STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLORADO – The Steamboat Art Museum is pleased to present the 4th annual “Ekphrasis 2021; A Visual Writing Event” that celebrates the collaboration of the written word and the visual arts. Ekphrastic writing is the use of words to comment on a piece of visual art. Writers of all ages are invited to create a piece motivated by a painting in the current exhibition.  This year, “Four Directions – Common Paths: Oberg, Smith, Whitcomb, Young” celebrates the work of four of the country’s preeminent landscape/plein air painters and their 30 years of friendship painting throughout the West and beyond.  Their paintings range from expansive vistas to intimate vignettes.   

The competition challenges writers, adults and youth, to submit work (maximum 750 words, poetry or prose) inspired by one of the paintings.  The entries are judged by an independent panel including members of Steamboat Magazine, Off the Beaten Path Bookstore and the previous year’s competition winner.  The Awards Reception and Readings on July 20th at SAM celebrates the winners and writers with readings by celebrity readers of several selected entries.  Awards include cash and gift certificates.   All submissions are published in the Ekphrasis 2021 Anthology available at the museum.  

“The Ekphrasis Event celebrates our very talented writers’ community and the exceptional visual artists in our exhibition.  The creative stories always provide fascinating new perspectives regarding the selected paintings – a delightful exercise for all of our imaginations.”   Betse Grassby – Steamboat Art Museum Executive Director. 

Entry deadline: Thursday, July 1, 2021, 5:00pm. 

Awards Reception and Readings:  July 20,  2021 5:00 pm at SAM.   

Please go to www.steamboatartmuseum.org for information and entry forms, winning entries from past years, and the exhibition paintings.   

 

The Steamboat Art Museum, established in 2006, is located in the heart of downtown Steamboat Springs, Colorado.   Housed in the iconic First National Bank / Rehder Building (1905/1920) on the National Registry of Historic Places, the museum presents artwork by living masters whose work is relevant to the culture and heritage of the West.  The building provides an exquisite setting for its rotating exhibitions of retrospectives and group shows.  Upcoming exhibitions:  Portraits of the American West – Historic Photography of the early West (Winter 2021-22);  Oil Painters of America National Exhibition (Summer 2022) and  Kim Wiggins Retrospective Exhibition (Summer 2023).