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

Learning to See™-The Hearing Eye, the Seeing Ear
Ruth Handel
Three Thursdays– Sept. 2, 16, 30, 2010–10:30 AM - 12:30 PM

According to Kandinsky, music is the most abstract of the arts in its expression of the artist’s inner “soul,” followed by visual art, with words a poor third in expressing deep meaning. Taking off from the painter’s provocative statement, this workshop series experiments with all three art forms and, in the process, urges our ears and eyes to perceive in new ways. The workshops present music together with poetry and painting and encourage participants to perceive resemblances, hearing color and form in music, seeing tone and rhythm in painting and poetry, and to search for their own words in response. Other elements common to all three arts, such as tempo, repetition, variation, line, movement, and development, as well as poetry’s historical alliance with music are included. Both classical and contemporary music excerpts will be played. This is a workshop in which to expect the unexpected.

Greenburgh Public Library
300 Tarrytown Road
Elmsford, NY
Tel: 914-721-8209
Greenburgh Library

Learning to See™ - All Creatures Great and Small
Amelia B. Winkler
Three Thursdays–Oct. 14, 21 28, 2010, 1:30-3:30 pm

The history of animals in art is an ancient and venerable one. From the caves of Lescaux to Hicks’ Peaceable Kingdom. From the cows of Dutch 17th century landscapes to Audubon’s birds. Come explore our furry, finny, feathered friends in verse – your own and others’.

Greenburgh Public Library
300 Tarrytown Road
Elmsford, NY
Tel: 914-721-8209
Greenburgh Library

Learning to See™-Mapping the Imagination: Finding Our Way in the Creative Process
Lisa Fleck
Three Tuesdays-Nov. 2, 9, 16 , 2010, 12 noon – 1:30 pm

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.

Theodore Young Community Center
32 Manhattan Avenue
Greenburgh, NY
Tel: 914-989-3617

Learning to See™-To Look At Anything, You Must Be The Thing You See
Karen Rippstein
Three Wednesdays – Feb. 9, 16, 23 (25 snow date) 2011–1:30 – 3:30 pm

In a series of 3 workshops, we’ll enter the space between words and images, mixing art with creative energy. As we experiment with writing sestina, haibun and fairy tales, we’ll explore our unique perceptions, feelings and visions in a stimulating and productive environment. For beginning and advanced writers and all levels in between.

Greenburgh Public Library
200 Tarrytown Road
Elmsford, NY
Tel:914-721-8209
Greenburgh Library

Learning to See™-From Page to Performance
Golda Solomon
Three Wednesdays-March 2, 9, 16, 2011 - 6:30 – 8:30pm

A communications perspective combined with traditional and non-traditional approaches will facilitate and enhance your discovery of yourself as writer/poet/speaker/performer. Your speaking voice is integral to the writing process. These workshops will expand your writing repertory and explore “finding and utilizing your ‘platform’ voice” as you participate. Learning to see also involves strengthening your observational and listening skills. Emerging writer/poets as well as published poets are welcome. Participants are encouraged to bring some original writing/poems or poem written by a favorite author (1 page in length) AND a “found object” to be used as a writing prompt.

Theodore Young Community Center
32 Manhattan Avenue
Greenburgh, NY
Tel: 914-989-3617

Learning to See™ - Painter's Tongue, Writer's Eye
Kate Gallagher
Three Mondays–March 7, 14, 21, 2011 – 1:30 – 3:30 pm

By bringing words into the world of visual art, we will discover new ways of seeing, not only with our eyes but with all of our senses. How would Monet's garden taste? How would Picasso have arranged words on a page? Rather than writing about art, we will be writing art, letting our words become paint, color, texture, and light.

Greenburgh Public Library
200 Tarrytown Road
Elmsford, NY
Tel:914-721-8209
Greenburgh Library

Learning to See™ -Fleeting Images
Charlotte Walsh
Three Mondays–May 9, 16, 23, 2011 - 1:30-3:30 pm

Alan Ginsberg said Notice what you notice. Images are constantly flashing by us, arousing our senses and thoughts. How much do we absorb in a short period of time? Do these images call up memories, or do they represent new experiences? Can we capture and hold on to them by transforming them into poems?

Greenburgh Public Library
200 Tarrytown Road
Elmsford, NY
Tel:914-721-8209
Greenburgh Library

Learning to See™ -Images of Emotion
M. Doretta Cornell
Three Wednesdays–April 20, 27, May 4, 2011- 6:30–8:30 PM

In poetry, imagery can convey emotions more subtly and powerfully than directly naming them. Photographs also carry and convey emotions. In this workshop, we will consider how photo artists and poets have expressed their emotions and experiment with various ways of “capturing the moment” of our emotions in words. Beginners and experienced poets are welcome. We will examine the ways emotions are conveyed by images, in poems and visual images, and try some exercises to explore using and sharpening images in your poetry. Each session will include a short presentation and discussion, a writing exercise, and sharing and critique of your poems.

Greenburgh Public Library
200 Tarrytown Road
Elmsford, NY
Tel:914-721-8209
Greenburgh Library

Learning to See™ -To See Hear, Smell, Touch, and Taste
Estha Weiner
Three Fridays–June 3, 10, 17, 2011 - 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Because language is physical, this poetry workshop asks for all your senses, all through the writing process, to the poem's fruition ( and capacity to ripen!). To assist and seduce us, readings from Shakespeare, Dickinson, and Hopkins will offer their own physicality. ( Your dramatic monologs/poems also welcome.) We might even make a visit to a sensuous location... Bring your five senses, your imagination, and let's see/hear,smell,touch, taste what happens.

Greenburgh Public Library
200 Tarrytown Road
Elmsford, NY
Tel:914-721-8209
Greenburgh Library

* These events were funded in part by Poets & Writers, Inc. with public funds from The New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency and the Arts & Culture Committee for the Town of Greenburgh.

Past Event

Honoree of The Hudson Valley Writers' Center - 20th Anniversary Celebration
Sleepy Hollow Country Club

Click here for photos from this exciting event!