A mesmerizing blend of poetry and images took place in the NIU Art Museum in Altgeld Hall Thursday, where broadsides of four poems by four Chicago poets stood alongside visual art exhibits designed to complement them.

John Rezek, a founding member of the Chicago Poetry Center, along with Chicago poets Simone Muench, Dan Beachy-Quick, and Kristy Odelius visited NIU and read their poetry in front of a small audience before touring the gallery that contained their displays and the artwork that went with them.

“I wanted to have the people come here and be able to read some more of their work and allow people the experience of an actual person reading their work instead of seeing it online or seeing it in a frame or something like that,” said Peter Olson, NIU Art Museum preparator.

Rezek, who has been involved with the Chicago Poetry Center for 33 years, read selections from his book-length manuscript “Manner of Speaking,” including his poems “Jealousy,” “Hammock” and one of several poems that are all titled “By the Time You Read This.”

“It’s great that the university and the gallery downstairs took the broadsides seriously as a way to show that there is a way to look at poems and art together,” Rezek said.

Beachy-Quick read two selections, including “Apology for the Book of Creatures.”

“[Public reading] gives me a chance to hear the work in a way that is different than when I’m writing it or even reading it on the page,” Beachy-Quick said. “You get a real sense of how an audience responds to something when you read it.”

Odelius showcased some work she did as part of an assignment for the class she teaches, as well as some works from her manuscript “Strange Trades.”

“I think it’s wonderful that NIU is connected with the Chicago culture center, and I had no idea that Chicago would have involvement with a school like NIU,” Odelius said.

Muench read a variety of her work, including her display piece entitled “Elegy for the Unsaid.”

“I love the idea that they are displaying the broadsides and the image doesn’t get short shrift,” said Muench. “There’s this equal relationship between the poem and the art.”

Following the readings, the poets and the audience took in the exhibit in the NIU Art Museum, which featured a variety of video images projected across three dimensional art displays.

“This [event] is a much more visceral experience than just skimming a book or reading something online,” Olson said. “I think that’s the main value of an event like this.”

Following the readings, the poets and the audience took in the exhibit in the NIU Art Museum, which featured a variety of video images projected across three dimensional art displays.

“This [event] is a much more visceral experience than just skimming a book or reading something online,” Olson said. “I think that’s the main value of an event like this.”