Find creative inspiration through the Museum's permanent collection and special exhibitions. Led by celebrated local writers, this series of workshops uses art as a starting point for writing original pieces. Participants explore the elements of writing and experience works of art through a different lens. Led by Janice Lobo Sapigao and Michael Sagum, this workshop explores poetry writing in the ekphrastic tradition of creating poems in response to works of art. Sapigao is an author, educator, and the current Santa Clara County Poet Laureate and Sagum is Sapigao’s mentee in poetry—a visual artist and an undergraduate student at Skyline Community College.

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Workshops are designed for all skill levels. This virtual workshop will take place over ZOOM; advance registration is required. The workshop draws inspiration from South East North West, so have your thinking cap plus your favorite writing instruments and journal ready on the workshop day.

About the Authors

Janice Lobo Sapigao  (she/her) is a daughter of immigrants from the Philippines. She is the author of two books of poetry: microchips for millions  (Philippine American Writers and Artists, Inc., 2016), which is about immigrant women workers in Silicon Valley; and like a solid to a shadow  (Timeless, Infinite Light, 2017 by way of Nightboat Books), which is about her father, family lineage, and learning Ilokano. She is also the author of two published chapbooks, "toxic city" (tinder tender press, 2015), and "you don’t know what you don’t know" (Mondo Bummer Chapbooks, 2016), along with other self-published chapbooks. She is the 2020-2021 Santa Clara County Poet Laureate and hopes to start a Youth Poet Laureate program.    

Michael Sagum (he/him) is a 1.5 Gen Filipino American poet and visual artist. He is currently working on his chapbook about the intersections of being Filipino, Queer, and 1.5 Gen.  Michael Sagum is currently a student at Skyline Community College and hopes to study Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University.