Thursday, 7-9 pm: 10 sessions begin February 12

In this class we’ll be looking at writings – talks, interviews, essays – by visual artists (mostly painters) in order to take some of their methods of composition and convert them into ways to start writing poems. We’ll also be working out a space in which we write parallel to certain works of art. That is, we will work alongside and out of what we experience by seeing – not towards or into what we see (no ekphrasis/no illustrative writing). We’ll also read a few things by writers who incorporate images into their work and/or collaborate with visual artists in the less than usual ways. Open to beginners and pros alike. Be prepared to expand your diction. On the table: Agnes Martin, Willem de Kooning, Amy Sillman, Edgar Arceneaux, Joan Mitchell, Kara Walker, Philip Guston, John Yau, Claudia Rankine, Robert Rauschenberg, Alice Notley, Roberto Tejada, Douglas Kearney, Donna Nelson, Trevor Winkfield, and various other detours.

Anselm Berrigan’s recent books include Pregrets (Vagabond Books), Loading, a collaborative book with painter Jonathan Allen (Brooklyn Arts Press), Notes from Irrelevance (Wave), and Primitive State (forthcoming from Edge). He is poetry editor for The Brooklyn Rail, and a former Artistic Director of The Poetry Project. He led a workshop for the Poetry Project on long poems in the fall of 2009, and otherwise teaches when the gig is accurate.

Location: Abrons Art Center, 466 Grand Street, New York, NY 10002

Dates: 2/12, 2/26, 3/5, 3/12, 3/19, 3/26, 4/2, 4/9, 4/16, and 4/23

Fee: $250