Tuesday, July 06, 2010

Rapid Writing Exercises

This exercise reminded me of when I have drawing students do gesture sketching- very quick, with the clock running. These are based on prompts given us by Prof. Marty Knepper at Iowa Writing Project, day one:


Prompt- Interesting People

Artists and writers are interesting people.

In college, I had a roomate who had written everything that Steven King had eveer written. Me, I wasn't so into either the horror or suspense stories, but I loved to read the forwards and afterwards in which King talked about the writing process, where he drew his inspirations and shared memories from growing up.

Other Art teachers spend all their time teaching about the elements and principles of design or various techniques and styles. I find the biographies and interactions of artists most facinating. The rivalry between Matisse and Picasso, Picasso's bitterness toward his father and the suicide of his best friend after being turned down by a woman because she was in love with Picasso instead. Of course the tortured mental illness of Vincent VanGogh and his strained relationship with his father- and with fellow artist Paul Gauguin.


Prompt- Objects that mean something to you

As I've gotten older, objects have lost their hold on me. It is much easier to discard material things and realize how unnecissary they are- but when I was younger, I had many mojos- touchstones if you will. I comandeered my father's pipe in college, as I did his Marine fatigues when I was in high school. They somehow connected me to him and helped me identify with him more. I had a model car which my grandfather had built, which was a replica of the real 1930 Ford Coup which he had restored.


Prompt- Memorable events/times in your life

The summer before Senior year of HS when I attended the Journalism Workshop at Ball State University in Muncie Indiana.

Being woke up by the Northridge Earthquake at 4:31 AM, January 17, 1994. We lost our apartment and were homeless for several days. That morning seemed post-apocalyptic, sirens blared as emergency vehicles kept driving past- which meant that obviously there were more injuries and dammage everywhere else in the city, even though some of our building units had collapsed on their garages. We couls smell the natural gas from lines being sheared off- yet all kinds of people were smoking because they were so nervous, we were afraid that there would be explosions or fires in our complex as there were all over the surrounding hills.


Prompt- memorable movies/shows

My Brother and I went to see 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' every night for a week at Midnight movies one summer. It was a double feature with 'Time Bandits.' When 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Chrystal Skull' came out, he and I took my nephew to see it together.

Both of us History teachers (my wife & I), asked the chairman of our department if he'd seen 'Shindler's List,' he smirked "I go to the movies to be entertained!"

Somehow, she let me take her to see 'saving Private Ryan' as a date movie on our anniversary!

We could watch 'While You Were Sleeping' and 'You've Got Mail' almost every weekend and never get tired of them. Guess she got me to like some chick-flicks.

She cried at the opening sequence of 'Up.'
I cry every time I see 'Field of Dreams,' and 'It's a Wonderful Life.'

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