Awing & Honoring:
A Frederick Gao Retrospective and Public Series
Enter the inspiring world of Frederick Gao (1950-2023), an inner tapestry of lush landscapes, weathered New England barns, livestock and people, rendered into paintings and capturing his 30+ years of observing life in Western Massachusetts. Unlike most retrospectives, where the artist has decades of pieces, showing gradients of their identity and perspective over time, Gao’s body of work was produced through an impassioned flurry of just five years, resulting in the creation of more than one hundred gobsmacking oil paintings and ink sketches.
Gao was born in the city of Xi’an, China, grew up in the height of the cultural revolution, and moved to the U.S. in the mid 80’s as a student. Becoming a painter wasn’t an available option, and thus, it wasn’t until his retirement that he put paint to canvas – or at first – pen to paper. Nonetheless, it became an instant spell. For the first time ever, he was animated by a phenomenon of awing that came from within, and is the animating force that used him as a vessel to produce the collection that stands before you today.
Our beloved Frederick Gao passed away on December 17th, 2023 at the age of 73. He never had the pleasure of experiencing his own solo show. And so, this is it…his glorious, wonderful, celebratory debut as a solo artist.
The spirit of Awing and Honoring is not to hastily or flatly look at his art against a wall. That can be wonderful and certainly be enough. However, what we would like to invite you to do, is to engage in this theme of Awing and Honoring by experiencing the phenomenon of awing (inspiring awe or admiration or wonder) for yourself, and honor Gao’s life and legacy by doing so.
In the months of May and June, five phenomenal locally based artists will be presenting multi-sensory, experimental workshops that explore different themes of aliveness. Through the mediums of poetry, narrative and grief writing, plant medicine, visual art and clay, community members can come join these rich investigations and play. Workshops are designed for all levels, span different age groups, and are free to the public. RSVPs are required for some, due to capacity.
Join us at the opening
reception May 4th, from 2-4pm
Sunderland Public Library
20 School Street
Sunderland, MA 01375
Katrina Goldsaito
Mapping the Wilds of Grief
Tuesday 5/7/24 from 6-8pm
A workshop for writers at any level, we’ll investigate strategies for writing about grief, and work through writing prompts. Here we approach grief as an unexplored land, moving through it slowly and marveling at its unique topography. We will approach our stories with gentle curiosity, noting the unique details of your particular telling while keeping an eye on the larger topography.
We’ll look at the context your story arose from, the unanswerable questions you’re faced with, and what central metaphors, mythologies, and structures you can build to support your work.
We will make rituals around our physical and internal spaces, allowing us to be honest on the page while still re-entering the flow of our lives at the end of future writing sessions.
Ages 18+
Katrina Goldsaito’s award-winning books and performances wade through the depth of human experience to make space for presence and connection.
Her book THE SOUND OF SILENCE was called “An illustrated serenade to the art of listening to your inner voice amid the noise of modern life.” by Maria Popova and was named a Book of the Year by NPR, People Magazine, Brain Pickings, The Boston Globe, the Huffington Post, and won the Northern California Book Award. It has been translated into French, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Czech, Vietnamese, and Mongolian.
Her upcoming book on loss is forthcoming from Hachette in 2026.
ReachYou, her augmented reality collaboration with Jonah Goldsaito connects participants with their grief: mundane or profound. Its world premiere was at the Tribeca Festival, and continued on to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Kaohsiung Film Festival in Taiwan.
With her intergenerational family, Katrina lived nomadically for a few years, and has written travel journalism for many publications including National Geographic, NPR, and the Christian Science Monitor.
She now lives in the woods in Amherst, Massachusetts.
Vanessa Chakour
Exploring Inner & Outer Wilds: Embodied Nature Writing
Wednesday 5/15/24 from 2-4pm
Delve into the myriad ways nature writing can deepen intimacy with local ecosystems and foster empathy for the wild. With the inspiration of Frederick Gao’s landscapes, we’ll explore local ecosystems — inside and out — and create landscapes with words. Led by author, herbalist and outdoor educator Vanessa Chakour, this 2-hour workshop will begin with a brief plant walk followed by readings, writing exercises, and craft discussion. Students will be invited to read their own work at the end.
Adults 18+ and young adults
Vanessa Chakour is an author, naturalist, visual artist, herbalist and nature advocate. A dynamic blend of her vast personal experiences over 20+ years, she facilitates courses and retreats; helping students access their inner wild while learning from the plants, fungi and animals that share their ecosystems. She created Rewilding Through Writing programs to facilitate healing through the creative process; encouraging writers to trust their creative instincts and build confidence in their voice. Vanessa lives with her partner in Western Massachusetts where they steward Mount Owen Forest Sanctuary, promoting ecosystem diversity and resilience through forest stewardship and propagation of native and endangered plants and fungi. She is the author of Awakening Artemis, a memoir of healing through the lens of 24 medicinal plants, and the forthcoming Earthly Bodies: Embracing Animal Nature that Sy Montgomery, bestselling author of How to Be A Good Creature, calls a "triumphant and vibrant interweaving of memoir and natural history."
Akilah Scharff-Teoh
Liminal Spaces: Finding Ourselves Through Clay
Saturday 6/8/24 from 2-4pm
Find your inner artist, and work through unresolved ideas with clay as a conduit for creative exploration. The notion of taking a clay workshop may seem intimidating, however, this session is not about technique or craftsmanship. Join ceramic artist Akilah Scharff-Teoh in an interactive sculpting session and group conversation which explores ideas around identity, creativity, and forming your own definition of the word "artist".
This workshop is best suited for ages 5 to 105. Clay and tools will be provided. No prior experience is necessary. Those who wish to keep their sculpture will be provided the opportunity to have their work bisque fired (fired in a kiln, in order for your piece to become durable) by Akilah, for pickup from the library at a later date.]
Akilah Scharff-Teoh is a first-generation Caribbean-American artist and creative technologist based in Western Massachusetts, where she explores the joy and toil of liminal existence. Studio Feeler, her art practice, is a combination of self-actualization, meditation, spiritual embodiment, and ancestral quest-making. While on her ceramics journey, Akilah’s quest-making intersects with photography, textiles, collage, and interior design.
Emily Pettit
POEMS & PAINTINGS
& POSTCARDS
Saturday 6/15/24 from 2-4pm
This generative poetry writing workshop will look to the wondrous paintings of Frederick Gao to lead us through an exploration of how awing and honoring a person or place or object or idea or feeling might ignite our imagination. When art of any medium inspires in us a desire to make art, it is such a beautiful and expansive opportunity for connection, investigation, and discovery. Postcards will work to give us a constructive writing constraint to embrace or abandon, as well as a means to share whatever writing we might make. This workshop welcomes all people and all levels of experience writing and reading poems.
For all ages
Emily Pettit is a poet, artist, editor and teacher from Western, Massachusetts. She received an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop and a PhD from the University of Denver. Emily is an editor for Factory Hollow Press and the author of the poetry collections, Goat In The Snow and Blue Flame.
In this workshop we will come together as a small community to engage in self-expression through brief moments of creativity. Breaking down the process of creative writing into three stages, we will cluster, freewrite, and write. Participants may express themselves through narrative, poetry, and (if they wish) visual art. We will explore literary techniques such as scene-setting, dialogue, description, and thematic resonance. Simply bring yourself and an openness to the creative process and we will move inward together as we immerse ourselves in the power and presence of Fred Gao's art.
Ages 18+
Cartographies: Mapping the Interior
Saturday 6/22/24 from 10-12pm
Connie Griffin
For many years Connie has found joy in creative writing and facilitating the process of reflection and storytelling in others. She finds it an honor to work at the intersections of narrative and visual art with others within reflective spaces. Connie has facilitated creative writing workshops in numerous academic and workshop venues and currently is a faculty member at the Commonwealth Honors College at UMASS Amherst. Her publications include To Tell the Truth: The Practice and Craft of Narrative Nonfiction, NY: Pearson/Longman, 2009, and CROOKED LETTER I: Narrative Nonfiction Stories of Coming Out in the South, Montgomery: New South Books, 2015.
