Race Point Lighthouse, Provincetown “The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown was founded in 1968 by
a group of artists, writers and patrons, including Fritz Bultman, Salvatore and Josephine Del Deo, Stanley Kunitz, Phil Malicoat, Robert Motherwell, Myron
Stout, Jack Tworkov and Hudson D. Walker, among others. The founders envisioned a place in Provincetown, the country’s most enduring artists’ colony, where artists and writers could live and work together in the early phase of their careers. The founders believed that the freedom to pursue creative work within a community of peers is the best catalyst for artistic growth. The Work Center has dedicated itself to this mission for over 40 years.” From the FAWC website: http://web.fawc.org/.
I was urged to try to the FAWC by fellow poets in Vermont. FAWC offers weekly courses from June through August for poets and artists at a compound designed by the founders to provide classrooms, studios, apartments, a computer room, an auditorium, and a gallery. A typical week will include workshops in poetry, fiction, memoir, oil painting, printing, and photography. For four nights a resident writer and a resident artist give presentations. On the fifth night the student writers give a reading and preceded by a tour of the studios to look at student work. This blending of writing and art in the same facility is a special strength of this program! I have loved the connections I have found in discussions with working artists and writers.
The poetry classes are either three or four hours each morning – each poet/teacher’s course has a different focus, but all provide the opportunity for feedback on work submitted and opportunity for generating now work. Afternoons provide ample time for revising or writing new assignments. I have studied with Vijay Sheshadri, Henri Cole, Marie Howe, Nick Flynn, and Alan Shapiro. Each of the classes was excellent. I have come way from each class with better understanding of my own work through the works of my classmates and the wonderful guidance of the instructors.
Of course, not only is the program outstanding, the fact that the FAWC is located in the heart of Provincetown, a venue offering the excitement of that town of artists and writers, and the pleasures of summer in Cape Cod, including the beaches, dunes, the National Seashore is an irresistible draw. The town pulses with life! While I am in residence there I begin each day with a bike ride from Pearl Street to Herring Cove. I go out early enough to avoid the congestion of vehicles and pedestrians that escalates as the day progresses. Sometimes I bike to the National Seashore and ride on the trails there. These morning excursions provide both mental and physical exercise and ready me for a day of writing.
I was urged to try to the FAWC by fellow poets in Vermont. FAWC offers weekly courses from June through August for poets and artists at a compound designed by the founders to provide classrooms, studios, apartments, a computer room, an auditorium, and a gallery. A typical week will include workshops in poetry, fiction, memoir, oil painting, printing, and photography. For four nights a resident writer and a resident artist give presentations. On the fifth night the student writers give a reading and preceded by a tour of the studios to look at student work. This blending of writing and art in the same facility is a special strength of this program! I have loved the connections I have found in discussions with working artists and writers.
The poetry classes are either three or four hours each morning – each poet/teacher’s course has a different focus, but all provide the opportunity for feedback on work submitted and opportunity for generating now work. Afternoons provide ample time for revising or writing new assignments. I have studied with Vijay Sheshadri, Henri Cole, Marie Howe, Nick Flynn, and Alan Shapiro. Each of the classes was excellent. I have come way from each class with better understanding of my own work through the works of my classmates and the wonderful guidance of the instructors.
Of course, not only is the program outstanding, the fact that the FAWC is located in the heart of Provincetown, a venue offering the excitement of that town of artists and writers, and the pleasures of summer in Cape Cod, including the beaches, dunes, the National Seashore is an irresistible draw. The town pulses with life! While I am in residence there I begin each day with a bike ride from Pearl Street to Herring Cove. I go out early enough to avoid the congestion of vehicles and pedestrians that escalates as the day progresses. Sometimes I bike to the National Seashore and ride on the trails there. These morning excursions provide both mental and physical exercise and ready me for a day of writing.