Exhibition "Convergence: The Poetic Dialogue Project"

The upcoming exhibition, Convergence: The Poetic Dialogue Project, curated by Chicago-area artist and curator Beth Shadur, is an exhibition of collaborative works created by twenty pairs of visual artists and poets. The exhibition includes renowned visual artists and poets from throughout the United States (and a poet from Canada).

The Poetic Dialogue Project is an ongoing project that came about after a wonderful meeting of hearts and minds in 2004 at the Ragdale Foundation between poet Lois Roma-Deeley and Shadur, as both explored the parallel creative process of artist and poet. Since their meeting and dialogue at that time, Shadur and Roma-Deeley have undertaken a number of collaborative projects. Out of her own collaboration, Shadur created the idea of The Poetic Dialogue Project. Since 2004, four traveling exhibitions have been curated by Shadur, with various pairings of artists and poets. In 2009, the last exhibition, Collaborative Vision: The Poetic Dialogue, was premiered at the Chicago Cultural Center. The excitement of this ongoing project has been in the creation of new works outside established paradigms of artistic discipline, and in artist and poet taking their work in new creative directions.