What My Hands Tell: Exploring Ekphrasis

“My heart cannot bear to say what my hands tell.” —Maxine Silverman

A certain alchemy happens when different art forms speak to each other, which is known as ekphrasis. Poems that respond to visual art offer new avenues into expressing what the heart wants to say. In this session we will examine artwork and poems in relationship as they challenge and illuminate each other. We will explore ekphrastic poems and visual art from a variety of Jewish creatives (e.g., Maxine Silverman, Celia Dropkin) to inspire our own writing.

Cathleen Cohen was the 2019 Poet Laureate of Montgomery County, PA. A painter and teacher, she founded the We the Poets program at ArtWell, an arts education non-profit in Philadelphia. Her poems appear in journals such as Apiary, Baltimore Review, Cagibi, East Coast Ink, 6ix, North of Oxford, One Art, Passager, Philadelphia Stories, Rockvale Review and Rogue Agent. Camera Obscura (chapbook, Moonstone Press), appeared in 2017 and Etching the Ghost (Atmosphere Press) in 2021. She received the Interfaith Relations Award from the Montgomery County PA Human Rights Commission and the Public Service Award from National Association of Poetry Therapy. Her paintings are on view at Cerulean Arts Gallery (ceruleanarts.com).

The session will be recorded and sent to participants. We encourage live attendance for you to get the most out of the experience.

We are happy to offer this session for free. A suggested $18 donation has been added to the ticket. If you are unable to donate, you may remove that suggested amount from the ticket. Please consider donating if you’re able, to help us continue to offer free programs like this one.