5 pm – 6 pm (pre-event) Creative Writing Workshop: Ekphrasis with Joni Wallace

“Ekphrasis” is a Greek word meaning “to speak out of” and generally concerns the practice of writing about visual art. As a creative writing practice, Ekphrasis is more than description or critique of visual art: it is the practice of engaging with another art form to open ourselves to new imaginative worlds and leap right into the middle of an ongoing conversation about what it means to be human. In this one-hour generative workshop, we’ll explore different ekphrastic techniques using visual work by an array of artists. Everyone will leave two to three novel and surprising drafts of poems and/or short prose.

BIO
Joni Wallace is the author of four books of poetry: LANDSCAPE WITH MISSING RIVER, Kingdom Come Radio Show (Barrow Street Press, 2016) finalist for the Colorado Prize, the Besmilr Brigham Award, Word Works' Washington Prize, and AROHO's To the Lighthouse Award; Blinking Ephemeral Valentine, (Four Way Books, 2011), winner of the Levis Prize (selected by Mary Jo Bang); Redshift (chapbook)(Kore Press, 2001). She earned her MFA at the University of Montana, and currently lives in Tucson, Arizona.

This workshop is part of the Literary Southwest event Poetic Expressions: A Fusion of Art and Verse.