02/24/2022
What the Wind Taught Me: An Exhibit of Visual Art & Poetry in Conversation will open on Friday, March 4, from 5 – 8 p.m. at Tioga Arts Council’s (TAC) gallery located at 179 Front St. in Owego.
Ekphrastic poetry describes visual art; it’s a practice in Western culture at least as old as Homer’s description of Achilles’ shield in the Iliad. The dialogue between visual artists and poets has led to some of our greatest art.
In the tradition of ekphrasis, TAC assembled artwork created in and around Tioga County and paired it with poetic responses to that work for its first ekphrastic exhibit in March 2021. This year, we did the reverse. Participating artists were provided a poem and asked to create an original artwork based on that poem.
The artists represented herein are from the southern tier of New York. Several poets are local, from Owego, Binghamton, and Ithaca. Others come from across the nation including: Washington D.C., Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Maine. Richard Blanco, who President Barack Obama selected in 2012 to serve as the fifth presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history, generously granted TAC permission to include his poem, “Cloud Anthem,” in this show. Each artist approached the poem they engaged from a different angle. There are 16 artists and 16 poets featured in this exhibition. In the youth gallery, artwork inspired by lines of poetry from the show and created by children from The Discovery Center of the Southern Tier will be on display.
The exhibition will open during Owego First Friday, March 4, from 5 – 8 p.m. All visitors are required to wear masks and observe social distancing while in the gallery. After the opening, the exhibition will run from March 5 – 26, 2022, Wednesday through Saturday, 12 – 4 p.m. in Owego. Information also will be available online at www.tiogaartscouncil.org/exhibitions and on social media. A Panel Discussion of Participants is tentatively scheduled for Wednesday, March 16, at 6:00 p.m.
This is the first exhibition to kick off TAC’s 50th Anniversary Year! Please stop in, follow us on social media, and support us during our golden year.
If you have questions, please contact: Christina Di Stefano, Executive Director, at tiogaartscouncil@gmail.com.
