Because I’m an arts writer, I especially enjoy guiding student writing field trips through The Menil Collection art museum. I invariably learn something new from my students. Recently, we stopped at Bruce Nauman’s neon piece of text-based art which reads:
“The true artist helps the world by revealing mystic truths.”
I asked the third graders I was leading that day to respond to this work with poems containing their own ideas of what a “true artist” does. Here is one response:
The true artist helps
the world by revealing
mystic truths. To make
the person wonder what
it is. To bring excitement.
To make them interested.
To make them want to write.
To like the piece of
art. To make them
wonder what it is doing.
To always show feeling.
To think about what to
draw.
by Catherine, 3rd Grade
posted by Tria Wood, Writers in the Schools
blackeyedsusan
Beautiful. Can’t express what it feels like to read the art of a child. Kudos to the young poet.
easywriter
Wonderful, this response by Catherine made me stop to think about art forms that I don’t always understand or appreciate. It helped me to realize that I should be looking a little deeper, finding mening and not just looking at the surface.
Leanne
Thats very sweet!
I used to love writing as a kid
“hairs my story