Have iPad will Travel

Teaching this week in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the weather a balmy ( for them) 16 above zero today -- and weather above freezing yesterday! But whatever the temperature, the people are warm, welcoming and, with six participants in the workshop, we're open and eager to play digitally.

We've covered a number of journaling apps today, then, went on to drawing and sketching, with a few fun specialty art apps thrown in for good measure (check out Tile Deck and Doodle Dandy). Tomorrow we'll be looking at various ways to create images for thermofax screen designs, and a bit on photo editing, then close with using designs as direct prints, for digital printing services, and finish up with to make some fast notes, like this one, on da.vinci.

More photos of the group and our work tomorrow!

Where Do You Start with Art? Part 3

Drawing in a new medium might be your inventive step. Think outside your usual constraints.

INVENTION!

The next step in making a study (see the past two posts for more information) is the big, fun one of actually doing something with all that brainstorming, experience and research. This is, of course, the point of it all. But even if you shortcircuit the PRIMING and just take one or two of my previous suggestions, you will end up with a much deeper, more resonant and powerful piece of work in the invention stage. 

If you have the time and inclination -- and the deadline isn't looming -- here are some of the INVENTION exercises we use with kids, and that I use in my fiber arts creativity courses. These activities may not be exactly in your comfort zone, but that's the point.  Whatever textile art (or other art) you create after playing in these ponds will be rich, rich, rich.

INVENTION

After the priming experiences, choose and play with materials in one or more of the following ways, and then express your own version or personal definition of the subject as uniquely as possible. You may have other suggestions or ideas for media or genres. This is just a wildman version of ways you can take your ideas! 

Movement Play

Use some or all of your bodies and/or locomotion (movement from one spot to another) to explore the subject, and then create one or more of the following:

• ·         Physical games
• ·         Dances
• ·         Pantomimes
• ·         Dramas
• ·         Improvisations

2-D Play

Use the subject to create one or more of the following:

• ·         Drawings -- on canvas, paper and fabric
• ·         Paintings -- on canvas, paper and fabric
• ·         Collages -- fibric, mixed media, paper cloth
• ·         Prints -- screen, stencils, stamps
• ·         Art Quilts
•   Art Cloth
• ·         Maps, graphs or diagrams
• ·         Stories or poems related to your drawings

3-D Play

Use the subject to create one or more of the following:

• ·         Puppets
• ·         Masks
• ·         Models
• ·         Sculptures
• ·         Constructions
• ·         Stories, dramas, environments or exhibits related to your creations

Word Play

Generate words related to the subject and use the words to create:

• ·         Stories (written or tape recorded)
• ·         Poems
• ·         Tongue twisters
• ·         Monologues/dialogues
• ·         Slogans
• ·         Invented words and definitions
• ·         Riddles
• ·         Books or a library of books 

Tech Play

Use technology to create with the subject, creating one or more of these:

• ·         Slide shows of photographs
• ·         Transparencies on the overhead projector
• ·         Videos
• ·         Animations 
•   Digital books
•   Photos to print on fabric

If you'd like to have a guide through this process, and you live somewhere near San Antonio, consider taking my course at the Southwest School of Art. The first four weeks of the course will be devoted to Making a Study.

Next blog: REFLECTING

Where do You (Start) Finish with Art? Part 4

The final step that we artists need to take with our art is that of REFLECTION. This is the step that often is shortchanged, but it can give us a chance to take the next best step.

FEEDBACK

We tend (I do, anyway) to rush ahead to the next thing without taking time to notice the feelings of satisfaction, of completion, of learning from the process. To simply bask in the sense of rest that completing a big project can bring us. It's the creative engine equivalent of the corpse pose at the end of a vigorous and challenging yoga practice.

Reflecting on what one has done can be as simple as asking "what worked?" and "what didn't?" Not jsut about the final product, but about the process. Did the timing work for you? Did you have a lot of stops and starts, and i so, did they add or subtract from your sense of satisfaction.

IMPACT

It's a good time to get sahre and get feedback from others as well. To notice the impact that the work has on others. Is this a piece that has power and meaning to others? Even if you don't have an exhibition opportunity, can you share it with a critique group, some othr artists? Or anyone whose opinion your respect and trust. What could have made this piece of work more interesting, more powerful, more you. Is it distinct or similar to work that others are doing? And if that is true, what would make it more your own?

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