Ah Haa: Paul Evans, 3 Evenings of Art History & Workshop

18 Jun Ah Haa: Paul Evans, 3 Evenings of Art History & Workshop

 “The teaching of art is the teaching of all things,” William Ruskin

Paul Evans

No one knows better than cultural critic and art historian Paul Evans that “art” is imbedded in the word “heart.”

And he’s back to once again deliver three more tautly interconnected talks  (and a writing workshop) guaranteed to young up your mind and open your eyes.

Last March, at the Ah Haa School for the Arts, Evans, a deep scholar and enthusiastic lover of art history, insightful and very funny, took enthralled audiences on a three-part journey into the heart of art and how art history shaped – and continues to shape – cultures, current events, and world-views.

Evans, who  co-authored two books under the Rolling Stone brand, is adept at anticipating socio-cultural trends. The subject of his first lecture, for example, speaks to the latest trend in the art world to “see music.”

Now relocated in New York’s uber hip meatpacking/High Line district, the brand new Whitney Museum just mounted a performance series featuring an array of classical, jazz, and electronic artists who will, in some cases, respond in sound to the art on display around them. Evan’s first lecture on Tuesday, June 23 is “Sight & Sound,” a program celebrating the marriage of art and music, from Gregorian chants to Public Enemy.

On Wednesday, June 24, Evans talks about ’The Romantics: Passion Pure & Impure,” the allure of madness, the exotic and, the taboo.

The final talk on Thursday, June 25, “Post Pop: Art After Warhol,” addresses a cultural cafeteria serving up eye-popping platters of photo-realism to conceptual art.

All three lectures are from 6 – 8 p.m.

As a teaser for the series and to learn more about how Paul Evans thinks, click the “play” button and listen to our conversation from last March.

The writing workshop, ““Writing Truth”  (adults & 16+), takes place Tuesday,June 23 – Thursday,June 25, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Novices and veterans alike are welcome to the intensive that covers the waterfront – fiction to non-fiction, prose and poetry. On the agenda: Writing Action/Writing Thought, Real Dialogue, le mot juste, Aristotle’s Guide to Plotting, Writing Tight, Myers-Briggs Writing.

Mine a mini-cyclopedia of writing tips and tactics.

Guides will range from Homer to Hemingway, Sappho to Sylvia Plath.

Participants are welcome to suggest topics and issues, and submit examples of their work for critique in advance of the class.

Note: This class takes place at the Stone Building at 117 North Willow Street in downtown Telluride (not at the Ah Haa School).

More about Paul Evans:

His first job, at 16, was writing greeting cards. Since then, Paul Evans, co-author of The Rolling Stone Album Guide, has worked as a newspaper editor, music/book/art critic, speechwriter, ghostwriter, advertising writer, business writer, and songwriter. Co-author also of The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, he has written for the LA Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Billboard, Art Papers, Entertainment Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews. Evan’s fiction has been published by the Duke University Press and the State University of New Mexico Press.