by Ashley Pabilonia
Gallery art and spoken word converged on August 25 during the Creative Pinellas-hosted Ekphrastic Slam + Brunch celebrating Xavier Cortada’s installations. The Miami-based artist’s portfolio examines nature and the effects of global warming. Using media such as archival ink on paper or glass, transfer prints on carbon paper, and even Arctic ice on ceramic plates, he depicts in his current exhibit literal and abstract portraits of wildlife, flora, and fauna that exist in polar opposites climates. 90N: North Pole Installations and FLORIDA IS… envision Cortada’s activism and mark Creative Pinellas’s “first gallery-wide ‘museum exhibition’” dedicated to a solo artist, according to their event pamphlet.
The participatory aspect of his work imbued by its call to environmental action prompted the performance portion of the “slam.” Ekphrastic writing, as defined by the Poetry Foundation, is a “vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art."
Contestants strolled the halls and walls searching for their mixed media muses, then scribbled their thoughts in provided notebooks. Many attendees discovered their poems and stories in the Longitudinal Installation, a circle of women’s shoes representing 24 countries along a grid and featuring quotes about climate change in those areas. Perhaps the footwear construction was a metaphor for civilization’s growing carbon footprint. My imagination was piqued by the rays of rainbow colors bursting within water blue backdrops in Starfish Shuffle, a series of ink on glass paintings that were part of the Florida collection.
The participatory aspect of his work imbued by its call to environmental action prompted the performance portion of the “slam.” Ekphrastic writing, as defined by the Poetry Foundation, is a “vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art."
Contestants strolled the halls and walls searching for their mixed media muses, then scribbled their thoughts in provided notebooks. Many attendees discovered their poems and stories in the Longitudinal Installation, a circle of women’s shoes representing 24 countries along a grid and featuring quotes about climate change in those areas. Perhaps the footwear construction was a metaphor for civilization’s growing carbon footprint. My imagination was piqued by the rays of rainbow colors bursting within water blue backdrops in Starfish Shuffle, a series of ink on glass paintings that were part of the Florida collection.
After the hour and a half allotted to drafting pieces expired, readings began. The topics competitors explored varied as much as the media with which Cortada painted, built, and drew his works. Many adapted his messages about protecting Mother Nature in their own words. Some revisited nostalgic childhood memories. Others reflected upon human hunger and life’s end. One reader announced the start and end of her poem by tooting into a kazoo, and another encouraged the audience to stomp in rhythm while he recited his own verses. Different levels of experience were represented as well. Several people performed or wrote poetry for the first time entirely or after a period away from the craft.
Votes were cast by dropping tokens into vases labeled with the participants’ names. These were tallied, and winners were announced and awarded free attendance to a Creative Pinellas class for third place, $25 Kahwa Coffee gift certificates for second, and for first place books supplied by St. Petersburg business Tombolo Books, which set up a pop-up bookstore on site. Ekphrastic poetry comprised one of these tomes.
Though artistic pursuits can sometimes feel isolating, Creative Pinellas’s ekphrastic event brought practitioners and appreciators of the visual and literary genres together before a showcase of globally conscious gallery pieces. Just as nature is Xavier Cortada’s muse, so was he to those who visited and stepped up to the microphone as a spirit of creativity passed from person to person.
Votes were cast by dropping tokens into vases labeled with the participants’ names. These were tallied, and winners were announced and awarded free attendance to a Creative Pinellas class for third place, $25 Kahwa Coffee gift certificates for second, and for first place books supplied by St. Petersburg business Tombolo Books, which set up a pop-up bookstore on site. Ekphrastic poetry comprised one of these tomes.
Though artistic pursuits can sometimes feel isolating, Creative Pinellas’s ekphrastic event brought practitioners and appreciators of the visual and literary genres together before a showcase of globally conscious gallery pieces. Just as nature is Xavier Cortada’s muse, so was he to those who visited and stepped up to the microphone as a spirit of creativity passed from person to person.