Homework for Monday, April 2nd

Response Paper #4


1. Read “The Creative Ecology” and “The Shape of Music,” pp. 126-130 in Creators on Creating.

2. Read actively: Mark passages that strike you. Note words, ideas, or images that resonate for you.

3. Jot down notes in response to the following questions:
o What does it mean to alternate between “immersion and isolation, openness and closure”?
o What does Sendak mean when he uses the verb “to quicken”?
o How does music stimulate Sendak’s work as a children’s book author and illustrator?

4. Freewrite for 15 minutes about the conditions that help to bring out your best artistic work.

5. Save your freewrite and do something else for awhile.

6. Read your freewrite.

7. Consider the parallels between your artistic practice and your work as a writer. What conditions help to stimulate your best writing? What is necessary to create those conditions? What elements of “immersion and isolation, openness and closure” are important to you?

8. Freewrite for 15 minutes about how to create the conditions to do your best writing.

9. Save a copy your freewrites on your computer, and print a copy to bring to class. (Your paper should be double-spaced, with one-inch margins. At the top of the page, please include your name, the date, “Seattle Arts Ecology,” and “Response Paper #4.”)