“Many poets have turned to visual art for inspiration,” says instructor Brian Tierney. “Writing poems that speak to or about paintings we love, or sculptures that captivate us, or photos that haunt us, can crack open our imagination and stretch our voice.”
During this three-week class, you’ll experience a stimulating encounter with visual art through prompted writing exercises. Looking at paintings and photographs together, we’ll enter a dialogue, even a vibrant exchange, with another artistic medium. The class will function as a creative laboratory, where you’ll try out new techniques, such as creating poetic narratives on the “action” of a painting or capturing the personal associations a photograph fires off. Through these and other exciting experiments, you’ll generate fresh lines and poetic content. As a group, we’ll also read poets such as Nicole Sealey, Adam Zagajewski, and Natasha Tretheway to learn how other writers have responded to visual art, often in fascinating and unexpected ways.
“In creative dry spells, visual art can break us out of old writing habits and shock us into fresh ways of seeing,” Brian says. “By the end of three weeks, you will have generated new poetry sourced in what happens when one vibrant imagination encounters another.”
About The Writing Salon's In-Person Classes
Before your class meets, you'll receive an email from The Writing Salon with more information about the class. If you have any questions about in-person learning, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at hello@writingsalons.com.
Brian Tierney is the author of Rise and Float, winner of the 20-2021 Jake Adam York Prize (Milkweed, 2022). His poetry and prose have appeared in such journals as Paris Review, Kenyon Review, AGNI, New England Review, The Adroit Journal, and others. A former Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, and a graduate of the Bennington College MFA Writing Seminars, he was named among Narrative Magazine’s 2013 “30 Below 30” emerging writers, and is winner of the 2018 George Bogin Memorial Award from The Poetry Society of America. Raised in Philadelphia, he lives in Oakland, Ca., where he teaches poetry at The Writing Salon.
- Tuesday, May 14, 6:30pm-9:00pm
- Tuesday, May 21, 6:30pm-9:00pm
- Tuesday, May 28, 6:30pm-9:00pm
- This is an enthusiastic endorsement for Brian - I'm a long time educator so I know what to look for. Brian is well planned, knowledgeable and reflective. He's sensitive to the class and to individual needs as well as leading us to a wider appreciation of poetry and helping us to feel our way to what 'good' poetry means. He is careful not to get in the way of our individual creative processes nor to be too prescriptive. I recommend him without reservation.
I am enjoying Brian's style and content very much, and feel I am growing because of his input and the way he draws the other students out to share their perceptions and their experiences. He seems very serious, well prepared, and eager to share his knowledge and expertise.