The Sestina Project explores the poetic form of the sestina in visual and verbal terms. This challenging poetic form is an unrhymed verse in six, six-line stanzas with a final three-line stanza. The end words of the first stanza are repeated in a different sequence in each subsequent stanza.

The effect of the sestina is meditative and kaleidoscopic. In her various size wall pieces, artist Jane Kamine visualizes the poetic form of sestina poetry in both figurative and abstract images expressive of the poem itself. In response to the poetry¼s evocation of rhythm and cadence, Kamine substitutes colors, patterns, and pictographs for the end words in sestinas. The result is not a series of illustrations, but rather the visual equivalent of various sestinas by poets including John Ashbery, Honor Moore, Judith Kroll and her partner in the Sestina Project, Mary Pinard.

The exhibition runs from March 16 until April 30, 1999. There will be an artist¼s talk and poetry reading at 4:30 on March 18 followed by a reception from 5:00 to 6:30 pm. The Trustman Art Gallery is located on the fourth floor of the Main College Building at Simmons College, 300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115. Gallery hours are from 10:00 am to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday. Gallery events are free and open to the public. For more information regarding The Sestina Project, call (617) 521-2268.