_ mapping within -- teacher workshops @ the mca --- 2008

Mapping Within: Teacher Workshop/February 2, 2008

Become an inner cartographer in this interactive workshop led by Amanda Leigh Lichtenstein. Explore intersections of self and place as you visually and poetically map the essential memories and events which define and locate who you are. Participants will create, share, and discuss their responses to the exhibition Mapping the Self (through March 2, 2008) as well as find new ways to connect to the classroom.

MEMORY OF A PLACE WALKING TOUR

Think of a place that you remember so vividly you could actually give someone an imaginary tour of it. Find a partner and take them on a walking tour of your special place. Literally walk them through the imaginary space you create through telling them the story of this place. Point out significant signs and objects. Ask your partner to notice unique details. As the tour guide, keep talking your way out loud through the place. Each person should take two or three minutes to tell the story of their place to one another.

MAP-MARKING MEMORIES

Think of the memories of significant moments that help shape your identity. Now follow those memories back to the place where those moments took place. With your class, hang up a map of Chicago, the USA, and the World. Ask students to “mark” a place where a significant memory happened by placing a sticker with a number on it. Now create a legend/key with your students by placing a correlating sticker with their number on a poster board. Ask students to write a one-line poetic phrase next to the correlating sticker stating a phrase or thought that goes with the map mark. (Thank you, Chicago-based artist Guillermo Delgado, for introducing me to this concept!)

FREE WRITING MEMORIES

Use that one-liner from our map-marking exercise to begin a free write. Once you’ve located a memory inside a place, begin to write about it. Imagine poetic phrases, lines, voices, fragments that help to tell the story of that place from your perspective. Emphasize the use of repetition, sensory images, and personal voice. Coach students to keep writing without lifting pen from paper for a set amount of time. Tell them they can rhyme, repeat, or jump to a new thought.

ORCHESTRATING/WEAVING READINGS OF TEXT

Ask everyone to underline 3 significant phrases from the free write. Read lines out loud at the same time. Or: turn to someone and take turns reading your lines to each other by going back and forth, “weaving” two memories into a single reading. Of course, you could also ask students to read the whole free write to a partner, select 10 lines of text and reorder them as a poem, or create a more formal collaborative poem by weaving together a line from each person.


“TAKES” – THE POETICS OF PERSPECTIVE-TAKING

Memory and place are usually negotiated and experienced by more than one person. Even if you were there to tell the story first-hand, others involved, directly or not, might have another perspective on what occurred. Think about a memory/place connection from various perspectives beside your own. Identify at least three other perspectives and just like a filmmaker calls a “take” on set, write a poem comprised of “takes” of a place and a time experiences from various voices and perspectives. (See essay in Teachers & Writers Magazine on Inventing New Forms...).

MAPPING THE MEMORY OF A PLACE

Draw a map of a place that holds significance to you. Locate the important signs, markers, buildings, landscapes of most importance. Embellish this map with craypas, watercolors, watercolor pencils, needle and thread, collage, found photos, etc. You might ask your students to turn to someone and tell the story of their map. Telling the story of it always reminds them of more details. Encourage students to use the whole frame of the paper to create the boundaries and borders of the memory/place they chose to sketch. (Thank you, Chicago-based artist Cynthia Weiss, for first introducing me to this idea...)

CREATING A “TAKE A PLACE” DECK OF CARDS – ARTIST TRADING CARDS

Join a wonderful movement of artists, teachers, and students who trade small works of art called “Artist Trading Cards.” Here’s how we’ll do it today, but there are many other ways to structure ATC making in your classrooms, and tons of online resources to do so! For today’s workshop, take your embellished map of a significant place and fold/cut it down into 8-10 cards. Now your map is like a collection of puzzle pieces. Go back to your “Takes” poem, and re-write at least one “take” on each card. Finally, your deck will be comprised of a map fragment on one side of the card, and poetic text related to that map on the other. Tie up your deck with string, or create a box using the playing card-box template. Another possibility is to find/make your own enclosure. (Thanks to Chicago-based artist Leah Mayers for first introducing me to the world of ATC's!)

To read more about ATC’s in the classroom, please check out these amazing sites! You won’t regret it!

http://www.artjunction.org/atcs.php
http://www.cedarseed.com/air/atc.html