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Creative Process Consultations

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PHILOSOPHY and DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES

I like to have conversations with people about their art.

I am a visual artist and writer, who has taught, edited, curated, and conversed with other artists for a number of decades. As a young woman, I studied at the New York Feminist Art Institute in New York City, and later completed my M.A. in “The Creative Process in the Arts” at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA.

Along the way I realized that “craft” is multi-dimensional. It involves the mastery of techniques, tools, and materials unique to each discipline, but more fundamentally, it involves the development of skills and attitudes that are universal to all artistic endeavors: cultivating receptivity and openness, taking a non-judging stance, trusting one’s pre-existing originality.

I emphasize the latter but do not neglect the former.

I work with both artists and writers, beginning and experienced, who want to deepen their relationship to their own work and creative process. I visit artists’ studios for in-depth conversation and looking at work, and correspond with writers about their individual poems and manuscripts and other writerly concerns.

Below are a list of the structures I’ve devised for accomplishing this. Please contact me with questions and to find out about fees.

In addition to my education described above, I’ve had an active professional life in the visual arts and writing. Explore this website (art and writing) for examples of my work in both areas.

DESCRIPTION OF SERVICES

Studio Visits: I visit artists’ studios for shared looking and in-depth conversation about finished work and work in progress. Within local area. First session 1.5 hours; one hour thereafter.

Writers’ conversations: In-depth conversation about finished work, work-in-progress, and writerly concerns, both general and specific to the individual. By phone or in person, one hour. This works best after I become familiar with your work through one of the means described below:

Manuscript Reviews: I work by mail and email with poets and, occasionally, nonfiction writers. I provide thoughtful commentary on groups of poems, essays, and manuscripts by writers at all stages of experience. The turnaround time is two weeks for groups of poems and one month for manuscripts, unless otherwise agreed to.
A. 4 pages: with margin notes and written assessment
B. 8 pages: with margin notes and written assessment
C. Full manuscript review: for those who want a thoughtful, in-depth response to their collections. Reviews include written commentary on the collection as a whole, and margin notes on individual poems.

Writing or Art Tutorials: Three-month long jointly-designed writing or art engagements, including email exchange and conversation.

Groups: Meet at my home in Pittsfield, MA, to share work, try new things, talk about creative process issues. New groups for writers, artists, or both will be posted here, or contact me.

Talks: I give presentations on creative process, art as practice, and similar topics related to creativity.

Please contact me about fees, and with any questions.

Read testimonials here.