Creative writing at The Edmonton Art Gallery
Marie Lopes, Project Coordinator

During the fall of 1995, the Edmonton Art Gallery and Prospects Literacy Association collaborated on a creative writing project. Past experience with the museum education and with adult literacy programs suggested that one of our biggest challenges would be to get people to come to the gallery in the first place. None of the adult learners from Prospects had ever visited, and although they were interested in the workshop, few felt confident about expressing opinions about art.

We began at Prospects working with reproductions in books. There were practical discussions about looking and imagining, about finding personal meaning in a work of art and about how to use a work of art as a springboard to create another work. We also talked about the gallery and what it contained. When these first sessions ended, the students were not only fairly confident about looking and writing, but were also curious.

We had five two-hour workshops at the gallery, exploring narrative, sensory perception, taste and judgment through writing. In each session, students were asked to select works to write about and some of these included "Waltzing Matilda" by K.M. Graham and "Dollard" by Alfred Laliberté. There were also collaborative efforts in which students contributed to a single story or poem about a work. We also read our work aloud, discussed it and talked about the art work. At one point, when we proposed writing a letter to an artist, the students chose to write a group letter to Toronto photographer Barbara Astman, whose work was on display at the art gallery. Her careful, detailed reply to our lengthy letter (we had a lot of questions!) resulted in an amazing discussion. The students were quite taken with the idea that an artist was interested in what they had to say.

When the workshop sessions ended, the editing process began. We wanted to produce a catalogue with a wide range of images and writing styles that would include writing and a favorite art work from every student. At this point, students met at Prospects with Jenifer McVaugh, from Storylinks, the CMA's literacy partner, to discuss the layout and design for a publication. They reviewed other publications and compiled a list of those elements that make text confusing, and those that make it readable. After making decisions about the font, type size, shape and spacing and the relationship of the text to the images, their paste-up was sent to a designer to finalize before printing.

On Friday evening, November 24, 1995, the gallery hosted a catalogue launch for the students' book Blue Ink In My Pen. Students read their work, accompanied by slides of the art works, to an audience of 50 guests. During the reception that followed, the students took their friends and families through the gallery for a look at the art that had become so familiar and important to them.

The project extends far beyond the 16 learners, but the group should be at the heart of any evaluation. For them, the project became as much about ownership as it was about writing. Prospects students are now regular visitors, and participate in art classes at the gallery. One student is exploring the possibility of exhibiting his own work. Another is trying to arrange a gallery outreach program at his place of work. these students have gained a community resource that they now have the confidence to use for their own purposes. The project has demonstrated that the Edmonton Art gallery can be a workshop for all literacy organizations in the city. A second literacy program that actually runs an art studio is now making arrangements for regular visits to the gallery. There are plans to bring the two groups together - those who write about art and those who make it- for an event at the gallery.

This project is sparkling proof for museum and literacy educators that program integration is more than a useful and productive teaching strategy. It has a natural partnership. As a result, the project has motivated the primary and secondary school systems to begin developing language arts programming in the gallery. the gallery will also be presenting the project at workshops and conferences for museum educators, school teachers and literacy educators across Alberta.

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