Conversations: Writing and Art
Creative Writing Workshop
Respond to works in the Phillips’s permanent collection through a creative writing workshop.
Event Details
Teaching Artist Mary Hall Surface will lead a two-hour writing workshop inspired by works of art from the permanent collection at The Phillips Collection. Explore the conversations among the works on view as you slow down, look closely, and respond to art-inspired creative writing prompts. Discover how art can spark rich writing and self-discovery, and how writing can deepen real connections to art. The workshop focuses on reflective process over product and is designed for all skill levels.
Mary Hall Surface is an award winning playwright, essayist, theatre director and teaching artist who specializes in expanding perspective, uncovering complexity, and deepening understanding in schools, museums and theaters. Along with her 20+ years as a national Kennedy Center teaching artist, Mary Hall is on the faculty of Harvard’s Project Zero Classroom and is the founding instructor of the National Gallery of Art’s popular Writing Salon. She has written plays inspired by the art of Edward Hopper, Roy Lichtenstein, Augustus St Gaudens, and Henri Matisse. Her many plays have been produced at major professional theatres, museums, and festivals throughout the US, Europe, Japan, Taiwan and Canada, including 17 productions at the Kennedy Center. She was the artistic director of the Atlas INTERSECTIONS Festival from 2009 – 2015, curating over 750 interdisciplinary performances, workshops, and events for diverse DC audiences. www.maryhallsurface.com