A basic system for all students.
I spoke recently to a group of interdisciplinary sculpture
students who, in addition to conceiving of complex artworks, faced the task of
writing project summaries for all their pieces. These summaries, designed to
clock-in at 250 words apiece, would take the form of one longish paragraph, or a few short paragraphs.
Rather than lecture the class with a standard “blah blah” “resource-room” “rah
rah” “concept-heavy” “go get-em” kind of dealie, I presented a model, with
examples, that emphasized three steps in effective paragraphing plus some
ruminations on the logistics of sitting down to write. While this
model may oversimplify the writing process, I think it does offer
all students—not just sculptors—the kind of basic pathway that they can
emulate. If it did lead to “robotic” sentences or paragraphs, at least these
attempts would have muscle and sinew, rather than fluff and fat. It follows:
1. Write Actively
For active sentence writing, keep subject and verb close
together—right next to each other if possible. Avoid weak verbs such as “use”,
“have”, “be”, and at that, especially “be” and its other forms (were, was, is,
been, being, etc.)
Examples:
I reflected upon monumental landscape paintings when
conceiving of this sculpture.
I drew several mock-ups before assembling materials.
I built my sculpture from metal, wood, sand, and fiberglass.
The piece duplicates the soaring lines of trees and
mountains.
It rocks.
2. Add Transitional Language
You can’t start every sentence the same exact way. To avoid
“sameness” in sentence construction, one can add transitional words or phrases,
such as: “moreover”; “in addition”; “afterward”; “as well as”; “all in all”; “furthermore”;
“in the end”; “likewise”; “in particular”; and “then”. You can insert a
transition at the beginning of a sentence or even in the middle.
Example:
I reflected upon monumental landscape paintings when
conceiving of this sculpture. I drew several mockups, afterward, before
assembling materials. Then, I built my sculpture from metal, wood, sand, and
fiberglass. In the end, the piece duplicates the soaring lines of trees and
mountains. It rocks.
Of course, some sculpture can be very frisky!
3. Include Specific Detail
These would include items like the appearance of your piece;
the cultural references and inspirations that led you to create it; the
materials; the techniques of assembly; your aims in conceiving of it; the tools
you employed; and the concepts you developed in the process.
4. Logistical Matters
2 comments:
this is useful. thanks. casey.
is this casey? it doesn't say "anon". well, whoever you are -- many thanks for the kind words. if this is casey -- f off! see you soon. and no, many thanks for this comment.
b.a.
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