All artists engage in design. Once you have an idea, how do you bring it to fruition, whether it’s physical or literary art? What role do visioning, prototyping, revision, and editing play? How do you stir inspiration, meaning find your creative impulse, but also know what ideas to follow? What role do “mistakes” play? What are the concrete steps to making something better? What are some tangible ways to strengthen our skills in the arts—literary, physical, and otherwise? These are just some of the questions that will guide our inquiry.
This program will have a special focus on objects, both making them, and using them as images in stories. The practice of using objects as images in stories—through metaphor, simile, and analogy—amplifies a story’s impact. Whether it’s a leftover button from your grandfather’s coat, a pebble found on a faraway beach, or a hair found on a pillow, objects are infused with stories. When we let them speak on the page, it’s almost like they tell our stories for us. When we design them, there are ways the objects themselves teach us how to bring them into the world.
This is a program for students interested in both physical and literary arts. You will leave with new skills in both areas. And with deeper knowledge of the intersections between art forms. This is a generative class, so you will leave with a portfolio of newly designed work.