August 9th Session & August Writing Task

We had a bit of a different session this month – instead of meeting in our usual place, we met up at Wolverhampton Art Gallery to try and inspire some writing from the artwork!

This technique is known as Ekphrasis, which is one art form responding to another. It’s a good technique for practicing idea development, as you already have a starting point.

We looked round the gallery, which has all sorts of artwork, from medieval paintings, to Victorian art, to sculpture, to modern art.

A good starting point is to ask yourself questions about the art:

•       What happened to this piece before it ended up in the gallery?
•       What are the people in the piece feeling or thinking?
•       What does this remind me of?
•       What were the people in this piece doing before, during or after this painting?
•       Where in the world has this artefact come from?
•       Who used to own or use this piece?
•       Who are all the different people involved in this piece (subjects, artist, owner etc), and what are their perspectives on the piece?



New Wire Across The Somme - Brian Yale





Looking Towards Ypres - Brian Yale



Whisper of Spring - Sara Page





The Lady of Shalott - Henry Darvall





A Japanese Book purchased by Wolverhampton Art School in the 1800s



Job: Man of Wood - Lancelot Bryan

Stained Glass display in the gallery

The Apothesis of Penelope Boothby - Henry Fuseli

Thanks to Wolverhampton Art Gallery for letting us take photos of these brilliant pieces. The writing task for August is to see if you can develop a poem or short story from one of the pieces of art you saw in the gallery.

If you didn't manage to come along to the session, why not visit the gallery in your own time? It's free to enter and conveniently in the centre of Wolverhampton. Alternatively, use another piece of art you're familiar with to try and inspire some writing, or even use the pictures in this article.

Can't wait to see what you come up with!