DESCRIPTION: This activity is a "graphical storywriter," in which students create stories by placing characters and props on a canvas. The elements are identifiable objects from the Walker Art Center's collection, and other fun characters and playful object.

OBJECTIVES: Students create compositions and stories by placing together elements from artwork, and expressing themselves both in visual and in written form.

PROCEDURE:
A canvas is provided on which participants can drag/draw objects, such as a fish, a hare, a horse, and other shapes or images good for making stories with, can be provided, such Under the canvas is a box, where the students can write a story about their painting and add it to the stories created by other children. The painting they've created can also be saved on the Web site and retrieved at a later time.

By participating in this activity, students learn that paintings and artworks can tell stories. The children can be prompted to answer questions as part of their story: How did they place their objects? Why did they choose a particular placement? Which objects did they choose? Did they choose an animal? What is the animal doing? Why is that? Does it look like a real animal? etc.

GO TO THE INTERACTIVE ACTIVITY

MINNESOTA GRADUATION STANDARDS:
(1) Read, View, Listen
(2) Write and Speak
(3) Literature and the Arts

Age level: Appropriate for the youngest ages.
Artworks used: Artworks with recognizable subject matter.

• Deborah Butterfield, Woodrow, 1988
• Deborah Butterfield, Rosary, 1981
• Barry Flanagan, Hare on Bell on Portland Stone Piers, 1983
• Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, Spoonbridge and Cherry, 1985-1988

Props needed: No props needed.
Related to Minneapolis Sculpture Garden: Yes.
Notes: Make sure that you continually relate the theme to the artwork. If a computer connected to the Internet is not available, similar activities can be planned using cut-out drawings of objects and postcards of artworks.

© 1998 WALKER ART CENTER