text + image

Check out Kristin Carlson's (RISD BFA Photo 2003) MFA in Printmaking (Indiana University 2010) here

Kristin describes her thesis as a combination of "poetic writings, a love of letterforms/handwriting, and both the fact and form of mailed correspondence."

Here's an abstract for a talk she will be presenting on a current research project:

Abstract for College Book Art Association Biennial Conference 2011

See Saturday, 8:30am - 10:00am: http://www.collegebookart.org/Default.aspx?pageId=761369

Words Become Images: Visual, Verbal, and Gestural Brainstorming in the College Classroom

Kristin Carlson

In fall 2009 I conducted research for my MFA thesis in Printmaking to support the notion that art-making and writing can benefit from an interactive relationship, in part because they share the possibility of drawing inspiration from gestural activity. The resulting paper compared the work of cartoonist and writer Lynda Barry—who links her creative success to an intensive practice of stream-of-consciousness writing and doodling— to some of the other contemporary manifestations and explanations of the verbal/visual process in art-making. Barry’s process is shown to share commonalities with the practice of other artists, including Cy Twombly and H. C. Westermann; with the writings of art historians and critics, including Johanna Drucker and Roland Barthes; and with successful arts-based literacy programs for elementary and secondary education. The paper concludes that “if writing can benefit from strong visual and sensory experiences—such as inking words by hand or allowing the act of art-making to suggest narratives—then the making of visual art may also benefit from the support and inspiration provided by a strong writing practice, especially if that written practice incorporates gestural activity.”

Based on this research, I propose the question: How do we incorporate the potential of a visual/verbal/gestural creative process into a college-level studio classroom? After briefly outlining the basis of this question in my previous research, I will present strategies for encouraging a more intensive creative process through combined writing and image-making. Strategies will be based on new research and author-conducted interviews exploring ways in which professors of art and creative writing have mixed visual and verbal expression in their teaching. The paper will conclude by suggesting short-term activities, long-term projects, and readings that will help students relate visual and verbal modes of expression through gestural activity. The long-term goal of this research is the development of a semester-long, interdisciplinary course that invites visual artists and creative writers to engage with the relationship of text and image in variety of ways, one of which is their shared ability to perpetuate gestural activity in the service of creative production. The strategies proposed in the paper for CBAA will be useful to teachers with an intense interest in text-image relationships, as well as to studio instructors seeking ways enliven the classroom through unconventional activity.