Learning to See ™ - The Brenda Connor-Bey Legacy Workshop Series

The Brenda Connor-Bey Learning to See™ Legacy Workshop Series focuses on ekphrastic creative writing and explorations of other art forms and other ways to "see" in each of the three-session workshops. Partially funded by P&W, ArtsWestchester, The Theodore Young Community Center, the Friends of the Greenburgh Library and Greenburgh Arts and Culture Committee, workshops are open to the public.

Learning to See™ - Exploring Poetry

Karen Rippstein
Mondays – Sept. 12, 19, 26, 2011-6:00-8:00 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.

Learning to See™ - Mapping the Imagination/Finding Our Way in the Creative Process
Lisa Fleck
Thursdays – Oct. 13, 20, 27, 2011
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.

Learning to See™ - Page To Performance
Golda Solomon
Thursdays–Oct. 6, 13, 20, 2011
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.

Learning to See™ - The Sensations of Poetry
Ann Koshel van Buren
Mondays–Nov. 7, 14, 21, 2011 – 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.

Learning to See™ - Discovering Ideas Where Words Hide
Karen Rippstein
Wednesdays-February 8, 15, 22, 24* (SN), 2012
1:30 - 3:30 pm

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.

Learning to See™ - Every Picture Tells a Story

Kate Gallagher
Tuesdays–March 5, 12, 19 26* (SN), 2012
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.

Learning to See™ - Sounding It Out: The Music of Poetry
Ruth Handel
Wednesdays-April 4, 11, 18, 2012
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.

Learning to See™ - Images of Emotion
M. Doretta Cornell
Wednesdays-May 9, 16, 23, 2012
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.

Learning to See™ - Flashing Images
Charlotte Walsh
Wednesdays-June 5, 12, 19, 2012
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.

Learning to See™ - The Problem with Nature Poetry?
Estha Weiner
Fridays – June 8, 15, 22, 2011
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.

Instructor Biographies

Location and Contacts

Greenburgh Public Library
300 Tarrytown Road
Elmsford, NY
Telephone-721-8209, Valerie Griffith (Contact)

Theodore Young Community Center
32 Manhattan Avenue
Greenburgh, NY
Telephone-989-3617, Norma Jean Barnes (Contact)

Greenburgh Town Hall
177 Hillside Avenue
Greenburgh, NY
Telephone 682-1574 (SBW) or 686-8187 (BCB) (Contacts)