Creative Expressions: Memories,
Mothers & More
Thursday, May 14, 2020
The SUNY
Empire community has a rich and varied artist community. Join us each week to
share in some creative expression. Come and meet our “artists in residence” and
learn a little about their art, their process, and them! Our artists will also
host a Q&A session following their presentations.
Join us this week and every week in Zoom at
this link - https://bit.ly/CreativeExpressionSeries.
Featured
this week will be presentations by fiber artists: Elaine Handley, Nan Travers,
and Connelly Akstens.
Facilitator:
Lisa D’Adamo-Weinstein
Elaine, Nan, and Connelly will be speaking about their
creative works with Elaine and Connelly reading excerpts from their memoirs
touching upon their relationships with their mothers. And Nan will share her
botanical printing fiber arts inspired from the teachings of her mother. As part of their presentations, they will
reflect upon their creative processes as well as share their works.
Elaine Handley (author): Elaine is professor in the School of
Arts and Humanities. She teaches a
variety of writing and literature courses, including the Art of Memoir. As this year 's ESC's Imperatore Fellow, she
has been conducting workshops in the community, using expressive writing as a
tool to help caregivers process their roles and support their important and
often unacknowledged work
Nan L.
Travers director, Center for Leadership in
Credentialing Learning (fiber artist): Nan has a math and science background and
taught high school math and college math, statistics and research methods for
over 40 years. Her doctorate is in adult learning and currently focuses on
learning recognition (prior learning assessment and competency-based learning),
incremental credentialing opportunities (e.g., micro-credentialing) and the
integration of workplace learning and higher education. She has held multiple
administrative positions at community colleges and SUNY Empire State College.
Nan is also a fabric artist, professionally for about 30 years. Her greatest
focus is on silk painting, felting, and botanical printing, as well as mixed
fiber medias and collage, and provides workshops in fiber arts through her
studio, Woodside Pond Studios.
Connelly Akstens (author) has been a mentor at Empire State College for more
than twenty years. Among her interests are Shakespeare, the history of ideas
and American roots music. She lives in Rhode Island and this time of year
devotes free time to vegetable gardening and fly fishing for striped bass. The
chapter she will be reading, "An Enigmatic Woman" is from her
forthcoming memoir, Without Shame: Learning to be Me.
