Artists' Workshops inspire Shreveport writers

Saturday, January 19, the Trapped Truth Society event committee sponsored two free, half-day workshops for artists. Here, moderator Neil Ellis Orts of Houston, is seen, second from left, with participants, from left, Teresa Mormino, Liz Chrysler, and Jim McLain.

After the morning session, many of the participants braved the winter chill to walk two and a half blocks from Shreve Memorial Library to Blind Tiger for wonderful hot food and conversation. Michael Parker of West Edge Books, seen at right with Teresa Mormino and Neil Orts, dropped in to visit.





Susan Caldwell and Marlon Hite, below left, were among the writers who produced interesting, short first draft writing in the stimulating writers' gathering and in response to the moderator's prompts.


At breaks in the mornings activities, the writers produced several "exquisite corpses," a surrealist party game.
Joanna Ballard, in hat, and her mother Martha both participated.




Pam Viviano reads another "exquisite corpse" at left.








A highlight of the afternoon session was analyzing photo collections brought in by participants for clues to individual creative style and preference. Neil encouraged the artists to be aware of this personal focus and to use it as a tool when writing or creating other art. Among other things, an artist might break a deadlock in a creative project by focusing on the personal style more closely, or, conversely, by consciously working against the usual style. Another afternoon activity dealt with stage presence for performers. The session ended with a playful group activity combining visual art, writing and performance.



Trapped Truth Society event committee, including Laura Flett and Pam Raintree, left to right, is pleased to report participants in the workshops donated LOTS of washcloths, several bath towels and tote bags, a blanket and $30 for Hope House outreach to Shreveport's homeless population. The money and items were delivered to Centerpoint Services, the umbrella agency over Hope House, on January 22nd. Forgot the camera and the cell phone didn't deal well with the backlighting, but here is Becky Haigler, left, of the Trapped Truth Society event committee, with Shirley Holder and director Terry Brock of Centerpoint/Hope House with some of the donated tote bags. Thanks, Shreveport artists!

free fun day for artists, writers, musicians!

The Trapped Truth event committee is excited to offer Shreveport writers, artists and musicians a day of stimulating fun and synergy (one of our favorite words!) Saturday, January 19, in the Eaves community room of the downtown library, Houston publisher, writer and dancer Neil Ellis Orts of neoNuma Arts Publishing will moderate two half-day workshops for the Shreveport arts community, under the sponsorship of the Trapped Truth Society event committee.

Admission to the workshops is free, but Trapped Truth is asking participants to bring items to donate to Hope House, a local resource for the homeless. Hope House needs new towels, washcloths, and blankets, and gently-used backpacks and small duffles.


At right is our workshop moderator, Neil Orts, at the 2006 release party for the neoNuma Arts anthology titled Able to....

Our morning workshop, 9:30 to 12:30, will target writers of all genres. Neil promises to help you fill your journal Saturday morning with enough exercises, wordplay, and prompts to keep you writing for months. We hope most participants in the morning workshop will plan to have lunch together at Shreveport's iconic Blind Tiger, just a few blocks from the library, to share some of your work from the morning session.

The afternoon workshop, also in the Eaves room of the library, 2:30-5:30, is titled "Creative Crosstraining." Neil decribes it thus: "this cross-disciplinary workshop invites artists of any medium to play in other artists sand boxes! Writers can draw, dancers can write, and musicians can dance! Wear comfortable clothes, bring drawing and writing materials, and be prepared to play for three hours!"

An important element of the afternoon session requires some preparation before the day of the workshop. Neil's instructions: "Buy a disposable camera and over the course of 24 hours, take pictures without thinking, just shoot whatever catches your eye. No posed or arranged photos, and as few people as possible—inanimate objects work best. Bring the developed photos to the workshop. Digital camera instructions: As above, take about 24 pictures over a 24 hour period of whatever catches your eye. Print them out and trim to a size similar to a snapshot size (for tabletop space considerations)."

"The photos are not in any way destroyed in this exercise, but it's really best to just take the 12 or 18 pictures (whatever comes on a roll with those throwaway cameras). The exercise is to see what catches your eye in a very short time (24 hours) without thinking about it, not to go through your archives and pick your favorite photographs. It's also not about "Art," exactly, which is also why using a cheap camera helps---it's hard to get all artsy when you're working with a piece of plastic. It's also not about thinking, really. The less thought, the better, actually. So tell people to stop thinking about it and just do it. :) (Really, the point is reacting. What catches your eye, what makes you react enough to say, "Oh, cool!" and snap a picture?)"

Again, the workshops are free and open to all, though we are asking for donations to Hope House. No pre-registration is required, but you may call Becky Haigler at 834-5854 if you have questions. Writing workshop 9:30-12:30; Lunch and sharing of morning's work 12:30-2:30 at Blind Tiger; Creative Crosstraining 2:30-5:30.