An update from our sixty-sixth Writing Workshop with Conner Bassett and special guest Emma Catherine Hoff
A summary of the workshop held on Saturday, May 6
This week, winner of the Stone Soup 2022 Annual Book Contest Emma Catherine Hoff instructed the workshop. To start, Emma told workshop participants that ekphrasis is “when you write a poem or story about or based on a work of art.” Then, we looked at three examples of ekphrastic poetry (“The Man with the Blue Guitar” by Wallace Stevens, “Hunters in the Snow” by William Carlos Williams, and “Edward Hopper and the House by the Railroad” by Edward Hirsch) and talked about them. Emma explained that there were different ways to write an ekphrastic poem or story; one can describe the painting, or use it as a way to develop one's own ideas. One can even place the artist in their piece!
The Challenge: Write a story or poem using ekphrasis based on one of three paintings: The Peasant Wedding by Pieter Bruegel the Younger, The Football Players by Henri Rousseau, or Coffee Table by Ernst Ludwig.
The Participants: Anushka, Yueling, Liesl, Philip, Ananya, Seva, Josh, Stella, Aaron, Catherine
Leave a Reply