SHANNON CRONIN

Ekphrasis

"Description" in Greek. An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the "action" of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning. 

(from PoetryFoundation.org)

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When I was young and training in New York's Central Park, the New York Road Runners used to put on a race in late winter called the Lucky 7 Mile Reversible. The course was basically a lap of the park's big loop (where most of the club's membership trained on a regular basis), but in the OPPOSITE direction. Yes, instead of running counterclockwise as usual, this event was run clockwise. Crazy, right? 

I laughed at the insignificance of the "reversal" then, but I was young and foolish. Older and wiser now, I can see it was really just something to put on the calendar to draw runners together to do what we loved to do--what we were going to do anyways--but with the solid gold bonus of COMMUNITY.

 

Would you like a solid gold bonus this spring?

 

Come out and play!

You are invited to participate in some camaraderie and multidisciplinary interconnection around

Cameron Walker's new book of short fiction, How to Capture Carbon. 

This project will be a bit of an exploration of ekphrasis, only in reverse. Like the New York Road Runners, we are not going to reinvent the wheel here. We're just going to give it a few spins in the opposite direction. For fun.

 

Here's how it's going to work:

1. Get a copy of How to Capture Carbon. 

2. Read it (perfect activity for February, reading).

3. Make a new creative work* inspired by/in response to/in conversation with the book & its themes.

4. Get together and feel alright (PARTY!).
   Cameron will give a reading and sign books, we'll have all the art on display, live performances will occur, and stimulating conviviality will reign. This will happen in northwest Philly, last weekend in April. Details below. You don't have to participate in the project to attend the party. And you don't have to attend the party to participate in the project! But it will be a lot more fun if you do. 

 

*Media including but not limited to drawing, painting, sculpture, music, dance, fiber arts, kitchen arts, dramatic performance---basically, any mode in which you typically or don't typically express yourself creatively.

 

That's it! Sounds fun, right? I hope you'll decide to join us. And if you do, please be sure to let me know you're in at shannoncroninart@gmail.com so that I can keep you posted on timelines and details. 

 

Thanks everyone,

Shannon