Collage by Patrice Vecchione
WORKSHOP DETAILS:
Date: Saturday April 23, 2022
Ages + Times
Children’s Workshop for ages 8-12: 10-11:30am PSTLocation: In person at NUMU
Cost*: $20, Registration Info to Come
Materials: Included
*This workshop is for children only, and parents are asked to drop-off and pick-up children at NUMU. We invite parents to explore the museum while the kids get creative!
Questions? email programs@numulosgatos.org
We are delighted to be holding an Earth Day workshop on Saturday April 23 inspired by Jane Olin’s photographs in her NUMU exhibition In the Company of Trees for children ages 8-12. This is a special opportunity to learn more about the incredible complexity of trees and reflect on our relationship to nature through creative expression. In these workshops participants will work with poet Patrice Vecchione to craft their own poems and collages inspired by Jane’s photos. Spots are limited in light of our Health and Safety protocols.
Did you miss this program? Not to worry! Click the link below to get creative at home!
Patrice Vecchione’s book, My Shouting, Shattered, Whispering Voice: A Guide to Writing Poetry & Speaking Your Truth, was published just as the pandemic began. Purchase her book here. Marcelo Hernandez Castillo said the book “gives us endless ways to access our creative selves.” Ink Knows No Borders: Poems of the Immigrant & Refugee Experience, her 2019 anthology, received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews who called it “a necessary series of bruises and balms that will comfort those who have endured, uplift those who continue to struggle, and educate others.” Her recent poem, “Covered in Sugar Thrown Carelessly,”received an honorable mention by the dance company Cid Pearlman Performance for (home)Body. And her essay, "The Interview that Adrienne Rich Never Wanted Published," appeared in Lit Hub in 2020.
A columnist for the Monterey Herald, Patrice's monthly column "A Walk About Town" invites readers into local nature. Patrice leads writing workshops for adults and children through her program The Heart of the Word. She’s led writing workshop for young people in elementary, middle and high schools for many years. Her essay, “These Pandemic Grays” appeared in the winter issue of Catamaran Literary Reader. The collage by the same name is featured in the juried art exhibit of the Arts Council of Monterey, “Art in the Time of COVID-19,” on display through spring 2022 at the Monterey Health Department in Salinas, CA.
Testimonials
“She taught us to listen to our hearts.”
—Margaret, age 6
“The thing I like about writing poems is the feeling and the flying of pencils and getting everything on paper.”
—Nathan Rivera, age 11
“Her very presence releases something for us and gives us permission for expression.”
—9th grade English teacher
The Acorn
In this world
there is only one land.
And in that land
there is only one village.
And in that village
there is only one forest.
And in that forest
there is only one oak tree.
And on that oak tree
there is only one acorn.
Now if you find the world
and the land
and the village
and the forest
and the oak tree
and if you crack the acorn
you will find
my heart and soul.
-Alisa Fowler, age 11
If My Heart Were That
If my heart were the wind
it would blow on a tree,
and if my heart were the tree,
it would drop its leaves
and if my heart were a leaf
it would fall to the ground,
and if my heart were that ground,
it would have a dog run on it,
and if my heart were the dog,
it would play with a boy.
My heart is a boy!
Terran Schoell, age 11
Jane Olin Photograph, Intimate Conversation 31 Aurora Luna
“Jane Olin walks regularly among the trees. Since childhood, when the nearby forest was her sanctuary and the trees her earliest companions, she has found deep comfort in their presence. It seems inevitable then, that trees would become a powerful muse for her photographic practice. With deforestation and the climate crisis now threatening their survival, bringing attention to trees felt even more imperative. So her new series – the evocatively titled Intimate Conversation – began to take shape. Her photographs reveal the trees as she sees and experiences them — their stately wildness, their expressive diversity, and especially the atmospheric mystery of this presence. She aims to capture something of their essence and transmit its spirit to the viewer.
While Olin was engaged with her project, groundbreaking information challenging many long-held assumptions about trees has filtered into the public sphere. We have learned that trees are not simply solitary entities competing for limited resources. Instead, it appears they cooperate across species through underground fungal networks that thread the forest floor. Interdependent relationships enable them to transfer nutrients for the mutual benefit of both tree and fungus, and indicate a kind of knowing intelligence not previously understood or even suspected. This revelatory information reaffirmed what Olin has always intuitively felt, and further inspires her work. In this era of climate crisis In the Company of Trees seems more relevant than ever.”
-Text from Jane Olin’s Exhibition Brochure for In the Company of Trees
ACCESSIBILITY
NUMU strives to be an accessible organization by accommodating the needs of all our constituents. The museum's building is ADA compliant. Should you have any accessibility concerns please email us prior to your visit.
Email: accessibility@numulosgatos.org
NUMU's mission is to make programming accessible to all. Donations directly support the museum’s exhibitions and educational programs. Please contribute whatever you are able.
We invite you to come visit our exhibition Jane Olin: In the Company of Trees, on view until June 5, 2022, guest curated by Helaine Glick. Jane Olin’s photograph’s of trees convey an Intimate Conversation between artist and nature, and amplifies new research that reveals previously unknown information about tree’s complex social structures and ecological relationships. In celebration of Earth Day, we hosted a Family Art Day: Earth Day Poetry + Collage Workshop with Patrice Vecchione. We invite you to create poems and collages at home or at NUMU at our collage corner in our downstairs Lounge, inspired by Jane’s photographs and the nature around you in your every day life. Read below for some guiding reflection questions, tips for writing poetry and a step by step guide to collage. We hope you get inspired by the beautiful poems and collages created by the participants at NUMU on April 23 and Patrice Vecchione! Share what you make with us by tagging us on Instagram @newmuseumlosgatos.