Students in the Creative Writing MFA Program will read original pieces inspired by the works on view in A French Affair: Drawings and Paintings from The Horvitz Collection at the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ÊÓƵÎÞÏÞÖƹۿ´ Art Museum.
Readings are great networking opportunities for MFA students.
— Eric Mayrhofer '10, current MFA student studying fiction
The event on Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. in the Bellarmine Hall Galleries is formally called ekphrasis, a name that comes from the Greek description of a work of art produced as a rhetorical exercise.
"This is the seventh event in our ekphrasis series, in partnership with the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ÊÓƵÎÞÏÞÖƹۿ´ MFA in Creative Writing," said Curator of Education and Academic Engagement Michelle DiMarzo, PhD, who facilitates academic programming and community outreach for the ÌìÃÀ´«Ã½ÊÓƵÎÞÏÞÖƹۿ´ Art Museum. "Six current MFA students will read new works inspired by the pieces in the special exhibition, A French Affair: Paintings and Drawings from The Horvitz Collection, on view in the Bellarmine Hall Galleries through March 29."
The annual reading is also an event that brings the community together and connects the low-residency MFA students to Fairfield's campus.
"The ekphrasis event series is wonderful to be a part of," said Eric Mayrhofer '10, a current MFA student studying fiction who read a piece inspired by the Gesù exhibition at last year's event. "Readings are great networking opportunities for MFA students — they get us out of the solitary mode of writing we find ourselves in so much of the time. I got to be part of a unique process that gave me a deeper understanding of how different art forms can interact."
