How to do Blackout Poetry and "Unstuck" Giveaway

For this week's giveaway I want to introduce you to a book called "Unstuck" by Noah Scalin. I was sent a copy to review by Quarry Books and I am truly amazed by this book.  You can check out his website "Make Something 365".


Inside you have 52 projects or ways to get you to start being creative.  Things you may have never thought of before, interesting ways to do things, and great writing/art prompts.


When I was putting together my "Writing and the Visual Arts" session with my colleague Kim McCullough we kept going back to this book saying "Oh we could do that, or that , or that".  In the end we only talked about Blackout Poetry which I have done many times.  The point is every one of the 52 ideas in this book can be used as a basis for a larger art project or as a quick creative exercise for your classroom.

I have a waiting list of teachers at school wanting to borrow this book so you know that's a good sign!





Here are the particulars:

- soft cover
- 240 pages
- 9.25" X 6.25" or 23.5 cm X 16 cm
- suggested list price $19.99 CAN but I found it for just over $15 at Chapters
- publisher is Voyageur Press

Here is one of the projects that I can envision as a larger art project.  You could pair this with any subject in your curriculum by selecting words on that given topic. (for example Bears in Grade 1).

The kids come up with an Acronym to go with one of those words. (using our example lets say PAW: Powerful Animal Wrestler)

They then create an art project to go with that Acronym like a poster promoting Griz the Wonder Wrestler appearing in his next bout.  They can also springboard this into a story about how maybe Griz is tired of the wrestling life on the road and just wants to retire to the mountains.  You get the idea....and now you know why Kim and I were so excited by this book.

 So this is the page that describes Blackout poetry.  I have done this type of project a lot and it's one of my usual exercises that I do with teachers when I'm conducting a workshop.


Don't limit this to the higher grades, early educators can do this exercise as well you just have to adapt it.  Your goal maybe just to:
- get the kids to circle any word they recognize and base the project on that
- or maybe to try and circle the letters in their name
- or how many letters of the alphabet they can find
- or focus just on one letter (find the B's)




So here is a blackout poem I did on a paperbag book that was a project at a recent conference.

MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- old book pages, you can photocopy these if you want.  I try to select a book appropriate to the age of the child
- cardboard or canvas, a mount or substrate for your project
- pencil and fine markers
- white paint, (tempera, acrylic, gesso)
- paint, pencil crayons, pastel, etc. whatever type of medium you want to use for the kids to produce their illustration
- Mod Podge for sealing (optional)


PROCEDURE:

Find some old books.  I love to use old Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Bobbsey Twins books.  They have great paper!  You can find these at garage sales, used book sales, discards from the library, they are everywhere.

I also like these books (see photo) or old reading texts.  You can easily photocopy pages that you want to use over and over again. You can also enlarge the print.

Cut out a section of print at random.

Read through the print and circle in pencil words to make up a poem or sentence.

We always start in pencil because as you ponder you might come up with something better.

When you have settled on a good poem go over the circles in fine marker.

Take your white paint and paint over the text except for the words you circled.  You see how with young kids you may want to enlarge the text here on the photocopier!


It's a nice effect if you allow the words to show thru a bit, it reveals the process to the viewer.

Let dry.

Now using the white space draw an illustration that goes with your poem.

Using your medium of choice add some color to your drawing.

Mount your poem to your background or substrate of choice.  Here this was the title page for a paperbag book.  A larger piece you may want to mount on prepped cardboard or even a canvas (they're on sale this week at Michael's!)

Finally you can seal this mod podge if you wish.

That's it!

Honest to Pete.... I picked this page at random and was able to come up with...."Don't be scared, be trusted"

Pretty amazing what you and your students will come up with.

So if I have perked your interest in this book why not try and win your own copy.of "Unstuck" by Noah Scalin

You can enter by:

- leaving me a comment on this post
- sending me an email at   thatartistwoman@shaw.ca
- liking or commenting on this post on my Facebook page

This contest is open to US and Canadian residents only.

You have until Thursday Nov 17/11 midnight and I'll make the draw on Friday.

Good luck everyone!

P.S.  Those of you in Canada, I mentioned that framed canvas was on sale at Michaels, perfect for the Snowman Portrait project!  The 10 pack is on for $14.99 that's $1.50 per student, great deal, I can't even make them by hand for that! (good quality canvas as well)







See you soon everyone.