COMMUNITY

Valerie Martínez

06/28/10

Open Books: Writing and Art Workshops for CYFD Youth

Sponsored by the Global Fund for Education and Littleglobe, these free workshops engage youth in creating one-of-a kind personal journal/sketch book with writing, drawing, collage, painting, photographs, and more. An anthology of writing & art, sparked by the sketch books, will be published December 2010. In order to participate, teens must be 16-21 years old and in foster care placement or independent living programs with New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Division (CYFD). No previous experience is necessary and artists and non-artists are welcome. Workshops will be held in Albuquerque and Las Cruces in June and July of 2010 led by Valerie Martinez and Maureen Burdock (see flyer at right).

Contact Valerie at valmatz@comcast.net for more information, to have a flyer sent to you or someone else, or for anything else.

SELECTED Workshops

and Presentations

Please see a more extensive list of Valerie's courses and workshops by clicking "CV" at left. To arrange a workshop or presentation for your group, organization, event and/or community, please contact Valerie Martínez at valmatz@comcast.net.

Turning the House Upside Down: The Art of Revision. Taos Summer Writers Conference, July 17 & 18, 2010. This workshop, for intermediate and advanced poets, is designed to infuse life and worth and pleasure into the revision process. Too often, we value the moments of inspiration far more than the hard slogging that is revision. In this two-day workshop participants learn and practice useful and creative approaches to revision, taking their incipient poems and moving them toward final versions. Participants will be challenged to undertake “unusual acts of revision” that will enable them to imagine, see, and hear their poems in new ways.
Border Crossings: Women Writing the West Across Genres. (E.J. Levy, Sawnie Morris, Summer Wood, Valerie Martínez) This panel will focus on how women writers working in multiple genres narrate the iconic landscape of the American West: how are women rewriting a terrain often associated with masculinity? Panelist will look at the formal and thematic possibilities and challenges posed by place—including brief readings and discussion of how work can be launched by attention to the peculiar features of this landscape (borders, nuclear waste, water) and how place informs and inspires poetry, essay, and fiction. Associated Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference, April 8-11, 2010, Denver.
Write the Relationship. (Sawnie Morris, Paul Guest, Valerie Martínez, Eliot Khalil Wilson, Amy Pence) How do poetic friendships help us to enhance and to grow our work? A friend's viewpoint can be vital for our artistic development, may keep us from devastating mistakes, and yet may also imperil the relationship. Two sets of friends and our moderator will examine their own relationships and those of other literary pairs to reveal the impact, dynamics, and consequences of writer-ly entanglements. Associated Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference, April 8-11, 2010, Denver.
Advanced Poetry Workshop, for experienced poets. Wednesdays, September 16-October 21, 2009. National Hispanic Cultural Center.
The Letter: The Visual Poetics of Written Correspondence, a letter-writing and visual art workshop with visual artist Gary Meyers in response to “Beyond Our Shores” (paintings by Georgia O’Keeffe) and the world premiere of the new opera, “The Letter” (Paul Morevic). July 23, 2009. Sponsors: The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and the Santa Fe Opera.
On the Brink: Writing the Unpredictable Poem at the National Latino Writers Conference, May 21, 2009.
Writing Santa Fe, International Creative Tourism Conference, Santa Fe, September 29, 2008.
Integrating Poetry Into Life, STIR: A Festival of Words,” September 13, 2008, Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque.
The Centrifugal Poem,” Taos Summer Writer’s Conference, July 14-18, 2008, a week-long workshop designed for intermediate and advanced poets who wanted to infuse their work with new energy.
Metamorphosis: Bookmaking and Poetry. An afternoon workshop for teens. Southside Public Library, Santa Fe, June 9, 2008.
Give and Get Give: The Creative Writing Workshop. A three-day writing workshop for New Mexico teens and young adults, as part of the Voces program (for New Mexico high school students), sponsored by the National Hispanic Cultural Center. June 2007 & 2008, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Creative Openings. A three-day writing workshop for New Mexico teens and young adults, as part of the Voces program (for New Mexico high school students), sponsored by the National Hispanic Cultural Center. June 27, 28, 29, 2006, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Taking the Stage. A workshop for women wanting to translate their poetry and prose into plays. With Elsa Menendez and Monica Sanchez. Part of Women and Creativity Week, March 2006, Albuquerque.
How to Teach a Poem (and Urge Your Students to Fall in Love with Poetry). A Poetry Workshop/In-Service Training for Santa Fe High and Capital High English teachers. October 11, 2004, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Creative Process. Panel presentation for the Las Vegas Carnegie Public Library Benefit, with New Mexico authors Johnny D. Boggs, Walter Satterthwait, Ralph M. Flores, Robert J. Torrez, Nasario Garcia, Neecy Twinem, Michael McGarrity, Judith Van Gieson, V. B. Price, and John Wilson. November 12, 2004, Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Writing Your Family, Writing Yourself. A four-week community writing course for Santa Fe adult learners. March and April, 2004.
Alter-Egos: The Poetry of Strange Beings and Strange Things. A poetry workshop for high school poets. New Mexico 2004 Poetry Jam—a poetry conference for New Mexico high school poets and their teachers.
Who’s Afraid of Emily Dickinson? A poetry presentation/workshop for parents of College of Santa Fe students. Fiesta (Parents) Weekend, Saturday October 4, 2003.
Keeping a Journal: The Art of Inspiration and Self-Reflection. A workshop which examines excerpts from journals by well-known artists, writers, and travelers and introduces creative strategies for starting and keeping a personal journal. Sponsored by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council as part of the Commonwealth Speakers Program. Schoolhouse Senior Center, Folsom, PA, October 23, 2002.
Clearing the Spring, Tending the Fountain. Six, weekly poetry workshops for New Jersey teachers, sponsored by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Haddonfield Memorial High School, March 2001; Appel Arts Center, March 2002; Lenape High School, March 2003.
How Does One Live? A poetry workshop in response to the events of September 11, 2001, for New Jersey teachers, sponsored by the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. Haddonfield Memorial High School, November 5, 2001.

This site was last updated 06/28/10