Writing Visual Art: Ekphrastic Poetry and Prose
Workshop Description
This 1-session workshop explores ekphrastic writing, where participants create poetry or prose inspired by visual art. Using examples from John Keats, Gertrude Stein, W.H. Auden, and others, students will engage in a generative exercise to write an ekphrastic piece about a work of art in the museum, followed by feedback and discussion.
Price
This workshop is included with Museum admission. We also ask that participants mark their attendance with donations which will go directly to Compton’s Table, a local nonprofit in Erie, PA.
Dates & Times
This workshop meets on Saturday April 18th from 1:00 – 3:00 pm.
Materials Required
Participants bring their own writing supplies; pencils and paper provided
About the Instructor - Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal
Clayton Bradshaw-Mittal (they/them) writes queer, working-class prose and poetry. Their work has won the Plaza Short Story Prize; been a finalist for the AWP Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, BOA Editions Short Fiction Prize, Iron Horse Literary Review/Texas Tech University Press First Book Prize, the Press 53 Award for Short Fiction, the Kinder-Crump Award for Short Fiction at Pleiades, the Charles Simic Poetry Prize, and the Saints + Sinners LGBTQ Short Fiction Prize, among others; and longlisted for the W.S. Porter Prize at Regal House Publishing.
Bradshaw-Mittal’s work has been supported by Community of Writers, MASS MoCA, the Vermont Studio Center, Sundress Academy for the Arts, and Tin House. In 2026, they received a Lydia McCain Artist Fellowship from Erie Arts and Culture. They hold a BA in English from Sam Houston State University, an MFA in Fiction from Texas State University, and a PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Mississippi.