EKPHRASTIC: A Collaborative
Storytelling Experiment

Join us for the completion/closing celebration of EKPHRASTIC on June 4th 6-8pm, an experiment in collaborative multi-panel storytelling facilitated by artist Megan Vossler. As a part of this event we will also be partnering with The Riveter Magazine and Magers & Quinn to create a pop up “book bar” as a part of the inaugural Lit Crawl MN. The Riveter's extensive books coverage will come to life as a "shoppable" department, featuring some of the editors’ picks from Issues 3 and 4 of Canon (Riveter’s Book Department) and supplied by Minneapolis' largest independent bookstore, Magers & Quinn.

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EKPHRASTIC Contributing Artists: Taylor Baldry, Amelia Biewald, Dan Bruggeman, Michael Carina, Jennifer Davis, Andy DuCett, Christi Furnas, Paige Guggemos, Geoffrey Hamerlinck, Christopher Harrison, David Lefkowitz, Erik Lervold, Allegra Lockstadt, Jennifer Nevitt, Lindsay Nohl, Miles Ott, Terrence Payne, Melba Price, Jenny Schmid, Joe Sinness, Andy Sturdevant, Bruce Tapola, Jade Townsend, Christopher Tradowsky and Megan Vossler

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EKPHRASTIC is an experiment in collaborative multi-panel storytelling, facilitated by artist Megan Vossler. Over the course of five weeks, twenty-five participating artists will stop by SooVAC to draw onsite, as the drawings are completed they will be displayed on the walls in an exquisite corpse style narrative. The works will be loosely associated with a weekly theme based on the traditional narrative arc: exposition, complication, rising action, climax and falling action.

The final week of the exhibition, writers James Cihlar, Heid Erdrich, and William Reichard will visit the completed drawing and create short narrative responses -- hence, the title EKPHRASTIC. (Ekphrasis = Greek term for the interpretation, description, or amplification of an existing artwork in one medium, by using another medium. For example, a drawing of a story, or a story about a drawing.)

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The Riveter is a women's longform lifestyle magazine in print and online. In addition to providing a platform for women to publish their work, The Riveter serves as an example of what women’s media should look like: thoughtful, dynamic, and complex. Kaylen Ralph and Joanna Demkiewicz, who have called Minneapolis home for the past three years, founded the magazine to allow multi-dimensional stories to live alongside conversations of lifestyle, because they believe women’s storytelling is much more diverse than what traditional women’s magazines allow. In short, The Riveter publishes stories that can’t be summed up in a sell line, because they believe that women as writers and readers deserve more from media.

Megan Vossler is a fiscal year 2015 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

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Image of one of Andy Sturdevant’s contributions to the larger unfolding story.

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