SchoolArts - October 2007

Writing a Masterpiece

Matthew Sink

When it comes to teaching writing in elementary grades, experience is everything. It often demonstrates the difference between eager, confident writers and those frightened to put a pencil to paper. Students who have never taken a real vacation or never received a special gift understandably balk at classroom writing prompts which typically center around these types of events.

As a teacher, I can only offer limited opportunities so I use artwork as a vehicle to teach writing.

Art provides students with ready-made subjects, setting, and mood, creating a platform from which even the most timid writers are willing to dive. This frees them to focus on discovering their voices, creating descriptions, weaving plots, and building structure.

Viewing Art Is the Experience. Art takes away the pressure for students with few experiences, because viewing art is an experience in itself. Despite different backgrounds and viewpoints, a group of people that collectively views a work of art shares a unique bond. Everyone begins writing on equal ground.

Students Learn More. As students create stories, they also connect with important works of art. A student who has written a diary entry for the Mona Lisa has studied it,

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Why Art and Writing? What makes art such a powerful catalyst for strong writing?

Every Picture Tells a Story. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Every picture—whether a landscape, still life, or portrait—it carries some type of question to be answered. Discovering that hidden story provides a natural springboard into writing.

Everyone Sees Art Differently. No two people will find the same story in a work of art. This means no more nights reading a set of cookie-cutter stories that are as boring to read as they were to write. Prepare for sets of unique, creative stories that showcase the distinctive voice of the writer.

Art Inspires Writing. Because art takes on varied forms, creating stories allows students to experiment with different forms of expression. As they view a portrait, students may give voice to the subject by writing a monologue, dialogue, or diary entry. Ominous and spooky landscape paintings such as The Old Hunting Ground ( Whit-tredge) or The Storm (Innes) inspire legends. Others, such as Sierra Nevada (Bierstadt) or The Andes of Ecuador (Church) are adventurous. Stories set in these paintings take on the character of the painting.

Still-life paintings provide great lessons for painting with words— descriptive exercises with rich adjectives, or Haiku poetry.

Getting Started

Many libraries stock artwork in their visual arts collections, allowing you to change your offerings constantly at no cost. Inexpensive prints are also available online.

Using art as a vehicle for writing is easy, inexpensive, and meaningful. It will not guarantee perfect results, but it may inspire the written voice of a previously reluctant writer. In the world of teaching, that truly is a masterpiece.