Ekphrasis

I’m knee deep in being an author and finishing up my second book on personal essays in a memoir form. What an experience to confront one’s identity and revisit one’s life – childhood, passions, dreams, efforts, disappointments – from a new perspective. Stayed tuned for this book; it’s coming.

Such personal reflections bring home the fact that not everything works the way planned, or expected, or hoped. That’s life. But sometimes it does, and that’s special.

When I took writing workshops at The Writer’s Center (TWC) in Bethesda, I was struck by how bare the walls were. There I sat studying the art of writing with no art around me. I wanted to see some visual arts at TWC. Art is art, after all.

Then, when I joined the Board of TWC, I had the opportunity to bring art there. In 2012 we started a series of exhibitions – roughly three a year – showing art by local artists and their students. My wife Lona, an artist who took classes at the Yellow Barn at Glen Echo, joined our efforts. Would this take hold? Could it be sustained? Remember, not everything works. It’s trial and error along the way.

It worked! The Writer’s Center started glittering with art, and people loved it.

A major step forward joining writers and artists occurred at the opening of Ekphrasis, a captivating art exhibit at TWC this week. For this show art students of Mira Hecht from The Corcoran paired with poets from TWC: The result is a dazzling exhibit. The exhibit is on display through April 30th.

The following quote is from my Introduction in the up-coming catalogue on this exhibit.

“Writing, like the other arts, does not exist in a vacuum. Writers often find inspiration in the visual arts to tell creative stories, and use imagery to enliven their writings. Artists often have themes and stories in mind for inspiration, and strive to evoke a corresponding response by those who view their work. The collaboration of Mira Hecht and her colleagues with poets at TWC recognizes the crosstalk between the visual arts and writing and opens a new avenue for growth at TWC. The present ekphrastic event – descriptions of art by poetry and poetry by art – gives a visual voice to writers and, hopefully, broadens the scope of visual artists. It’s all about the benefit and power of sharing visions for mutual creativity.

“Art exhibitions started in 2012 at TWC with artists from the Yellow Barn Studio at Glen Echo. This transformed the barren walls and brought new vitality to The Writer’s Center. The success of the program soon led to including other artists throughout the area. The exhibits ranged from students to accomplished artists, paralleling the mixture of novice and advanced writers at TWC. TWC had no financial goals for the exhibits; the purpose and focus were entirely on merging art and writing. The sudden explosion of color and shapes and images that the artists brought to TWC was magical, like birth or discovery. In addition to brightening the landscape of TWC, the exhibitions made writing more accessible to the artists and their friends – a win-win result for writers and artists.

“This ekphrastic event– the first of its kind at the Center – marks the beginning of a new era of active interactions between writers and artists, which was the ultimate goal for the art exhibitions. It’s a dream come true. This is what happens when creative sparks fly! I hope you’ll visit the exhibit to see for yourself.”