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Creative collaboration with ‘Word & Image’
The second annual art exhibition at the Hoffman Center for the Arts opens Aug. 20
By DAN HAAG
P
Pablo Picasso noted that,
“Every now and then one
paints a picture that seems
to have opened a door and
serves as a stepping stone to
other things.”
That sentiment could apply
to the Hoffman Center for the
Arts’ second annual “Word
& Image” show, a creative
collaboration between a wide
variety of writers and artists.
The project — which
began with a call for sub-
missions in April — will
culminate at a reception and
presentation of the collabora-
tive efforts at 7 p.m. Saturday,
Aug. 20.
The fi rst iteration of “Word
& Image” began in 2015 as a
spin-off of the Hoffman Cen-
ter’s weekly Writer’s Lounge.
There, writers are invited to
create short pieces in response
to various prompts, whether
they are a phrase, an image or
an object.
“One day we were talking
about writers responding to
objects, and we thought how
cool would it be to fl ip-fl op
that,” says Emily Ransdell,
co-organizer of the exhibition.
Ransdell, a prolifi c poet,
handles the writer’s side of
the event. Painter and pho-
tographer Deborah DeWit,
whose work can be found in
Whitebird Gallery in Cannon
Beach, is in charge of organiz-
ing the artists.
The basis for the project
boils down to the Greek word
“ekphrastic,” defi ned as an of-
ten dramatic, verbal descrip-
tion of a visual work of art.
“It is a time-honored
writing tradition,” Ransdell
says, pointing to “Ode on a
Grecian Urn” by English
‘WORD &
IMAGE’
OPENING
FALL BACK
7 p.m. Saturday, Aug.
20
Hoff man Center for
the Arts
594 Laneda Ave.,
Manzanita
hoff manblog.org
Free
By Emily Ransdell
Our long sleep wakes us hungry,
yet we linger skin to skin, saying
it is early still. Our bodies like petals
opened by sunlight, familiar fl ower,
velvet palm and thigh.
You had worked all day
to ready our garden for winter,
staking the honey locust, shoring up
the hydrangea, its shoulders stooped
with sodden bloom. Before bed
we had turned back the clocks
and closed the house against wind.
Now we rise and look down
at the Rose of Sharon which has let go
its leaves, each golden wing has fl own.
SUBMITTED PHOTO
The “Word & Image” show tasks writers and artists with responding to each other’s work. Last year, Emily Ransdell provided the
poem “Fall Back,” and artist Deborah DeWit generated the painting “Time Change” in response.
poet John Keats as a prime
example.
The idea proved to be a hit,
and 2015 saw 15 submissions.
“We tried to pare it down
to 10 this year but ended up
with 12,” Ransdell says. “We
wanted to make sure every-
one got enough time to be
represented.”
Entries are done via a blind
submission process. Artists
and writers each submitted
three pieces of their previ-
ous work during the month
of April. Then, in June,
they were randomly paired;
Ransdell says the names were
literally drawn from a hat.
Next, the artist was given
their writer’s three pieces,
and the writer was given their
artist’s three images.
The artist chooses one of
their writer’s pieces and cre-
ates a new art piece inspired
by that writing, while the writ-
er selects one of their artist’s
images and writes something
original in response.
Unlike a more typical
themed show, the concept of
response art and writing en-
ables each participant to both
showcase their own personal
style and to connect with
others through interpreting
one another’s work.
The show puts no re-
strictions on what type of
artists can participate, and
Ransdell says the mediums
run the gamut from painters
to dimensional paper design
to sculpture. It’s up to each
pair to decide how to proceed
with the creative process,
the only caveat being that all
participants must have some
connection to the coast.
“Some of them choose
to meet up and discuss their
projects; others don’t meet
at all,” she says. “We call it
‘silent collaboration.’”
Ransdell recalls the poem
she wrote for last year’s pilot
show; she wrote it in response
to a painting of blackbirds in
low grass created by DeWit.
Nervous at fi rst, Ransdell says
the more she worked on it, the
more eager she was to share it
with others.
“It’s the excitement of
an artist having their work
interpreted by someone else,”
she says, adding that it also
helps both writer and artist
experience other mediums
and stretch creatively.
At the reception event,
the artists and writers will
unveil their work: The writ-
er will read his or her work
while an image of their
paired artist’s creation is
projected onto a screen. The
artist, in turn, will speak
about their creations. Paired
works will be displayed
side by side on broadsides,
as well as the original
art pieces. A book of this
summer’s whole collection
of paired works will also be
for sale.
“We are so impressed by
the level of work,” Ransdell
says.
As the event draws closer,
Ransdell says that she feels
“Word & Image” will only
continue to grow and inspire
in the coming years.
“There’s some kind of
magic that happens with this,”
she says. “The stuff ends up
working so well together, you
couldn’t plan it any better.”