Writing Workshops
Birthday Special!
Sign up for any workshop with a $50 or greater value and get a $20 credit toward any Ibex Studios offering.
Ibex Studios offers in-town, field-based, and online workshops. All online workshops take place over the course of several weeks, and our in-person workshops range in length from one day to ten weeks. Please explore this page to discover the opportunity best for you.
Our workshops are limited to ten participants each so we can have a maximal amount of comfort and time. To register, please fill out our online registration form or call us at 971-227-0305.
Unless otherwise noted, workshops will take place at 2021 SE Clinton Street in Portland, Oregon, right off the #4 bus line. This bright, airy space is home to Camamu Soap and spills over with creative energy and delicious smells. Please contact us if you need tips for getting here.
Please note, we want to make our workshops as accessible as possible. If cost is your only deterrent, let's talk. The economy may be suffering, but we don't need to! We are open to payment plans, partial trades, income-sensitive tuitions, and other possibilities.
More workshops are always in the works! Check back soon for updates!
IN-TOWN WORKSHOPS
Leave the Flowers Be:
Be a Love Poet
Date: Thursday, February 11
Time: 6-8pm
Location: 2021 SE Clinton
Facilitator: Claudia F. Savage
Fee: $30, includes fine, handcrafted cards, art materials, and instruction.
Why let famous writers speak for you, when you can do the seducing yourself? In this workshop, we'll make beautiful, full-of-whimsy, accordion-style Valentine cards with a custom poem!
Together we'll create work that captures the essence of your beloved and makes them feel cherished. No poetry experience needed.
Living Room Series:
Beginnings and Endings
Dates: March 2- March 23
Time: Four Tuesdays, 7-9pm
Fee: $50
Facilitator: Becca Deysach
Location: Becca's living room: 2624 SE Pine
Description: We are excited to introduce our Living Room Series! These affordable and ongoing four-week workshops take place in the cozy living room of our director, Becca Deysach, and circulate around universal themes. In our next session, we will explore the topic Beginnings and Endings as we gather to write from prompts, eat cookies, drink tea, share, and exercise our creative minds through games and experiential activities. This workshop will provide space for writers of all experience levels to generate new material in a safe and supportive community of writers.
*Please note: Becca has two cats. If you have allergies or kitty aversions, this may not be the right workshop for you.
A Nonexistent Himalayan Expedition:
The Poetry of Place
Dates: March 11-April 1
Time: Four Thursdays, 6-8pm
Fee: $100, some income sensitive tuitions are available.
Facilitator: Claudia F. Savage
Location: 2021 Southeast Clinton
Description: So many of us feel connected to a specific physical place. In this poetry workshop, we'll explore poets such as Szymborska, Wendell Berry, and Neruda, who delve into the idea of place and belonging.
Poetry allows us to connect a birch tree with a first kiss and a particular blue with never learning French. Through experiential writing exercises, we'll tap into the physical spaces that make up our emotional terrain. Come prepared to fly over grassy plains and rest on top of heathered peaks. Beginners encouraged and welcome. Seasoned poets, come learn a few new tricks.
About the Facilitator: Poet Claudia F. Savage has been a chef for people recovering from illness, a book editor, and a roller-skating waitress. She has been awarded numerous residency awards, and her chapbook, The Last One Eaten: A Maligned Vegetable's History, was published in 2005 by Finishing Line Press. In 2008, she won the Thomas Hornsby Ferril Poetry Prize for a series of poems. These poems, about wilderness in relation to human desire, are part of her forthcoming full collection. A dynamic presence, she has taught poetry to young women in Appalachia, ranchers in Colorado, and itinerant jazz musicians. She believes, as Neruda, that poetry helps "the light inside to awaken."
Craft!
Make a felted notebook cover
Date: Wednesday, March 31
Time: 7-9pm
Location: Becca's living room in inner Southest Portland
Facilitator: Becca Deysach
Fee: $30, includes notebook, materials, and instruction.
Learn how to make one of these sassy handmade notebook covers out of upcycled wool sweaters, buttons, and embroidery floss! We'll supply the materials and snacks, you bring your creative self. No sewing experience necessary. Need I say, these make grreat gifts!
*Please note: Becca has two cats. If you have allergies or kitty aversions, this may not be the right workshop for you.
Free First Fridays: Write with others, Ibex-style
Time: 6-7:30 pm
Fee: Free!
Facilitator: Becca Deysach
Location: 2021 Southeast Clinton
Description:
Q. What do kisses, scars, and First Fridays with Ibex Studios have in common?
A. They're all free!!!
That's right, folks. Begin your art walk by creating some literary art of your own. In these mini-workshops, we will write from prompts about things that are free, for free! We have room for ten, so be sure to come early enough to get a seat......
FIELD-BASED WORKSHOPS
Writing out the Storm:
A women's writing retreat on the coast
Dates: March 12-14, 3pm Friday - 2pm Sunday
Facilitator: Becca Deysach
Location: Oceanside, Oregon (near Tillamook)
Fee: $200, includes food and lodging.
Please send a $50 nonrefundable deposit to hold your place. Deposit will be applied to your tuition fee.
Description: Picture this: a wrap-around couch, built-bookshelves, giant windows with wide-angle views of Netarts bay, and you in front of them. It's stormy out, the ocean is raging in front of you, and you're curled up with a blanket and a notebook on your lap. Coffee steams beside you. Later, you may venture out to explore the tide pools or look for migrating whales, but for now, you're writing out the storm inside.
Join us for two nights of writing, relaxation, and exploration on the Oregon coast this winter. We will spend our mornings writing from prompts and sharing together, drawing from the turbulent oceanscape for inspiration. Our afternoons will be rich with free time that you can use to read, write, sleep, poke invertebrates, hike, or whatever else the funky little town of Oceanside inspires you to do. In the evenings, we will cook group meals and shake up our creative selves with games. This writing retreat is sure to rejuvenate and replenish the winter-weariest of souls.
Click here for a glimpse of our cozy accommodations.
A portion of workshop fees will go to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society through our Profits for Progress program so that whales may continue to migrate to our waters.
ONLINE WORKSHOPS
Writing our Bellies Full Online Workshop
Dates: March 4- April 8, six weeks
Fee: $150 before February 15, $180 thereafter.
We are open to payment plans and income-sensitive tuitions.
Facilitator: Becca Deysach
Location: Online
Description: At last, we have an online version of our popular food-inspired writing class! Through a combination of experiential writing exercises and assignments, weekly check-ins, and opportunities to share and receive supportive feedback from other participants, you will fill your notebooks and your bellies by exploring all that feeds you, both literally and symbolically.
By the end of the six-week session, you will have an abundance of story seeds and the tools to develop some into polished pieces. As one participant said, "Writing our Bellies Full gives you time to breathe and nurture a lot of ideas, write freely and have fun. I'll miss it after it's over." This workshop is suitable for writers and eaters off all kinds, and is a great introduction to Ibex Studios' offerings.
"Writing our Bellies Full Online was wonderful and a joy to participate in. I loved the prompts and look forward to participating in future workshops! Thanks!!" -Janice Dillard, Chicago, IL.
Writing for the Nature Traveler
Dates: March 30-May 4, six weeks
Fee: $150 before February 15, $175 thereafter
Facilitator: Lili DeBarbieri
Location: Online
Description: Many of us love to travel with the express purpose of experiencing pristine nature and rare wildlife. Have you always dreamed of putting your experiences in print and getting published? Are you currently on the road, living or working abroad?
Writing for the Nature Traveler participants will read and discuss the works of famous travel writers and naturalists such as Charles Darwin, David Quammen, Terry Tempest Williams, and Pico Iyer; develop their own literary style reflecting the intersection between nature and travel; then share, collaborate and write queries reflecting a final piece of writing to pitch their work to selected markets.
About the facilitator: Lili DeBarbieri is an educator and freelance writer specializing in travel, environmental issues, and wildlife. Her writing and photography have appeared in dozens of print and online publications in the U.S and abroad including Earth Island Journal, Nature Alberta, Arizona Wild, and E: The Environmental Magazine. Lili has extensive experience working, studying, volunteering and traveling throughout Asia, Africa, Europe, Oceania, the Middle East and the Americas. Based in Arizona, she is a frequent contributor to the Tucson Green Times, a contributing editor of Ethical Traveler and the author of a forthcoming NaturePod guide to wildlife of the Southwest.
