Around the Hall

Southern Word Residency Week

BY EMY NOEL SANDERSON ’98, UPPER SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER

Last September, sophomores were immersed in poetry during the annual Southern Word Residency Week at Harpeth Hall.

Southern Word is a Nashville-based spoken word program that offers creative solutions for youth to build literacy and presentation skills, reconnect to their education and to their lives, and act as leaders in the improvement of their communities.

Spoken word poetry is unique because it is written to be performed, much like a conversation with an audience, connecting personal experience to the human experience. Through spoken word, students choose each word, follow a metaphor, experiment with structure, and engage their listeners in exactly the ways they choose. They are refining the skills of writing as much as they are asserting their voices. The courage the Southern Word poets ask Harpeth Hall students to find mirrors the confidence we hope to build in our girls. Finding our voices through sharing stories that are uniquely ours is a tremendous exercise in building character, and spoken word poetry proves to be a powerful medium for our students, year after year. Each Fall, Southern Word conducts a week-long residency at Harpeth Hall primarily in sophomore English classes. Each class meets with the poets for two full blocks — the first for drafting short pieces of writing for a variety of prompts, and the second for meshing them into

a single, cohesive piece. As writers, the students often find that returning to a work after time away allows them to see it with the “fresh” perspective the poets encourage them to find. As editors, the girls are pushed to think critically through keen observation, stylistic choices, and understanding their audience. The culmination of this residency is a poetry slam open to all Upper School students and faculty. Here, student poets become performers, discovering untapped ease with public speaking in a supportive, creative venue and hidden confidence in their work.

In the five years of Southern Word’s residency at Harpeth Hall, Haviland Whiting ’20 won the distinction of Nashville’s Youth Poet Laureate, an honor awarded by Southern Word and Nashville’s Mayor. Carter Hyde ’20 and Bucky Fuchs ’18 were also named semi-finalists for the honor.

To join Southern Word’s effort building literacy and a young writer community around the city, go to www.southernword.org or reach out to benjamin@southernword.org.

Student Artist Reinvents Junior Lobby

Extending the popularity of murals in Nashville to the halls of Harpeth Hall, Senior Camryn Lesh created a large art installation on the walls of the Junior Lobby. During Winterim, Camryn participated in an independent study under artist, alumna, and this year’s Carell Artist in Residence, Tess Erlenborn Davies ’10. The result of her study is a triptych mural, inspired by Harpeth Hall students and created with the assistance of the sixth grade. Camryn devoted more than 105 hours to the creation of the mural and the result is an outstanding, unique piece of art for students to see and be inspired by every day.

ARTIST STATEMENT:

That Girl with Blue Hair,Camryn Lesh, 2020, 49.5 x 97.75, Acrylic on Canvas

In this triptych, artist Camryn Lesh expresses the connection between the analytical and artistic sides of the brain while addressing how these sides can play into the way society views women. Camryn uses the contrast of geometric and organic lines to represent the left and right sides of the brain. The blue hair creates an easy flow between the three panels, showing the simplicity of the relationship between the arts and sciences. This work was a collaboration with local artist Tess Davies and the Harpeth Hall sixth grade. Shapes were designed by the sixth graders and laser cut. These shapes inspired by geometry and biology further demonstrate the sciences and the arts. The purpose of this composition is to address connectivity and draw parallels between dualities.