classes
PAST CLASSES
Going Out, Going In: An evening of writing play for women
ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
July 16, 2015
Telluride, CO
Wilkinson Public Library, 6-8 p.m.
A teaser class for the upcoming four day poetry and painting retreat at Ah Haa, see below. Open to any woman, free.
Not with a Bang, but a Whimper: The Art of Ending Poems
ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
July 19, 2015
Ridgway, CO
Weehawken Arts, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
In poetry, crafting a memorable, attention-grabbing first line is important. But a poem's final lines are absolutely critical. Why do some poems seem unfinished? In this workshop, we'll look at endings of some well-known (and not-so-well-known) poems and talk about what works and what doesn't and why. And using writing prompts and exercises, we'll write and rewrite and practice the art of ending it well. If they are interested, participants can bring a poem or two with unsatisfactory endings that they have previously written. https://apm.activecommunities.com/weehawkenarts/Activity_Search/1720
Putting the Polish on Your Poems
ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
July 28-August 25, 2015
Telluride, CO
Ah Haa School for the Arts, Tuesdays, 6-8 p.m.
Kill your darlings. Show don’t tell. These are a few classic bits of advice written in red pen on the poet’s page. But improving your writing goes way beyond such adages. In this five-week class, We will also discuss how and where to send out your poems for publication. For more info, visit http://www.ahhaa.org/calendarize/putting-the-polish-on-your-poems/
Going Out, Going In: A Four-Day Art & Writing Retreat for Women
ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
August 13-16, 2015
Telluride, CO
Ah Haa School, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Here. A chance to step out of the rush of your life and dedicate time to your creative, playful, wise and unfolding self. What memories, stories, images and patterns might appear? In this four-day intensive, poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and painter Brucie Holler guide and encourage women as they explore in two genres, a practice that allows for surprising insights, clarity and vulnerability. A workshop for women who are ready to go deeper, take new risks, and move more wholly into their creative process. http://www.ahhaa.org/calendarize/going-out-going-in-a-four-day-art-writing-experience-for-women/
Leaping: How to Wildly Advance Your Writing
ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
Thursdays, January 15 – February 12, 2015 | 6 – 8pm | $200 tuition | Register Now
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
Indulge in a five-week adventure in growing your voice, led by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.
When a stranger on the corner asked, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” pianist Arthur Rubinstein famously replied: “Practice. Practice. Practice. “
What’s true for the pianist is true for the poet. If you want to improve, it takes practice. In this five-week class, participants will be asked to write a poem a day for a month.
A poem a day?!
Mmm hmm. You can do it even if you’ve never written a poem outside of English class. All participants will receive a 30-day inspiration booklet with 60 possible prompts written by the workshop leader. You can scribble a late-night haiku about your cat or type a 14-line sonnet in rhymed iambic pentameter. It doesn’t matter. Nor does it matter if the writing is “good.” It matters that you write. It matters that you play. It matters that you try new things. More than poetry as product, we’re exploring a poetic life—poetry as path and lens and anchor and kite.
These just might be 30 of the most fun, creative, door-opening, writer’s-block-busting, voice-changing, provocative days of your life. Let’s play.
Going Out, Going In: An evening of writing play for women
ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
July 16, 2015
Telluride, CO
Wilkinson Public Library, 6-8 p.m.
A teaser class for the upcoming four day poetry and painting retreat at Ah Haa, see below. Open to any woman, free.
Not with a Bang, but a Whimper: The Art of Ending Poems
ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
July 19, 2015
Ridgway, CO
Weehawken Arts, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
In poetry, crafting a memorable, attention-grabbing first line is important. But a poem's final lines are absolutely critical. Why do some poems seem unfinished? In this workshop, we'll look at endings of some well-known (and not-so-well-known) poems and talk about what works and what doesn't and why. And using writing prompts and exercises, we'll write and rewrite and practice the art of ending it well. If they are interested, participants can bring a poem or two with unsatisfactory endings that they have previously written. https://apm.activecommunities.com/weehawkenarts/Activity_Search/1720
Putting the Polish on Your Poems
ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
July 28-August 25, 2015
Telluride, CO
Ah Haa School for the Arts, Tuesdays, 6-8 p.m.
Kill your darlings. Show don’t tell. These are a few classic bits of advice written in red pen on the poet’s page. But improving your writing goes way beyond such adages. In this five-week class, We will also discuss how and where to send out your poems for publication. For more info, visit http://www.ahhaa.org/calendarize/putting-the-polish-on-your-poems/
Going Out, Going In: A Four-Day Art & Writing Retreat for Women
ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
August 13-16, 2015
Telluride, CO
Ah Haa School, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Here. A chance to step out of the rush of your life and dedicate time to your creative, playful, wise and unfolding self. What memories, stories, images and patterns might appear? In this four-day intensive, poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer and painter Brucie Holler guide and encourage women as they explore in two genres, a practice that allows for surprising insights, clarity and vulnerability. A workshop for women who are ready to go deeper, take new risks, and move more wholly into their creative process. http://www.ahhaa.org/calendarize/going-out-going-in-a-four-day-art-writing-experience-for-women/
Leaping: How to Wildly Advance Your Writing
ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
Thursdays, January 15 – February 12, 2015 | 6 – 8pm | $200 tuition | Register Now
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
Indulge in a five-week adventure in growing your voice, led by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer.
When a stranger on the corner asked, “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” pianist Arthur Rubinstein famously replied: “Practice. Practice. Practice. “
What’s true for the pianist is true for the poet. If you want to improve, it takes practice. In this five-week class, participants will be asked to write a poem a day for a month.
A poem a day?!
Mmm hmm. You can do it even if you’ve never written a poem outside of English class. All participants will receive a 30-day inspiration booklet with 60 possible prompts written by the workshop leader. You can scribble a late-night haiku about your cat or type a 14-line sonnet in rhymed iambic pentameter. It doesn’t matter. Nor does it matter if the writing is “good.” It matters that you write. It matters that you play. It matters that you try new things. More than poetry as product, we’re exploring a poetic life—poetry as path and lens and anchor and kite.
These just might be 30 of the most fun, creative, door-opening, writer’s-block-busting, voice-changing, provocative days of your life. Let’s play.
Thanks: Sentiment vs. Sentimentality
KIERSTIN BRIDGER
Saturday, November 15, 2014 | 9:30am – 12:30pm | $60 tuition | Register Now
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
In this intensive three-hour workshop we will examine how writers achieve gut-wrenching, soulful, prose and poetry without taking shortcuts and without sounding cliché or employing generalities. We will look closely at multiple texts and try some of our own. Open to all genre/levels.
The Hedonist’s Notebook: Sensory Details
KIERSTIN BRIDGER
Wednesdays, October 29 – November 19, 2014 | 6:30 – 8:30pm | $160 tuition | Register Now
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
In this intensive three-hour workshop we will examine how writers achieve gut-wrenching, soulful, prose and poetry without taking shortcuts and without sounding cliché or employing generalities. We will look closely at multiple texts and try some of our own. Open to all genre/levels.
KIERSTIN BRIDGER
Saturday, November 15, 2014 | 9:30am – 12:30pm | $60 tuition | Register Now
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
In this intensive three-hour workshop we will examine how writers achieve gut-wrenching, soulful, prose and poetry without taking shortcuts and without sounding cliché or employing generalities. We will look closely at multiple texts and try some of our own. Open to all genre/levels.
The Hedonist’s Notebook: Sensory Details
KIERSTIN BRIDGER
Wednesdays, October 29 – November 19, 2014 | 6:30 – 8:30pm | $160 tuition | Register Now
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
In this intensive three-hour workshop we will examine how writers achieve gut-wrenching, soulful, prose and poetry without taking shortcuts and without sounding cliché or employing generalities. We will look closely at multiple texts and try some of our own. Open to all genre/levels.
Lost in Motherland: Writing to Discover Who We Are(n’t)
ROSEMERRY WAHTOLA TROMMER
Thursday, March 6, 2014 / 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. / free
Writing Class at the Wilkinson Public Library
Back by popular demand! Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer leads a new version of this workshop, but it's based on the same theme: Motherhood changes things. Amidst the blessings and the challenges, we transform. As one mother put it, “With my first child, I lost my interests. With my second child, I lost my identity.” How do we lean into motherhood’s paradoxical blend of miracle and loss? Writing can help. As James Pennebroke writes in Opening Up, writing “clears the mind” and helps us “understand and reorient our complicated lives” and “helps keep our psychological compass oriented.” What happens when we ask, “Who am I?” As Ramana Maharshi says, “The purpose of that question is not to find an answer but to dissolve the questioner.” What’s that supposed to mean? Come play. For more information and to sign up, contact Paula Ciberay at 970-728-4519
Raising the Dead: A Walking Celebration of Landscape and Literature
CRAIG CHILDS & AMY IRVINE MCHARG
Saturday, May 17, 2014 | 9am– 2:00pm | $50 Register for this class only
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
Spend the morning roaming Telluride’s box canyon with award-winning Colorado writers Craig Childs and Amy Irvine McHarg, with sudden and scenic stops, to hear the authors read from the great bygone writers and poets of place. Expect lively discussion and spontaneous storytelling too, as both authors help us experience landscape through new, and old, eyes. The walk will begin at the Between the Covers Bookstore at 9 am and finish at high noon at La Cocina de Luz Mexican cantina, where participants can join the authors for lunch and margaritas.
Students should bring good walking shoes, water, a notebook, and layers—if weather is bad, we’ll still roam—in and out of buildings and covered areas. Note: Lunch is not included in the course fee.
CRAIG CHILDS & AMY IRVINE MCHARG
Saturday, May 17, 2014 | 9am– 2:00pm | $50 Register for this class only
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
Spend the morning roaming Telluride’s box canyon with award-winning Colorado writers Craig Childs and Amy Irvine McHarg, with sudden and scenic stops, to hear the authors read from the great bygone writers and poets of place. Expect lively discussion and spontaneous storytelling too, as both authors help us experience landscape through new, and old, eyes. The walk will begin at the Between the Covers Bookstore at 9 am and finish at high noon at La Cocina de Luz Mexican cantina, where participants can join the authors for lunch and margaritas.
Students should bring good walking shoes, water, a notebook, and layers—if weather is bad, we’ll still roam—in and out of buildings and covered areas. Note: Lunch is not included in the course fee.
Verticality: Dropping Into the Dream Through Writing
AMY IRVINE MCHARG
Thursday, February 20, 2014 | 9am– 3:00pm | $75
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
Some of the greatest literary works, as well as some of the best-selling genre writing, have been inspired by the authors’ dreams: Jane Eyre, Kubla Khan, Stuart Little, Frankenstein, Jekyll & Hyde–as well as Twilight and Misery. Taught by local award-winning author Amy Irvine McHarg, this workshop will help participants deepen their experience with dreamwork through the process of creative writing – both poetry and prose. In turn, participants will learn how deepening our connection to the dream serves the creative process. Through guided writing exercises, the exploration of gnostic writing, shared work, and lively discussion, participants will learn to cultivate on the page stronger imagery, intensified feeling, and heightened sensuality, using images/sensations from each writer’s dreams.
Workshop Prerequisite: One dream analysis session with an Archetypal Dreamwork analyst. To arrange for a session (via phone/approx. $90), contact Sue Scavo at 802-522-9171. (Current North of Eden clients need only bring a “worked” dream.)
* This workshop precedes a weekend Archetypal Dream Workshop, to be taught by North of Eden master dream analysts Christa Lancaster, Marc Bregman, Sue Scavo, and Bill St. Cyr. A free public presentation will be held at the Ah Haa School on Thursday, Feb 20th, from 6-8 pm. (Not suitable for children.) For more information on Archetypal Dreamwork, visit www.northofeden.com.
AMY IRVINE MCHARG
Thursday, February 20, 2014 | 9am– 3:00pm | $75
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
Some of the greatest literary works, as well as some of the best-selling genre writing, have been inspired by the authors’ dreams: Jane Eyre, Kubla Khan, Stuart Little, Frankenstein, Jekyll & Hyde–as well as Twilight and Misery. Taught by local award-winning author Amy Irvine McHarg, this workshop will help participants deepen their experience with dreamwork through the process of creative writing – both poetry and prose. In turn, participants will learn how deepening our connection to the dream serves the creative process. Through guided writing exercises, the exploration of gnostic writing, shared work, and lively discussion, participants will learn to cultivate on the page stronger imagery, intensified feeling, and heightened sensuality, using images/sensations from each writer’s dreams.
Workshop Prerequisite: One dream analysis session with an Archetypal Dreamwork analyst. To arrange for a session (via phone/approx. $90), contact Sue Scavo at 802-522-9171. (Current North of Eden clients need only bring a “worked” dream.)
* This workshop precedes a weekend Archetypal Dream Workshop, to be taught by North of Eden master dream analysts Christa Lancaster, Marc Bregman, Sue Scavo, and Bill St. Cyr. A free public presentation will be held at the Ah Haa School on Thursday, Feb 20th, from 6-8 pm. (Not suitable for children.) For more information on Archetypal Dreamwork, visit www.northofeden.com.
The Art of Story
KATIE MCDOUGALL
Thursdays, March 6 – 27, 2014 | 6pm– 8:00pm | $160 (or $45 per session)
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
This fiction writing class is designed to feed the author and storyteller within. Each of the four individual classes will focus on a key element of the craft of fiction and will be comprised of instruction, discussion, writing exercises, and the opportunity for the writers to share work. Participants may choose to attend individual classes or to attend all four. All writers welcome; whether novice or experienced, the class activities will fuel the muse. (Note: While the course will focus on fiction, writers of creative non-fiction are welcome as the tools for effective narration apply to both.)
Session One: Getting Started (March 6)
Sometimes the hardest part is to begin. In this introductory session, we’ll discuss the habit and the why of writing before jumping right in with writing prompts and story starters. The goal of the session is simply to get the juices flowing and to have some fun letting ideas scribble their way out of our pens.
Session Two: Creating Characters (March 13)
Good characters stay with us. More than perhaps any other element of a writer’s craft, strong characters make for strong story. It’s a sort of magic when a reader is taken hold by a fictitious character whom he or she has never and can never actually meet but nevertheless knows intimately. How do authors create that magic? In this session, we’ll explore some ways to breathe life into your characters through details, point of view, and knowledge of the latent or not so latent forces that motivate these imaginary beings.
Session Three: Crafting Plot (March 20)
Whether you want to write an intricate whodunit or a quiet tale of a solitary life, story matters. Something must propel the narrative so that a reader wants to continue turning the pages. In this session, we’ll look at the myriad ways to heighten, manipulate, and complicate plot so as to drive stories forward.
Session Four: Dialogue, Setting, Tone (March 27)
In this final session, we’ll examine additional aspects of the storyteller’s craft, specifically writing effective dialogue, creating settings that pop off the page, and manipulating tone through details and word choice.
KATIE MCDOUGALL
Thursdays, March 6 – 27, 2014 | 6pm– 8:00pm | $160 (or $45 per session)
Ah Haa School for the Arts / Adult Writing Workshops
This fiction writing class is designed to feed the author and storyteller within. Each of the four individual classes will focus on a key element of the craft of fiction and will be comprised of instruction, discussion, writing exercises, and the opportunity for the writers to share work. Participants may choose to attend individual classes or to attend all four. All writers welcome; whether novice or experienced, the class activities will fuel the muse. (Note: While the course will focus on fiction, writers of creative non-fiction are welcome as the tools for effective narration apply to both.)
Session One: Getting Started (March 6)
Sometimes the hardest part is to begin. In this introductory session, we’ll discuss the habit and the why of writing before jumping right in with writing prompts and story starters. The goal of the session is simply to get the juices flowing and to have some fun letting ideas scribble their way out of our pens.
Session Two: Creating Characters (March 13)
Good characters stay with us. More than perhaps any other element of a writer’s craft, strong characters make for strong story. It’s a sort of magic when a reader is taken hold by a fictitious character whom he or she has never and can never actually meet but nevertheless knows intimately. How do authors create that magic? In this session, we’ll explore some ways to breathe life into your characters through details, point of view, and knowledge of the latent or not so latent forces that motivate these imaginary beings.
Session Three: Crafting Plot (March 20)
Whether you want to write an intricate whodunit or a quiet tale of a solitary life, story matters. Something must propel the narrative so that a reader wants to continue turning the pages. In this session, we’ll look at the myriad ways to heighten, manipulate, and complicate plot so as to drive stories forward.
Session Four: Dialogue, Setting, Tone (March 27)
In this final session, we’ll examine additional aspects of the storyteller’s craft, specifically writing effective dialogue, creating settings that pop off the page, and manipulating tone through details and word choice.