Headlands Center for the Arts

Inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin’s Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction and the Deep Listening practices of Pauline Oliveros, this hands-on workshop invites participants to engage with the creative process through reading, reflection, collection, listening, and image-making.

We’ll begin by gathering to read and reflect on Le Guin’s essay, which reimagines storytelling not as a tale of heroism or conquest, but as a practice of gathering, holding, and sustaining. In her theory, the first cultural tool wasn’t a weapon—it was a container: a carrier bag for seeds, food, or stories.

With that framing, we’ll take a short walk around the Headlands campus—sticking mostly to paved paths—to gather small natural and found objects for our cyanotype compositions.

Working outdoors and in the sun, participants will then learn to create cyanotypes: a historical photographic process that uses iron salts, sunlight, and water to produce monochromatic prussian blue images. Each person will make a cyanotype on fabric, which can be sewn or pinned onto a provided carrier bag—transforming it into a vessel for personal narrative and collective reflection.

All materials will be provided, along with light snacks. The walk and workshop are designed to be fully accessible to those with mobility limitations but please reach out to Juliana Gerdts, Headlands’ Development and Program Manager at jgerdts@headlands.org  with any questions or accommodation needs. We recommend wearing comfortable, layered clothing and sturdy footwear, and coming prepared to spend time outdoors.

This workshop is led by 2024–2025 Graduate Fellows April Camlin and Leah Koransky, and accompanies the Graduate Fellowship Exhibition, on view from September 7 through November 2 in the East Project Space (Building 944, third floor) at Headlands Center for the Arts.

Note: Le Guin’s essay linked above for free viewing