Writing the Walls started 16 years ago when Artistic Director Mara Mills, Studio Theater in Exile and Livia Straus, co-founder Hudson Valley MOCA collaborated to enhance the museum exhibitions by inviting poets and playwrights to contribute original works reflective of their interaction with the art.
Accepted literary works were usually hung next to the artwork that inspired the written word and visitors to the museum had a chance to see the dialogue between art and word. This was followed by a culminating performance, “The Poets Walk,” a day at HV MOCA where, moving from artwork to artwork, the poets read their works in front of their chosen work of art. The audience followed the poets, walking from piece to piece, gaining new insight, energizing the space.
In 2020-2021 the live performance could not happen. With the pandemic at its height, we took to virtual posting. The 2020-21 poetry and art went on-line with audio recordings of the poets reading their works. In 2021, the exhibition expanded with How We Live II with paintings added to the exhibition. And still we could not gather together!
Writing (Off) the Walls II, the Virtual Poets’ Walk, proceeded with 2021-22 writers working from on-line images and bringing forth poems reflecting the exhibition and life as we are living it today.
Welcome to Writing (Off) the Walls II, an on-line Virtual Art and Word event inspired by the artwork in How We Live: Part II. The paintings and the poems are testaments that creativity is alive and flourishing.
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