This class is designed not just for writers who simply wish to enhance visual description; it will also help writers tap into more of what is seen/witnessed in and around the moments you craft in your work. We will view and discuss visual work as active witnesses and observers, and perhaps even consider the story arc not contained in the frame. To help us expand and refine our own narrative agendas and structural choices, we will examine and discuss the work of well-established artists such as Edward Hopper, Betye Saar, William H. Johnson, and Frida Kahlo, as well as some lesser knowns, like Jeff Wall, Wendy Red Star and Mark Tansey.
Much of the class will involve observing and discussing how and why the visual narrative is constructed as it is, and what impact that has on us as viewers. From there, we will engage in exercises that encourage us to see more in what we craft on the page, not simply producing more things to look at, but also sharpening the impact of what is seen and unseen in our work.
The work of William Henry Lewis has appeared in many publications, including The Washington Post, O Magazine, Higher Issues In Education, Colorado Review, New Letters, African-American Review, Blackbird, Callaloo, Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, BOMB and SWING. His work has featured in conjunction with exhibitions at the Smithsonian's Hirshhorn and the Baltimore Museum of Art, and his stories have been reprinted in several anthologies, domestic and abroad. Hank's work has been honored by the Hurston/Wright Foundation, the American Library Association, Fellowship of Southern Writers, National Endowment for the Arts, Best American Short Stories, and as finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Prize.
He is the author of two books of stories, In the Arms of Our Elders (Carolina Wren Press; three printings), and I Got Somebody in Staunton (HarperCollins; two printings), which was listed among Kirkus Reviews Best Books of 2005, and selected as the city of Richmond's Go Read book for 2006. His work has been praised by David Eggers, Nikki Giovanni, Peter Matthiessen, Marita Golden, Edward P. Jones, and his work has been acclaimed by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, TimeOut, and The Washington Post. The Los Angeles Times Book Review praised his fiction as "beautifully written and carefully crafted," while the Boston Globe noted his work as "moving, but unsentimental, these are stories of hard-won wisdom, potent intelligence, and compassion for the cadence of everyday life, establishing Lewis as a writer to be appreciated and admired."
"Hank is one of those rare teachers that is able to foster true out-of-the-box thinking and radical creativity. Exploring the frame of the triptych, or the French scene, or the meaningful gap, my brain is tickled and I’m able to escape the boundaries of stagnant conditioning. His classes are exciting!"
"Hank's class got me thinking about narrative construction in ways I hadn't considered before."
"I really enjoyed Hank's Triptych class! What I particularly enjoyed was the depth of thought it provoked and how it helped me shake loose creative content. It helped get me back in a place of enjoyment with my writing---excellence and exploration for its own sake---rather than my goal-oriented, flogged workhorse mode."
