overview
Lesson 1 | Summary
Activity Pages
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lesson 1 | systems &
styles
activity | narrative structures
Artists Matthew Ritchie and Jessica
Stockholder use the idea of narrative or storytelling in
diverse ways in their work.
Jessica Stockholder creates elaborate and colorful installations
and sculptures that combine found objects, consumer products, paint,
and other household items. Often site-specific, these works are
conceived and installed in relation to the surrounding architecture
or landscape. Stockholder speaks about her installations as fantasy
fictions that present an alternative experience to the world we
live in. Stockholder talks about narrative and storytelling in relation
to her work “Sam
Ran Over Sand or Sand Ran Over Sam”
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“The word
narrative isn’t the right word to use in relationship
to what I do. I don’t construct narratives. I haven’t
found the right word, but there is some kind of storytelling,
for lack of a better word. There are evocations—floating
significances—that combine in a poetic way. That title
posits Sam as a character, and the sand as a character. Things
have character. So I’m interested in how the character
of things might function as a protagonist in what isn’t
a narrative here. What I find most interesting about people
is that the structure of meaning and significance that each
of us lives with isn’t easy to articulate. That’s
why storytelling is so important--and art making—because
in those forums, as opposed to something like an academic
essay, we create structures that are difficult to pin down
and we accommodate floating kinds of significance.” |
To create his multi-media installations and sculptures, Matthew
Ritchie draws from structures of human knowledge—including
cosmology, mythology, alchemy, religion, science, and his imagination—to
find visual metaphors that represent the creation and evolution
of the universe and the history of time and knowledge. Ritchie has
created a rich visual language to describe an unfolding narrative
about the universe and everything we know, or think we know, about
it. Ritchie says, “I start with a collection of ideas…and
I draw out all these different motifs, and then I lay them on top
of each other. So I have piles of semi-transparent drawings all
layered on top of each other in my studio and they form a kind of
tunnel of information. Out of that, you can pull this form that
turns into the sculpture or the painting. It’s literally like
pulling the narrative out of overlaying all of the structures. That’s
how I end up with this structure.”
Have students view Ritchie and Stockholder's film segments and slideshows,
as well as read their interviews by following the links listed above.
Ask students to explore the use of narrative in these artists work.
How do Stockholder and Ritchie describe the idea of narrative in
relation to their work? What types of visual narratives do they
create? Have students write short descriptive narratives based on
several works of art such as “Vortex
in the Play of Theatre with Real Passion: In Memory of Kay Stockholder,”
“Nit
Picking Trumpets of Iced Blue Vagaries,” or “Sweet
for Three Oranges” by Stockholder, and “The
Fast Set,” “The
Living Will,” or “No
Sign of the World” by Ritchie. Ask students to describe
both the physical properties of the work as well as the suggested
stories they are able to 'read' by looking at the work.
Ask students to create a visual narrative, on paper, on a computer,
or as a small installation. Have students create and/or collect
5-15 images or objects (drawings, photographs, found items) and
arrange them so that they suggest a linear or non-linear narrative.
Ask students to write notes about their process and system of organizing
and creating their narratives and an outline of the narrative itself.
Have students present their visual narratives to the class. How
did students arrange their images or objects as narratives? What
was their process for creating their work? Have students read the
outline to their narratives and discuss them in relation to their
visual representations. |
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