Jeffers in the Classroom

Artistic Director Corey Madden has leading a nine-week workshop with Occidental College students called "Robinson Jeffers: Ecologies of Poetry." Photos from the class can be seen here. Here are Corey's notes on the experience thus far:

THE CLASS:
The independent study course: Robinson Jeffers: Ecologies of Poetry, is a participatory nine (9) week workshop where students will
· Develop skills in devising and composition;
· explore themes related to Robinson Jeffers’ poetry and legacy
· Use compositional elements such as natural elements, music, sound, performance, movement, text, environments, etc
· engage with the work of other artists including Maya Lin, Andy Goldsworthy and Isamu Noguchi and writers such as Gary Snyder, John McPhee, etc.
· collaborate in teams and independently
· engage with several communities during the development and presentation of work ( Oxy students, NE elementary and/or high school students, NE general population)
· create and produce multi/inter-disciplinary performances and installations in class and on campus
· plan and install their culminating projects within a budget and timeframe on the campus for the public and Oxy community between November 1-7, 2009.

9/15/09 CLASS 1
After a fast and furious recruitment process, we have 6 students registered for the Independent Study “Ecologies of Poetry” and about 30 students who want to participate in the project but haven’t got time in their schedules for a regular class.

Joni, Dmitri, Natayla, Monikah, Elaine and Julian represent a diverse cross section of the college community. We have science, humanities and arts majors, with interests in education, ecology and interdisciplinary art.

We read the Robinson Jeffers’ NEA reader’s guide together as a group. We looked at documentary photos of North East Los Angeles from the 1880s through 1920’s. We also looked at the work of land artists Maya Lin, Andy Goldsworthy and sculptor Isamu Noguchi.

I introduced the concept of composition by talking with students about their own experiences with making art, writing, music, running experiments etc. I talked about the common threads in any generative and creative process. I also talked about “shaping meaning” as a common process in all art, and “shaping meaning over time” a key difference between plastic arts and performing arts.

This class will develop the ability to compose short interdisciplinary works through an “additive” pedagogy. Over the course of 8 week, students will make a series of compositions, using “elements” such as text, site, nature, performer, sound, social content, introduced each week. Structuring and response techniques are introduced through dialogue among students as they watch and respond to each others’ work.
For our first class, we did a close reading using Jeffers’ the poem, Science. From this the students created a found poem, composed of words and phrases from the Jeffers’ poem to which they responded. Each student read her/his work aloud. For homework, I gave them their first Composition, in which they will use their found poem, a piece of paper, and an element of nature to make a site-specific work.

9/22/09 CLASS 2
I taught a one hour workshop at Lincoln High for 9 high school students in the GEAR UP mentoring program. I developed a variation of Composition #1 and the kids created found poems by cutting up the Jeffers text and then making a collage using the documentary photos from the turn of the century as inspiration. We’ll display these works on Jeffers’ Day. Had to race from Lincoln to Oxy in 95 degree heat! Phew!
At Oxy students showed their Composition #1- Text. This composition gave students the chance to work with three “elements”: Text ( found poem), Nature, Site ( a piece of paper)
Very excited by what the students produced this week. A few examples: Elaine embossed her paper with the bark of a tree and cut a door in her paper, that she opened and closed at the beginning and end of her poem. Joni produced a facsimile of a tree using her paper and placed a live oak branch in it. Dmitri drew an extraordinary pen and ink of a hand holding a compass.
Bruce Steele, “the patron saint of ecology” at Oxy came to class took the students and me on an enlightening and exhausting walk up to the top of Fiji Hill. Water use is of great concern to Bruce, and we learned about a water recycling system he helped designed and had installed under the parking lot on Fiji Hill.
Oxy uses 95 million gallons of water a year, most of which waters the soft scape. Run off because of the extensive hardscape is a huge concern on campus.
From high atop Fiji Hill, Bruce introduced us to the geology of the area, showed us native plants and talked about a variety of animals he’s encountered as a beekeeper in the area.
Bruce and the grounds staff cut a tree down and have kindly sawed it into 6 inch pieces for use in our projects. He has also gotten the FEAST the sustainable garden club to give us one garden bed to plant aesthetically. Bruce has also agreed to bring his bees to the garden for Jeffers’ day. Yeah, Bruce!

9/29/09 CLASS 3
In the first half of class today Elaine, Julian and Dmitri showed their site based works, based on Composition #2.
We offered responses to each student artist: what we saw, felt, heard, or were aware of in watching their piece. I also drew attention to structuring a work in simple ways: “Beginning, Middle, End” or “Establishment, Tension, Release” and to placing the audience in a very specific relationship to the site and considering how to move the audience’s focus.
In the second half of class we spent time with composer, Bruno Louchouarn as well as student sound designer, Jeff Adler, who has offered to work with students on their pieces.
We talked about sound and music as compositional elements in your pieces. Bruno focused his talk on the use of metaphor as a construct to develop sound/musical ideas for your piece.
Key ideas in the use of metaphor to stimulate development of a work:
Metaphors associate the meaning of one thing with another
Metaphors can be in varying degrees of contrast or consonance with each other.
For instance, we came up with several different metaphors from considering a simple plastic bottle of water.
One could work with the concept of the bottle’s “transparency” or the water’s “purity”.
A next step would be to generate associations that these metaphors brings up: cloudy, dirty, distorted, membrane, containment, etc…. and also look for strong contrasting metaphors such as “pollution” or “contamination”.
From this ideas about sounds and music, but also the piece as a whole may be generated. A site work example developed in class:
“Floating many plastic bottles of dirty water in the Oxy fountain and playing a score that shifts from sounds of nature to sounds of construction to sounds of wailing children.”


10/1/09 VISITS AND KICK OFF
Met with student dance club leader and discussed potential collaboration.
Visited with Elissa Chandler and about 15 students at the FEAST garden. We have several ideas about how to collaborate. Along with Auntie Em’s FEAST will sponsor at table at Jeffers’ Day with organic food baskets on display, as well as bi-lingual instructions about how to plant a kitchen garden.
Went to Opening Day for The Big Read. About 80 people showed up. It was wonderful to hear Jeffers’ poetry read by students, the new President of Occidental and to see how many members of the community are supportive.

10/6/09 CLASS 4
Natalya, Monikah and Joni showed Composition #2 -Site today. Natalya worked in the olive grove. Monikah found a hidden gem, in the garden south of the President’s House and Joni, showed work in the plant matter recycling lot up on Fiji Hill.
In a response period we focused on how to visually define a site, how to avoid limiting the site to the space around the performer, directing the eye through a progression of experiences that include “arrangement” can have a huge impact on directing attention
In Composition #3-Sound we’re incorporating the concept of metaphor from our class with composer, Bruno Louchouarn, and working with the text, Regarding Wave by Pulitzer Gary Snyder, another California poet sometimes referred to as the poet laureate of Deep Ecology.
Because time is marching on, we’re combining Composition 3 and 4. Composition 4: Social Content asked students to select Social Content to include in their work. I gave them four suggestions: sustainability, water use, youth, art and poetry. In some cases students have already selected content that’s meaningful and resonant with Jeffers’ Day. Students will also work in partnership, in preparation for how they will work on the final compositions.

More Big Read Events this Weekend!

Saturday, October 24

10:00am – 12:00pm

Walking Tour of Jeffers' Highland Park
Highland Park Heritage Trust, meet at the Band Shell
Neighborhood walking tour of the area around where Occidental was located when Jeffers was there. The tour will be led by Occidental alumni, Marilyn and Curt Robertson ('70, '68). The tour will begin at the band shell with a poetry reading and include two more readings at two of the houses. Refreshments will be served at Hillary Danner's house at the end at Avenue 50 Studios. Sign up online at the Heritage Trust website, donation requested.

1:00pm – 3:00pm

Art and Nature and Poetry, Debs Park
Audubon Center at Debs Park
4700 North Griffin Ave., Los Angeles CA 90031
Join artist Patricia González and an Audubon naturalist as we discover the nature of Debs Park through art and the poetry of Robinson Jeffers. Work on your own art and take it home. Families with children of all ages are welcome.

Sunday, October 25

11:00am – 1:00pm

Walking Tour of Jeffers' Highland Park
Highland Park Heritage Trust, meet at the Band Shell
Neighborhood walking tour of the area around where Occidental was located when Jeffers was there. The tour will be led by Occidental alumni, Marilyn and Curt Robertson ('70, '68). The tour will begin at the band shell with a poetry reading and include two more readings at two of the houses. Refreshments will be served at Hillary Danner's house at the end at Avenue 50 Studios. Sign up online at the Heritage Trust website, donation would be appreciated.

New Addition! Wed., Oct 21, 7pm: Poetry at Eagle Rock Plaza

Wednesday, October 21

7:00pm-10:00pm Light the Sky Poetry Series
The Metro Cafe, Eagle Rock Plaza
2700 Colorado Blvd., Los Angeles, 90041

Come join us as poets Brendan Constantine, Elizabeth Iannaci, Charlotte Innes, and Cathie Sandstrom read Jeffers poetry and add their unique and dynamic voices to Light the Sky at Eagle Rock Plaza. See Light the Sky Poetry Series website for more information.

Join us for this weekend's Big Read Events!

Saturday, October 17

9:30am – 11:00am
Family Nature Walk in Debs Park
Audubon Center at Debs Park
4700 North Griffin Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90031
Explore fall in Debs Park on this walk focusing on the poetry of Robinson Jeffers and nature. Hear poetry and create your own poem about Debs Park. Families with children of all ages are welcome.

2:00pm – 3:00pm
Wildlife Waystation presentation
Glendale Central Library Auditorium
222 E. Harvard St., Glendale, CA 91205
Reflecting Robinson Jeffers’ passion for the rich beauty of the natural world, the Glendale Public Library will host an event with the Wildlife Waystation who will discuss the organization's mission and history. Included in the event will be a presentation with a live great horned owl. The Wildlife Waystation, located in the Angeles National Forest, was founded in 1976 as a rescue and rehabilitation refuge for both native and exotic wild animals.

3:30pm – 4:30pm
Jeffers in Debs Park
Audubon Center at Debs Park
4700 North Griffin Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90031
Drop by the Center to see our Arroyo Seco Museum Science Magnet School students’ art and poetry inspired by the works of Robinson Jeffers. Students will be on hand to describe their creations.

4:00pm – 5:00pm
Poetry Reading by Los Angeles Poetry Festival
Arroyo Seco Regional Library, Los Angeles Public Library
6145 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90042
"The Deer Lay Down Their Bones:” Poems by and in the spirit of Robinson Jeffers. California poets will read Jeffers’ poetry and their own responses. Led by Suzanne Lummis of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival and featuring Dorothy Barresi, B.H. Fairchild, and Lynn Thompson with special guest poets Erika Ayon and Judith Pacht.

Sunday, October 18

3:30pm – 5:00pm
Friends of LA River Walking Tour
Lower Arroyo Seco Nature Park, Friends of the LA River
Join us for a special walking tour along the Arroyo Seco that combines poetry and nature! Explore one of the beautiful tributaries of the Los Angeles River that features restored native vegetation, walking paths and spectacular, historic bridges. Meet at 3:30 pm at the Lower Arroyo Seco Nature Park parking lot located at South Arroyo Blvd. and Norwood Drive. Walks are about an hour and a half and we ask a suggested donation of $10. See Friends of the LA River website for directions.

Troop 235 and The Big Read

Check out photos of Girl Scouts of America Troop 235's Jeffers poetry project at the Ethnobotanical Garden at the Southwest Museum of the American Indian here!

Troop 235 member Elisa Montag's reflection on the project:

In late August, I met with two Occidental College Librarians and discussed the BIG READ program dedicated to Robinson Jeffers. We decided we would work with the Southwest Museum and help them with their big event: the unveiling of a sculpture commemorating Native Americans in the museum's courtyard. On September 20, an Occidental English Professor came and talked with San Marino Girl Scout Troop 235 about Robinson Jeffers's poetry. Later, we met with a graphic designer, Kay Brown, and discussed how to incorporate Jeffers's poetry with the unveiling ceremony. We decided we would put up signs with excerpts from Jeffers's poems. Then on October 4, with the help of our graphic designer, we completed and installed all the signs. At the unveiling ceremony on October 10, we did a choral reading of Jeffers's poem, "The Beauty Of Things." Finally, we went to the garden and presented our signs to the guests.

Thursday: Jeffers on Nature of Things & Things of Nature

Thursday, October 15

4:30pm – 6:00pm

Keynote Panel: “Robinson Jeffers on the Nature of Things and the Things of Nature”

Occidental College, Johnson Hall, Alumni Auditorium

1600 Campus Road, Los Angeles, CA 90041

A panel of Jeffers scholars will discuss the scientific and poetic ways of understanding the world including the relationship of poetry—Jeffers’ poetry in particular—to evolution, natural history and ecological concerns in the modern period. For panelists and bios, click thru the posting title.

Photos and recent Coverage

The Big Read was featured in the Eastsider LA blog--check it out here!

Also, check out our Facebook fan page for new photos from last week's Big Read events here! And while you're there, become a fan!

Fans of Jeffers: Full Schedule & Details

Just a reminder that the full schedule is online. Click this posting title or visit The Big Read: Robinson Jeffers Facebook page. Are you a fan yet?

Check out our Facebook page for photos and coverage of the Big Read!

Click on this post's title to go straight to our Facebook page. While you're there, become a fan!

Here are some links to coverage the Big Read has been getting:

Occidental Weekly
Sierra Club Magazine
LA Blips blog
Highland Park blog
SoCal Minds blog
Cheapsters blog
Eastsider LA blog

This Weekend's Big Read Events!

Saturday, October 10

2:00pm – 3:00pm
Jeffers in the Ethnobotanical Garden opening
Southwest Museum of the American Indian
234 Museum Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90065
Engage with Jeffers poetry while walking through the Ethnobotanical Garden. Poetry chosen and placed in the garden by the girls of Girl Scout Troop 235.

2:00pm – 3:00pm
Tongva Tiat Sculpture Dedication
Southwest Museum of the American Indian
234 Museum Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90065
The dedication of a sculpture donated to the museum by the Southwest Museum Docent Council will be highlighted by readings of Jeffers poetry. The sculpture, installed in the patio at the museum entrance, is a steel model of the Tiat, the traditional plank canoe with which the Tongva/Gabrielino peoples plied the waters between the mainland and the Channel Islands. The sculpture is the work of local artist, Gerardo Hacer, who creates what he calls “steel origami”. Light refreshments will be served.

4:00pm - 5:30pm
Poetry Reading by Los Angeles Poetry Festival
El Alisal / Lummis House
200 East Avenue 43, Los Angeles, CA 90031
"The Deer Lay Down Their Bones:” Poems by and in the spirit of Robinson Jeffers. California poets will read Jeffers’ poetry and their own responses. Led by Suzanne Lummis of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival and featuring Charles Harper Webb, Cecilia Woloch, actress Dale Raoul (True Blood) reading the poetry of Robinson Jeffers, and special guest poet Jamie Asae FitzGerald. Presented by the Historical Society of Southern California.

Photos from this Weekend's Big Read Events

Check out the Big Read Facebook page for photos from this weekend's events:

1. "The Deer Lay Down Their Bones:” Poems by and in the spirit of Robinson Jeffers. California poets will read Jeffers’ poetry and their own responses. Led by Suzanne Lummis of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival and featuring Sarah Maclay, Carine Topal, William Archila, Brendan Constantine with special guest poets Charlotte Innes and Terry McCarty.
Location: Eagle Rock Branch, Los Angeles Public Library

2. In poetry of great scope and precise detail, Robinson Jeffers discovered the divinity of nature as it is understood by modern science. Jeffers documented his discoveries in thrilling and violent “verse novels,” set in California’s coastal mountains, and meditative lyric poems that express an environmental secular faith that is still relevant today. Presented by George Hart, Associate Professor of English at California State University, Long Beach and Co-editor of Jeffers Studies.
Location: Vroman's Book Store, Pasadena

Saturday, Oct 2: Eagle Rock & Pasadena!

Visit Vroman's at 1pm and Eagle Rock Library at 4pm, details at....

Schedule of Events (new improved website!)

Jeffers Big Read Kick Off

Here are links to photos and story from Oxy! Great event, lots of poetry, and thoughtful remarks. We raised $253 in donations for Wildlife Waystation with Jeffers T-shirts.
http://www.oxy.edu/x8952.xml
http://www.facebook.com/occidental
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxyphotos/sets/72157622501803044/

Check out our Facebook page for more photos from the kickoff:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=125902&id=135260811486&ref=mf

The Big Read Kicks Off Tonight! More Events on Saturday

Thursday, October 1

6:00pm - 8:00pm Kick Off for The Big Read
Mary Norton Clapp Library, Occidental College
1600 Campus Road, Los Angeles, CA 90041

Join Oxy, our community partners and special guests to launch The Big Read with poetry reading by the Oxy community, a message from Robinson Jeffers to Oxy recorded in 1955. The night marks the opening of "Robinson Jeffers and the Ecologies of Poetry" exhibit featuring a wide selection of rare Jeffers artifacts, photos, and books, works of Oxy and local poets and works by Los de Abajo Printmaking Collective on the theme of water, exhibits on North Los Angeles ecology. Big Read t-shirts will be available, and donations for these shirts will support the Wildlife Waystation.

Saturday, October 3

1:00pm – 2:00pm Jeffers Poetry presented by George Hart
Vroman's Bookstore
695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91101

In poetry of great scope and precise detail, Robinson Jeffers discovered the divinity of nature as it is understood by modern science. Jeffers documented his discoveries in thrilling and violent “verse novels,” set in California’s coastal mountains, and meditative lyric poems that express an environmental secular faith that is still relevant today. Presented by George Hart, Associate Professor of English at California State University, Long Beach and Co-editor of Jeffers Studies.

3:00pm - 4:30pm Poetry Reading by Los Angeles Poetry Festival
Eagle Rock Branch, Los Angeles Public Library
5027 Caspar Avenue, Los Angeles, 90041

"The Deer Lay Down Their Bones:” Poems by and in the spirit of Robinson Jeffers. California poets will read Jeffers’ poetry and their own responses. Led by Suzanne Lummis of the Los Angeles Poetry Festival and featuring Sarah Maclay, Carine Topal, William Archila, Brendan Constantine with special guest poets Charlotte Innes and Terry McCarty.

The Occidental Weekly on the Big Read

Check out Occidental Weekly writer Richie DeMaria's excellent front-page story on The Big Read here!