INSPIRED BY HER. Creative Activities Inspired by Female Artists
Grace Cronin
INSPIRED BY HER.
INSPIRED BY HER. Creative Activities Inspired by Female Artists
Grace Cronin
This book was created as part of the author's Graphic Design BFA thesis project at SUNY New Paltz. Research was conducted during the Fall 2017 semester and the illustrations, biographies, and activities were created by the author during the Spring 2018 semester.
CONTENTS Visual Artists
1
Frida Kahlo
2
Ellen Neel
4
Tove Jansson
6
Yayoi Kusama
8
Corita Kent
10
Writers
13
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
14
Mary Shelley
16
Maya Angelou
18
Joan Didion
20
Paula Gunn Allen
22
VISUAL ARTISTS Frida Kahlo
2
Ellen Neel
4
Tove Jansson
6
Yayoi Kusama
8 10
Corita Kent
1
FRIDA KAHLO FRIDA KAHLO was a Mexican artist, known for her self-portraits and Mexican folk-art inspired style. She is considered by some the have been a surrealist artist, though Kahlo herself rejected the label. Through her self portraits, such as Self Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird, Kahlo used symbolism and imagery to create a narrative within the portrait; additionally, she often used imagery inspired by the nature and history of her home country of Mexico.
2
Frida Kahlo was well known for her highly expressive self portraits. Have you ever drawn a self portrait? Using either a mirror or a photograph, draw yourself. Maybe it doesn’t look exactly like you, but try to make it feel like you!
The nature and plant life of Mexico was very influential on Kahlo’s paintings. When you’re outside, what do you see? Pine trees? Sun Flowers? Palm trees? Create a drawing using the flowers and other plants of your home. This could be the focus of the drawing, or it can be used as a setting or decoration.
3
ELLEN NEEL ELLEN NEEL was a Kwakwaka’wakw woodcarver; more specifically, she was the first known woman to have become a professional totem pole carver. She was raised in British Columbia, Canada, and from a young age, her grandfather, Charlie James, trained her in the Northwest style of carving. In the Pacific Northwest culture, totem poles are used both to symbolize characters in mythology, as well as a form of storytelling about ancestors.
4
Totem Poles are objects that are full of meaning and exciting symbols. Take some time to research what kind of imagery is used in the totem poles of the indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest coast, then design your own.
Ellen Neel's work revolved around her cultural heritage. Do you know about the traditional art of the cultures you’re from? Pretty much every culture has a unique way of creating art and meaning! After some research, make a drawing based on your own heritage.
5
TOVE JANSSON TOVE JANSSON was a Finnish children’s writer and artist. In 1945, she published the book The Moomins and the Great Flood; the subsequent Moomin books Comet in Moominland and Finn Family Moomintroll made her one of the most famous Finnish authors abroad. She continued to write more Moomin picture books, as well as comic strips. In 1966, she received the Hans Christian Andersen award for her contribution to the children’s literature genre.
6
Draw a group of fictional characters based off of your family and friends. Give them names and personalities! Don't forget a setting, either! Where do they spend all their time? In a house? Near a lake? In a meadow?
Create a three-panel comic strip that features the characters from the last activity. What do they do for fun? How do they talk to each other?
7
YAYOI KUSAMA YAYOI KUSAMA is a Japanese sculpture and installation artist, and, to a lesser extent, painter, performance artist, and writer. She has been an active artist since 1950 when she began covering surfaces with polka-dots (a motif that would become a defining part of her work). In 2005, Kusama wrote, “A polkadot has the form of the sun, which is a symbol of energy of the whole world and outliving life…Round, soft, colorful, senseless, and unknowing. Polka-dots become movements…Polka-dots are a way to infinity.”
8
Polka-dot patterns are important to Kusama; is there a certain shape or pattern that you find yourself drawing a lot? Fill the space with this different sizes and colors of this shape!
Imagine how these shapes could exist in the world. Kusama has put her polka-dots everywhere, from pumpkins to trees to furniture, and she even use lights and mirrors to make it feel like the polka-dots were infinite. Where does your pattern belong?
9
CORITA KENT CORITA KENT was a Roman Catholic nun, pop artist, and educator. Her artwork centered around a mixture of pop culture, political, and religious themes. She was famous for incorporating quotes in her work, which came from various sources varying from Albert Camus to the Bible to advertisements. She often worked with distorted text and bright colors, inspired by other pop artists who were her contemporaries.
10
Do you have a favorite quote? Corita Kent often used meaningful quotes in her artwork. Create a drawing where you include a quote, maybe even one from one of the women in this book!
A popular motif in Corita's work was distorted words and letters. Take the quote you used in the last drawing and have draw the letters so that some are too tall, some are too wide, some are upside down, some are backwards...anything that gives them a life of their own!
11
WRITERS Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
14
Mary Shelley
16
Maya Angelou
18
Joan Didion
20
Paula Gunn Allen
22
13
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE is a Nigerian writer and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient. While she gained mainstream attention in 2013 after her TEDxEuston lecture titled “We should all be feminists” was sampled in the Beyoncé song “***Flawless,” her fiction writing has been critically successful since the early 2000s. Her novels are all, at least partially, set in her home country of Nigeria. Her novel Americanah draws from Adichie’s experiences and observations about living in America as an immigrant.
14
Without going back too far, choose a time period from the past and write a short story where the main character is based off of yourself. How would you have acted in the 1950s? The 1980s?
In her writing, Adichie uses her own personal experiences as well as history and observation to create her fiction. Do you have any experiences that could inspire your fiction, as living as a foreigner in the United States was influential on Adichie’s book Americanah?
15
MARY SHELLEY MARY SHELLEY is considered to be the author of the first true piece of science fiction, Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus. Her novel was first published anonymously in 1818 when Shelley was just 21, and in 1823 an edition with Shelley’s name was published in France (reviews of the anonymous novel were mainly positive, while reviews with Shelley’s name attached were not as generous). The creature in the novel has become a quintessential horror character, and the novel continues to have an influence on the horror and science fiction genre to this day.
16
Create your own monster like Shelley did in Frankenstein. First, draw a picture of your monster. What does it look like? Is it like Frankenstein’s, where it looks like a human, or does it look more like an animal? What color is it? Does it wear clothes? Then, write a short backstory for your monster. Dr. Frankenstein created his monster in a lab; where did your monster come from?
17
MAYA ANGELOU MAYA ANGELOU was a memoirist, poet, and activist; she is best known for her seven genre-redefining memoirs in which she writes about her childhood and young adult life. The first memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was published in 1969, during the civil rights movement, making the book (and the six to follow) a strong defender of black culture. Angelou’s wrote the memoirs in a style that was unique to autobiography: instead of focusing on a plot to carry the story, her memoirs were built around characters and significant events, both historical and in her life.
18
Significant events are good things to structure memoir writing around. Choose an event from your lifetime, either personal or historical, and write a short passage about how this event affected your life or the way you felt.
Choose a short period of time in your life to write about. Maybe write about a specific week from last summer, or go even shorter and pick one memorable day. Write a short passage about this time. Don’t worry about getting the details exactly right. Instead, try to focus on how you felt during this small period of time.
19
JOAN DIDION JOAN DIDION is an American journalist, best known for her profiles and memoirs. In 1968, she published her first collection of nonfiction, Slouching Toward Bethlehem. In two of the stories, “John Wayne: A Love Song,” and “Where the Kissing Never Stops,” Didion artistically profiles actor John Wayne and musician/activist Joan Baez respectively. This book is also a showcase for Didion’s ability to describe place, as portrayed in her description of California and the San Bernardino Valley in the story “Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream.”
20
Choose a close friend or a family member and write a description of this person. What do they like to do? Where do they like to go? Do they remind you of a fictional character? A historical figure?
Without saying where it is, describe the area around your home. Does the sidewalk make a certain sound when you step on it? Are the trees a very specific color of green? Try to figure out what makes your home feel familiar to you.
21
PAULA GUNN ALLEN PAULA GUNN ALLEN was a Native American writer, activist, and professor. While she was of Laguna, Sioux, Scottish, and Lebanese-American descent, she most closely identified with the Laguna, which had an important impact on Allen’s literary work. Her nonfiction work about Native American societies was considered groundbreaking because she emphasized the importance of women in Native American culture. Her fictional work, especially her novel The Woman Who Owned the Shadows, was inspired by both her personal experiences as well as Pueblo folklore.
22
Folktales are important in virtually every culture. What are some from yours? Pick your favorite and retell it in a modern setting with new characters. Remember that folktales often teach a lesson; your story should stick to the same lesson as the original and have a similar plot, but everything else can be completely original!
23
THANK YOU... Endless thanks to: the faculty in the SUNY New Paltz Graphic Design department, specifically my thesis instructors, Amy Papaelias and Dimitry Tetin; my family for encouraging my interest in art and my persuit of a career in a creative field; my friends and classmates for providing me with the feedback and encouragement necessary to finish this project on time; and, without being too cheesy, the women included in this book (as well as many who were not included) inspiring myself and many others through their creations.
RESOURCES The Life and Times of Frida Kahlo via pbs.org Ellen Neel via lattimergallery.com Tove Jansson via moomin.com Yayoi Kusama via yayoi-kusama.jp About Corita via corita.org Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie via chimamanda.com Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley via poetryfoundation.org Frankenstein by Mary Shelley Caged Bird Legacy via mayaangelou.com I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion Paula Gunn Allen via paulagunnallen.net The Woman Who Owned the Shadows by Paula Gunn Allen
INSPIRED BY HER
is a collection of biographies and
activities based on the work of ten outstanding women in visual art and literature. Through these activities, young artists can begin to learn about their creative tendencies and maybe even a little more about themselves. In the book, you will find ten visual art activities inspired by five artists including Yayoi Kusama and Corita Kent and eight writing activities inspired by five writers including Maya Angelou and Mary Shelley.