“I invented the one breath, one line method during my last year of graduate school,” says Theresa Antonellis referring to her unusual drawing process. “I wanted to find a way to synthesize everything I was thinking and learning before I started my MFA.” For many years prior, Theresa taught yoga and massage both of which involve a lot of breath work. Finding herself in the pressure cooker-environment of graduate school, she wanted to incorporate the two calming disciplines into her practice. That’s when she started experimenting with breath-generated mark making. “I was making marks based on the range of motion in my arm, and I came to settle on this very controlled one breath, one line and range of motion in the wrist or the arm plus the length of the drawing implement.“ At VCCA, Theresa was working on a series of line drawings made with a ballpoint pen and larger works made with oakgall ink on Japanese paper. The work shares an affinity, but the effect is quite different.   

What better place to write poetry than Southwest France? Auvillar is a jewel of a village, one of France’s “100 most beautiful villages.” Truly, there’s nothing that’s not poetry in our village. As the light strikes it, the Garonne changes its appearance every time you look. The food is unbeatable, the wine is superb, the people are friendly. Oh yes, we write some poetry, too!  This is our 9 th year and many of our poets have published the poetry they’ve written in the workshop. Afternoon demos in French cooking and photography add resonance to our workshop title, “O Taste and See: Writing the Senses in Deep France.” Workshop leader, Dr. Marilyn Kallet, Nancy Moore Goslee Professor of English at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is the author of 17 books, including The Love That Moves Me , poetry from Black Widow Press. To contact Marilyn Kallet: mkallet@utk.edu