Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008 • Rancheria hosts poetry workshop
Publisher’s note: This story originally appeared in the Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008 edition of the Lassen County Times.
Poetry and creativity flowed freely at the Susanville Indian Rancheria during a four-day workshop held at the Rancheria resource center Dec 2, 3, 4 and 5.
The workshop, inspired by the success of the recent “stories project” writers workshops held at the Rancheria, was funded by the Poets and Writers organization of America, the nation’s largest non-profit organization serving creative writers.
Lindy Doyle, NiNi Joseph, and Shyanne Chaffee show off their handmade broadsides, an art work that combines words and images to create a piece of mixed-media artwork suitable for framing.Writer and Tribal Historic preservation Officer for the rancheria Melany Johnson facilitated the project, along with fellow local writer Dianna Henning.
Henning said the workshop was a fun, creative project to take part in as well as a tremendous success.
Dianna Henning helps Shyanne Chafee put the finishing touches on a poem.“I am thrilled with what Melany is doing up there. The response to the workshop was great,” said Henning.
The event was open to the public, and writers of all ages attended the workshop.
Shyanne Chaffee, Lindy Doyle and NiNi Joseph clown around during the poetry workshop, which was held at the Susanville Indian Rancheria resource center Dec. 2-5.Johnson and Henning spent the first two days of the workshop assisting writers with individual poems, and the last two days printing out poems and pairing them with appropriate artwork to create a final product called a “broadside.”
A broadside, or a print with literary content, usually consists of a poem printed along with an image to create a piece of mixed-media artwork suitable for framing. Henning described it as a creative way to “give written words a boost.”
Workshop facilitator Dianna Henning laughs with writer Ella LaMarr as she puts together a broadside.“It is an art form that gives new meaning to the words of a poem, blending words and art images,” she said.
Kam Vento, business/computer science instructor for Lassen Community College, also joined in the effort by helping participants with computer work and images.
Writer Sunee Bear types up an original poem during the creative workshop.Henning said following the success of both the poetry and stories workshops, she and Johnson are in the process of planning future creative workshops for area artists.
Henning said a creative writing workshop is tentatively scheduled for the beginning of April, though a specific date will be announced.
