Blogetary (Weblog + Commentary = Blogetary)

Yesterday I went to a writer’s workshop at the Craft and Folk Art Museum. I’ve always meant to go there, but never have before. This workshop was the cost of admission ($5!) so I wasn’t sure what to expect. What it was was the first hour discussing myths and legends from around the world illustrated by a collection of antique puppets.

Cool AND Creepy!

The second hour was spent discussing some of the archetypes we had viewed and doing a few visualization exercises on archetypes. There were so many places we could have taken the discussions of these topics and so many ways to explore them, potentially. But we only had two hours and it was a single workshop, not a series, so it needed to be a survey and skim over the top type of class just because of that. I really appreciated the woman presenting the class. She had curated the exhibit and had a fairly extensive background in world literature, as well as a writing background. There were some interesting people at the class, too. Ages ranged from a 5-6 year old there with her mom to a couple of women in their 60s, I think.

It wasn’t really a writing workshop in the sense that it stretched your writing chops to the next level, but it did kind of stir the brain with information presented in a different way. Some of the information was new to me and some of it I already knew, but presented from a different angle and with visual input as well as auditory, it was refreshing. I forget I need fresh input from different sources to keep ideas flowing. Easy to get stuck in the same old loops.

I remember a scene from Topsy Turvy where Gilbert (of Gilbert and Sullivan) is going through a slump. His wife convinces him to go with her to an Asian Exhibition. The fresh input stirs up his creative juices and the Mikado is born. (Whether or not that’s the true story, it’s the one presented in the movie.) That scene and it’s connection to a rejuvenation of an artist’s creativity has stuck in my head. I don’t know about other creatives out there in the rest of the world, but I know it’s important for me to go out and seek new input, such as going to the museum’s workshop. As we discussed in this class, we are each the hero of our own story and we are in charge of and responsible for our own quests and how they turn out.

And I know I’m a broken record, but it’s POETRY MONTH! Go ye out into the world and seek ye the WORD of the POET!