This week, I am “Throwbackthursday-ing” to a program that took place on Friday, March 1st with the Donald Heiter Community Center. The center attracts 20-25 children to their after school program between the ages of 5-13. In the afternoon, I met the students at the Downtown Art Gallery to discuss Anna Kell’s Pentimenti and to create original stories based on her work.
After having fun pointing out all of the found objects around the gallery, we began a creative writing activity based on the exhibition. To begin, I had each student create a character sketch of a fictitious individual, including their defining physical and character traits. These characters came to life as their were given creative names and even some interesting super powers!
In groups, the students chose either a single object or scene within the gallery, and wrote narratives of how this fictitious character may have acquired these objects.
Tomorrow, Friday, April 12tth, I will be traveling to the Donald Heiter Center with a handful of Bucknell students to participate in a second installment of this activity. Drawing on Kell’s attention to the found object, we will be imitating the “story-boxes” created at the Junk Walk. This product will then “live” at the center for all to enjoy! If you are interested in helping out tomorrow or in future collaborations with the Donald Heiter Center and the Bucknell Art Galleries, please contact me at mss043@bucknell.edu.