Digital Workshops From The Watermill Center

The Watermill Center (TWC) is pleased to announce the launch of its public workshops, kicking off this spring with four digital offerings from TWC’s international alumni. Featuring writer Afua Ansong, theater artist Anton Krause, multidisciplinary artist Tamar Ettun and visual artist Lua Rivera, the workshops aim to demystify the creative process by inviting participants to directly engage with an artist’s studio practice.

This new series is birthed from The Watermill Center’s ongoing education programs, which annually see over 1,000 students and educators interact with Watermill’s global roster of artists, and marks the first time TWC has hosted education programs open to the general public in recent history, outside of its annual “Community + Family Days.”

“We were looking for new ways to open ourselves to the public, and these workshops felt like a natural progression,” said education programs coordinator Andrea Cote. “Our education programs are so abundant, but due to their focus on working with local educational institutions and partnering organizations, they aren’t as open to the public as our other programs.

“We thought it would be a great opportunity to get the community engaging with our international artists and investigating the creative processes of artists from different backgrounds,” she said. “Participants can join virtually from anywhere in the world and we have artists leading from as far as Berlin and Taipei. We tested the idea of digital workshops this past December with alum Lexy Ho-Tai leading a puppet-making workshop for families. The feedback we received was so overwhelmingly positive, that we quickly got to work building out the line-up for the spring.”

The program begins Saturday, March 6, with a workshop led by Ghanian-American writer and scholar Afua Ansong, who will teach “Meditation on the self: Drinking at the Mouth of West African Art,” which invites the public to develop prayers, chants, songs, and poems that seek to preserve and explore concepts of the self-inspired by Adinkra symbols.

Workshops will continue the first Saturday of each month through June. On April 3, Watermill alum Anton Krause leads “Why Do Mugs Have Faces” an excavation of the hidden stories of everyday items through the magic of object theater. This playful workshop leads participants to find and create characters from the beautiful things around them that are usually deemed as insignificant. On May 1, Tamar Ettun leads “How to Trap a Demon,” a workshop where participants will work with Lilit the Empathic Demon to identify to create and trap a demon from their lives using home supplies. Finally, on June 5, Watermill alum Lua Rivera will work with participants who learn structural weaving and create a three-dimensional work out of textiles, experimenting with different knots and textures using recycled fabrics, yarns and ropes.

Each workshop will be hosted live via Zoom. Tickets start at $25. The Watermill Center offers reduced pricing for those requiring financial assistance.

Register online at watermillcenter.org.