Portraits

Portraits is a two quarter full time program for students who want to conceive, design, research, work on, complete, and present an individual or small group project that is a portrait.

“Even when I am dealing with empirical data, I am necessarily speaking about myself.” C.G.Jung

Each Wednesday we will begin the week with a three-hour guided journal writing session to aid students in developing their own life histories. This activity will include seeing and writing about the unique situations and events in our lives and the relationships we have now (and have had in the past) with people, with work, with society and with our own bodies. While we consider this writing private, students will be encouraged to use images and ideas gleaned from this work as a resource for their own creative projects.

On Thursdays students will deepen their understanding of the program themes through skill-building workshops with faculty, study groups and individual conferences. "Making Portraits" is the title of the Friday morning session where scripting for performance, the nature and craft of poetry, and the creation of short stories will be among topics presented and discussed. In addition students will experience the work of professional writers, filmmakers and artists during the weekly symposia that concludes each week.

Participants will be expected to attend all program activities, complete a wide variety of written assignments, and experiment with written, visual or performative approaches to the subject matter. Each student will present a final portrait project individually or in a small group at the end of winter quarter.