Centenary Art and English Students

An ekphrastic poem is a poem that responds to a piece of art. The word ekphrasis comes from the word description in Greek. Thus, ekphrastic poems often include vivid descriptions of visual artwork.  This exhibition includes two layers of response: original student artworks inspired student-written poems, which then informed the selection of artworks from the Meadows Museum’s permanent collection.

In Intro to Studio Art with Dr. Kyra Rietveld, students practice a variety of mediums and techniques. Four final artworks were selected for English students to use as inspiration in an ekphrastic poetry assignment.

In Creative Writing: Poetry with Dr. Chrissy Martin, students used narrative tools including description, ventriloquism, interrogation, and metaphor to respond to and interpret the artworks. Sixteen of their poems were shared with art history students.

In American Icons & Visual Culture with Dr. Kyra Rietveld, students were assigned poems with which to connect an artwork from the Meadows permanent collection. In addition to visually analyzing their pieces, students connected themes in the work to the course’s subject matter of American art and society.