Cancelled
Please check back for future SBWC workshops with Christian McEwen
SEVEN BRIDGE WRITERS' COLLABORATIVE PRESENTS
in partnership with the Worcester Art Museum
Saturday, May 13, 2017
10:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Worcester Art Museum
55 Salisbury Street, Worcester Massachusetts
Workshop Fee: $40.00 Members; $45.00 Non-members
TO REGISTER:
Christian McEwen – The Art of Looking
The nineteenth century artist John Ruskin encouraged all his students to draw, even if they weren’t especially good at it. “The greatest thing a human being ever does in this world is to SEE something, and tell what [they] saw in a plain way.” For most of us, such clarity of focus has become increasingly rare. There is so much to see, and it passes by so fast, on the tiny screens of our digital cameras and the larger ones of our personal computers, on TVs and videos and flashing billboards, that simply looking has become a luxury. This Saturday morning workshop will give you time to do just that–exploring the glories of the Worcester Art Museum at our own slow pace, writing, sketching, and making notes–and then gathering to share what we’ve discovered.
Christian McEwen is a writer and workshop leader who currently lives in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. She has edited four anthologies, including Jo’s Girls: Tomboy Tales of High Adventure (Beacon Press, 1997), and The Alphabet of the Trees: A Guide to Nature Writing (Teachers & Writers, 2000). Her book, World Enough & Time: On Creativity and Slowing Down (Bauhan Publishing, 2011), is now in its sixth printing, and also exists in an audio format (read, in its entirety, by Christian herself). Last fall, it gave rise to a little book of slow quotes, called The Tortoise Diaries (Bauhan Publishing, 2014).
Christian has written for the Nation and The Village Voice, as well as for numerous other journals, including The Edinburgh Review of Books and the Shambhala Sun. In 2004, she helped produce the video documentary, Tomboys! Her play, Legal Tender: Women & the Secret Life of Money, was first performed in Northampton, MA in March 2014, and enjoyed four sold-out performances. Her most recent book is Sparks from the Anvil: The Smith College Poetry Interviews (Bauhan Publishing, 2015).
Christian has also written a play, LEGAL TENDER, based on personal interviews with more than 50 women. It is intended as a creative catalyst, modeling courage and honesty for its listening audience, both through the play itself, and through a linked project known as the MONEY STORIES workshops. Together they raise awareness about women and money, trigger public conversations on the subject, and create opportunities for inspiration and empowerment. Her thesis here is a very simple one: stories give rise to other stories, courage and clarity inspire more of the same. It is this ease, this confidence, this ability to shape and articulate our own money stories, that Christian would like to pass on to participants in her workshops, and to the community at large.
