I’m teaching six writing workshops at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in connection to groundbreaking media arts exhibition, Bill Viola: The Moving Portrait. We will use videos, images, and installations to generate creative writing.
video still: The Raft / Bill Viola Color / Bill Viola Studio
There are two of the same workshops per session. So, you can come to all three sessions!
Session #1
Every Picture Tells a Story: Writing Workshop (Fiction, Nonfiction & Poetry)
Learn how to develop characters, settings, and scenes inspired by Bill Viola: The Moving Portrait. Bill Viola’s work is ripe for storytelling. In this cross-genre writing workshop, you will develop new writing in response to the narratives you see in Viola’s portraits. Open to writers of all levels.
Cost: FREE!
Dates: Friday, March 17, 2017, 10:30 AM – 1:00 PM OR Saturday, March 18, 2017, 10:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 800 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
Session #2
First-Person Perspective: Writing Workshop (Fiction & Nonfiction)
In conjunction with Bill Viola: The Moving Portrait, this writing workshop will focus on telling stories from the first-person perspective. Learn how to develop a strong narrative voice, dive into the emotional core of a subject, and create stories that feel real and personal. Open to writers of all levels.
Cost: FREE!
Dates: Friday, March 24, 2017, 10:30 AM – 1:00 PM OR Saturday, March 25, 2017, 10:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 800 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
Session #3
Art of the Personal Essay (Nonfiction)
Bill Viola’s work explores the spiritual and perceptual side of the human experience and the search for a deeper understanding of the world around us. In this writing workshop, you will learn how to develop new writing in response to Viola’s work by using self-reflective writing prompts that address ideas of searching, questioning, exploring, and experimenting. Open to writers of all levels.
Cost: FREE!
Dates: Fri, March 31, 2017, 10:30 AM – 1:00 PM OR Saturday, April 1, 2017, 10:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 800 G Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
About the Exhibition
Bill Viola: The Moving Portrait is the National Portrait Gallery’s first exhibition entirely devoted to media art. The exhibition offers a new interpretation of the work of the pioneering video artist as a career-long experimentation with portraiture. Viola (born 1951) has long been recognized for his groundbreaking and masterful use of video technologies, creating poetic works that explore the spiritual and perceptual side of human experience and search for a deeper understanding of the world around us.
Willona M. Sloan 