Ekphrastic Biography

Lecture

Exhibition Lecture Ekphrastic Biography: A Poetic Exploration of Louise Nevelson’s Art and Life

Julie Gard, Ph.D, professor of writing and department chair, University of Wisconsin Superior

In this talk, reading, and visual presentation, Julie Gard will share excerpts from her prose poetry collection Scrap: On Louise Nevelson, in which she “carries out a necessary expansion of the ekphrastic tradition, not only entering into Louise Nevelson’s artworks with the precise, feelingful, and articulate response of an ideal viewer but also taking on the more emotionally fraught question of what it means to be an artist and a mother” (Kathleen Ossip). In addition, Gard will describe her travels to Pereiaslav, Ukraine, where Nevelson was born, and the establishment of a plaque there in the artist’s honor. Audience members will be encouraged to consider the benefits of deep, creative engagement with a visual artist’s work and legacy.

This presentation is part of the exhibition Louise Nevelson: Dawn to Dusk.

All museum lectures and public programs of The Baker Museum include same-day admission to The Baker Museum.

Background image: Louise Nevelson (Ukraine, 1893-1983). The Endless Column (detail), 1969, 1985. Wood and found wooden objects, black paint, 128 1/8 x 59 x 11 1/8 (center), 110 x 22 x 9 1/8 (left), 115 x 21 1/2 x 5 1/4 (right) inches. The Farnsworth Museum, bequest of Nathan Berliawsky, 1980.35.30

Julie Gard

Julie Gard

Julie Gard is a professor of writing and chair of the department of Writing, Language and Literature at the University of Wisconsin Superior. She received her B.A. in English from Grinnell College and her MFA in creative writing from the University of Minnesota. She was a Fulbright Graduate Fellow in Vladivostok, Russia, and has traveled by train across Western and Eastern Europe, Siberia and northern China. She writes and publishes prose poetry, lyric essays and flash fiction, and her books have been finalists for the Foreword Reviews INDIES Award and the Minnesota Book Award. She enjoys teaching creative, professional and academic writing at UW-Superior, as well as serving as the advisor for the college literary magazine, The Nemadji Review. Her areas of expertise include creative writing, creative writing pedagogy, prose poetry, writing and well-being, and experimental and cross-genre writing.

Gard takes full advantage of the foraging opportunities of the Northland, including berries and fiddlehead ferns, and also enjoys time with family, friends and pets; the regional literary scene; and travel within and outside of the U.S.