Visual Verses originated from a collaborative workshop of the same name earlier this year, facilitated by Lyn Belisle Kurtin and Marcia Roberts. After four hours of writing and making
collages, participants expressed interest in continuing with a series of workshops that pair the two art forms. Both collage and poetry involve the creative composition of elements to convey meaning, evoke emotions, or tell a story. In collage, artists assemble various materials such as photographs, newspaper clippings, fabric, and found objects to create a cohesive visual composition. In poetry, writers use language, imagery, rhythm and structure to craft a written composition that engages the reader’s imagination and emotions. Collage and poetry both offer artists and writers a sense of freedom and flexibility in their creative expression. They encourage experimentation, innovation, and non-linear approaches to storytelling and communication. These workshops incorporate freewriting and exercises to strengthen writing, line work, and voice. They also serves as an introduction to a number of famous poets and different techniques. The workshops provide practicing various ways to approach collage, and participants can expect to welcome a visiting collage artist at least once during our six-month study. Attendees will find this supportive group a comfortable place to grow as artists, and in six-months’ time will present a catalogue of poems and collages to share with family, friends and fellow Art League Members. |
Visual Verses 2026 is in its planning stages - stay tuned for more information.
The meeting times will be noon to 4:00pm. The cost per session is $35, payable on arrival. A portion of the funds will go toward the production of a catalog of visual verses by group members. Facilitated by Marcia Roberts From a review of Marcia's book of poetry, What She Knows: Marcia Roberts' reflective serial poems pursue the connecting events of one's life. Gleanings of distant lives and gone worlds merge into more contemporary spaces, careful and curious perspectives moving through memory toward some future realization in the poem. Fragments of landscapes in South Dakota, California, Texas, and Spain arrive through voices, conversations, and the textures of the inanimate found in imagistic relations, like the sound of acorns hitting a roof. -Bob Arnold |