Weaving Words into Pages: A Writing and Bookmaking Workshop with Mia Leonin & Nereida García Ferraz

Women: who were we before we became daughter, sister, mother, lover, wife, partner, student, employee, and citizen?

This workshop, open to women and female-identifying individuals, will employ the art of bookmaking, poetry writing, and storytelling to reconnect each participant with the unique and authentic “I” that sometimes vanishes in the rush to become. Poet and writer Mia Leonin will guide participants through a series of writing exercises to unlock the unique language of self. Visual artist Nereida García Ferraz will teach bookmaking and drawing techniques to unite word and text. We will fold and tear recycled papers, cardboard, and old discarded book pages. Each participant will leave the workshop with one handmade book that uses the text created in class and a handmade blank book for future writing. Open to all ages. No writing or artistic experience necessary.

Participants: please bring any recyclable materials you have around the house such as cardboard, old books, newspapers, magazines, etc.

Mia Leonin is the author of three poetry collections, most recently, Chance Born (Anhinga Press) and a memoir, Havana and Other Missing Fathers (University of Arizona Press). A book-length poem, Fable of the Paddle Sack Child will be published by BkMk Press this fall with illustrations by Cuban artist, Nereida García Ferraz. Leonin has been awarded fellowships from the State of Florida Department of Cultural Affairs for her poetry and creative nonfiction, two Money for Women grants by the Barbara Deming Fund, and she has been a fellow at the National Endowment for the Arts/Annenberg Institute on Theater and Musical Theater. Leonin has written extensively about theater and culture for the Miami Herald, New Times, and other publications. She teaches creative writing at the University of Miami.

Nereida Garcia Ferraz is a Cuban-born artist based in Miami, whose practice encompasses painting, photography, video, sculpture and social art projects. She explores Cuban and Feminist themes, as well as nature, beauty and the physical world. Garcia Ferraz lives in Miami. Her works have been exhibited widely in the US and abroad in such venues as The MDC Museum of Art and Design, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Museo del Chopo and Museo de Arte Moderno in Mexico City, FOCI at Illinois State Museum, and Islip Art Museum, NY. She participated in this year’s 12th Havana Biennial, and has exhibited and lectured at the Ludwig Foundation in Havana, Columbus College of Art and Design, Institute for Research on Women at Rutgers University in NJ, The Schoolhouse Gallery in Provincetown, MA and Dactyl Foundation, NYC.