Be Inspired by Gertrude Stein: A Workshop

With the approval and support of Stanford in Washington and The Word Works, Inspired by Gertrude Stein, an interactive workshop will take place:

Saturday, February 4, 2012 from 10 am to 5 pm

The Stanford in Washington Art Gallery

2655 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC.

The workshop will celebrate the anniversary of Stein’s 138^th birthday (Feb 3, 1874). Hans Gallas, co-curator of the Insight & Identity: Contemporary Artists and Gertrude Stein exhibition, and Karren Alenier, a.k.a. the Steiny Road Poet, will lead the workshop.

Here is the schedule:

10 am-noon ..Overview of Gertrude Stein & her work


Noon-1 pm.....Lunch break in the neighborhood


1-2 pm............Curator’s tour of Insight & Identity


2-3 pm........... Participants spread out in the gallery to write


3-4 pm ...........Tea break in the Gallery (including family & friends)


4-5 pm ...........Share drafted work (with all visitors in the Gallery)

The Steiny Road Poet is working on a video about the workshop. She wrote a script, gathered still shots of Stein and her friends, shot photos and film footage in the Stanford in Washington Art Gallery, and made a PowerPoint storyboard. Meshing sound and image is definitely a challenge. Nonetheless, the Poet is amateur at this but hopes the message will get across. Coming soon!

Photo credit: Yale Collection of American Literature,

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

How About Midnight on Connecticut Avenue?

The Steiny Road Poet had so much fun partying with Gertrude Stein at the Stanford in Washington Art Gallery that she has begun stirring to the pot to create an opportunity for other poets to share the fun.

Gertrude Stein’s birthday is coming up February 3. Shh—138, born in 1874 and still influencing other artists as the Insight & Identity: contemporary Artists and Gertrude Stein exhibition proves. The S. R. Poet is asking Stanford in Washington to bring poets in for a workshop where they can learn about Stein and her work, get a curator’s tour of the exhibit, write poems inspired by the exhibit and Stein, and then present these new poems at a birthday bash for the first Modernist. Why should Woody Allen get all the buzz?

Stein wrote a book entitled To Do: A Book of Alphabets and Birthdays. The image here is taken from the cover of this book and this book is part of the collection belonging to Hans Gallas. Gallas is a co-curator of Insight & Identity exhibition and he said he wants to participate in the workshop and birthday party.

Stay tuned for more details. Thanks to Wanda Corn, 2011 has truly been the year of Gertrude Stein, so let’s keep the momentum going!