Photographer Beowulf Sheehan teaches “Seeing You: Storytelling, Storyteller & Photography,” a virtual workshop via the Fine Arts Work Center, Monday, June 21st through Friday, June 25th, from 10 a.m. to noon. Then, from noon to 2 p.m., Nicole J. Georges teaches “Drawing a Line: Graphic Memoir,” exploring storytelling in fictional or autobiographical comic strips. Registration is $550 for each at fawc.org.
fine arts work center
Del Valle Starts Mural
Esteban del Valle has commenced painting a mural on the side of Marine Specialties in Provincetown. It is the first project commissioned by the nonprofit Provincetown Public Art Foundation. Over the next couple of weeks, del Valle — who is a former Fine Arts Work Center fellow and is represented by Albert Merola Gallery — will continue work on the mural. At press time, only the colorful geometric background had been completed. The planned scene includes anthropomorphized foxes — a nod to the litter of kits living underneath the former Old Reliable Fish House.
Stamping Ground (Mon.-Wed.)
The Fine Arts Work Center continues its virtual workshops this week. Daniel Heyman teaches “Smack and Smash Prints in Zoomland: Stencils and Rubber Stamps!” Monday, June 14th through Friday, June 18th, from 10 a.m. to noon. Use household materials to create prints without harsh chemicals or heavy presses. Also Monday through Friday, Tina Chang, Brooklyn’s poet laureate, teaches “Hybrid Beast,” a cross-disciplinary poetry intensive, from noon to 2 p.m. Registration for each is $550 at fawc.org.
Turn the Page
Yi Shu Lai teaches “Mirror Works: Inclusivity in Writing and Reading,” a four-week online course via the Fine Arts Work Center beginning Monday, June 7th. Participants will learn the importance of honoring and engaging with different cultural perspectives in their writing. Tuition is $550 at fawc.org.
Wild and Wonderful
Join the Fine Arts Work Center for “Wilder Words,” a virtual reading of recent books by 24PearlStreet’s spring faculty, on Thursday, June 3rd, at 6 p.m. Hosted by Jennifer Jean, it features Kim Addonizio, Elissa Altman, Nickole Brown, Peter Campion, and Tyler Mills. Registration is free at fawc.org.
Words Count
There are two online, synchronous writing workshops offered by the Fine Arts Work Center this week. Susanna Sonnenberg teaches “Engaging the Experience: Making Meaning in Memoir,” while Brian Turner teaches “All the World in 750 Words (or Less),” a micro-nonfiction intensive. Both are Monday, May 31st through Friday, June 4th, noon to 2 p.m. Registration is $550 for each at fawc.org.
Yeah, Write
Have an unfinished manuscript lying around? The Fine Arts Work Center has two online writing workshops running Monday, May 24th through Friday, May 28th. Alysia Abbott teaches “Writing the Family: A Memoir Workshop” from 2 to 4 p.m. Registration is $550 at fawc.org. Irina Reyn teaches “Open that Drawer! Reviving the Stalled Novel,” an asynchronous workshop. Registration is $500.
Smart as Paint
Join Bronx-based artists Firelei Báez and Derek Fordjour for a conversation about painting on Thursday, May 20th, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The event is part of the Fine Arts Work Center’s virtual “Opening to Wonder” series. Registration is $25 minimum donation at fawc.org.
Radical Art
Join David Humphrey and Tala Madani for a conversation about “making art with charged psycho-social content” on Thursday, May 13th, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. The event is part of the Fine Arts Work Center’s virtual “Opening to Wonder” series. Registration is $25 minimum donation at fawc.org.
Body Positive
Join the Fine Arts Work Center for “Phantom Bodies: The Haptic Unhinged,” a virtual talk with artists Angela Dufresne, Melissa Ragona, Andrew Woolbright, Mala Iqbal, and Joiri Minaya, on Thursday, April 22nd, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. It will address a movement in figurative painting that “rejects the Western canonical fixation of depicting flesh through paint as a vehicle of desire and the gaze.” Register with a $25 minimum donation at fawc.org.
Art Hurts
Jacolby Satterwhite, who works with video, performance, 3D animation, and fibers, discusses his art in “We Are in Hell When We Hurt Each Other,” part of “Opening to Wonder” via the Fine Arts Work Center, on Thursday, April 15th, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Registration is $25 minimum donation at fawc.org.
Slick and Smick
Join artists Duane Slick and Martin Smick for “My Teacher Is a Lizard,” a virtual talk via the Fine Arts Work Center on Thursday, April 8th, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Slick and Smick are recent recipients of an Andrew W. Mellon Foundation grant. Their collaborative project concerns decolonializing museum collections of Native American culture. Registration is $25 minimum donation at fawc.org.
Sharon Polli Named FAWC Executive Director
The board of trustees of the Fine Arts Work Center announced last week that Sharon Polli has been appointed the organization’s new executive director, effective May 10th. Polli, who currently serves as executive vice president of BRIC, in Brooklyn, N.Y., was chosen through a nationwide search led by Arts Consulting Group. She replaces Richard MacMillan, who announced he was stepping down last August, and Margaret Murphy, who became interim executive director on March 1.
“Nearly two decades ago, I first explored the thriving Provincetown artistic community and was awestruck by its vibrancy,” said Polli in a press release. “I believe in the vital role that the Fine Arts Work Center plays in supporting emerging talent in the arts and literature, and I am extremely honored to join the outstanding team at FAWC.”
At BRIC, Polli had extensive fundraising experience, and she previously worked at Groundswell, CreateNYC, and Downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance. She is currently co-chair of the board of directors of Theatre of the Oppressed NYC.
Virtual Spring Workshops at FAWC
Registration is open for 24PearlStreet, the online workshop channel of the Fine Arts Work Center. Classes will be asynchronous (recorded), asynchronous with live elements, or live, and will begin as early as April 12th. Tuition runs from $500 to $650.
Among the offerings is “Ostranenie: Poetry as a Practice of Awareness,” with Nickole Brown, April 19th to April 23rd. The course title is a Russian term, used in literature, meaning “defamiliarization.” There is also “Water, Fire, Earth, and Air,” with Fred Marchant, April 26th to May 21st. Participants will read, discuss, and write poetry related to the four elements.
Joanne Dugan is teaching “Writing Pictures: an Exploration of Text and Image,” also April 26th to May 21st, described as an experimental workshop in which students “combine text and photographs to tell their stories in a new way.” Elissa Altman is teaching “Intimacy, Permission, and the Heart of the Story,” May 10 to June 4, which will explore what differentiates a great memoir from an “information dump.”
Walton Ford, ‘In the Studio’
Join the Fine Arts Work Center for “In the Studio with Walton Ford” next Thursday, March 25th, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at fawc.org. The event is part of the continuing virtual “Opening to Wonder: Creative Conversations on the Visual Arts” series.
The 19th-century artists John James Audubon and J.J. Grandville are the inspiration for Ford’s natural history watercolors and limited-edition prints. A $25 minimum donation is requested for registration.
