Dirt and pill bottles seem like unconventional highlights, but these two items made English teacher Carly Gates’ Florida Atlantic University Gallery field trip one of the most interesting and unique excursions Dreyfoos has to offer.

On Jan. 22, students boarded a bus armed with notebooks, pencils, and an urge to write. The itinerary was as follows: pick up artists from Boynton Beach Community High, tour the faculty art gallery, eat lunch at the Student Union, visit the DIRT exhibit to write poetry, and finally swing by the Jaffe Center to view a presentation on FAU’s collection of handmade books.

“We first toured the faculty gallery, which houses works that professors have personally worked on,” communications sophomore Hannah Butcher said. “We then toured the DIRT gallery, analyzed each piece, and eventually chose a piece to write a poem about. Some [pieces] were 3-D, some were photographs, and some were in between. After this, we attended a presentation about the art of books. It was extremely interesting, and everyone was amazed by the creativity of the featured book artists.”

The DIRT exhibit is an exclusive gallery students got early access to.

“[Curator Onajide Shabaka] asked artists to work with dirt, both its physical and its social implications (Who is dirty? What is polluted?) Dirt also suggests both the foundation and the end of structures, and of life.” Ms. Gates wrote on a pamphlet she gave to students describing the trip. Students selected pieces from the exhibit that inspired them and wrote an ekphrastic poem, a poem that discusses a vivid analysis or description of art.

“My favorite part of the trip is just connecting with a piece, taking a spot on the floor in front of it, and channeling my abilities to communicate my interpretation and translating those ideas to poetry,” communications junior Megan Horan said.

After students take time to write their poems, they are submitted to the university. The poems are then published and displayed next to the pieces they were based on.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to display student writing. At Dreyfoos, writers don’t normally get to display their work until the end of the year at showcase or in a publication, so it’s nice to have an opportunity for people to see your work earlier in the year,” Horan said. “It’s also fun because we get the chance to comment on a local artist’s work. It’s sort of like leaving a comment on someone’s work online, but this is real life and the comment is prettier.”

Each handcrafted work at the Jaffe Center had something unique about it. One piece displayed a poem on all the different phases of the moon. Old Jell-O packets were the focus of a different piece, and another book featured a cover with an actual pill bottle, and the “pages” were little pills with advice such as “eat day old sushi.” Much like the ekphrastic poems, art and writing were intertwined.

  “This experience opened my mind to different types of art,” Butcher said. “It made me realize that art has no limits, and that art pieces are linked in imagination and interpretation.”