7th Annual Art-Poetry Pairing 2025 – How It Works

This is our seventh annual art-poetry show! This page here explains how the show works, for the artists and poets who are interested in participating.

We are holding this show at the Blackstone Public Library in Blackstone MA for the month of April 2025.

The artists are drawn from our Blackstone Valley Art Association. The poets are drawn from the Sutton Writing Group and the Worcester Writers Collaborative.

Anyone interested in participating please let Lisa Shea know by FRIDAY NOVEMBER 30th 2024 of that interest. Let her know if you prefer a partner you can meet in person or if you prefer to work remotely, staying in touch via email. Also, let her know if you prefer an ‘intense’ relationship where you talk a lot about your works, or if you prefer a more ‘casual’ relationship where each person simply receives the other’s offering and then goes from there. All of these options are fine. We want each team to be happy.

Soon after the names are gathered, each artist is paired with a poet. They form a team for the duration of this project.

Sometime before January 31, 2025, the poet provides the artist with a poem. The poem can be custom-written for this project or it can be a favorite the artist already has written. The poem will be hung in the show on a maximum size of 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper so it should be short enough to fit on that paper at a reasonably sized font. With that being said, the poem can otherwise be as short or as long as the poet desires. It can be a short haiku or a long sonnet.

The artist now has until March 15, 2025 to create a work of art that represents that poem. The art can be a literal interpretation. It can convey the emotion of the poem. It can focus on one aspect of the poem. It is up to the artist to choose how to present their interpretation. That pairing of poem-plus-artwork will be hung side by side at the show.

In parallel:

Sometime before January 31, 2025, the artist provides the poet with a piece of art (a JPG photo of it is fine). Again, the artwork can be custom-created for this project or it can be an existing favorite.

The poet now has until March 15, 2025 to write a poem based on that piece of art. The poem does not need to literally describe the artwork. It can convey an emotion. It can create a story based on the scene. It can be whatever the poet wishes. Again, the poem will be hung in the show on a maximum size of 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper so it should be short enough to fit on that paper at a reasonably sized font. With that being said, the poem can otherwise be as short or as long as the poet desires. It can be a short haiku or a long sonnet.

When each poem and artwork is complete (both in the source and response round), please also send a copy to Lisa so she can update the website with the details. For art, let her know the dimensions of the piece when you send the JPG.

We will work on details like the drop-off / pick-up dates in the coming months.

The reception will be Thursday, April 17th from 6-8pm. Please try to attend – we like to videotape the artist and poet talking about their collaboration!

Here are pairings from some previous years to see how this works:
2017 Art-Poetry Show
2018 Art-Poetry Show
2019 Art-Poetry Show
2020 Art-Poetry Show
2023 Art-Poetry Show

If anybody has any questions or comments, please let Lisa know. Let her know if you’re interested in participating! You can participate just as one half (i.e. just an artist or just a poet) or as both halves (paired with two different people, one a poet, one an artist).

The current pairings are:

Poets and Artists

If I missed anybody, please let me know!

Ask with any questions!