This summer I will be teaching two different workshops here in the Hamptons in poetry and stained glass at the The Art Barge: The Victor D'Amico Institute of Art. Come take a class with me!
The Poetry Writing Workshop will be held every Thursday from July 12th through August 2nd. Inspired by the art and environment of The Art Barge and The D’Amico Studio and Archive, visual prompts, and poems by known authors, you will learn what makes a poem and write from your own experience to express what motivates you. You can register for the whole series or individual sessions.
The Stained Glass Workshop, held over five days the week of August 6th through August 10th, looks at the history of stained glass and explores contemporary methods. The workshop offers individualized attention, allows you to work at your own pace, and explore different techniques of stained glass to gain experience designing, cutting glass, and soldering with the copper foil method . Safety tips will be emphasized. Basic materials will be included.
Below is a poem of my own that, hopefully, illustrates my love of both art forms.
See you in class!
CUTTING FOR STAINED GLASS
A slow art, like a meal prepared
with single focus, not fast food
but reverent understanding of ingredients
that can break or slash or kill.
Before I pull the large sheet from the racks,
I utter the same prayer invoked
when Dad taught me to drive:
God please guide my eyes and hands
so he’ll be proud and we’ll be safe.
How intractable, unbending
this frozen liquid—I must think:
warm butter. Dip the diamond wheel
in kerosene, incise surface
without pressure. Only disturb
sleeping molecules.
Gentle them into obedience.
I step outside myself:
the way my wrist holds,
the way my arm moves,
the sound of the score.
No self-congratulation
until patterns are cut, complete,
then put together, piece by piece,
leak-free.
A window is not a window
if rain comes in.
It’s an arduous pursuit: to yield,
a lesson in letting be. Balance
and glide, presence and calm—
discipline prevailing
over fragility.