About This Event
Intuitive Collage Workshop:
Intergenerational Trauma and the Archive
Everyone has an archive. An archive is what you are left with– materials, photographs, documents, questions, the ripple effects of what and who has shaped your history. As Muriel Rukeyser states, “poetry can extend the document.” How can we push this extension further by inviting the textures of our real archives into our creative work?
In this generative and hands-on two-hour workshop, we will learn why (and how) one might manipulate personal "artifacts" to create multimedia collages that interrogate ruptures and absences in our personal and familial histories. We will explore hybrid works of contemporary visual poetics and interrogate our own personal histories through prompts, experiments, and discussion, toward the end of coming away with some new creative experiments and ideas for future projects.
All participants who are interested are welcome, no previous visual art experience needed.
Guidance for participants
Your archive is what you are left with– think about personal ephemera that intrigues you, that feels important to and/or representative of you and your history. Please bring with you an assortment of pieces from your archive that you could use in collaging.
Please note: the best way to do this is to make multiple photocopies of the original material so that you can play around and keep the original safe.
Here are some examples of common things that participants have brought that represent their archive:
- Family and historical photographs / copies or scans printed out
- Printed scans of notes, letters, journal entries, records, government documents, etc
- Printed scans of inherited objects– buttons, trinkets, collectable items, etc
- Collage-able meaningful personal ephemera– dried flowers, string, scraps or swatches, etc
This is by no means an exhaustive list. Bring what calls to you. Basic materials will be provided by Silver Eye.
Registration is free (optional donations will support this event). Space is limited to twenty participants to facilitate meaningful connection and participation.
Image from Holly (YesYes Books, 2026), courtesy of the artist.
Facilitator
grace (ge) gilbert (they/them) is a poet, writer and collage artist. they received their MFA in poetry from the University of Pittsburgh in 2022, where they now teach. they are the author of Holly (YesYes Books, 2026), a hybrid image and text book about the 1976 murder of their paternal grandmother, as well as three chapbooks. recent work can be found in The Kenyon Review, The Iowa Review, The Drift, the 2023 Best of the Net anthology, Pleiades, The Indiana Review, Ninth Letter, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. They teach hybrid collage and poetics courses at Brooklyn Poets, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Poet's House, and other institutions. They are passionate about making the hybrid arts accessible to all.
Community Partners
Silver Eye is grateful to our community partners meTamorphosis and Amari Onyx for making this workshop possible.
meTamorphosis is a local queer & trans led event series committed to uplifting emerging LGBTQ+ writers by curating inclusive community readings and collaborative events in Pittsburgh, PA. meTamorphosis celebrates queer & trans people's commitment to ongoing transformation and embracing change to become who they know themselves to be. meTamorphosis is organized by Amari Onyx.
Amari Onyx is a Black trans poet & artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. Poetry, art, and community sustain his existence, which inspired the creation of meTamorphosis in 2024. His work has appeared in Black Warrior Review and The Shade Journal and is set to appear in Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora and Callaloo. Amari is an editor working within, across, and between genres for 3 Sisters journal. He is a proud trans vogue fem.
About This Event
Intuitive Collage Workshop:
Intergenerational Trauma and the Archive
Everyone has an archive. An archive is what you are left with– materials, photographs, documents, questions, the ripple effects of what and who has shaped your history. As Muriel Rukeyser states, “poetry can extend the document.” How can we push this extension further by inviting the textures of our real archives into our creative work?
In this generative and hands-on two-hour workshop, we will learn why (and how) one might manipulate personal "artifacts" to create multimedia collages that interrogate ruptures and absences in our personal and familial histories. We will explore hybrid works of contemporary visual poetics and interrogate our own personal histories through prompts, experiments, and discussion, toward the end of coming away with some new creative experiments and ideas for future projects.
All participants who are interested are welcome, no previous visual art experience needed.
Guidance for participants
Your archive is what you are left with– think about personal ephemera that intrigues you, that feels important to and/or representative of you and your history. Please bring with you an assortment of pieces from your archive that you could use in collaging.
Please note: the best way to do this is to make multiple photocopies of the original material so that you can play around and keep the original safe.
Here are some examples of common things that participants have brought that represent their archive:
- Family and historical photographs / copies or scans printed out
- Printed scans of notes, letters, journal entries, records, government documents, etc
- Printed scans of inherited objects– buttons, trinkets, collectable items, etc
- Collage-able meaningful personal ephemera– dried flowers, string, scraps or swatches, etc
This is by no means an exhaustive list. Bring what calls to you. Basic materials will be provided by Silver Eye.
Registration is free (optional donations will support this event). Space is limited to twenty participants to facilitate meaningful connection and participation.
Image from Holly (YesYes Books, 2026), courtesy of the artist.
Facilitator
grace (ge) gilbert (they/them) is a poet, writer and collage artist. they received their MFA in poetry from the University of Pittsburgh in 2022, where they now teach. they are the author of Holly (YesYes Books, 2026), a hybrid image and text book about the 1976 murder of their paternal grandmother, as well as three chapbooks. recent work can be found in The Kenyon Review, The Iowa Review, The Drift, the 2023 Best of the Net anthology, Pleiades, The Indiana Review, Ninth Letter, The Adroit Journal, and elsewhere. They teach hybrid collage and poetics courses at Brooklyn Poets, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Poet's House, and other institutions. They are passionate about making the hybrid arts accessible to all.
Community Partners
Silver Eye is grateful to our community partners meTamorphosis and Amari Onyx for making this workshop possible.
meTamorphosis is a local queer & trans led event series committed to uplifting emerging LGBTQ+ writers by curating inclusive community readings and collaborative events in Pittsburgh, PA. meTamorphosis celebrates queer & trans people's commitment to ongoing transformation and embracing change to become who they know themselves to be. meTamorphosis is organized by Amari Onyx.
Amari Onyx is a Black trans poet & artist based in Pittsburgh, PA. Poetry, art, and community sustain his existence, which inspired the creation of meTamorphosis in 2024. His work has appeared in Black Warrior Review and The Shade Journal and is set to appear in Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora and Callaloo. Amari is an editor working within, across, and between genres for 3 Sisters journal. He is a proud trans vogue fem.