Superhero Exercise
Help people discover the issues they care about and understand the power of art. All ages, but great for young people
Kate
MikeGoal
To help young and old discover:
- they have things they care about they want to communicate to others
- art is a form of communication
- as artists, they have a unique power to communicate ideas
Attachments
Materials
Instructions
See attached PDF write up and slideshow notes. The assignment is optional, as is the explanation of why and how it works.
Background
I created this around 2002 for a group of 6 year olds. And it worked really well.
Why?
For all but experienced artists the idea of being an artist, or even creating art, is intimidating. Public speaking is a top fear for a majority of people and, essentially, art is a form of public speech. Isolating aesthetics, leaning on ambiguity, or simply making art without content is comparably much easier than exposing ones true feelings and desires for the world to see. Doing the latter feels so risky!
This assignment is a playful trick. It starts out so absurd that the students can't help but have their guard down. By the time they've realized what's happening, their core desires have been released onto paper. The exercise then provides a framework for working with those ideas.
The Center for Artistic Activism licenses it's work with a Creative Commons Attribution license - please feel free to use this and please credit the Center for Artistic Activism - https:/c4aa.org
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