Catalogue of Critical Creativity

Creating with Words: 

-Potent Quotables

-Theatre or English classroom: choose a character from the text we’re studying (play, novel, short story, etc) to encapsulate in one picture by selecting a quote from or about that character and pairing it with a simple image. For example, if we were studying Romeo and Juliet, you could use the text “It is the east and Juliet is the sun” and place it on the image of a sunrise. This exercise helps students think about using text in a way other than an essay or paragraph about what they are reading. 

Creating with Images:

-Emoji Story

-Theatre or English: students create a simple story using only emojis. They then share it with a second student. That second student creates a short story or a short play based on the sting emojis given to them. This exercise uses a language that students are very familiar with (emojis) to create stories and themes in a more formal language (English). 

Creating withs sounds: 

-Playlist a Life

-Theatre or English classroom: summarize the events of a story or play from the perspective of the main character(s) using clips from songs. For example, the ending of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing where Beatrice denies her love for Benedick, you could insert the song from Disney’s Hercules, “I Won’t Say I’m in Love.” I love music and feel like it expresses things that words can’t, so using it to give more depth and understanding to characters is wonderful and creative. 

Creating with the Body: 

-Dallowinian Party

-Theatre or English classroom: students are assigned (or select) characters from a text or multiple texts that have been studied as a class. They must understand the background of the characters, their situations and relationships. Students will then improv a scene as these characters at a dinner party. While improv might be uncomfortable for many people, it can bring out new discoveries and help students see characters from a new perspective and in new situations. 

Creating with Stuff:

-Metaphorical Architecture

-Theatre or English classroom: design a piece of architecture—whether home, museum, school, theater, landmark, or another structure—to represent a theme (maybe themes like storytelling, forgiveness, friendship, betrayal, empathy, desire, etc). The theme could be selected randomly by the teacher, or be connected with a unit of study, or even a theme from a text being discussed. Create a model of the design in class using only paper and tape. Be able to explain why this structure shows the assigned theme. For example, if the theme was hope, one might design and create a home because home, for them, represents family and children who will go on to lead the future and therefore bring hope to humanity. Playing with architecture in a theatre or English class may seem a bit out of the ordinary, but is a more abstract way to discuss and share thoughts. 

Creating with Social Media:

-Belief Board

-Theatre or English classroom: select a character from the text being studied (play or book) and create a belief board from their point of view. Invite students to try to empathize with these characters’ points of view with things like values and opinions. Show these on the board using quotes, artwork, colors, objects, memes, etc. Think Pinterest. Social media is around for us today, but isn’t always in the texts we study in classrooms. Bringing those two worlds together helps students explore how those elements interact, what new meanings can be made or found, and how they relate to those two time periods. 


-Character Gallery or Belief Board:
Make an online art gallery about the character, but use it as an assessment of how well students know their characters (either in a play they are writing or a creative story they're working on).

-Audio Landscape:
Create a soundscape for a scene from a play or book to get more insight into the situation and feeling. It can also be used for creating a soundscape for a show. 

-Creating with Stuff:
Character analysis through building what their home would look like (external and internal, messy or organized, large or small, etc) based on their personality and tendencies. 

Textual Poaching

The existing media piece I chose was 80s pop songs, specifically those sung, and sometimes written, by females. I identify as a female so this media-some of the lyrics, messages, and stories shared, as well as the female voices-are things I may identify with. I also identify as someone who should have been a teenager in the 80s, and many of the artists included in this piece were teenagers, or a little older, in the 80s. 

My remix brings these hits to our modern day as I lip sync to the music on the radio. I have always loved 80s music and my dad (who was a teenager in the 80s) raised on 80s pop and rock. I often combine this with my passion for lip syncs and over the years have developed a collection of videos. The reserve of videos on my phone are a mix of songs sung by male and female artists, but my female voice identifies with the female artists. 

Historically, females have sometimes been represented in the media as a "pretty face", and many of these pop artists are singing songs written by men. By using videos of myself lip syncing, I am furthering that idea of using someone else's work and being a "pretty face" with it. My project also comments on the music video craze that began in the 80s where the artists or singers lip synced to their songs to create a music video. 

Having so many options for expressing an identity of mine was a bit overwhelming. Suddenly I was bombarded with the number of things I considered a part of my identity--a sister, daughter, friend, female, student, signer, member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, homeschooler, BYU Cougar, teacher, theatre artist, storyteller, lover of ice cream and burgers and fries and chocolate, musician and lover of music, movie watcher and theatre goer...the list goes on and on! That is both an opportunity and limitation in using this project in a school. It is an opportunity to see how many things make up who you are and how we might all have something unique in common with someone else. It can be debilitating because of the lengthy list of possibilities. Being able to discuss this with students, and finding their intent, becomes very important. Pin-pointing their goal of expression or impact will be crucial in helping to narrow down their project. We go from a broadening of perspective, to show how many identities and mediums are available to us and to the project, and then narrow down the parameters again. Using questions to converse about the topics of identity is vital. Make observations, ask questions, be open, figure it out, find out what makes you you. 

Metaphorical Fashion

Quotes and posts claiming to be "honest" and "real" are still a face being put on. What if we were actually honest? Does putting it in a cute font make it better?

"TBH I'M NOT"

"Definitely Judging"

"I'm probably angry or offended about something"

Seat Assignment Response

Seat assignment: Assignment: In 22 minutes (process), in class today (context), you will complete a "This I Believe" piece of writing, inspired by Dierdre Sullivan's work The Funeral (content) and post your creative work on your blog (material). 




I believe in the importance and power of laughter. My parents taught me that.

My parents met in the fall of 1993 when my mom auditioned for, and got into, the Garrens Comedy Troupe at BYU. My dad was already a member of the group and was smitten as soon as he saw the light in my mom's countenance. They became close friends, and eventually dated and got married, with this background of creativity and humor. Laughter brought them together and has been a foundational element of our family since then. 

I will flat out tell you that my parents are hilarious. The only "dad jokes" my dad tells are as a character in a sketch or improv scene. At my house, there are always incredibly expressive faces, flawless movie quotes, spot-on or exaggerated impressions, and a plethora of accents and strange voices being thrown around. Watching my little siblings grow up and witnessing the moment they realize they can make you laugh is a thrilling every time. When I was young, my parents began writing down funny things their kids would say in a journal. I have continued the tradition, keeping a record of quotes that brought the house down. We call these our "funnies" and go back and read them aloud often, reliving the light-hearted memories. 

Laughter can create instant connections. It eases tension and makes friends out of strangers. It becomes a shared memory, binding the individuals together. When I'm in a new class and don't know anyone, or I feel the awkwardness in the room as people are unsure of a process, I'll make a comment under my breath to the person next to me, and we now have a shared experience and will stick with each other for the rest of the event. 

The amount of inside jokes and shared funny experiences and joyful memories that my parents have are precious to them. I would bet money that there is not a day that goes by without them laughing together. It lifts tension, recenters, strengthens, relieves, and makes life bearable. 

Seeing the laughter and light in my parents' marriage has heavily influenced the future I want for myself. One of the first things I look for in people I want to date, and eventually marry, is someone who makes me laugh. Because laughter is important and powerful. My parents taught me that. 

Process Piece

I used an iPhone camera to record a time lapse of my process. It ended up being much faster than I wanted, not allowing me to see the details or funny faces, so I slowed it down on iMovie, which created the stop-motion effect you can see in the video. The process I recorded is me doing my sisters’ hair. I am the oldest of eight children and have four little sisters, one who is fifteen, and then three who are close in age at the end, ages ten, seven, and five. Roxanna, the fifteen-year-old, prefers to not have her hair done at all, so I only insist on it occasionally. Becca, Lucy, and Hillary, however, are more willing to sit for me and we experiment with many different styles. I’ve been doing this for years so I know exactly who has the most sensitive head (Becca), who has the spunky personality for a messy bun rather than a ballerina bun (also Becca), who chooses an “Elsa braid” over “Anna braids” (still Becca), who needs the big elastics because her hair breaks the small ones (okay, that one’s Lucy), and who wants two buns so her hair is wavy the next day (that one’s Hillary).

The reading from Barney talks about contextualizing and engaging with art, not just observing and discussing it. Additionally, this chapter talked about authenticity and “art of its place and time.” In my piece, I took something that I do often, that is a big part of my life, and that is of its time and place. In the mornings, on this place on the couch, is where I usually sit and do their hair. There are different purposes to art. Some process pieces could be more instructional, showing how to do a task or create something. Mine could have been about how to do the hairstyles, but I chose to film it from a distance. My piece is meant to demonstrate a routine in my house, my relationship with my siblings, and to capture this moment of time in my life.

Barney also talks about art making as research. To bring this project to a theatre setting, and art as research for a theater setting, someone could study this video to learn more about how children move or sit or behave to prepare for a role as a child. Or they could take this piece and overlay a conversation on top of it to practice script writing. Or they could create a devised scene based on the events taking place or the characters in the video.

Students in a theatre class could create their own video of a process to instruct someone on how to build a set piece or prop, how to put on specific stage makeup, or how they analyze a script. Groups could use art as research by finding paintings or songs or essays that connect with a character in a play. They could use authentic art (art of its place and time) that they find around the building to create stories about the students of the school, or to use as a starting point of a devised piece.

Seat Assignment

In 22 minutes during class today, you will use your body and/or face to show 5 beats (moments) of specific and distinct emotions, transitioning from elated to disappointed. Use an smartphone camera and a reflective surface in the HFAC to capture the images and post them on your blog, titling the emotion of each beat.

A Problem with a Haircut

A Problem with a Haircut

Medium Specificity

I chose the medium of photography, specifically on an iPhone. The picture of this In-N-Out double-double with no onion captures the look of the burger from a specific angle. The parameters of a photograph allow the audience to understand the colors, layers, ingredients, and approximate size of the burger. Being a picture means the burger will stay stationary and unchanging, so you can always go back and see what it was like at that precise moment. Being a picture means I was able to edit it on my iPhone and enhance colors, crop it to my liking, level the frame with the wall in the background, and experiment with the lighting. 

Seeing a picture of yourself from your youth can take you back to the moment it was taken, and you, having lived it, recall who was there and what was happening. Having experienced the pleasure of consuming an In-N-Out burger, this picture takes me back to specific moments and I can imagine myself there; my hands on the burger, the smell of the spread filling my nose, the sound of a busy restaurant in my ears, and the crunch that will shortly follow this view. 

There are also limitations to the medium of photography. For example, if I have been deprived of going to In-N-Out and enjoying a burger such as this one, this picture cannot completely create or communicate that experience. It does not give the smells, the feeling in the hands, the sounds in the ears, or the taste and texture in the mouth--it is a photograph to be looked at. Being a photograph, it can be edited and changed to influence your perception of the object. 

Using an exercise like this in a classroom could help students realize the impact they can have based on the medium they choose. A good place for them to begin would be discussing what story or perspective or message they want to share. Identifying their intention and goal will starts them on the path of finding which mediums will allow them to do that in an effective way. Taking the time to pinpoint their objective and then find the means to achieve it gives students ownership over their work as well as the real-world knowledge of figuring out why and how it will do that. 

With my medium, I wanted to discuss how pictures can recall memories for those who have experienced it, but cannot create the event for those who have not. While other mediums could get me a similar result, like a video of going to the beach or a tweet about doing homework late at night, photographs are something that resonate with me and I love the idea of capturing something, in the moment, that does not move or change.