Writing Workshops for Artists and Designers
Why do we do what we do?
How and where might it be going?
Whether beginning an art or design practice, or continuing as a well-established maker, in these workshops we use writing as a direct process of inquiry to explore curiosities, to examine our questions and the underpinnings of our work, to deepen reflection, integrate a personal perspective, and develop a voice.
We dive deeply through intentional writing exercises, using well-crafted prompts, brainstorming, mapping and collaborative exchange. Special attention is given to persistent thoughts, ideas, and imagery the work points to and builds upon. We draw out, clarify, and nurture the root of the work, catalogue working methods, questions, and inspirational sources while being open to productive paths for evolving our writing, whether as an artist statement or thesis document.
Sample Prompt: Cultural Blind Spots
from Mapping the Intelligence of Your Work
Does your work bring to light a zone of exclusion or a blind spot in our culture?
“Somewhere every culture has an imaginary zone for what it excludes, and it is that zone we must try to remember today.”
— Hélène Cixous & Catherine Clement
“I discovered Mapping the Intelligence of Artistic Work in 2011 and brought it with me to an artist residency . . . The questions served as tools to parse what my work was about, where it was going, and what I hoped to accomplish. They gave me the beginning fragments of a language I could use to form my artist statement and they pointed the direction to major shifts on both the micro and the macro level . . .”
This excerpt is from a blog post by Dietlind Vander Schaaf. To read more, visit dietlindvanderschaaf.com.