Coinciding with Lyra – Bristol Poetry Festival, View Art Gallery presents: Visual Poetry

Following the ‘visual jazz’ of its previous exhibition CACOPHONY, the latest presentation from View Art Gallery is called Visual Poetry.

Opening to coincide with Lyra – Bristol Poetry Festival, this poetry-inspired collection of work from seven artists explores the relationship between visual art and the written word.

While some visualise poems more explicitly, creating art from imagery they can see or hear directly in the words, others prefer to explore their emotional responses to the poetry underpinning their work.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CqqxUEJrRzg/?hl=en

Events running alongside the exhibition include an Ekphrastic Poetry workshop on May 9, led by poet Robert Walton, in which the process is reversed, and participants will be encouraged to work on poetry in response to the artwork.

Some of these creations will feature in a poetry reading on June 1, headlined by Edson Burton.

Jessica Chapman – figurative artist

Chapman uses oil and pastel to express her feelings through the abstraction of the body. The starting point for her visual art is often her poetry, equally expressive and personal.

Jessica Chapman: Blessing

Terence Wilson-Fletcher – portrait artist and storyteller

Large-scale oil paintings, intensely coloured and packed with narrative, are informed by literature, philosophy and current affairs.

Terence Wilson-Fletcher

Fran Williams – oil painter

Each painting starts with words written on the canvas, gradually hidden with the layering of paint as the sub-conscious takes over the process. For the first time, we will be shown the words that inspired each piece of Williams’ artwork.

Fran Williams: Under the Bodhi Tree

Mike Stuart – artist, illustrator and web designer

Stuart will be showing a series of monochromatic paintings, full of narrative that comes from literature, observation and the artists own poetry. Implied messaging is expressed through imagery that is intense, personal and tender.

Mike Stuart: An Angel Whispers

Tim Burgess – surrealist, figurative and impressionist painter; collaborative artist

For Visual Poetry, Burgess has worked with several poets and directly interpreted a poem in each of the paintings shown. For some, he has discussed the poetry in depth before translating to visual symbols; for others, he applied paint from a raw emotional level.

Tim Burgess: Arson Season

Joanna Swann – musician, artist and jewellery maker

Swann uses words and phrases in portraits of imaginary women. We can see extracts from poems and song lyrics in painting and collage, hinting at the story behind the person.

Joanna Swan: Fragments

Clare Ferguson Walker – poet, lyricist, sculptor and painter

In this exhibition we see painting that is developed concurrently with poetry, where mediums are interchanged, and both form part of the final artwork.

Clare Ferguson-Walker

Visual Poetry is at View Art Gallery until June 18. For more information about the exhibition and accompanying events, visit www.viewartgallery.uk/exhibitions.

All photos: courtesy of View Art Gallery (main photo: artist Terence Wilson-Fletcher)

Read more: View Art Gallery hosts exhibition of ‘visual jazz’

Listen to the latest Bristol24/7 Behind the Headlines podcast: