As I thought about developing prompts for the Amherst Writers & Artists January Monthly Online Write, I knew I wanted to acknowledge the timing of our write, falling the day after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, by showcasing Black poets and artists. My first prompt came from Tracy K. Smith’s brilliant poem, Everybody’s Autobiography, a work whose unique structure and essence invite exploration of how we care for and stay connected to ourselves and to strangers in difficult times. The second prompt, which I’ll detail in this article, came from a return visit my family made at the start of the year to one of our favorite museums: the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, known as our “official national museum, education center, and repository for intuitive, self-taught artistry.”
The AVAM has a unique mission: to present artists who are self-taught and whose creative brilliance exists outside of the arts establishment. In the extensive galleries of AVAM, connections to our Amherst Writers & Artists philosophies are everywhere. Just as Pat Schneider gave us the essential affirmation that “a writer is someone who writes,” AVAM tells us that an artist is someone who makes art. Works such as Holocaust survivor Esther Krinitz’s embroidered tapestries of her wartime experiences displayed alongside embroidered tapestries made by Rwandan Tutsi genocide survivors remind us that art exists to communicate important histories; William Kurelek’s painting, “Where am I? Who am I? Why am I?” reminds us that art exists to explore existential questions; Andrew Logan’s 10-foot-tall statue of the late actor Divine reminds us that art exists to help us memorialize those who mattered to us, overlapping many of the same topics so many of us explore in our writing. AVAM defines the work of visionary artists as emanating from “an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself…visionary art begins by listening to the inner voices of the soul.” So much of the magic created in AWA workshops comes from that very same impetus, away from distraction, when we give ourselves time to relish in our own unique voices, explore histories, create characters, and capture truth.
I was especially moved by one current exhibit at AVAM entitled The Strength to Be Joyful: Messages from Mary Proctor. In the midst of a deep depression following her grandmother’s tragic death in a fire, Proctor experienced a spiritual vision that said, “Paint the door.” She began to use salvaged materials and found objects such as buttons, pieces of teacups and dishes, and old toys to create art on wooden doors, adorning them with inscriptions of childhood memories, stories, and aphorisms. Seeing her object-laden art pieces reminded me of the very first AWA workshop I ever attended, in Oakland, CA, in 1996, where facilitator Joan Marie Wood poured a basket of objects onto the table, and had each of the participants choose one from which to write. I chose a thimble and wrote a piece about my grandmother. Many of us in AWA have had the opportunity to write from that “common objects” prompt; while Zoom workshops make this particular prompt more challenging, all of our prompts work in this same spirit: the idea that memory or imagination can be prompted by the everyday, that anything - nature, an object, a conversation - can inspire a memorable and meaningful piece of writing.
Now, in February, as we observe Black History Month during a time when the US government seeks to diminish and erase non-white voices and experiences, I’m grateful to have this opportunity to further showcase Mary Proctor’s work and voice. The title of her exhibit, The Strength to be Joyful, reminds us that even when joy seems distant, it is a show of strength in challenging times to seek and find it in our everyday lives. In the piece I chose for this prompt, Give Me My Flower Now While I Live, Proctor compels us not only to feel but also to communicate love and kindness to others, reminding us that uplifting and empowering one another can catalyze the strength we need to fight and persist against injustice.
PROMPT
Write about a time when your narrator or character gave or received much needed praise.
OR
Write from any of the words on this piece: hope, grace, care, love, mercy, kind.
SOURCES:
https://www.avam.org/exhibitions/the-strength-to-be-joyful
Susan Josephs (she/her) has been writing in AWA workshops since 1996 and became a certified facilitator in 2023. She is the founder and facilitator of Creative Sphere Writers Workshop, which offers online writing workshops in the AWA method and developmental editing and coaching for writers working on larger projects. For the past 25 years, she has taught academic and creative writing throughout the Greater Philadelphia area. She lives in and writes from the historic city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. To find out more about Susan and Creative Sphere Writers Workshop, please visit www.creativespherewritersworkshop.com.
You are welcome and encouraged to respond to either of these prompts and post your writing in the comments section.
Thanks for reading Writing Alone and With Others! This post is public, so feel free to share it.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.