Expansive Notions of Ekphrastic Practices: A Generative Workshop with Linda Michel-Cassidy

The ekphrastic practices traditionally feature a writer, usually a poet, using the artistic experience of viewing a piece of visual art as a starting point for their writing, often beginning with description. Teaching artist Linda Michel-Cassidy is interested in working with a more expansive notion, i.e., those conversations moving back and forth between a wider array of artistic practices. In this session, which will have a significant generative component, we will write at, from, and after artistic materials, as well as those which lead us to similar ecstatic impulses. We’ll engage with a variety of starting points, incluing sound, photos, abstracted images, and more. We’ll discuss what exphrasis can be, as well as investigate how these methods can be used as prompts for participants’ own writing practices. We’ll talk about, and experiment with, ways that writers can use prompts from other mediums to jump-start and further their writing. This session is appropriate for practicing and new writers in any genre. Those interested in the arts, who may be new to writing, are strongly encouraged to join.

Class meets in person Saturday, April 4, 9 am – noon.

Class size: Minimum 5, maximum 15.

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Teaching Artist: Linda Michel-Cassidy’s story collection, When Were Hardcore, was released by EastOver Press in February 2025. She is a senior editor for reviews and hybrid/collab at Tupelo Quarterly. Her poetry has appeared or is upcoming in Rattle, New Orleans Review, December, and elsewhere. She is a member of the San Francisco Writer’s Grotto, teaches for the Summer Writer’s Conference in Taos, NM, and is the editor for the Marin Poetry Center Anthology. Michel-Cassidy holds MFAs in fiction (Bennington), poetry (VCFA), and visual arts (CCA). She lives on a houseboat in California and is a novice open-water swimmer. All else at: lmichelcassidy.com