Phantastic Ekphrastic unfolds as a wandering conversation. Creative inspiration is not treated as a solitary spark but as shared experience. Ten poets and ten visual artists were invited to participate in this exchange. Each was asked to begin not with a blank page, but with the results of another’s creative exploration. This process is often described as ekphrastic: a term used when one artwork responds to another, for example when a poem is written in response to a visual piece. Here, this idea was expanded into two-way dialogues.

​

At its core, this exhibition resists the myth of the isolated creator. Instead, it embraces a more nuanced understanding of artistic practice, one in which influence is not only inevitable, but essential. As Austin Kleon writes in Steal Like an Artist, “All creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original.” In this space, that idea is not merely acknowledged, it is enacted. Each artist and poet begins by “stealing,” in Kleon’s sense; being first influenced and inspired, and then transforming the work of another into something distinctly their own.

​

What emerges is not duplication, just in a different form. An image may give rise to a poem that expands its emotional landscape or introduces a narrative where none was visible. Perhaps a visual expression distills a poem into something more visceral or ephemeral. A poem might inspire an artwork that resists deliberate illustration, instead translating rhythm into abstracted form.

 

These are not reflections, but refractions;

each work sending the light of inspiration in a new direction.

​

Collaboration can be both structured and open-ended, inherently containing both invitation and refusal. Each participant was given a point of departure, but not a destination. In this way, the exhibition becomes a study in trust of another artist’s vision, and trust in one’s own interpretive instincts. The visitor to the exhibition participates in the space between the two. That space, where meaning is not fixed, is often where the most compelling questions reside.

​

The interplay between text and image invites us to consider how different forms of expression shape our perception. Language and visual art are processed and experienced quite differently. As these modes intersect, they can both complicate and enrich one another. Just as a poem may alter how we see an image; an image may influence the reading of a poem, and together they create a conversation. 

​

This exhibition is about relationships; between imagination and methods of expression. This exhibition is about finding the creative spark at the intersection of artistic inspirations. It asks us to consider inspiration not as a moment of solitary genius, but as a thoughtful and ongoing dialogue where each creator is a link in a chain of influence that stretches across time and discipline. 

​

Participating artists and poets in Phantastic Ekphrastic are: Elisha Almeida, Aaron Brenner, Leonard Butt, Kristina Campbell, Don Cunningham, Corwin Fox, Ian Fry, Mary Gorman, Steve Horel, Martha Jablonski-Jones, Kim June Johnson, Dan Kirk, Diana Kolpak, Scott Lawrance, Kelly Madden, Corina Menz, Ivy Miller, Natalie Nickerson, Clive Powsey and Steven J. Thompson.