We tell each other stories every day. It may be a simple story, what happened at the grocery store, or it may be a much more complicated one full of elements from our past. Whatever the story may be, we have a drive to communicate, and we do it with stories.

This workshop contains a series of exercises that are designed to help the artist see their creative process from a different point of view. By moving from simple grammar exercises to simple drawing exercises the workshop attendee is made more aware of the narrative power of the visual image and how the individual artist can begin to work the idea of narrative into their own concepts. The workshop closes with each attendee spending time creating their own narrative work. The workshop is designed so that each attendee does not have to have a strong visual vocabulary built up and can instead rely on their easier to access verbal vocabulary to get them started.

Our perceptions of objects—how we see them and what we project onto them—are instrumental in how we relate to the world around us. Objects in a visual work of art act no differently.  The viewer always brings their own experiences to bear on the work in front of them.

This workshop is designed to help the student and artist examine how objects play an integral role in the composition and meaning of a visual work.  A series of writing exercises start the workshop with each student composing short paragraphs about a series of objects. Historical works will be investigated by the students, looking into the meanings of objects presented visually by artists throughout history. By using language to start the student can easily pick up on the  concepts presented in the workshop and share their views and ideas with each other. With a  common ground established the students will then create a series of images based on these ideas and the objects that have been presented.