SATURDAY MORNING SEMINAR SERIES 2012
Saturday June 30th 2012
Mezzanine B Room, Y Hotel, 5-11 Wentworth Avenue, Sydney
Seminar 9.30 AM – 12.30 PM Workshop 1.30 PM – 4.30 PM
SEMINAR
PAIN INTO ART
WORKSHOP
WRITING FROM THE SELF
So much of the work of psychotherapy is about the transformation of suffering into creativity. In this unique event we are fortunate to have three well-known artists – two poets, Harry Laing and Nicola Bowery, and a painter, Richard Wu – describe their own journeys of how they worked through difficult and harrowing experiences using their art.
The Seminar will be followed by a Writing Workshop in the afternoon conducted by Harry and Nicola. Please note that this will be limited to 20 participants.
THE PRESENTERS
Nicola Bowery worked as a counsellor & family therapist for 17 years before turning to writing poetry and in the last ten years also teaching poetry workshops. She is always looking for new poetic ways to express and explore the adventure of living. She has a particular interest in the interface between the psychological and the poetic. Her work has been published in journals and anthologies and she has two poetry collections, Bloodwood (1996) and Goatfish (2007).
Harry Laing is a poet, comic performer and creative writing teacher. He has two collections of poetry (Thirst and Backbone) to his name and has written and performed 7 solo comedy shows. His two series of quirky country tales were broadcast on ABC Radio National. As well as co-teaching PoetryAlive workshops with Nicola and teaching in schools and the community, Harry offers voice workshops to assist people with performing their work in public. Harry enjoys working across different forms and humour is a big part of what he does. He lives near Braidwood beside Monga National Park.
Richard Wu is the son of a Chinese historian, born in Taiwan and immigrated to Australia at age 12. He qualified as a Psychiatrist with the RANZCP. Richard is the designer of East West Learning Centre (based in China and Singapore), and has given seminars/ workshops on Psyche and Creativity in Beijing, Singapore and Sydney ( e.g. Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing, Beijing Normal University, National Art School ( Sydney), University of Sydney).
Richard’s recent exhibitions include:
2010 Dobell Finalist, group exhibition, Art Gallery of NSW.
2011 Art Asia Expo, Beijing.
Richard has just started writing a book series in Chinese on Chinese creativity and cultivation.
SEMINAR: PAIN INTO ART
9.30 AM – 12.30 PM
HARRY AND NICOLA
Two poets Nicola Bowery and Harry Laing, who happen to be married, share their creative responses to situations of physical and emotional pain.
Harry will read from his sequence Diving for Backbone which came into being when Nicola was enduring long periods of back-related immobility and pain. The poems delve into Harry’s feelings of helplessness and frustration and are also a powerful inhabitation of Nicola’s experience.
Harry will elaborate on the distinction between cathartic writing and a poetic transformation of the raw material.
Nicola will read selections from two sequences of poems and discuss the differences in the way they came to be written.
The sea-maid’s tale, drawing on the myth of the mermaid, is an imaginal response to experiences of psychic alienation and physical limitation. In contrasting style, the poetic sequence Mothering Words Charts Nicola’s attempt to come to terms with her mother’s passage through Alzheimer’s and its effect on the mother-daughter relationship.
RICHARD
This is a show and tell of my paintings since early teens as a second generation Chinese immigrant endeavouring to bridge trans-generational cultural discontinuity, and as a Psychiatrist finding resonance between psychotherapy and Chinese creative heritage.
It is at the same time a personal journey overcoming constraints to reach creative freedom. The talk also focuses on my recent Chinese ink brush paintings expressing empathy for asylum seekers who are the latest immigrants struggling with survival, traumas, displacement and uncertain future.
WORKSHOP: WRITING FROM THE SELF
1.30 – 4.30 PM
It’s easy to think other people have much more interesting experiences to write about than you do.
Writing memoir is currently fashionable and generally favours a documentary approach. But in this workshop we’re talking about finding creative and imaginal ways to express the more interior parts of the self – the intriguing, the odd, the painful, perhaps the outrageous.
This hands-on workshop will offer games and exercises to stimulate access to the interior parts of the self. Different writing forms (poems, story, monologue) can be experimented with. And there’ll be a chance to hear strong writing that reflects this focus.
To register please complete and return with your payment.
PAYMENT DETAILS - Please √
I wish to attend both the ANZAP Seminar and Writing Workshop
ANZAP MEMBER - $105 NON-MEMBER - $145 NON-ANZAP STUDENT - $55
I wish to attend the ANZAP Seminar only: PAIN INTO ART
ANZAP MEMBER - $66 NON-MEMBER - $88 NON-ANZAP STUDENT - $44
I wish to attend the ANZAP Writing Workshop only: WRITING FROM THE SELF
ANZAP MEMBER - $66 NON-MEMBER - $88 NON-ANZAP STUDENT - $44
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