Deborah Sussman Says...

Words and Pictures: Drawing Literature from Art examines the link between art and creative writing and looks at ways to become inspired by art to begin and sustain your own writing.

Among field trips to local museums, the class will also visit the Brewery Art Colony for a unique meeting with Roland Reiss (artist and former MFA chair at Claremont Graduate University), and to tour his studio.

Well-known graphic artist Deborah Sussman recently took Ms. Spiller’s class and says about her experience: “Nancy spiller’s class provides an unusual opportunity to ‘think differently’ about the connection between visual and verbal insights. Stimulating and highly recommended.”

Details of the class are listed below.

Words and Pictures: Drawing Literature from Art
X 465.828 English 2.5 units $360

How does "just looking" become "just imagine?" How can character and plot or poignant memories be found within a picture frame? What have John Keats, John Updike, and Rick Moody seen that you missed when gallery gazing? This eight-Saturday course helps writers and artists tap into the wealth of inspiration waiting to be found in paintings, sculpture, and photography. In-class discussions, exercises, visiting artists, and field trips to local museums strengthen powers of observation and interpretation as well as spark the imagination as participants gain valuable tools for sustaining and expanding their writing practice. The course goal is to complete a first draft of a work of short fiction or personal essay, or chapter of a memoir or novel. Suitable for fiction, memoir, and essay writers of all levels, as well as visual artists interested in creative writing. Enrollment limited to 20 students. Internet access required to retrieve course materials.

Reg# V4161B
On the UCLA Campus: ROOM TO BE ANNOUNCED
¤Saturday, 10am-1pm,
January 23-March 13, 8 mtgs.

Nancy Spiller, author of Entertaining Disasters: A Novel (with Recipes); fomer staff feature writer at San Jose Mercury News and the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner, and an editor at the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. Ms. Spiller's articles and essays have appeared in such publications as Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, Arroyo Monthly, Town & Country, and Salon.com. She also is an exhibiting artist, published illustrator, and photographer.