Let your creativity shine through and make a greeting card, a cherished gift for someone special, right in time for Mother’s Day, or any other occasion. Join visual artist and poet Marie Olofsdotter and learn how to make a pop-up card, a card with unique folds, and more. Add a tiny envelope with a secret message. Learn how to collage and embellish your card in a multitude of ways. As a finishing touch, create a personal message, a one line poem. All the materials are provided.

For ages 13 – adult
Registration Deadline: April 27, 2024

In this workshop we will explore craft elements that lead to beautiful, meaningful poems. Grounded in nature poetry and nature themes, we will study the poetic line, sound and meter in poetry, and how our individual voices shape the work we make. Each week we'll read together, write together, and share ideas together. The class runs for four weeks on Monday nights from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., beginning May 6th. Taught by nationally renowned poet Michael Kleber-Diggs.

This workshop is the first of two offered as part of the Reentry Lab & ArtStart Writing Fellowship program. For more information: reentrylab.org/artstart-fellowship

Class dates: May 6, 13, 20 & June 3 

Michael's website: michaelkleberdiggs.com/aboutmkd

For adults

Come celebrate spring at ArtScraps with an evening of art, poetry, and light refreshments. Curated by Patrick Cabello Hansel, author of The Devouring Land and Quitting Time. Patrick has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and was part of the Mentor Series for the Loft Literary Center. 

Featuring readings by Sherrie Fernandez-Williams, Emily Bright, and Zach Czaia.

Emily Bright's poetry collection "Fierce Delight: Poems of Early Motherhood" is forthcoming from North Star Press in the spring of 2025. She is a Weekend Host on MPR News, where she also produces two long-running weekly arts and books series: Art Hounds and Ask a Bookseller. She holds an MFA in poetry from the University of Minnesota and a BA in English from Williams College. Her individual poems have been published widely in journals and anthologies; she is also the author of a poetry chapbook, Glances Back, and co-author of the book Powerful Ideas in Teaching: Creating Environments Where Students Want to Learn.

Zach Czaia is a poet and high school English teacher. His most recent collection, Knucklehead, was published in 2021 with Nodin Press. Check out his reflections on teaching and poetry on his Substack, "Teacher / Poet."

Sherrie Fernandez-Williams earned her MFA in Writing from Hamline University.  She is a 2021-2023 Jerome Hill Artist Fellow and a 2021 Black Voices in Children’s Literature winner. She received additional grants and awards through the Minnesota State Arts Board, The Loft Literary Center, The Givens Foundation for African American Literature, Intermedia Arts,  SASE: The Write Place, and The Playwrights’ Center. The author of the book of poems,  Goddess of the Wholself,  and the memoir Soft, Fernandez-Williams, has published poems in journals including New Limestone Review, Aquifer: The Florida Review, and Duke University Press, among others. Her essays can be found in anthologies including We are Meant to Rise: Voices for Justice from Minneapolis to the World, How Dare We Write: A Multicultural Creative Writing Discourse, and The Poverty and Education Reader. She co-curates the Queer Voices Reading Series with LM Brimmer in collaboration with Quatrefoil Library and Hennepin County Libraries.   

This event is free, but registration is required. 

For ages 13 – adult

June 17-21, M-F, Morning Session: 8:30-11:45am

Ages 6-8

Fantasia! Atlantis to Middle Earth: A Creative Writing & Art Camp

From Narnia to Harry Potter’s Wizarding World, stories have the power to transport us to a different reality. Some of the most engaging ones create a whole alternate universe, where cowardly lions battle their fears, kids go on dangerous quests, and dragons soar through the skies. In this camp, you’ll get to create your own fantasy world with words and images, and plunge into creating stories to rival those from Oz or Nim.

Morning Classes:

Spine-Tingling Adventures: The Art of Mystery, Suspense, and Action in World-building 

Taught by Karlyn Coleman

Young writers, journey into world-building with us! Explore haunted and mysterious places, crafting thrilling tales. Join our exciting journey where we create page-turning and spine-tingling stories to tell around a campfire! 

Poetry and Graphic Novels 

Taught by Allison Blevins

Visual artists and writers often inspire each other to both create in fun new ways and push boundaries: poems have been written about paintings, songs about tv shows, and movies about books.  Artists and writers also find ways to combine their creativity and work together using illustration, posters, and more.  In this camp, you'll work together to inspire each other and create pieces that combine art with writing.  Our final project will be a poetic graphic novel.

Pricing

Half-day (morning or afternoon session): $250

Full day: $450 (use our discount code: FULLDAYFAN24)

Partial scholarships available upon request

June 17-21, M-F, Morning Session: 8:30-11:45am

Ages 9-12

Fantasia! Atlantis to Middle Earth: A Creative Writing & Art Camp

From Narnia to Harry Potter’s Wizarding World, stories have the power to transport us to a different reality. Some of the most engaging ones create a whole alternate universe, where cowardly lions battle their fears, kids go on dangerous quests, and dragons soar through the skies. In this camp, you’ll get to create your own fantasy world with words and images, and plunge into creating stories to rival those from Oz or Nim.

Morning Classes:

Spine-Tingling Adventures: The Art of Mystery, Suspense, and Action in World-building 

Taught by Karlyn Coleman

Young writers, journey into world-building with us! Explore haunted and mysterious places, crafting thrilling tales. Join our exciting journey where we create page-turning and spine-tingling stories to tell around a campfire! 

Poetry and Graphic Novels 

Taught by Allison Blevins

Visual artists and writers often inspire each other to both create in fun new ways and push boundaries: poems have been written about paintings, songs about tv shows, and movies about books.  Artists and writers also find ways to combine their creativity and work together using illustration, posters, and more.  In this camp, you'll work together to inspire each other and create pieces that combine art with writing.  Our final project will be a poetic graphic novel.

Pricing

Half-day (morning or afternoon session): $250

Full day: $450 (use our discount code: FULLDAYFAN24)

Partial scholarships available upon request

June 17-21, M-F, Afternoon Session: 12:30-3:45pm

Ages 6-8

Fantasia! Atlantis to Middle Earth: A Creative Writing & Art Camp

From Narnia to Harry Potter’s Wizarding World, stories have the power to transport us to a different reality. Some of the most engaging ones create a whole alternate universe, where cowardly lions battle their fears, kids go on dangerous quests, and dragons soar through the skies. In this camp, you’ll get to create your own fantasy world with words and images, and plunge into creating stories to rival those from Oz or Nim.

Afternoon Classes:

Wild Worlds: Build on Your Imagination 

Taught by Aegor Ray

So often a story begins with a simple question: What would happen if...? What would happen if octopuses took over the world? What would happen if our memories began to disappear? In this class, we'll design worlds and characters that stem from one of your questions. Whether you imagine an underwater utopia or an oil spill in the Mississippi or a blossoming community orchard in Saint Paul, we'll take your seeds and create dioramas, masks, and written books that explore a world! This will be a class of play and artmaking in addition to writing!

Roll For It: Collaborative Storytelling Through Games

Taught by Josie Hegarty

In this course, we will come together to build a dynamic world and then have an adventure in it. We will create exciting characters to embody in the world we build, and using dice, magic, a few rules  and our imaginations, explore and expand that universe as we quest.

Pricing

Half-day (morning or afternoon session): $250

Full day: $450 (use our discount code: FULLDAYFAN24)

Partial scholarships available upon request

June 17-21, M-F, Afternoon Session: 12:30-3:45pm

Ages 9-12

Fantasia! Atlantis to Middle Earth: A Creative Writing & Art Camp

From Narnia to Harry Potter’s Wizarding World, stories have the power to transport us to a different reality. Some of the most engaging ones create a whole alternate universe, where cowardly lions battle their fears, kids go on dangerous quests, and dragons soar through the skies. In this camp, you’ll get to create your own fantasy world with words and images, and plunge into creating stories to rival those from Oz or Nim.

Afternoon Classes:

Wild Worlds: Build on Your Imagination 

Taught by Aegor Ray 

So often a story begins with a simple question: What would happen if...? What would happen if octopuses took over the world? What would happen if our memories began to disappear? In this class, we'll design worlds and characters that stem from one of your questions. Whether you imagine an underwater utopia or an oil spill in the Mississippi or a blossoming community orchard in Saint Paul, we'll take your seeds and create dioramas, masks, and written books that explore a world! This will be a class of play and artmaking in addition to writing!

Roll For It: Collaborative Storytelling Through Games

Taught by Josie Hegarty

In this course, we will come together to build a dynamic world and then have an adventure in it. We will create exciting characters to embody in the world we build, and using dice, magic, a few rules  and our imaginations, explore and expand that universe as we quest.

Pricing

Half-day (morning or afternoon session): $250

Full day: $450 (use our discount code: FULLDAYFAN24)

Partial scholarships available upon request

Beginning-Level Adult Poetry Class: Revision, Reuse, and Resurrection: The Wheel of Poetry, with RLASW Fellow, Davi Gray

This workshop will focus on the art of poetry regeneration: taking work that is unpolished, unfinished, or just plain unsatisfying, and turning it into something miraculous. Or at least better.

Davi Gray (they/she) is a queer, trans, nonbinary poet & writer, storyteller, artist, activist, and abolitionist. They live in North Minneapolis (Bde Óta Othúŋwe), within Mni Sóta Makoce, traditional homelands of the Dakota and Ojibwe. Davi has won several prizes in PEN America Prison Writing Contests in multiple genres; was nominated for an AWP Intro prize; and was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2023 Muriel Craft Bailey Poetry contest. Their writing has appeared in Poetry, Rogue Agent, NonBinary Review, and elsewhere. They can often be found performing around the Twin Cities. You can find more on Davi Gray and their work, including upcoming events, at davigray.com.

We will practice reading, writing, rewriting, and workshopping poems; discuss, experiment with, and practice a plethora of revision techniques; explore forms specifically designed for reusing and repurposing work, including the Golden Shovel, the cento, blackout/erasure poetry, and visual techniques; and discuss and practice various techniques for reading poems out loud, both as a way to present one's work and as a tool for improving the poetry. The class runs for four weeks on Monday nights from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. beginning June 17.

Mentored by Michael Kleber-Diggs 

Michael's website: michaelkleberdiggs.com/aboutmkd

This workshop is the second of two offered as part of the Reentry Lab & ArtStart Writing Fellowship program. For more information on the program: https://reentrylab.org/artstart-fellowship

To register for the first course: https://artstart.coursestorm.com/course/line-sound-meter-and-voice-poems-as-beautiful-songs?search=line

Space is limited to 10 participants. 

For adults