Artists and Speakers Participating
The Play of Imagining

Cecilia Vicuña is a Chilean poet, artist, and filmmaker living in New York. She is the author of 15 books of poetry, published in Europe, Latin America, and the United States. She has exhibited her work at the Palais des Beaux Arts in Belgium, at the Castello di Rivoli in Italy, and in the Whitney Biennial. Her books include Instan, El Templo (translated by Rosa Alcalá), QUIPOem/ The Precarious, and The Art and Poetry of Cecilia Vicuña (edited by M. Catherine de Zegher, translated by Esther Allen).

William Crain is a professor of psychology at The City College of New York. He is the author of the textbook, Theories of Development, now in its fifth edition and Reclaiming Childhood: Letting Children Be Children in Our Achievement Orientated Society. He is also the editor of the journal Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice. Dr Crain has been a political activist on many fronts, including the defense of nature and animals.

Susan Share is a book-artist, presently living in Anchorage, Alaska, who has performed and exhibited her books throughout the United States as well as in England, Ireland and Hungry. Her work is in included in collections as diverse as the Anchorage Museum of History and Art, the Brooklyn Museum of Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London – and she has taught at the Penland School of Crafts, the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the Visual Studies Workshop. Concurrent with her performance at the Abrons Arts Center, she is exhibiting her artwork at the Center for Books Arts in New York.

SPRING 2007 Activities

Trees of Knowing, Birds of Imagining
A Workshop on the Imaginative in Teaching

Emphasizing the vital role the imagination plays in children’s learning, this four-session workshop, led by Richard Lewis in collaboration with Roberta Valentine, will explore the unfolding of imaginative thought and art-making in childhood—and their importance throughout our adult lives.

Wednesdays, May 2nd, May 9th, May 16th, & May 23rd; 4-6 PM
The Art Room, East Village Community School
610 East 12th Street, New York, NY 10009
There is no fee for this series of workshops but registration is requested. 212-831-7717 www.touchstonecenter.net
brochure & registration form

Other Projects and Public Programs of The Touchstone Center, Spring, 2007

The Sound and Movement, Word and Image Project An Arts and Education residency with Clea Rivera and Harry Mann of The Touchstone Center Theatre Ensemble, uncovering the beginnings of language, and the depth of music, gestures and imagery within our words.

March 1st – May 3rd
East Village Community School
610 East 12th Street, New York, NY
For further info call Mary Talbot, Parent
Coordinator, 347-563-5102

Telling Time: A Clock-Making Workshop
A workshop with potter Carol Grocki Lewis, as part of the Parents as Art-Partners program at the East Village Community School, in which participants will have the opportunity of making their own functioning clay clocks.

Saturdays, April 21st & April 28th, 11-2 PM.
East Village Community School
610 East 12th Street, New York, NY
For further info call Mary Talbot, Parent
Coordinator, 347-563-5102

Sea Whisperings from the Smallest of Seashells Workshop for children with Richard Lewis, discovering, as we listen to seashells – abundant flying birds and diving fish, and the most ancient of our thoughts and poetries. Saturday,

May 5th, 11 - 1 PM
72 Spring Street
New York, NY
www.poetshouse.org
For further info 212-431-7920

THE SUN RETURNS, THE DAY BEGINS: A JOURNEY OF POEMS
World Financial Center, in association with Poets House, as part of WORD OF MOUTH FESTIVAL presents The Touchstone Center Theatre Ensemble in readings of poetry written by children (accompanied by audience participation) and culminating in a performance of poems ‘In The Space of the Sky ‘and 'A Tree Lives.' by Richard Lewis.

Saturday, May 19
11am-12:30pm
Winter Garden, World Financial Center

What If: The Dreaming of Childhood Into the Natural World Workshop for parents, children and educators sharing and independently pursuing hands-on and reflective activities into how and why children use their imaginative abilities to link themselves to the natural world. Led by Richard Lewis and Noah Baen, Leader of the Wave Hill Family Art Project.

Saturday, June 9th, 9:30 -12 PM
For registration 718-549-3200, Ext. 305

Plant the Sun in Your Hand / Con el sol en sus manos The Touchstone Center Theatre Ensemble’s presentation, for children and their families, of a poem celebrating our innate abilities to become a part of nature’s transformations. Attend a performance, and then create a mixed media banner filled with the marvels of the natural world.

Saturday and Sunday, June 9 and 10,
1 and 2:30 PM, Family Art Project
WAVE HILL
West 249th and Independence Ave. Bronx, NY www.wavehill.org

Fall 2006 Activities

The Touchstone Center
in collaboration with
The Abrons Arts Center,
Henry Street Settlement
is pleased to
present

Trees of Knowing:
An Exhibition of Paintings by Children from the East Village Community School
Based on a Project of The Touchstone Center
Directed by Richard Lewis

Reflecting on the Imagery of Trees
Noah Baen, Markus Baenziger, Amy Bay, Joanne Howard, Deanna C. Lee, Felicia D. Megginson, Luis Serrano, Illene Sunshine, Benjamin Swett, EdieWinograde
Curated by Jennifer McGregor
(more info on artists and curator)

October 20th - December 29th, 2006
Opening Reception: October 26th, 6-8 PM

Abrons Arts Center
Henry Street Settlement
466 Grand Street
New York, NY 10002
212-598-0400

About the Exhibit

In collaboration with the Abrons Arts Center, The Touchstone Center is pleased to present its newest exhibition, Trees of Knowing from October 20th – December 29th, 2006. The exhibit consists of a selection of large acrylic paintings, along with original writings, created by children from the East Village Community School in New York as part of The Tree of Knowing Project, undertaken by the Touchstone Center at the school from 2003-2005. In addition to the exhibit of the children’s paintings, ten artists, chosen by Jennifer McGregor, have been invited to show artwork that concerns itself with each artist’s vision and expression of trees.

The Tree of Knowing Project, an Arts and Education residency of The Touchstone Center, under the direction of Richard Lewis and Claudia Keel, consisted of a series of ten weekly workshops that took place in the art room of the East Village Community School in conjunction with the school’s art teacher, Julie Kirkpatrick. Working with four classrooms of children from the 1st through the 6th grade, the project’s intent, beginning with a reading of Richard Lewis’ poem, A Tree Lives and Noah Baen’s accompanying sculptural painting, was to explore, through art and writing, the unique ways a tree has experienced elemental forces and the subsequent ‘knowledge’ such a tree, and the natural world at large, has acquired from this kind of ‘knowing’.

As part of the ongoing exhibit, Geoffrey Jones’s video rendering of A Tree Lives will be shown, along with a variety of workshops being offered to all those interested in the life and knowledge that trees share, so abundantly, with us

Special Programs related to the exhibition

Leaf Eyes, Root Listenings:
Exploring the Natural World from Another Point of View

Sunday, October 29th, 11 AM – 4 PM

This workshop, led by Richard Lewis and Claudia Keel, is designed for teachers, artists, parents and any persons interested in exploring, both through discussion and hands-on activities, the importance of perceiving the natural world through our imaginative abilities. Examples of the work of the Touchstone Center will be highlighted – with particular insights drawn from The Tree of Knowing Project as well as the Center’s concern for the integration of the imagination at all levels of learning.

The Eternal Tree:
A Conversation with Artists on the Image and Meaning of Trees

Sunday, November 12th , 3:15 – 5:15 PM

A panel discussion, moderated by Jennifer McGregor, with Noah Baen, Felicia Megginson, and Benjamin Swett, three of the artists represented in The Trees of Knowing exhibition, discussing the role the image of the tree has played in their artistic development. In addition a larger conversation will focus on how and why artists from diverse cultures have always used the tree image – both as a metaphor and personal expression - to suggest symbolic and universal meanings.

Becoming a Tree, Knowing the World

Sunday, November 19th, 3:15 – 5:15 PM

All members of the community, children and adults alike, are invited to a performance of A Tree Lives by the Touchstone Center Theatre Ensemble, followed by a workshop in which all participants will be able to create their own ‘tree of knowing’ through a variety of art mediums. Join us for a celebration of the knowledge that is a tree – and the wisdom we, and trees, share with each other.

All the Special Events take place at the
Abrons Arts Center
466 Grand Street
New York, NY 10002
212-598-0400

To register for any of the Special Events
please use the Registration Form and send to
The Touchstone Center
141 East 88th Street
Apt. 3 E
New York, NY 10128

For further information please contact The Touchstone Center
at 212-831-7717 or rlewis212@aol.com

More Fall 2006 Programs

From the Beginning:
Reflections on the Origins of Art-Making

Based on his recent book and accompanying video-tape, CAVE: An Evocation of the Beginnings of Art, Richard Lewis will explore our understandings of the beginnings of art-making, both in ourselves – and in the world at large. In addition linkages will be made to how reflecting on the sources of art can be a means of helping students consider their own vital and necessary part in the evolution of the arts and imaginative thought.

Saturday, October 28th, 2006
9:00 -10:15 AM
NYCATA/UFT Conference
Fiorello LaGuardia High School
100 Amsterdam Ave.
New York. NY
For further information:
www.uft.org

A Pebble, A Stone,
and the Gift of Stars
A Poetry Workshop for Children
with Richard Lewis

We will begin by looking at a pebble and a stone, and entering each of their worlds. From there we will move from their silences to their ancient and glowing stars - gathering all the while new enchantments and thoughts to write our poems from. And when we have finished writing we will make a small clay vessel for our discoveries - along with our own pebble and stone - to keep as a gift of our imaginings.

Saturday, November 18th, 2006
11:00 – 1:00 PM
Poetry in the Children’s Room
Poets House
72 Spring Street
New York, NY 10012
For registration and information:
www.poetshouse.org
212-431-7920

The Tree of Knowing Garden
Dedicated and Opened on October 19th, 2006

The Touchstone Center is pleased to announce the opening of The Tree of Knowing Garden at the East Village Community School in New York City.  Begun in the winter of 2006, The Tree of Knowing Garden, was an arts and education project to renovate the school’s inner courtyard into a space that could be used for a broad range of learning activities - with particular emphasis on children’s imaginative and poetic relationship to the natural world.

Based on Richard Lewis’ poem A Tree Lives that speaks of the knowledge a tree has of worlds both within and outside itself, The Tree of Knowing Garden project involved visual artists, Kathy Creutzburg, Claudia Keel and Noah Baen, assisted by Carol Grocki Lewis. Working with children in two classrooms apiece, from Kindergarten through the 6th Grade, each of the artists, in conjunction with classroom teachers and the school’s art teacher, emphasized various qualities of the “tree of knowing” theme.  Kathy Creutzburg focused on children making clay tiles expressing the many shapes and structures of trees, which she then embedded into her steel tree sculpture sheltered by a large mosaic tree shadow.  Claudia Keel, using colored pencils and oil pastel drawings, asked her group of children to depict through their drawings, the inner world of trees and leaves – which she then incorporated and translated into her painted wall mural.  And Noah Baen asked his two classrooms of children to being into being, through their clay tiles, the many creatures that live in and around a tree – which he then fused into seven planters surrounded with his mosaic designs and filled with flowering plants.  Throughout the project children were asked to write and reflect upon the ‘knowingness’ of trees – and a selection of their writings has been inscribed on the walls of the garden.

Touchstone Center Publications
announces
Two New Publications

Touchstone Center Publications is pleased to announce the paperback edition of Living By Wonder: The Imaginative Life of Childhood by Richard Lewis – as well as the publication of A Tree Lives – an interpretive video created by Geoffrey Jones based on the book A Tree Lives by Richard Lewis and illustrated by Noah Baen. The video is narrated by Richard Lewis and accompanied by music by Harry Mann - and is available, as is Living By Wonder, through Touchstone Center Publications.

Activities Spring 2006

The Touchstone Center Theatre Ensemble, consisting of Richard Lewis, Harry Mann, and Clea Rivera, and is scheduled to perform Each Sky Has its Words at Wave Hill on May 6th  and May 7th at 1 PM and 2:30 PM.  Each performance will be followed by a Family Art Project conducted by Noah Baen.

In addition,  Richard Lewis, Director of The Touchstone Center in association with Noah Baen,  Leader of Wave Hill’s  Family Art Project, will be presenting a special workshop on Saturday, May 6th for both adults and children entitled, The Child and the Natural World. This workshop will explore the arts as a vehicle for children to build a vital relationship with the natural world – and will consist of hands-on and reflective activities appropriate for both children and adults. Participants are invited to join the performance of Each Sky Has its Words and art-workshop in the afternoon.

Wave Hill,675 West 252nd Street, Bronx, New York, 10471-2899

For further information and registration: www.wavehill.org or 718-549-3200
                                   

The Touchstone Center Theatre Ensemble will also be performing The Sun Returns,The Day Begins: A Journey of Poems, at Poets House on Saturday, May 20th at 11 AM to 1 PM.  The performance consists ofthree poems by Richard Lewis, Each Sky Has Its Words, A Tree Lives, In The Space of the Sky – and will be followed by a workshop for children to write their own poems  - which will then be spoken and performed in conjunction with members of the Ensemble.

Poets House,72 Spring Street, New York, NY 10012

For further information: www.poetshouse.org or 212-431-7930

Touchstone Center Publications is pleased to announce the publication in May 2006 of the paperback edition of Living By Wonder: The Imaginative Life of Childhood by Richard Lewis. Originally published by Parabola Books in association with Touchstone Center Publications in 1998, Living By Wonder, was awarded the Parents Guide 2002 Classic Award for Outstanding Achievement in Parenting Materials. Made up of essays by Richard Lewis centered around the importance and necessity of the imagination, this book reflects upon the diverse role of language-making, play, art, stories and poetry in the imaginative life of children.  For further information about Living by Wonder, please go to Publications.

Touchstone Center Publications is also pleased to announce the publication this spring of its DVD, Ways of Imagining – which now makes available three of the Center’s most recent videos created by Geoffrey Jones and based on three of Center’s publications, Each Sky Has Its Words, The Bird of Imagining and Cave: An Evocation of the Beginnings of Art.  For further information about the availability of this new DVD, please go to Publications.

As part of the Arts and Education programming the Center has begun The Tree of Knowing Garden Project in association with the East Village Community School. Three artists, Kathy Creutzburg, Claudia Keel and Noah Baen will be working with children during the spring of 2006 in order to create a series of murals, tiles and a large steel sculpture to be placed in an outdoor courtyard within the school. This project will compliment The Bird of Imagining sculpture, created by Kathy Creutzburg and children from the Children’s Workshop School, now displayed in another courtyard in the same building.

As part of the Center’s Outreach Program, recent teacher and parent workshops  by the Center’s Director, Richard Lewis, have been given in conjunction with  Sarah Lawrence College, Marquis Studios, and the Virginia Marx Children’s Center at Westchester Community College.

For a look into activites of the Center in the recent past, click here.