Rabkin
2010 WORKSHOPS with SARAH RABKIN
Saturday, March 27, 2010, 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
NATURE NOTES & SKETCHES
Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, 1305 East Cliff Drive, 831-420-6115
Natural science illustration captivates viewers with its stunning beauty. At the heart of this appeal lies the illustrator’s enthusiastic attentiveness to the natural world—something anyone can attain. This one-day workshop will introduce visual and verbal tools for capturing your own alluring images of the colors, shapes, and stories of a day spent outdoors. We will meet at the Museum amphitheater (or indoors if it’s raining) for introductory instruction and exercises, then take advantage of nearby Seabright Beach. Participants are encouraged to view the museum’s Art of Nature exhibit before and/or after the workshop. Open to age 14 and up. Families and beginners especially welcome.
Saturday, June 19, 2010, 1:30-5:00 p.m.
FIELD NOTES for NATURAL HISTORY LEARNING
9th Annual Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua—Mono Lake, Lee Vining, & Environs
Hiking without a field guide? Science background slim? No worries. If you pay attention, the bug, the plant, or the bird can teach you a great deal. We will practice the time-honored art of making informal field notes and sketches to learn about natural phenomena. Discoveries made this way are not easily forgotten, and they complement knowledge from books and classes. Relevant experience is welcome but not assumed. Please bring notebook, pen, pencil, eraser. Binoculars, hand lens, and/or a small ruler may also come in handy.
This workshop is part of the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua: a weekend of presentations, clasess, walks, tours, and celebrations held every year in a spectacularly beautiful and ecologically critical area just east of Yosemite National Park. The modest registration fee covers three days of activities, Friday through Sunday.
Tuesday evening, July 20-Saturday afternoon, July 24, 2010
HIGH COUNTRY WRITING RETREAT
San Francisco State University Sierra Nevada Field Campus
35400 Highway 49, Sattley, CA (jsteele@sfsu.edu through May, then jrblair@sfsu.edu)
link This is an opportunity for new and experienced writers alike to take inspiration from the Sierra’s spiced air and rushing waters, its loamy ground and craggy heights. Group sessions in forest, meadow, and mountainside settings provide guidance and prompts as well as time to write and share work without judgment. Unstructured periods allow for individual writing, wandering, and optional one-on-one instructor conferences. You determine the focus and form as well as the amount of writing you produce. Come to the Field Campus and experience the creative renewal that flourishes on a mountain retreat.
ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR
Writer, editor, and visual artist Sarah Rabkin is an award-winning UC Santa Cruz instructor in writing and environmental studies. She thrives at the intersections of image, language, and landscape, and loves teaching in wild places. Sarah has led scores of field workshops around the Sierra and the western U.S. Her essays, poems, articles, and reviews have appeared in regional and national publications; her illustrated field journals have been exhibited formally and informally. Sarah has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard and a graduate certificate in science communication from UC Santa Cruz.
2009 WORKSHOPS with SARAH RABKIN
For fees, enrollment, and other logistics, please contact the sponsoring agencies. For details about workshop content, contact Sarah at 831-475-7548 or srabkin@ucsc.edu. Sign up early if you can. Some programs may fill fast, while those with low enrollments may be canceled.
Saturday, May 16 • NATURE NOTES and SKETCHES
SANTA CRUZ MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, East Cliff Drive
Science illustration captivates viewers with its stunning beauty. At the heart of its appeal lies the illustrator’s enthusiastic attentiveness to the natural world—an outlook anyone can attain. This workshop introduces tools for capturing the colors, shapes, and stories of a day outdoors. I recommend viewing the museum’s Illustrating Nature exhibit before and/or after the workshop. For age 14 and up; families and beginners welcome.
Link
programs@santacruzmuseums.org
831-420-6115
Saturday, June 20 • FIELD NOTES for NATURAL HISTORY LEARNING
EIGHTH ANNUAL MONO BASIN BIRD CHAUTAUQUA, Mono Lake & Vicinity
Hiking without a field guide? Science background slim? No worries. If you pay attention, the bug, the plant, or the bird can teach you a great deal. We will practice the time-honored art of making informal field notes to learn about natural phenomena. Discoveries made this way are not easily forgotten, and they complement knowledge from books and classes. No experience is necessary; all are welcome. Please bring notebook, pen, pencil, & eraser. This workshop is part of the Mono Basin Bird Chautauqua, a wonderful weekend of presentations, classes, walks, tours, and celebrations held every year in a spectacularly beautiful and ecologically critical area just east of Yosemite National Park. The modest registration fee covers three days of activities, Friday through Sunday.
Link
760-647-6595
Thursday, July 9-Sunday, July 12 • THE NATURALIST’S NOTEBOOK SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY SIERRA NEVADA FIELD CAMPUS, North Yuba River
Whether or not you have natural history training, you can use a journal to deepen your appreciation of any environ-ment. This class covers writing and sketching techniques useful for sharpening your powers of observation and analysis—and for producing a useful record of your experience. Each participant will design and carry out a small independent field project, pursuing a favorite question using skills gained in class. Previous experience with writing, sketching, and/or natural history is welcome but not assumed.
Link
jsteele@sfsu.edu
650-738-1814 (to June);
530-862-1230 (June-Aug)
Tuesday, July 14-Saturday, July 18 • HIGH-COUNTRY WRITING RETREAT
SAN FRANCISCO STATE UNIVERSITY SIERRA NEVADA FIELD CAMPUS, North Yuba River
An opportunity for new and experienced writers to take inspiration from the Sierra’s spiced air and rushing waters, its fertile ground and craggy heights. Group sessions provide guidance, prompts, and time to write and share work. Unstructured periods allow for individual writing, wandering, and optional instructor conferences. You determine the form and amount of writing you produce. Come experience the creative renewal that flourishes on a mountain retreat.
Link
jsteele@sfsu.edu
650-738-1814 (through May)
530-862-1230 (June-Aug)
Monday, September 14-Wednesday, September 16 • CIRCLING HOME: Writing for Beloved Places SITKA CENTER FOR ART & ECOLOGY, Cascade Head, Oregon Coast
Is there a spot on Earth that claims your heart? Pen in hand, we will explore knowledge and dreams associated with beloved terrain. We will write to discern the meanings in favorite places, and to take readers with us. Three intensive days include instruction, writing, readings, discussions, and one-on-one conferences. By Sunday afternoon you can expect to have a working draft of compelling prose about your chosen place.
Link
info@sitkacenter.org
541-994-5485
Friday, September 18 • EVERYDAY POETRY SITKA CENTER FOR ART & ECOLOGY, Cascade Head, Oregon Coast
Writing poems is a way of paying attention. It can distill meaning from everyday moments and communicate all kinds of experiences. This workshop will open doors into poetry’s myriad possibilities. Through guided exercises and individual writing time, we will range over a variety of topics, tactics, voices, and moods. Each participant will emerge with original poems and with tools for making poetry a life practice.
Link
info@sitkacenter.org
541-994-5485
Sarah Rabkin is a writer, editor, and visual artist, an award-winning university writing and environmental studies instructor, and a longtime keeper of illustrated field journals. She has worked as a high-school biology teacher and a science journalist. Since the late 1980s, she has led scores of field workshops in beautiful settings around the American West. Sarah has a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard University and a graduate certificate in science communication from UC Santa Cruz. She finds inspiration in landscapes, places, and the natural world, and she enjoys helping others cultivate the power in their own voices and visions.
