In celebration of the long, intimate relationship between poetry and visual art, MWPA and Portland Museum of Art proudly present ARTWORD: Ekphrasis at the PMA. ARTWORD was created in collaboration with beloved poet, teacher, activist, and MWPA co-founder Lee Sharkey (1945-2020), and we continue this program in her honor.

Ekphrastic poems respond to—address, confront, inhabit—works of visual art. From Rilke to Elizabeth Bishop to Janice R. Harrington and Tyehimba Jess, poets have engaged paintings, prints, sculptures, and photographs in ways that illuminate what the eye may not detect in the original. When poem and artwork are in conversation, each shines in the other’s light. To see several examples of past ARTWORD poems, please scroll down.

ARTWORD is on hold for now—please look for a relaunch of ARTWORD.

ARTWORD is sponsored by:

Several Past ARTWORD Poems:

• “Storms in Passing” by Mike Bove, after “Wreck of the D. T. Sheridan” by Rockwell Kent.

• “Matinicus from Mt. Ararat” by Richard Foerster, after “Matinicus, 1916” by George Wesley Bellows

• “reach” by Jeri Theriault, after “Left Hand, 2007” by Jenny Holzer

• “Sharpshooter” by Julie Poitras-Santos, after “Sharpshooter, 1963” by Winslow Homer

• “Cain” by Katherine Hagopian-Berry, after “Rising Cairn” by Celeste Roberge