A residential, short course in environmental writing and literature. This course will run from October 7-11, 2024 (with an alternative session: April 28-May 2, 2025). The course will be led by Gretchen Henderson at the Oak Spring Garden Foundation, Upperville, Virginia and is designed as a compliment to Oak Spring’s “Reading the Landscape” course (not a prerequisite).
Overview:
The purpose of this course is for participants to gain experience in what is often referred to as “nature writing” or “environmental literature.” Land, place, nature, environment, wilderness: what words tend to describe the natural world? This course will deepen their understandings of landscape through language. Participants will read to hone their writing, and write to “read” the landscape, attuning attentions toward both land and language. Against the backdrop of the climate crisis, what narrative, poetic, and representational strategies expand or limit our perceptions of “nature”? How do personal and cultural histories and professional practices influence our ways of “seeing” (or not seeing) environments and interdependent inhabitants? In addition to reading, writing, and field practices, participants will keep an active notebook where process becomes part of the product. Both experienced and emerging writers are welcome.
Topics will include: how to keep a writing field guide, vocabularies of landscape, expanding categories of “nature” and “environmental” writing, natural-cultural histories, embodied knowledges, ecotones of voice, (dis)placed perceptions, narrative timescales, interdisciplinary research methods, among other topics. Special focus will be given to forms of nonfiction around “nature writing” and “environmental writing,” from scientific to personal essays, with exposure to other genres and art forms to gain techniques and hone craft.
Eligibility:
This field course is ideally suited to professionals from a wide range of backgrounds who wish to hone their skills of communication beyond professional “jargon” to write for a general audience. It also is suited to those who wish to read more deeply and broadly.
Humanists, artists, scientists, social scientists, educators, and advanced students across disciplines are all welcome, whether experienced or emerging writers. We hope that participants will find varied applications for the material to share what they gain from the program. Participants should come with a sense of curiosity, and be ready to read and write actively in the process of understanding landscapes, to learn alongside peers in group seminars, to share and listen while actively contemplating the surrounding landscape.
About OSGF:
The Oak Spring Garden Foundation (OSGF) is a philanthropic foundation based at the former primary estate of the late Paul and Rachel Mellon, who were major philanthropists in the U.S. of the arts, humanities, and sciences in the second half of the twentieth century. OSGF is located in the northern Virginia Piedmont and Blue Ridge Mountains region (ca. one-hour drive from Washington, D.C.). Led by Sir Peter Crane, the Foundation’s inaugural President, OSGF provides short courses and supports residencies for artists and scholars. Its celebrated Library comprises rare books, manuscripts and works of art relating to horticulture, landscape design, botany and natural history. It is becoming a new center of stimulation of all things botanical, from fundamental research in plant evolution and conservation, to horticultural and plant conservation practice, to the history and art of plants gardens and landscapes.
Instructor:
Gretchen E. Henderson writes across environmental literature and arts, cultural histories and integrative sciences. Her fifth book, Life in the Tar Seeps: A Spiraling Ecology from a Dying Sea (2023 Trinity University Press), has been melting across intermedia tributaries, exhibitions, performances, and field practices. Recent publications include Ecotone, Orion, Ploughshares, Kenyon Review, Notre Dame Review, LA+/Landscape Architecture Plus, and coauthored articles including Nature Sustainability. Her fourth book was translated across five languages. Gretchen is the 2023 Aldo & Estella Leopold Writer in Residence in New Mexico and a Lucas Artist Program Fellow in Literary Arts at Montalvo Arts in California; among other awards, she was a 2020-2022 Faculty Fellow at UT-Austin’s Humanities Institute and 2018-2019 Annie Clark Tanner Fellow in Environmental Humanities at the University of Utah. Currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, she has taught widely including Georgetown University, University of Utah, MIT, University of Arizona Poetry Center, and other writing programs across communities. Born and raised in San Francisco, Gretchen lives seasonally in the biodiverse Sonoran Desert where she invites participation in Dear Body of Water: a poetic water-harvesting project to cultivate care for watersheds.
Guest instructors for this course will also include members of the Oak Spring Garden Foundation's Library, Garden and Biocultural Conservation Farm teams, including Sir Peter Crane.
Accommodation and Travel Information:
Participants will be accommodated with all meals and private lodging on site at Oak Spring. They will need to bring proper clothing for being in the field (a suggested list will be provided after acceptance) as well as materials for writing.
Participants are responsible for arranging their own travel to the Washington, D.C. area. If flying, please book flights to Dulles International Airport. International applicants are welcome, but fluency in English is necessary. Closer to the start date, our Programs team will assist with coordinating travel arrangements to the Oak Spring Garden Foundation site, as necessary.
Dates and Duration:
The course runs for four (4) days. Participants will arrive on Monday, October 7, 2024 and depart on Friday, October 11, 2024. Participants should plan to arrive between 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Monday, October 7, 2024. (Note: An alternative session can also be selected within the application: April 28-May 2, 2025.)
Course Fee:
$950 is all-inclusive and covers full tuition, lodging on-site for four nights in our comfortable suites, and all meals on-site (from dinner on Monday through breakfast on Friday). A limited number of full or partial Fee Waivers are available for each session.
Selection Process:
Application review will be done by Gretchen Henderson and OSGF staff.
Application Deadline:
Monday, June 3, 2024 at 11:59PM EST. Applicants will be notified of their status around Tuesday, June 18, 2024.