A writer takes his metaphors and similes to an unknown painted world — and, after hours of work, he has captured the story behind the canvas. It’s now 6 p.m. on May 6 at Anderson Creative, and the writer waits with baited breath for the artist — who’s similarly anxious — to read his interpretation. With an awkward shuffle of greeting, they discuss the blind date that has led them to this interlude. Craig Joseph, curator of Anderson Creative, brings together the nervous tension and eager anticipation felt between two paired creative minds in this month’s Blind Date: The Romance of Word and Image. It’s the second annual installation featuring 15 writer-artist pairs who explore cross-media creative inspiration — and a show so popular that, after its inaugural exhibition last year, it traveled to galleries in Chicago and Minneapolis. “For the next two months in Chicago, the art blogs in Chicago were commenting on how great ‘Blind Date’ was and talking about the Canton art scene,” said co-curator Kevin Anderson. What’s the premise of Blind Date? “The writers each submit a piece of writing that is given to the artist, and the artist creates a piece of visual art from it,” said Joseph. “The writers are given a piece of visual art, and they create a piece of writing from it.” The idea is for artists to anonymously create pieces that will go on to inspire their “date” counterpart. The catch is that they’re not allowed to interact with one another until the unveiling. Joseph was inspired to create the show after reading a book about the unique relationship between words and images. “Word and image are sort of a natural pairing,” he said, and with the 15 writers and 15 artists involved unable to interact with each other, the situation is an anonymous pairing — a blind date. The presence of visual art in Canton is strong, and Joseph thought it would be nice to showcase other art forms, such as writing. He also believes the event gives its participants a singular, useful form of feedback. “When you’re creating, you’re alone, and you never get to have dialogue with anybody about what you’re creating,” he said. “Most of them [the artists] felt so gratified that someone responded to a piece of work they had created.” Anderson Creative is known for spearheading collaborations between varied art forms. They’ve done art and writing, art and graphic design — even dancing in the gallery. Joseph wants viewers to have an experience that’s more resonant than the typical walk through a gallery, and strives to host highly conceptual, though-provoking shows that combine unexpected elements, themes and styles. “An average, non-art-savvy person can come into the gallery and actually rise to that occasion and really stay there and engage and ask questions,” said Joseph. “We try to do a lot of educational workshops, and sometimes we’ll have talk-backs with the artists.” Joseph grew up in Canton and traveled around the country before eventually settling back home. Though the gallery’s emphasis is on visual arts, his educational background is in theater and film, and Anderson also writes, directs and performs in his spare time. Blind Date will debut from 6 to 10 p.m. on May 6, running through the month at Anderson Creative (andersoncreativestudio.com). Written By Ashley Schweigert