Poetic Space with Karen Finley

Poetic Space as symbol for embodiment and psychic awareness
This class will consider poetic space for inspiration for deeper, symbolic, creative and critical contemplation. Such as the rooms of the home, architectural framings as ways to explore the self and generate writing.  Some examples are to consider the window as space to look out or in, the door as entrance, the hallway as transition space for navigating the mapping of soulspeak. Hidden rooms, secrets gardens, bright and cheery kitchens, closets of costumes storing the forgotten treasures of our past.  These spaces can be imaginary where escape from the ordinary is possible. There are many examples within literature, such as the magical realism of The Aleph by Borges, with a multi-dimensional portal existing in the cellar.

Time, memory, haunting and reawakening can transpire and transgress. The home, the rooms become parts of ourselves, arches and porticos, atriums and balconies, attics, roofs and staircases. As we have been in our homes way too much these past two years, and as we have ventured out, we can have a poetic viewing to provide meaning, verse to illustrate and witness the profound magnitude of our solitude and creative foundation to expand forward.

NB: This class will be taught on Zoom from 12:30pm-3:30pm EST and capped at 15.

Karen Finley is an artist, performer, and author. She received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Her raw and transgressive performances have brought debate and controversy. Finley was the named plaintiff for the Supreme Court case Finley v. NEA that challenged the decency provision in government grants to artists through the National Endowment for the Arts. Her performances and visual art have been presented internationally such as in The Barbican in London, Lincoln Center, New York City, the Bobino in Paris, amongst others. Finley is interested in freedom of expression concerns, social justice, visual culture, art education,, metaphysics and lectures, and gives workshops widely. Her most recent work is a collaborative participatory walk- Invocation: Retracing Seneca Village with Kimiyo Bremer. And she is developing a new project, COVID Anxiety Vortex Opera  Kaleidoscope Kitty Disco. Finley is the author of nine books, including her latest, Grabbing Pussy ( OR Books 2018) and the 25^th anniversary edition of Shock Treatment by City Lights. A recipient of many awards and grants, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, she is an arts professor in Art and Public Policy at New York University. Follow her on Instagram @the_yam_mam