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August 11, 2021

BLACKLANDIA Virtual Ekphrasis Writing Workshop with James Coats

BLACKLANDIA Virtual Ekphrasis Writing Workshop with James Coats


August 11, 2021

Wednesdays, August 11 and 18, 2021 (6:00-8:00 PM)

Inlandia Institute’s Blacklandia Event Series Presents

Virtual Ekphrasis Writing Workshop with James Coats

On Zoom. FREE and open to the public but registration is required.

To register: https://tinyurl.com/BlacklandiaEvents

Please join Inlandia Institute for a virtual art and poetry workshop with James Coats, poet and founder of Lift Our Voices Education. This two-session workshop will explore how visual arts can expound and inform written text. We will discuss the shared connection between art and poetry, and how both mediums have been used as tools for change. Participants will be prompted to create their own Ekphrastic poetry – poetry written in response to art. Paintings from artists past and present will be investigated for iconography, imagery, narrative, movement, and context. We will consider how form can be used and broken to develop connection with the viewer or reader.

James Coats is an author, poet, and spoken word artist. He received his Masters from CSU San Bernardino, and after graduate school began writing and performing his poetry. With a passion for all things creative, he strives to capture authentic self-expression through his work. He completed his debut poetry book, If I Had Lived, in April 2018 and completed his second poetry book, All The Ways You Are Wonderful, in February 2020. He believes that poetry has the ability to bring diverse groups together, and offers a way to connect through our shared challenges, achievements, and experiences.

This program made possible with funding by Inland Empire Community Foundation through Arts for IE, a joint project of Riverside Arts Council and Arts Connection.