Delaware Contemporary Project: Reverse Ekphrasis or Making Images from Words

What is ekphrasis and what is reverse ekphrasis? The first part of our Delaware Contemporary project involves reverse ekphrasis. Like the example below of Charles Demuth's painting based on William Carlos Williams's poem, you will be creating a work of visual art based on Jasmine Combs's poem "Object." 

Charles Demuth, an American painter from the first half of the 20th century was inspired by a poem by William Carlos Williams titled "The Great Figure." Here is the complete text of the short poem:

Among the rain
and lights
I saw the figure 5
in gold
on a red
firetruck
moving
tense
unheeded
to gong clangs
siren howls
and wheels rumbling
through the dark city

Charles Demuth, "I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold" (1928) 

The second part of the project is your writing (either poetry or prose) about the work of art you created and how it is connected to the themes and ideas that you find most important in your interpretation of Jasmine Combs's poem. Here is an example of the artist Robert Indiana writing about a work that he made that was inspired by Demuth's painting.    Robert Indiana on "The X-5".

The best work will be selected by curators and staff members of the Delaware Contemporary and featured in the gallery during the First Friday opening in May. 

Side Note:

This particular work by Demuth continues to inspire artists in the 21st century. Here is Rich Kegler's take on Demuth's painting done in historical wood type by letterpress. Note the whimsical title. Pantone 874 is metallic gold (which is impossible to replicate on a computer monitor).