The Word Barn serves as a home and cultivation point for a variety of arts and community gatherings.
Below are a few of the current offerings you can find in this space.
Fragments of a Great Mystery: A Writing Workshop with Mercy Carbonell & Sarah Anderson
July 8, 15, 22, 29
This Summer Writing Workshop, led by Sarah Anderson & Mercy Carbonell, provides a chance to explore the translational and horological power of writing from saved artifacts, preserved objects, the inherited stuff of our lives. Through Poetry, Lyric Reflection, Flash Fiction and the interweaving of Photography, we will unravel what the poet, Philip Levine, called “the fragments of a great mystery.” We will generate writing through prompts of our collected matter through time: a grandmother’s silver thimble; a father’s leather baseball mitt; a scarf worn during the Allied Invasion in Africa; a daughter’s watercolor painting of a dragon in second grade; a friend’s tiny box of glitter. We may offer short readings such as Meg Day, Carolyn Forsche, Erica Plouffe-Lazure, Robert Hass. This workshop is designed for those who “hold everything dear” (John Berger) and want to capture in language the memory, imagination, story, essence of the tactile, physical and tangible. Each Monday evening, we will have the opportunity to experiment with new forms of writing as well as provide each other with feedback. The Workshop Series will culminate in an optional Word Barn reading.
6-8:30 pm
SPACE IS LIMITED.
A Poetry Workshop with Lee Ann Dalton & Matt W. Miller
July 9, 16, 23, 30
This summer writing workshop, led by Matt Miller and Lee Ann Dalton, we will look closely at line, sentence, language, metaphor and image in an attempt to revise and reshape our poems into stronger versions of themselves. Whether you are working in strict poetic form or testing the boundaries of what a poem can be, our goal will be to work collaboratively and be supportive while at the same time honoring the voice and vision of the individual. Looking at our poems in progress, we will offer suggestions for revisions and use our discussions to perhaps generate new work. As well, we will look at outside poems for models of craft and sources of inspiration. And along the way we will be sure to have a good time.
6-8:30 pm
SPACE IS LIMITED.
Fermentation Workshop
April 7
10am – Noon – SOLD OUT
Come ferment with us!
$30 per person
Reserve a Spot
Time to Write
Ongoing, Thursday Evenings, 7-9pm
An ongoing writing workshop led by co-owner of The Word Barn and host of The Silo Series, Sarah Anderson (and occasional guest writers).
Come exchange work with writers; give and receive feedback; use a writing prompt to get your creative juices flowing and more.
Thursday, September 19
Thursday, October 17
7-9 pm
Register here.
Ongoing Bi-Weekly Studio Painting Classes
Christopher Volpe
Evening oil painting group classes, suitable for beginners and adventurous painters alike.
Demos, instruction, refreshments, and fertile ground for skill-building and self expression.
All you need to bring is a basic painting kit (paints, brushes, mineral spirits, canvas and easel), your favorite bottle of wine (if so inclined), and your sense of adventure, as each week a new game plan is tried out for the painting du jour.
Christopher Volpe is an oil painter creating moody, poetic landscapes in an expressive, tonalist style. Though rooted in landscape, his atmospheric paintings combine the traditional and the contemporary to express intangible feelings and ideas. Largely self-taught, Volpe has quickly established himself as an artist with uncommon vision and truly evocative style.
Learn more about Christopher Volpe’s workshops, about Christopher Volpe, or visit his website.