Writers will be set a unique challenge at one Tamar Valley Writer’s Festival event: life writing.
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Held at the University of Tasmania Academy Gallery, upon first glance it will be difficult to tell the difference between this event and a life drawing class.
A model will be standing on a dais in the middle of the room. Participants will have a blank piece of paper and a tool at the ready. There will be sketches of human figures on the walls.
But instead of life drawing, the group will be expected to create written interpretations of the body posed in front of them.
The session is being run by Dr Kim Lehman, who said it will provide an opportunity for writers who want to test themselves.
“Spontaneous writing can be difficult,” he said.
“You sit down in front of a blank page and you stare at it for a long time, in my experience.
“I also find that there’s a challenge when you’ve got specific parameters around something. It’s quite challenging to have constraints, and it’s actually quite good for your writing.”
The group will warm up with a few sessions of about one minute each, before the model will hold a different 15-minute pose three times, for writers to craft a piece of work around. Afterwards they will have the opportunity to read their finished product to the room, but this will be entirely voluntary.
As for the model, the pair have worked together to create an outfit that will surely be new material for all of the writers in the room: “she’s a bit of a 1970s space disco cowgirl,” Dr Lehman said.
Meanwhile, a new exhibition at the Academy Gallery will complement the event.
Originally planning on having a few artist friends decorate the room to create a creative atmosphere, the decor for Dr Lehman’s session has morphed into Drawing Without Words, running at the gallery from September 17 to October 12.
Artists Robert Boldkald, Kate Camm, Joanna Gair, David Hamilton, Fiona Lehman, David Marsden, Ben Miller and Anna Van Stralen have each contributed their own take on the life drawing genre.
Not Drawing, Writing with Kim Lehman will take place on Friday September 14 at 2pm as part of the Tamar Valley Writer’s Festival, $48.22.