This series of three, two-hour workshops is intended for sophomore, junior, and senior high school art and/or creative writing students interested in exploring experimental mixed media artists and writers. The goal is to expose students to creatives whose work--which can be risky, crazy, absurd, strange, hilarious, and controversial--has the potential to open new directions for young artists and writers. This is not an art history course but an energetic tour of artist/writers working in more than one media, including collage, assemblage, poetry, video, installation, sound arts, film, artists' books, sound poetry, performance, and fiction. Although not a traditional pre-college portfolio workshop, the instructor will work one-on-one with students to better understand their artistic and writerly interests, and assist students in writing artist's statements or their creative writing.

Each two-hour workshop will feature open discussion, brief screenings, journaling, and  "show and tell" where relevant materials are passed around and interested students might share their work. For a glimpse into the type of art and writing to be featured in this workshop, please consult the website for a longer seminar version also offered through the Art League of Long Island: The Speculative Studio.

About the instructor: Derek Owens is an artist and writer whose work can be found at derekowens.net. He's been a professor at St. John's University for 30 years; before that he taught at Harvard University and in the Experimental College at Tufts University. He has taught students at all levels--middle school, high school, undergraduate, and graduate--and specializes in student-based pedagogies and multi-modal composition. Interested applicants are welcome to contact him with any questions at contact@derekowens.net.