Art Workshop - Perception & Possibility Through Writing

What shapes who you are and what you notice? What values and influences are—or do you wish were—embedded in your writing? What questions and tensions do you want to explore, for an audience or for yourself? Through guided reflection as well as open-ended exercises, we will zoom in and zoom out, to examine our own perception and experiences (and those of our characters) and how seemingly simple details might connect to larger structures and histories. Activities may focus on description, point of view, setting, texture, layering, and scale, with particular attention to how we frame and re-frame, make and break patterns, and probe interconnections and causality. This workshop will center on writing, while drawing upon concepts and tools from various creative forms; however, no previous writing experience is required.

MARYA SPONT-LEMUS is a Chicago-based writer, interdisciplinary artist, and educator. Among other endeavors, she writes short fiction and personal essays for print, performance, and exhibition; interviews literary artists; and continues to revise a draft of her first novel. Across her work, she strives to enable a more empathetic and just society.