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.
Fermentation Workshop
April 7, 2018
10am – Noon – SOLD OUT
Come ferment with us!
$30 per person
Reserve a Spot
Eat It Up: Food Talks with Evan Mallett
May 31, 2018
6pm – 8pm
Whether you are a foodie, aspiring cook, or just love good food, this is for you. Join us as featured chef, Evan Mallett, spends the evening discussing the basis of great cooking, his creative process, a recipe demonstration from his new book, Black Trumpet: A Chef’s Journey Through Eight New England Seasons, and a tasting for all audience members. Evan has even hinted about singing a song…
Chef Mallett needs little introduction in these parts with his restaurant, Black Trumpet, becoming nationally famous as a model for local food sourcing and community involvement. Evan is a four-time James Beard Award semi-finalist, and is actively involved and sits on the boards of Chef’s Collaborative, Slow Food Seacoast, and the Heirloom Harvest Project. As if that wasn’t enough to fill his plate, Evan is also the chef and owner of Ondine Oyster + Wine Bar in Belfast, Maine, and co-owner of Stock + Spice, the cutest little spice shop on planet Earth.
From deep winter’s comfort dishes to the first run of maple syrup during Mud Season; from the first flush of greens in early spring to the embarrassment of high summer’s bounty and fall’s final harvest, Evan’s book offers more than 250 innovative recipes that reflect the constantly changing seasons, and celebrate the unique flavors and traditions of fished, farmed, and foraged foods – all complimented by beautiful photography by Exeter’s own Enna Grazier.
From Photography to Ink to Photography to Ink to ~
July 9, 16, 23 & 30, 2018
This summer writing workshop, led by Sarah Anderson & Mercy Carbonell, is a chance to explore the translational power of writing from photographs into memory & imagination through Poetry, Lyric Reflection & Flash Fiction. We will generate writing through prompts of photographs from Antiquity to Instagram to a postcard found in an old drawer. We may offer readings such as Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others. Each Monday, we will have writing workshops in various forms. This workshop is designed for those who love to capture a moment still in a photograph & then find its motion again in poetry & prose. This Workshop Series will culminate in an optional Word Barn reading.
Register (Limit 10)
Advanced Poetry Workshop with Matt Miller
July 10, 17, 24 & 31, 2018
This workshop is for poets who already have work in progress and are looking to work with fellow poets in a collaborative way to prepare their work for publication. Formal elements will be discussed like line, syntax, diction, image, and even rhyme and meter as a means to work to improve poems. Reading other poems as models, major revision techniques will be considered, diving into some in-class generative writing, and wondering if a poem can ever really be “done”. This workshop will include publication and submission process discussion, and participants should come with generous spirits and a willingness to work.
Register (Limit 8)
Time to Write
1st & 3rd Thursdays, 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.
1st & 3rd Thursday of every month, The Word Barn
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.