Want to tell a story about glass art at St. Petersburg's Chihuly collection with Keep St. Pete Lit? Credit: Summer Strickland

Want to tell a story about glass art at St. Petersburg’s Chihuly collection with Keep St. Pete Lit? Credit: Summer Strickland
Ekphrastic. If you didn't already know what the word meant four years ago, well, Keep St. Pete Lit's spent the past three years doing their damnedest to make sure you know it now. Simply put, it's a mashup of art and written works — one artist creating art and one writer reacting to that art in the written (and, often, later spoken) form.

If you've attended their annual Fantastic Ekphrastic and wondered how you can get in out — but also suspected you weren't certain you were up to the challenge — here's a halfway point that can help: The Aug. 25 Cocktails at the Collection will feature a small class of Ekphrastic students, and you can get in on it now. 

Keep St. Pete Lit's limiting it to 12 students, and each student will choose a work that's part of the Storytellers exhibit (on view through Oct. 31) and use it for inspiration in what they write. The exhibit includes work from glass artists Preston Singletary, Jennifer Pohlman and Sabrina Knowles, David Walters, David Schnuckel, and Matt Piepenbrok. The class will conclude at the Lit Space Literary Arts Institute at the Morean Arts Center, where students will work on essays inspired by their piece of chosen art.

At the Aug. 25 Cocktails at the Collection, the class will present its ekphrastic to those gathered (nervous writers, don't worry: by the time you read your work, surely all in attendance will have had a chance to imbibe a bit, making them a receptive audience!). 

So, here's your chance to try your hand at a mini-ekphrastic. Get to it!


Storytellers Ekphrastic Writing Workshop in collaboration with Chihuly Collection | LitSpace Literary Arts Institute at the Morean Arts Center, 719 Central Ave., St. Petersburg | July 14: 1-3 p.m. | $15 | 727-798-4530 | Register for the class here.

Cocktails at the Collection | Chihuly Collection, 720 Central Ave., St. Petersburg | Aug. 25: 6-8 p.m. | $25 | 727-822-7872

This article appears in Jun 21-28, 2018.

Cathy's portfolio includes pieces for Visit Florida, USA Today and regional and local press. In 2016, UPF published Backroads of Paradise, her travel narrative about retracing the WPA-era Florida driving...