Sitting with Art #2

Tags

art-inspired writing paths, contemporary art, Elaine Clayton, fiction experiments, Little Women series, picture study, poetry lab, sculptor, Sitting with Art, slow writing, Valerie Hadida, women artists, writing exercises

Valérie Hadida is a contemporary French sculptor & painter, working mainly in Bronze & clay.  This set of sculptures is from Les “petites bonnes femmes”/ The Little Women series, which has been described by critics as a “poetic encounter….[meant] to make us travel the path of women from adolescence to maturity and through the various emotions and moods that drive these generations of women.”

Trained at l’Ecole d’arts plastiques et publicité de la ville de Paris (EMSAT) and employed in the studio of Marielle POLSKA for 6 years, a character designer for several animated features and winner of the Paul Ricard Foundation Prize in 1991, she has been EXHIBITED in galleries since 1990.

Showing currently at @GalryVerneuil this January.

 

 

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May her art inspire your writing path for the week!

Cure WritersBlockitis Forever!!! Exercises for the Fiction Lab

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crayon exercises, cure writer's block, Fiction lab, writing exercises

That’s right! I said it. No more sitting around staring at a blank page.  If you really want to get up the juice to write again, you’ve got to work out that brain. And no, we’re not talking Mensa puzzles or Sudoku, all you smart asses. But nice try.

The cure-all for writer’s block actually requires a crayon and the fun exercises below:

So grab your favorite color and WRITE!

Snapshot–To do this one, you’ll need pics of people engaged in interesting things.  Look in old magazines, on the internet or snap some candid shots with your phone. Then for each scene, write a giant “I” on your sheet with the crayon and roll out the details as if you were involved.  You can switch to pen/pencil after the first sentence.  Do a couple of these and then try to combine.

Repeat in second or third person.

Objectify–similar to snapshot, only played with pictures of objects. For example, a shot of a muddy bootprint in a bathtub or an iron cooking pot full of bones.  Write the name of the object in crayon under its picture and then write at least two sentences about its past or future.

Bonus points for linking it to the people you wrote about in snapshot.

Remnants of plot–Take the major plot points of the last movie you saw and spin your own version with objects and people woven in from the snapshot and objectify exercises.  All names of people and objects should be rendered only in crayon.

Extra points for making two of the plot points polar opposites of the originals.

Love letters–Write a short love note (entirely in crayon) from a politician or priest to a famous literary character.

Extra points for saucy character choices.

Now try a TV character writing to a book character.

Headlines–Pluck a headline from a foreign newspaper (see http://www.world-newspapers.com) and tell your own story. Headline must be written in crayon.

More points for shorter picks.  For example, Flirting in Deutsch from the Munich Times earns you more than Box of 1930’s Letters Washes up in Canal from one of the Highland papers.

If you get going on something good, don’t stop, but don’t abandon the crayon altogether either.  Switching back and forth between writing mediums helps to keep both sides of your brain fired up.

Try a few everyday to keep the ideas churning, and you’ll never be stuck for a writing topic again.

 

Enjoy, all you scribblers!!!  I’ve got more good stuff coming your way soon….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

80’s Pop Culture Enters the Feminist Dimension

Tags

Barbie, craft, Denise Duhamel, Feminism, Hello Kitty, poet, poetry, poetry lab, pop culture, She-ra, writing exercises, writing prompts

She-Ra, Princess of Power

Hello all,

Today’s poetry lab is inspired by work from two poets who are not afraid to mix pop culture with feminist ideals: Sandra Faulkner and Denise Duhamel.

After reading three of their poems (see links below), try to come up with one of your own in the same vein.

I am drawn to She-Ra, Princess of Power, as my starting point, but feel free to use any pop icon of your choice. Remember to weave in a feminist flavor.

THE POEMS:

When Hello Kitty Registers for the Working Cats Conference, Security Confiscates Her Catnip NOTE: Poem is at the end of the book blurb

Buddhist Barbie

Hippie Barbie

Do you know of any other poets who have used pop culture in interesting ways in their work? Then post in the comments.