(lively piano music)
-: Hi, my name is Daemond Arrindell,
I am a poet and a performer and a teaching artist,
and I have a lesson here in poetry
that I would like to share with you all.
So thank you for being here.
The title of this learning plan or lesson plan
is Ekphrastic Influence.
Ekphrastic poetry, is poetry that is written
in response to some other form of art,
uses art as inspiration.
And it can be visual art and it's traditionally visual art,
but it could also be dance, it could be music,
it could be any other form of art that you're inspired by,
so much so that you wanna write something about it.
So we're gonna be primarily focusing on visual art
in this particular lesson.
And where we're going to start,
or the big idea behind this lesson
is that our brains create narratives or stories
when we look at images
that are very rarely based on our actual experience.
When we interrupt that story, we're able to see new truths
and new beauty for ourselves.
So when we interrupt the story
that our brain starts to tell us when we look at an image,
we can actually create brand new stories
and see the beauty for ourselves.
So where we're going to start
is I'm gonna show you an image, this image here.
And what I'd like you to do with this image
is just take a minute to write down what you see.
I'm not gonna say anything else.
What do you see when you look in this image?
Just take a minute.
(lively music)
See if you can get down five or six different things,
what are you seeing?
Now, I've done this lesson
with a lot of different groups of people,
kindergarteners, college students, professors,
and regardless of who the people are and where they're from,
there's something that almost everybody in the classroom
focuses on in this image,
and it's these things hanging from this wire.
And what they say is they're shoes hanging from a wire.
And the question that I ask is,
how do you know that they're shoes?
Well, I just know they're shoes.
Well, we're looking at a two dimensional image
that is a representation of something,
but how do you know that they're shoes?
And I also should stress with you all
that I'm going to ask some questions during this lesson
that seem kinda stupid, just bear with me on this.
How do you know that they're shoes?
And I usually have students actually in the classroom
come up and point out the things that they're seeing.
So I'm not misrepresenting anyone.
So basically, most folks' eyes
are drawn to the center of the image
or what is closest to the center,
and they tend to forget or ignore
the stuff that's on the sides.
Most people don't pay any attention to the sky,
don't pay much attention to the stuff that's at the bottom
or on the sides, they tend to focus on this stuff here.
And not just that they're shoes,
but the story of why the shoes are there.
Even though they don't know,
they start to tell me all kinds of stories.
Like that those shoes are there
because it's a signal that the neighborhood is poor
and that drugs are sold there.
Or it's a way to signify
that a particular gang operates there
or it's a way to commemorate somebody who's died.
So a lot of violent images or violent stories
seem to come up based off of this one image
that no one knows exactly what the story is.
Sometimes people will comment on the railings
on the side of the buildings, the fire escapes
and they'll tell me that they know
that this picture is taking place in New York.
They know that it's taking place in New York.
They know that it's taking place in some place like Chicago.
They know that it's taking place in an area
that some people would refer to as a ghetto.
And what I find interesting, is that in most cases,
no one has spent time in this exact neighborhood
or knows exactly why those shoes are hanging up there,
they have ideas.
Which brings me to the idea of stereotypes.
A stereotype is a story that people tell about you
based on some part of your identity.
So assuming for example, that because I identify as Black
because I have brown skin,
that I'm really good at basketball,
that I only listen to rap music.
There are all of assumptions that people make about me
because I belong to a particular identity group,
that's a stereotype.
My definition is when someone else
gets to tell your story for you.
Think about an assumption that someone has made about you
based on the color of your skin
or how tall or how short you are,
or because you wear glasses,
or because of the neighborhood that you live in.
Those are stereotypes, those are assumptions.
That's someone taking a look at you
and deciding who you are.
They are deciding what your story is.
So what we're gonna do today
is take a look at some different images
and write our own stories,
or rather interrupt the story that our brain starts to tell
so that we can look at what's really going on
and then do some writing in response.
So we're gonna start by looking at a particular image
and the first thing
that's going to come into your mind very likely,
is what is this thing?
That's the story of this image, what is this thing?
Let's put a pause on that story
and let's focus on some very specific details.
We're gonna focus on the details of color, shape, texture,
temperature, and emotion.
Take a look at this image,
what are the different colors that you see?
And some of you may be saying white,
okay, but it's not a blank white sheet of paper
and different areas of the image have different colors.
What are some of those colors?
Look in the places that are darker.
Look in the places that are lighter.
What are those different colors that you see?
I've had some students in my classes
be able to name 15 different colors in this image.
But a big part of that is slowing down and really looking.
Lean into your screen, look at the different colors.
As you look at this image,
what are some of the shapes that you see?
How would you describe this shape here
compared to this shape here?
What would you say this shape here is or this shape
or down at the bottom, these shapes?
How would you describe them?
I've had some students say things like,
well, those are teeth.
Teeth aren't a shape.
What's the shape that you see?
Are they more square?
Are they more rectangular?
Are they circular?
Are they triangular?
How would you describe them?
What's the shape?
We've got color, shape.
Let's think about texture.
If you could touch this thing,
what do you think it would feel like and in what places?
Would this part here feel the same as this part up here?
Would this part here, feel the same as this part here?
What different textures would they feel like?
How heavy do you think this thing would be?
Let's imagine for a sec that it's this big,
or it could fit on this table,
do you think you'd be able to lift it?
There's another question, temperature.
Looking at this image, does this seem cold to you?
Lukewarm, hot?
What temperature comes to mind?
And last question, looking at this,
what emotion comes to mind?
Does this seem happy, sad, overwhelming,
boring, curious, confusing?
What emotion does this image seem to represent to you?
Use your imagination, there is no wrong answer,
there's just what you decide.
Now, we just spent a few minutes looking at this image
and answering a whole bunch of questions.
Now I will actually tell you what's in this image.
I have had one student in the almost 10 years
that I've had using this lesson and this image teaching,
only one student has ever guessed it.
It is a moose skull.
Now, if I had just said that from the beginning,
we wouldn't have caught all the different colors,
all the different textures, all the different shapes,
the temperature or the different emotions,
all of which helps us to really see what's in the image
instead of making assumptions about the image.
That makes a huge, huge difference.
Now, when you apply those same ideas to people,
you get some very different thought patterns going.
I love this image
and the first time that I brought it in to my students,
a lot of my students were very focused,
less on the details of the image,
the colors, the shapes, the textures,
they went straight to places of stereotypes.
They were assuming the gender of the two people
that are up here.
They were assuming the sexuality of the people up here.
They were assuming all kinds of different things
based off of skin tone.
They were creating a story that was full of stereotypes,
full of assumptions.
They were missing this person down here.
They were missing what is actually a roller coaster
in the background.
The title of this image is mermaid parade.
There's a whole bunch of stories, beautiful stories
that we can see in an image when we actually take the time
to look past the surface,
when we start to look at the details.
What are the colors going on?
What are the shapes?
What are the textures?
What does this feel like?
What do emotions are going on in this image?
That helps us to tell a more interesting story.
We have to incorporate the details
so that we don't just make assumptions
and fall into the realm of stereotypes
where we're not really seeing a person,
we're just repeating
what other people have said about them in the past,
which I don't want anybody to think about me,
but I also can't help that.
What I can do is work on those ideas for myself.
So I'm going to show you a couple of different images
and you get to decide
which one you would like to write about,
but I'm gonna give you some framework
for how we're going to write about them.
First, I want you to take a minute
looking at either one of the two images,
you get to pick which one.
Take a minute to write down, as you look at the image,
what are the colors you see?
What are the shapes?
What are the textures, the temperatures and the emotions,
what is represented?
What are those details that are represented in the image?
Take a minute to do that first.
Then you're going to follow a flow to describe that image
and use your imagination to really help to bring it to life
and you're going to use this particular framework.
When I look at the picture,
let me put it up for you so you can see,
when I look at the picture, I see, I see, I see.
When I look at the picture, I hear, I hear, I hear.
When I look at the picture I feel, I feel, I feel.
When I look at the picture, I am, I am, I am.
So again, you're gonna start,
I'm gonna show you the two different images,
two different images for you to focus on.
You get to decide, pick one.
You can always come back and do this again
if you really want to, but two different images.
Your job is going to be to tell the story of this image,
but not the same story that everybody else is gonna tell,
making assumptions, using stereotypes.
You're going to start by taking a minute for each image
or for one of the images, excuse me,
what are the colors?
What are the shapes?
What are the textures?
What are the temperatures?
What are the emotions?
Take a minute to write down at least a couple
for each of the categories.
Once you've done that,
then you're gonna follow the framework
and tell the story of this image
using those different categories.
And use it to let it take you
in all sorts of different directions.
Whatever directions come to mind.
Now, sometimes my students get stuck on
what do I write when I get to I am?
This can go on in several different directions.
When you say, when I look at the picture I am,
you could describe how you feel emotionally,
that's one direction.
Another direction is to write like you are someone
or some thing in the picture yourself.
Imagine that you're in the picture, what would you say?
So again, when I look at the picture, I see, I see, I see.
When I look at the picture, I hear, I hear, I hear.
When I look at the picture I feel, I feel, I feel.
When I look at the picture, I am, I am, I am.
So start by taking a minute to look at the image
and write down the colors, shapes, textures, temperatures,
and emotions, those five different categories.
Just take a minute to write down those things.
(lively music)
So now I'm gonna give you a couple minutes to write with me
in response to one of these two images
after you've collected again, the five different categories.
And again, when I look at the picture, I see, I see, I see.
What are those things that you see?
You can't look at the picture and say, I don't see anything,
'cause there's colors, shapes, textures,
temperatures, emotions.
What are those things?
When I look at the picture I hear,
what do you imagine you would hear in the image?
Or as you're sitting here writing,
what do you hear around you?
What do you feel?
What are the things that you might feel,
the textures within the images
or what are you feeling emotionally as you're looking at it?
And then last thing,
when I look at the picture, I am, I am, I am.
How is it impacting you?
Or it could be elaborating on how it makes you feel.
Just take a couple of minutes.
(lively music)
I'm gonna read you what I came up with
and hopefully you will take the chance and opportunity
to read to someone what you've come up with.
When I look at the picture, I see pink wrapped in black,
fading and flowing into purple like a cascading waterfall.
I see eyes turned downward but still open.
I see black wrapping up brown skin,
how they go together, one protecting the other,
how we can belong and coexist.
When I look at the picture,
I hear echoes and clicks of a camera bouncing off of tiles.
When I look at the picture, I feel hidden,
kept behind a closed door that does not lock.
When I look at the picture,
I am a flower pedal blossoming in the nighttime.
Thank you for taking the time to write with me,
I appreciate it.
Please keep writing and enjoy the rest of your day.