Tuesday 10 February 2015

Art as a writing prompt

I'm running a writing group at Oldham Lifelong Learning Centre at the moment. It's a fantastic building that contains a library, theatre, IT suites, gift shop, cafe, classrooms and several galleries with permanent and visiting exhibits.

I will be going into the galleries with the group in search of inspiration. This is something I've done many times in many galleries and the results have always been fantastic.

Why not try it. I went with some writers to the LS Lowry gallery in Salford. The day was good and the gallery was filled with people of all ages sprawling and writing and drawing as they looked at the paintings by L S Lowry.

We used a prompt to create some pieces. We found a painting or exhibit we liked - an outdoor scene. We wrote about how the scene appeared at various times of the day. For example if we looked at a picture of a woman pushing a pram in daylight, we imagined why she might push it at night in the dark, how she would feel. Some paintings were of night time scenes and we imagined what the area would be like in the day.

Have a go at this. Look for images on line or call in to your local gallery.

Write a story, a poem or a monologue. 


galleryoldham.org.uk

thelowry.com


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