Anderson to guide Fantastic Ekphrastic workshop
 
New River Community and Technical College is offering a four-week workshop with author Belinda Anderson for the spring term starting in January. The college also is offering a new way of attending – from the comfort of your home using the Zoom conference call option, so you don’t need high-speed internet to participate.
 
“Fantastic Ekphrastic” takes a traditional creative writing device and expands it to help advance writers of all experience levels. Writers can experiment in the genres of fiction, nonfiction and poetry or focus on one mode.
 
“I thought it would be fun to explore a classic concept in a new way,” Anderson said.

The four-week class will be conducted through one-hour conference calls that will include lecture, with time for questions and participant sharing, and group e-mail follow-up as needed.
 
“I find the sound of someone’s voice on the telephone the next best thing to conversing in person,” Anderson said. “Plus, there’s the benefit of being able to have that conversation while wearing sweats. If you want to wear your pajamas during class, go for it.”
 
The word ekphrasis derives from the Greek rhetorical exercise of describing art, real or imagined. From the Poetry Foundation: “a notable example is ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn,’ in which the poet John Keats speculates on the identity of the lovers who appear to dance and play music, simultaneously frozen in time and in perpetual motion.”
 
Johannes Vermeer’s painting titled “Girl with a Pearl Earring” inspired author Tracy Chevalier to write a historical novel creating imagined circumstances for the painter and the model. The novel, in turn, inspired a play and a film.
 
 “The act of ekphrasis sharpens your descriptive abilities, which benefits you in all types of writing,” Anderson said. “As the workshop progresses, you’ll develop the ability to see how any type of object can add an important element to your work.”
 
Participants will be emailed the conference call number and access code after registering for the class.
 
For College information or to register visit www.newriver.edu/community or contact Gloria Kincaid (304-793-6101, gkincaid@newriver.edu).