Five creative writing students have given original poems to student sculptors to use as inspiration as they create sculptures.

In turn, the sculptors have given original pieces to the poets to interpret and write poems about.

Creative writing professor Simon Ward calls the swap an ekphrastic project. Ekphrasis typically refers to writing—often poetry—that describes a work of art in a non-writing medium, like sculpture, painting, music or photography.

“I’m really interested to see how that artist is going to interpret [my poem], to see if they take the things from it that I will … because one of the really interesting things about art that I think is really important is that the intent of the artist is really not that important,” dual-enrolled high school student Tomi Brunton said. “So who knows? The poem’s out of my hands now, and maybe the sculptor will create something totally different that reveals things about [it] that I had never considered.”

Ward and ceramics professor Sara Prigodich chose five sculptors and five poets to create pieces last fall. Over winter break, the professors sent a picture of one sculpture to each poet to interpret in writing. Likewise, they sent a poem to each sculptor to interpret using ceramic clay.

The poets and sculptors are anonymous; that is, sculptors and poets do not know which of the  poets or sculptors will interpret their pieces.

“It’s interesting to see how there are two completely different mediums, writing, and then making three-dimensional work, and how they can both be really interpreted in so many different ways,” Prigodich said.