Third Mind: Creative Writing Through Visual Art

by Tonya Foster, Terry Blackhawk (Essayist), Gary Hawkins (Essayist)

Making the connection between writing and visual art can activate what William Burroughs called "The Third Mind"—from the confluence of the two art forms, something new, or other, emerges. This new anthology of essays about the challenges and rewards of uniting art and writing not only demonstrates how visual art can spark wonderful student writing, but goes much further, offering novel insights into the creative process. The result, editors Foster and Prevallet demonstrate, produces a new spirit of collaboration, one which in turn opens up dramatic possibilities for teachers, students, and the classroom dynamic. The 20 essays in Third Mind—by teachers, poets, writers, artists, and museum educators from across the country—offer ideas on a diverse array of artistic disciplines, among them, quilt-making, Chinese calligraphy, abstract painting, and photographic portraiture. Third Mind also features 20 pages of gorgeous color plates, as well as an inspiring bibliography of works on visual art and creative writing.

Genres: Nonfiction

217 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2002

Reviews

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is full of great creative writing exercises and pedagogical theory based on visual art as an impetus for writing.

I get bored with these books, though, because a lot of it overlaps and becomes variations on the same theme: look at art and write based on it. I had hoped it would be more about the visual aspects of writing, and how the words on the page are also a type of visual art, which would seem to make more sense with the "Third Mind" part of the title, but that just didn't pan out for me.

Not bad over all.