A month or two ago, one of my students stopped by my office and asked me about the meaning of a literary term that she had come across in her reading for a class that she was taking on literary theory. After I answered her question, she said, “I wish I could be like you and know the meaning of all of these fancy words and terms.” I assured her that in reality I do not know the meaning of all the literary terms that are bandied about these days. I think that she might have been a little disappointed in me.
I am in my late 60s, but I am still adding new words and terms to my vocabulary on a regular basis. Recently, for example, I looked up the meaning of the term ekphrastic poetry. My friend Chris Arvidson, a Charlotte poet and artist, had mentioned to me that she had taken an interest in writing ekphrastic poetry, but I wasn’t sure what she meant by this term. Although I associated the term with art, I didn’t know exactly how art figures in ekphrastic poetry. Well, I turned to the Poetry Foundation’s “Glossary of Poetic Terms,” and I found out that an “ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art.” Intrigued, I asked Chris for more information about her interest in ekphrastic writing. Here is what she sent to me:
I’ve always considered myself a writer first, then an artist, but the two have really begun to meld together, so the ekphrastic form lends itself tremendously to my general artistic adventure as a result. I think about ekphrastic writing in the most general of applications. I have run into those (usually academics) who take a very strict view of what the ekphrastic form precisely must be, and I resist this notion with fervor. In this strictest sense, the form is seen only as the production of a description of a piece of art. I see many more possibilities. To me ekphrastic writing is about where a piece of art takes the writer. And, in this way, the combination of the work of art and the writing done in response to it, become a whole of its own—the sum becomes another kind of whole. And it needn’t only be poetry.
This idea of creating ekphrastic work led to an exhibit at Charlotte Art League last Spring, a show of works by artists from around the country, paired with writers who shared their art-inspired work. It was a tremendous success by any measure and has inspired the Art League to mount another such effort for May of 2024. To pull the show off this year, I teamed up with Jay Ward, Charlotte’s Poet Laureate, and Caroline Kane Kenna, the immediate past President of the Charlotte Writers Club. We herded the cats, as it were, pouring through the entries and created “pairings” of writers and artists. Jay and Caroline are on board again for the 2024 show 1 + 1 = 3. And we’ve decided to up the stakes a bit and make it a juried exhibition. Opening night, we’ll bring the writers to the stage to read their art-inspired work.
In preparation for the submission process, I’m doing several workshops – in hopes of inspiring writers to participate. First off, I’ll be doing a workshop for Charlotte Writers Club on Saturday, January 13, 10-12:00 p.m., at Providence United Methodist. Then on Saturday, January 20, I’m teaming up with Charlotte Lit and the Charlotte Art League from 10-12:00 p.m. at the Art League, to do a very specific ekphrastic adventure. Finally, on February 17, I’ll be leading one of Jay Ward’s Poet Laureate Workshops at the University City Library from 1-3:00 p.m. The deadline for entries for the May show is February 26. (To see how we plan to put this all together, go to the Charlotte Art League’s website and the Call to Artists 1 + 1 = 3 page for more details https://charlotteartleague.org/call-to-artists1- or just drop me a line for more information: chris@chrisarvidson.com.)
And, in January at the Art League, I’ve got an ekphrastic piece in the show called “It’s Never Just Black and White” which includes two collages and a poem.
I thank Chris for sharing this information about her ekphrastic adventures and for her willingness to share her interest in ekphrastic writing with the rest of Storied Charlotte.
