An Evening of Poetry inspired by “Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone”

Join us for a dynamic interdisciplinary conversation exploring poetry and literary themes in the exhibition “Edmonia Lewis: Said in Stone.” The first Black and Indigenous woman sculptor to achieve international acclaim, Lewis broke social, racial and geographical boundaries through her art. Between 1866 and 1872, she completed a series of marble sculptures on the popular theme of Hiawatha and Minnehaha, drawn from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem “The Song of Hiawatha” (1855). This panel considers various connections to poetry during Lewis’ lifetime and today. Our panelists include poet Tyehimba Jess, whose Pulitzer Prize-winning book of poetry “Olio” (2016) includes a section that gives voice to Edmonia’s Lewis and her sculptures, and Barbara McCaskill, Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of English at UGA and scholar of African American literature. The program will begin with a reading by Jess of selections from “Olio,” followed by a discussion moderated by Shawnya Harris, the museum’s Larry D. and Brenda A. Thompson Curator of African American and African Diasporic Art and co-curator of the exhibition.

Born in Detroit, poet Tyehimba Jess earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and his master of fine arts degree from New York University. He is the author of “leadbelly” (2005) and “Olio” (2016). A two-time member of the Chicago Green Mill Slam team, Jess was also Chicago’s poetry ambassador to Accra, Ghana. His work has been featured in numerous anthologies, including “Soulfires: Young Black Men in Love and Violence” (1996), “Slam: The Competitive Art of Performance Poetry” (2000) and “Dark Matter 2: Reading the Bones” (2004). He is the author of “African American Pride: Celebrating Our Achievements, Contributions, and Enduring Legacy” (2003).

His honors include a Pulitzer Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award, a Chicago Sun-Times Poetry Award and a Gwendolyn Brooks Open Mic Poetry Award. A former artist in residence with Cave Canem, Jess has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Illinois Arts Council and the Fine Arts Work Center at Provincetown as well as a Lannan Writing Residency. Jess has taught at the Juilliard School, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and at the College of Staten Island in New York City.