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Mural at La Sierra University

Writing Ekphrasis about the Art We Miss: Public Art in the Inland Empire

In a five week class, John Brantingham will discuss public forms of art in the Inland Empire, and teach you how to engage with them as a writer and a poet. These are free classes that meet from 5-6pm on Fridays.

Museums are extraordinary places for growth and learning, but they are also not the only places where art lives. We are surrounded by art that exists in public spaces that reflects and often belies the social, political, and emotional truths of a community. Often this art is commissioned by the community. Sometimes it is not. Some of it is curated. Much of it is a statement that in part rages against the idea of curation. In this class, we will be looking at as much public art as we can.

The arts are a cultural conversation that we have communally and with the people of the past. Ekphrasis supercharges that conversation because we are describing art, arguing with and for the artists, and extending the narrative presented to reflect our new understanding of past conceptions of the world. Your voice in the arts matter, only you can talk credibly about your life, and ekphrasis helps you to present your vision of the world so that we come to understand your extraordinary point of view. At the same time, it helps you to climb into yourself and understand yourself in a way you never have before.

July 3 - What is ekphrasis? What is public art? Exploring the poetic form and the art we drive by every day, both the city sanctioned art and not.
July 10 - Murals of the area and ekphrasis in flash fiction short stories
July 17 - Sculpture and installation and the fiction vignettes
July 24 -  Political statement and poetry
July 31 -Touring art-rich parts of the city and the lyric flash essay

Classes will meet on Zoom and all are welcomed. The zoom link will appear on John Brantingham’s and California Imagism Gallery’s Facebook page, and on https://www.californiaimagismgallery.com/ This link will appear at 4:45 on the days of the event.
All are welcome. We will have live interpreting for Deaf and hard of hearing people