Fall 2021 Programs
All events are in the Museum of Art unless otherwise noted.
Queer/Dialogue: Conversation & Reception
Friday, Sept. 10, 4–6 p.m.
Curators Dan Strong and Greg Manuel, artist Jordan King, and GCMoA collections manager/registrar Jocelyn Krueger will open the exhibition with a conversation (4-5 p.m.), followed by a reception.
Writers@Grinnell – Santiago Jose Sanchez
Thursday, Sept. 23, 8 p.m.
Santiago Jose Sanchez, Grinnell College Mellon Fellow in fiction, is a queer, Colombian-American writer. Their stories have been published in McSweeney’s, ZYZZYVA, Subtropics, Joyland, and Best American Short Stories 2020. They have received fellowships for their writing from the University of Iowa and the Lambda Literary Writers’ Retreat, where they were a 2017 Emerging LGBTQ Voices Fellow.
Writers@Grinnell – Melissa Febos and Donika Kelly
Thursday, Oct. 14, 8 p.m.
Melissa Febos and Donika Kelly, English Department faculty at University of Iowa, will present a joint reading. Febos is the author of the memoir, Whip Smart, and the prize-winning essay collection, Abandon Me. Kelly specializes in poetry and gender studies in contemporary American literature, and has authored the chapbook Aviarium, and the acclaimed collection, Bestiary.
How to Write a Queer Story
Tuesday, Oct. 26, 7–8:30 p.m.
Santiago Jose Sanchez, Grinnell College Mellon Fellow in fiction, will lead a generative writing workshop that asks participants to listen, hear, and make room for vulnerability in their lives and on the page by taking inspiration from artworks on view in Queer/Dialogue and a selection of short fiction excerpts. Participants will write a piece of fiction in response to a prompt.
Writers@Grinnell : Ralph James Savarese and Tilly Woodward
Thursday, Nov. 11, 8 p.m.
Ralph James Savarese will read from Did We Make It? a chapbook of Ekphrastic poetry written in response to paintings by Tilly Woodward, published by Hole in the Head Review. Savarese and Woodward will talk about their process and show clips from their Ekphrastic video of the same name. Professor Savarese is the author of three collections of poetry — Republican Fathers, When This Is Over, and Someone Falls Overboard: Talking through Poems — and two books of prose, Reasonable People and See It Feelingly. Tilly Woodward is GCMoA’s curator of academic and community outreach, and an artist whose works can be found in museum, corporate and private collections around the world.
Queer/Dialogue: A Musical Conversation
Thursday, Dec. 2, 4:30 p.m.
Students in Professor Daniel Oore’s Creative Music Ensemble engaged with works in Queer/Dialogue over the course of the semester. In this final performance they will respond to works in the exhibition, conversing with music, art and audience.
Celebration!
Saturday, Dec. 11, 4–6 p.m.
As the semester winds down, help us close Queer/Dialogue and celebrate the retirement of Lesley Wright. Lesley has served as director since the Museum opened in 1999 and has played a key role embedding art in the life of the campus and in the community in remarkable ways. All are welcome to the festivities marking her 22 years at Grinnell.