ABOUT
What happens in our minds when we experience a piece of prose, art or music? How do our brains tell us a story? Is what we experience what the artist intended? And if it isn’t, how is it different? Is it better? Is it worse? Or is it just different? What happens when we take our response to what we’ve heard or read, and create something new from it?
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These questions are at the heart of VERSE/VISUAL.
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2024 marks the 6th year of VERSE/VISUAL! This project is a collaboration between Ipswich creatives, inspired by a series of visual essays done by the New York Times in 2017, that presents art and writings that result from the joining of creative forces. Creators submit a recent piece of their work, which is then given to a different accepted creator. They, in turn, create a new work responding to it. Collaborator's identities are not revealed until the opening reception of the project, allowing for unfiltered responses.
We are so excited to share this year's VERSE/VISUAL with you.
Photo: Detail from an image by
Jill Bemis, 2021 V/V Photographer
Meet the Verse/Visual 2024 Leadership Team
Cynthia August, Verse/Visual Founder & Director
Cynthia August is a commercial and fine art portrait photographer living and working in Ipswich. She is known for her magic realist portraits that are created in camera featuring costumes and props she makes herself. She writes, teaches and creates photography out of her studio in the Tyler Building. She is also the founder and current President of the Ipswich Art Association, Chair of the Ipswich Cultural Council, and a member of the North Shore Creative Collective. In 2023 she was selected for the Essex County Creative Foundation's ChangeMaker Program, a yearly cohort dedicated to advancing the creative potential of Essex County by building a strong arts and culture ecosystem.
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Kate Zelkowitz, Verse/Visual Producer & Exhibition Coordinator
Kate Zelkowitz is a writer, choreographer, and Ipswich native. She has over ten years of dance training in jazz, modern, and ballet, and has enjoyed years of experience as an assistant teacher for a variety of age groups and dance disciplines. Now, she is thrilled to be able to help other students experience the magic of dance the way she did as an instructor at High Street Studios. Kate is a junior at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, pursuing a B.A in Communications, with a concentration in Digital Media Innovation. She is also a former specialty espresso barista and makes a mean cup of coffee.
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Joan Wilking, Verse/Visual Exhibition Designer
Joan Wilking’s short fiction has been published in The Atlantic, The Bellevue Literary Review, The Barcelona Review, Other Voices, The Mississippi Review, Ascent, Hobart, Clackamas, The MacGuffin, Elm Leaves, and others. She has also contributed creative nonfiction to The Manifest Station, New World Writing, and Brevity. She was a finalist for the 2010 Nelson Algren Short Story Competition of the Chicago Tribune, and received special mention in the 2016 Pushcart Prize XL Anthology. She lives and works at the edge of the earth overlooking Plum Island Sound in Ipswich, Massachusetts.
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The Ipswich Art Association is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the arts in Ipswich. Its purpose is to support, empower and advocate for all creative and performing arts and artists in Ipswich.
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