The second workshop in the a-n Writer Development Programme took place on Wednesday 8 November at Jerwood Space, London. (Thanks to Jerwood Charitable Foundation for supporting the workshop by covering the cost of the room hire.)
All eight writers on the programme were able to attend – no last minute travel cancellations this time – and the workshop was led by art critic and a-n News contributor Fisun Güner.
The main body of the four-hour workshop was spent looking at approaches to writing a profile of an artist (rather than a straight interview).
This involved comparing two very different profile pieces, and there was a wide-ranging and pleasingly frank discussion that revealed the serious intent of all the writers involved.
Areas explored included: how to start and finish a piece; the best use of direct quotes; researching your subject; getting the most out of an interview; and developing a tone/voice for a piece.
Part of the afternoon was also spent visiting the current 3-Phase exhibition at Jerwood Space, which features new commissions from three artists: Larry Achiampong, Mark Essen and Nicola Singh.
Having seen the exhibition, the writers were asked to choose one of the artists as the subject of an 800-word profile. They will be filing their articles on Wednesday 22 November.
