and sharing and critique of your poems.
M. Doretta Cornell taught writing and literature at Pace University, Pleasantville, for many years, and poetry workshops at the Hudson Valley Writer' Center. She is a member of the Poetry Caravan. Her poetry has appeared in Earth's Daughters, Inkwell, Commonweal, and NCR, among others, and in the anthologies (en)compass and Literature 5th Edition (McGraw-Hill).
*****
"Flashing Images" with Charlotte Walsh
Tuesdays - June 5, 12, 19 – 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Greenburgh Public Library
It’s not a matter of singling out one moment, but rather of absorbing flashing images and allowing them to travel and connect with our consciousness. A moment is not static. Once you enter it, it moves on to something else.
Flashing images are mostly random and possibly chaotic. How can we achieve ordered results or do we have to? Do artists in various genres, perhaps, start with flashing images?
What we see and experience is not seen in isolation. It exists in connection with and in juxtaposition to other things and life experiences. In flashing images our mind has to grasp the connection rapidly and try to hold on to it.
How do we make tangible, something that is fleeting? Can we proceed with the idea that the finished product, at the outset, may not be known to the artist? The creation of art is often a non-judgmental response to a series of flashing images. We will experience and respond with poetry, to those images from the real world, the unreal and the surreal using examples portrayed in art, poetry, our surroundings and today’s technology.
Charlotte Walsh teaches writing and poetry at the Hudson Valley Writers' Center, the Lakeland Schools Children's Center, and the Lehman College Art Gallery. She has also participated in the Scarsdale Young Writers Conference. She is a member of Poetry Caravan and has been a facilitator for Intergenerational Poetry Workshops. Her works have appeared in Into the Teeth of the Wind, Let the Poets Speak, Poetry Motel and several anthologies.
*****
"The Problem with Nature Poetry?" with Estha Weiner
Fridays – June 8, 15, 22 – 10:30 am – 12:30 pm
Greenburgh Public Library
We may even attempt to answer the question, along with the definition of "nature," through readings from Shakespeare to Urban Nature, from John Clare to Meg Kearney, from Wordsworth to Baron Wormser, from William Matthews to Mary Oliver, and Black Nature, through reinvigorating our writing with fresh air.
Estha Weiner is co-editor and contributor to Blues For Bill: A Tribute To William Matthews (Akron Poetry Series, 2005 ), and author of The Mistress Manuscript (Book Works, 2009) and Transfiguration Begins At Home (Tiger Bark Press, 2009). In the Weather of the World is forthcoming from Ireland's Salmon Poetry in 2011. Her poems have appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines, including The New Republic and Barrow Street. Nominated for a 2008 Pushcart Prize, she was a 2005 winner of a Paterson Poetry Prize, and a 2008 Visiting Scholar at The Shakespeare Institute, Stratford, England. Estha is founding director of The Sarah Lawrence College NY Writers Nights Series, Marymount Writers Nights, and a Speaker on Shakespeare for The New York Council For The Humanities. She is a Professor in the English Dept. at City College of NY, and serves or has served on the Poetry/Writing faculties of The Frost Place, The Hudson Valley Writers Center, Stonecoast Writers Conference, Poets and Writers, Poets House, and The Writers Voice. She also serves on the Advisory Board of Slapering Hol Press, Hudson Valley Writers Center. In her previous life, Estha was an actor and worked for BBC radio.
