Thursday, October 11 | 6-7pm
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Missed the previous panels? Check them out here!
Literary critic Harold Bloom coined the term “The Anxiety of Influence” to describe what cripples poets most from creating truly original work. We read a poem, feel inspired to write one of our own, and so poetic work will endlessly derivative. This idea distilled into its essence ignores a basic tenet of creativity; how we are all influenced by something – whether nature, social problems, personal history, values, other art forms, or more – but is that reason for “anxiety”? Join us for a rousing panel discussion about life, art, and the theoretical constructs that define us all. Moderated by Greg Thompson.
Michael Corris
Michael Corris is an artist whose practice emerged from the movement known as Conceptual Art. Corris earliest work as an artist was as a member of the collective Art & Language. His work integrates a number of activities, such as exhibiting art, organizing exhibitions and symposia, writing on art and art theory, and teaching. Corris has exhibited and published widely since 1972. His writings on art range from texts in artist-run publications such as Art-Language, The Fox, and Red-Herring to reviews and features in international journals, including Artforum, Art+Text, and Art Monthly. Corris historical research has concentrated on art since 1945 and includes a monograph on Ad Reinhardt and writings on Conceptual art, digital media, art and social intervention, and word and image in art. Corris is the editor of a new series of monographs on art since 1980 (forthcoming, Reaktion Books) and a founding editor of Transmission Annual (co-published with Sheffield Hallam University).
For four decades, Corris has critically engaged with the intersection of art, social practice and forms of political dissent. The projects associated with this encounter ‘ contingent, interdisciplinary, contentious and once so divisive of the art world remain enduring objects of inquiry for Corris practice as an artist.
Nicole Stewart
Nicole Stewart is a fifth generation Dallasite but has lived in Chicago, NYC, LA, London and the Bay Area. Nicole attended The Hockaday School and graduated from Northwestern University summa cum laude and with Honors in Theatre. She has been a professional Pilates instructor for ten years. She is an accomplished actress and teacher and director of theatre. Her love of story led her to create the live storytelling series, Oral Fixation (An Obsession with True Life Tales). She produces, directs, and edits the monthly series with the mission to bring together the Dallas community through sharing true, personal stories. She is currently writing a 20-minute play for presentation at the annual Hope for Humanity dinner, benefiting the Dallas Holocaust Museum and Center for Tolerance. Recently, The Dallas Observer profiled Nicole as one of the 30 Most Interesting People in Dallas.
Greg Thompson
Greg has a BA in History from Berkeley, and an MA from the University of Texas, Dallas in Humanities. He has studied business administration at the University of Idaho and at UCLA. He has published many poems and has been nominated for the Pushcart. He was for many years president and CEO of the largest law enforcement printing company in the county; he now works as a printing consultant and teacher. He has studied poetry under many fine teachers including Jack Myers, Brenda Hillman, Joe Ahearn, Sydney Lea, and Jack Gilbert. Along with Grace Kenney, Greg founded Vort Ting, a program of The Writer’s Garret, where he continues as a teacher and coordinator.
Karen Weiner
Karen Weiner is the founder and director of The Reading Room, a project space established in 2009 dedicated to presenting the intersection of visual art and text. Ms. Weiner obtained her Bachelors degree in French, and completed graduate studies in photography, book arts and art history at Texas Woman’s University and the University of Texas at Dallas. Ms. Weiner has engaged in a variety of curatorial and artistic endeavors around Dallas. Ms. Weiner was one of the founding members of Dallas Artists Research and Exhibition, now The MAC, from 1989 – 2000. From 2002 – 2005 she managed UTD’s South Side Artist Residency and from 2000 – 2002 was a curatorial assistant at the Dallas Museum of Art, curating shows such as Dialogues: Duchamp, Cornell, Rauschenberg and Johns. During that time, Ms. Weiner was also a Curatorial Assistant for the exhibition, Warhol and Jackie, at the 6th Floor Museum. She also curated a film series at Dallas Center for Contemporary Art, and served as an artist liaison for individual artists. More recently, from 2006 – 2008 she contributed research for a both public art project in Dubai, and for a book about American activist women.
About The Writer’s Garret
The Writer’s Garret is the only year-round independent literary center in North Texas whose mission is to foster the education and development of readers, writers, and audiences by putting them in touch with quality literature, each other, and the communities in which they live and write. writersgarret.org
