Art and Literature

An Interview With
Letters Magazine
Teaching Writing Through Art
By Katherine Rushforth Nelson Smith * Eng. 423 * 10. 25. 2012

* blowing scarves
* red hat
* whispering

* matching pants
* rosey cheeks
* bunded boy & girl
* black hair
* gathering clouds
* hands in pockets
Above Diagram:
“Learning to Look”-- Art through writing activity-- Bonnie Katzive

An Interview With: Bonnie Katzive
How can you successfully teach writing through art? When I asked Bonnie Katzive for an interview, to discuss her successful teaching strategies involving art, this was the question on my mind. Katzive has been incorporating art into her writing curriculum for the past 5 years.
Along with this, she had seen a positive change in her students writing.

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Graciously accepting my request, I meet her in her office. She sits across from me, her form comfortably hugged by the olive-green canvas chair across from me. I thank her for meeting with me, as her ideas and methods have particularly intrigued me. She smiles welcomingly and responds with a friend’s, “of course.”

KN: For the past 5 years you have been teaching students to write with the assistance of art.
What do you want this form of teaching to do for your students and their writing?

BK: “My goal is to teach how to analyze a work of art in depth-- with or without related background information-- to create more disciplined observant, engaged viewers... Students generally like working on art projects in Language Arts,” but it is looking at art that makes the biggest impact. (Katzive 1)

KN: Interesting. I suppose human beings have interacted with art since the moment they were born; in faces we see, trees, buildings in cities. Looking at it this way, we live and breathe art. I can see how it would be a great way to connect to students.

What have you done to make this discovery in regards to your teaching? How does it work? BK: Middle school students have, as you mentioned, “much practical experience with art, but few have ever been asked to look at a work of art in any sort of disciplined way.” There are also still students who consider themselves “non-artists.” I’ve had to take them into account through this process as well. The beauty of examining art in Language Arts makes the task fairly easy. One of my non-artist students shared once that, examining art, not necessarily drawing it, is a way to sketch “the creative of half of our minds.” One activity is called:

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Learning to Look:
1.

I’ll turn off the lights while students look at the images projected on the screen.

2. After a minute of observation, I have them make a list of what they see, without saying what the image is. “The listing process is essential.”
“Listing forces students to invest time in looking and compels them to examine details before jumping to conclusions. I had one student hit it right on.” (Katzive 1)

‘Just glancing at something doesn’t tell you much, but if you really look for a while and make a list, you will see a lot more.’ (Katzive 1)

Details are essential so I encourage them to get closer if they’d like and look from another view. They begin to notice different elements. The fabulous thing about our discussion is that students see different things, and as they share, everyone begins to see more and more.
Our lists are then used to construct interpretations of the artwork that make sense in light of what is being observed. The students get excited to discover the interpretations of their classmates, which is another benefit of using art! (Katzive 2)

KN: Aw, I see. So this activity is also a tool of inquiry. When students sets out on a writing assignment within a poetry or a novel unit, this form of inquiry can be recalled for the students. Using this can assist in the understanding of different perspectives and interpretations among any form of text, whether is be art, poetry, a novel, music, etc. Using art makes it a memorable and easy to drawn upon when the inquiry tool in needed for different forms of observation. (Katzive 2)

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As I continue my conversation with Katzive she begins to emphasise that after students’ initial experience, it is then helpful to introduce them to some of the art terms that could assist them in their observations and analysis. They begin to feel comfortable analyzing art with set symbols, iconography, etc. Reaching further, she begins to teach with compositional structures. She had students sketch the basic compositional structure for every image they wrote about, then asked a series of questions: are there any symbolic shapes?, Are they vertical (strength) or horizontal
(calm)?, Where does the main subject lie?, etc. “This opened up additional layers of meaning.
They began to understand the relationships of different objects in the composition and to feel a greater connection to the artist and their creative process. (Katzive 2) Katzive creates a very accessible unit for students by having a sequence of steps and assignments, each being clearly and fluidly connected to the next.

KN: So what is the benefit in teaching through art?

BK: “Structuring how students investigate a work of art (written or visual) to find the link between discipline and persuasive interpretation is a critical task for humanities teachers...
Such lessons from teaching visual art have provided valuable tie-ins and insights for my more central role as as teacher of reading and writing.” (Katzive 6)

After my illuminating conversation with Katzive, hearing her explanation of artistic and creative teaching methods, I am left contemplating the significant mobility given to students and teachers through this method of teaching-- writing via art. Diana George, a teacher of
Writing and Rhetoric at Virginia Tech, wrote the article, From Analysis to Design: Visual

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Communication in the Teaching of Writing. She references the discussion of, “pedagogy of the ‘multiliteracies,’” and how the conversation often takes place to encourage incorporation of visual communication in the teaching of writing, as well as to argue that writing is itself a form of visual communication. (George 13) The use of visual literacy is a fairly new practice and, moving along the same lines as Katzive, George says that visual literacy can be taught through any form of art (paintings, films, comic books, television narratives, etc.) It can be studied in the “same way as literary text, as subject of close analysis.” (George 19) Often these literary tools help prompt student composition, enabling them to produce more vivid and descriptive writing through their visual thinking. (George 21, 24)
Even for critics reluctant to fully support pedagogy of the multiliteracies must see how the method of students observing and analyzing the visual to make for stronger visual thinking is highly beneficial to the students learning. Short, Kauffman and Leslie in, “I just need to draw”:
Responding to literature across multiple sign systems, adds another aspect to visual literacy.
Intertextuality. Intertextuality refers to the process of making connections with past text to understand a new text,” text, being anything that can draw meaning. (Short, Kauffman, Leslie,
165) I wanted to try a combination of these methods. With no class of my own I turned to the only pupil I have, my accountant husband, Nick. I chose to draw on a past known text, Romeo and Juliet. I asked him to describe for me the scene of Romeo and Juliet’s second meeting in the
Montague courtyard at Juliet’s balcony.

Nick’s First Description

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Eager and frustrated, Romeo relentlessly returns to the place of the woman that will not be released from his mind. Upon his arrival, Juliet is drawn from her room to the balcony to again meet this man and to entertain the unthinkable. When names are forgotten, love is unleashed, but both understand how names can’t be forgotten much beyond a brief romantic conversation.

Following this task I had him then observe the picture below for one minute. Using the listing method of Katzive, he was to make a list of specific details he observed within the image. I had him then write a second description using his discoveries from his observing and listing.

Nick’s List
Man trying to impress from below
Woman’s hair blowing in the wind
Big city softly illuminated by street lights

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A man dressed for his planned occasion at an unusual time, demonstrated by her dress Beautiful night’s sky
Two people wishing the elevation between them would disappear
Quiet and humble streets
The man’s view of the woman is likely better than hers of him due to the light next to her window

Nick’s Description AFTER List & Image

Calm from prepared, Romeo walks the dark empty streets under a beautiful sky to visit his unforgettable Juliette. Her face shining in the perfectly placed streetlight, he charms from below, only wishing his charm could physically descend her. The sleeping city facilitates a discussion that shouldn’t be, but love insists.

For a reluctant pupal, both of Nick’s descriptions were well written, but note that after his observation of the painting his descriptions became more visual, exhibiting his visual thinking.
Instead of, ‘Romeo relentlessly returns to the place of the woman that will not be released from his mind,’ Nick shows us, Romeo walks the dark empty streets under a beautiful sky to visit his unforgettable Juliet. There is a greater depth to this second example. He contrasts the dark empty streets with the beautiful sky. As Juliet stands upon her balcony, she is physically above Romeo, closer to the beautiful sky Nick describes, and her face is shining in the perfectly placed streetlight....Shining like the “sun”? Romeo’s sun?

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But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
(Shakespeare's, Romeo & Juliet)

Nick, not given this quote before his activity, still created a visual description that paints this famous scene clearly and vividly. His viewpoint allows for greater interpretation as he magnifies elements within Romeo and Juliet that could otherwise easily be overlooked or seen as insignificant. Nick describes the contrast between Juliet’s backdrop of the beautiful sky, as she stands on her balcony, and the dark street below where Romeo stands looking up at her, wishing he could descend, what cannot be. Rich symbolism can be found through this viewpoint. Considering specifically the visual distance and difference between Romeo and
Juliet’s positioning in this description can connect symbolically to the distance and difference between the Montagues and Capulets and how their hate for each other is represented in the distance of Romeo to Juliet in this scene. This famous scene has now more significant meaning than it had before, simply by considering another viewpoint--Nick’s as well as the painting.
"When Students are given opportunities to experience meaning making through multiple ways of knowing, every engagement with visual art as a text to be read can evoke an original, generative response." ( From Grierson and Dean, page ).” Original response can be original to a majority, or it can be original to just the creator, both are significant in the process of learning to be a thoughtful writer.

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Dr. Deborah Dean (Dean of the English Education Department) and Dr. Sirpa Grierson,
English professors at Brigham Young University, collaborated in writing, Through Artists’
Eyes: Inventive Heuristics for Literacy’s and Text, journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy . Their study, “an inquiry based approach to reading and writing incorporates visual arts into the English
Curriculum.” The best way to get into the genius of these two women was, of course, interview them. ( From Grierson and Dean, page 1)

An Interview With: Dr. Deborah Dean and Dr. Sirpa Grierson
I meet Dean and Grierson at a cafe near their BYU campus. Chilled from Utah’s fall weather, we sit in a little nook with our warmed beverages. Dean and Grierson, on a cranberry colored victorian loveseat, sit across from my autumn-gold lewittes chair. It’s a perfectly artistic scene for our dialogue.
As our blood begins to warm, the energy in our nook becomes lively. Both women, so passionate about the subject, were kind enough to grant me a couple hours of their time. With such inviting hosts our scene is easy and without errs.

KN: So, why writing through Art?

SG: “As students negotiate disciplinary boundaries they develop sensitivity to multiple ways of knowing.” (Dean, Grierson, 1) A powerful way for students to do this is through art. It allows them a more accessible and less intimidating way to incorporate the practice of negotiating in their writing.

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DD: “Almost 50 percent of the worlds population will be connected to digital/ visual media within a decade with the internet possibly having the ‘most profound influence.’” (Dean, Grierson, 2) Visual images have become a significant part of language. KN: Considering visual images as language would allow students a fresh perspective.
Dakota, an 8th grader and severely dyslexic, is a student I interviewed for another project. I discovered through our dialogue that she does not read unless required during class and does not enjoy writing unless it is creative writing she does on her own time. When I asked her what TV programs she prefered she replied, “I like the
Disney Channel because it’s appropriate, and I like the art style. I like Nickelodeon too because it’s got good plots and funny lines... And Cartoon Network, because it’s just random.” It’s almost as if she’s asking for the incorporation of multimodality and transmediation. She just needs to be taught and understand how to look at art in a more “disciplined way.” (Katzive 1) Tim Mcneese said, “Artist are essential writers who ‘write’ in a different language.” How do we help students understand this?
What would be the process you would go through with Dakota?

SG: Dakota, especially with her dyslexia, could benefit significantly from this way of learning. “Understanding visual imagery as a form of multimodal pedagogy... embodies reading cues beyond print decoding that calls for a rethinking of instruction if we are to develop careful thinkers [readers] and thoughtful writers’” (Dean,
Grierson, 2)
Let me show you an example of how the content of art, considered as a text, can be mapped onto the expression plane of another text.

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Grierson lays a sheet of paper in front of me on the table. There are three columns on it. At the top of the first column it says, What do I see?; the second, What does it mean?; the third, What is my creative response?
This is created to mimic the steps of the reading process. The chart begins on a factual level, moving to an inferential level and finally to an interpretive level. “The
Chart encourages dialogue and allows students to think deeply about the text of the painting as they become more metacognitive and investigate their own thought process.” ( From Grierson and Dean, page 1)

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For this activity, Grierson gives students an image and has them look closely at its details and write down the factual descriptions: clothing, objects that are visible, etc. The activity is much like Katzive’s until we reach the second column; what does the painting mean? Students are directed to look at the painting again and then are asked a series of more thought provoking questions. Here are a few examples Grierson gave.

Where do the lines of the painting take your eye? Why?
Why do you think the artist included seemingly random objects?
What objects appear to be symbolic or have a specific meaning? Why?

After the thought questions are asked, they are directed to the final questions where they get to explore “their possible creative response through transmediation”, transforming their understanding through inventing a connection so that the content of one text [art] can be mapped onto the expression plane of the other. (Short, Kauffman, Kahn, 170) This process is similar to Katzive’s but gives students more specific guidelines that mimic more closely the reading and writing process. Students throughout this process are learning how to think visually and creatively. KN: So the Transmediation Chart can be used not only for the exploration of visual images but for reading, as you mentioned, and writing as well?

DD: Yes. The student is constantly writing out and expressing thoughts through this process. When it comes to having students write an essay on a novel, a response paper, or research paper, etc., to create the thoughtful writing we’ve been talking about, those same questions should be asked. To bridge to our Peter Pan painting lets

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look at this example from J.M. Barrie’s, “Peter Pan”:

Peter was not with them for the moment, and they felt rather lonely up there by themselves.
He could go so much faster than they that he would suddenly shoot out of sight, to have some adventure in which they had no share. He would come down laughing over something fearfully funny he had been saying to a star, but he had already forgotten what it was, or he would come up with mermaid scales still sticking to him, and yet not be able to say for certain what had been happening. It was really rather irritating to children who had never seen a mermaid.

If we ask our questions: What do I see? What does it mean? What is my creative response? Our students writing will be much more thorough, thoughtful, and expressive. As we discussed before, crossing boundaries and connecting this literary example to our visual example will only creates more careful thinkers and thoughtful writers. ( From Grierson and Dean, page 2)"Using works of art as legitimized forms of text," allows students to expand their understanding of what it means to be literate. (
From Grierson and Dean, page 4)

Conclusion
My conversation with all three of these women was quite inspiring. As an aspiring teacher of writing, hoping to make a difference in the lives of my students, especially those who struggle through their learning process, I have found that art can be a bridge that can lead students to deeper understanding and greater expression. “The fresh viewpoint stimulated by visual art are important to both individual and social growth and development in modern culture.” ( From Grierson and Dean, page 4) Writing through art is a pathway that can lead

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students to this growth and development.

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