Gender Toolbelt

This program begins Sunday, July 27, and ends Saturday, August 2. The fees listed at right include lodging and all meals (except “Commuter”, which includes a Commuter Meal Plan).  An additional sliding scale Course Fee is required.  For more information on our pricing, see our Pricing page.

Co-taught by Shan Wang and Arden Wren Sawyer, this class is intended to introduce an interdisciplinary approach to self-portraiture as a means of gender expression. Through various lenses of identity we will explore the topic of gender as it relates to the body, mind, culture, family, myth-making, and perception. Together we will look at works and read samples that interrogate these topics, discuss them as a group, and adapt what we observe into our own practices of crafting the self as a work of art. Through the use of visual mediums such as paint, photo, collage, drawing, and mark-making, Shan will teach an open-ended approach to the visual self-portrait. In tandem with this, Arden will teach a word-oriented approach, guiding the class in free-form written self-reflection and self-construction. Blending the written word and the crafted image, students will be given the tools to build a portrait of their own gender. The class is hybrid, participants may choose to attend in-person or online via Zoom.