“Ekphrastic art” is defined as the response of an artist in one medium to a work of art by an artist in another medium. Its more common manifestation is in poetry written about visual art, e.g., paintings, photographs, drawings, sculpture. Poetic License – Albany is a project that turns that around, giving local visual artists an opportunity to respond to the work of poets.

Last year, inspired by a project created by the Poetry Barn in West Hurley, NY & the Arts Society of Kingston (ASK), we created our own version of this project which we called Poetic License – Albany. 113 individual poems were submitted by 62 poets; ultimately, 18 works of visual art were exhibited at the Art Associates Gallery & at Lark Hall in Albany, with 3 readings held in conjunction with the exhibits. 

Inspired by that success, the Hudson Valley Writers Guild & the Upstate Artists Guild are excited to work together again to present this opportunity in 2023 for collaboration between poets and visual artists in the Capital District.