Arts

Arts Council forum takes up the need for creative space

BRATTLEBORO — The Arts Council of Windham County will host a public conversation with regional artists about creativity on Thursday, April 26, from 6 to 8:30 p.m., at 118 Elliot Street in Brattleboro.

“A Room of One's Own: The Creation of Inner Space,” refers to Virginia Woolf's famous essay about the necessity for “a room of one's own” in order to successfully support a creative practice.

Questions to be explored include: What do we mean when we say “creative space” within ourselves? How can we arrange our lives so as to protect and support the creative work we seek to do? Can artists' experiences suggest ways that we all can creatively contribute to the community and the world in this particular time and place?

The artists will share examples of their work and tell how they nourish and deepen their creative practice by maintaining an “inner space” - and each of the three artists on the panel has a different story to tell.

Internationally known jazz percussionist and composer Claire Arenius will share how she creates her innovative musical stylings; visual artist Sarah Bowen will talk about the space she discovers within her meditative paintings; and writer Suzanne Kingsbury will discuss how she motivates, encourages, and teaches the joy of writing.

Artist, consultant, and Brattleboro Selectboard member Shanta Lee Gander will moderate the conversation and open it to the audience for questions and further conversation.

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