Vol. 2, No. 290, October 17, 2017

2290 - Exquisite Corpse.

DAY 17 Invite two people (family members, co-workers, sprinters) to create an Exquisite Corpse today. Not sure what that means? Follow the instructions below!

What is an Exquisite Corpse?

Artists in the Surrealist movement of the early twentieth century made up a creative game that involved group collaboration called Exquisite corpse. They would take turns adding images or words to a single folded page so that they could not see what came before or only had just enough to continue. The end results were surprising and funny and allowed for unusual connections that might not normally have been made. This project gives you a chance to get the benefits of random play and spending time being creative with others. HOW TO DO IT: 1. Find one or more people to work with you. 2. Each person, including you, should fold a piece of paper into quarters as shown. 3. Write the words “head,” “torso,” “legs,” and “feet” in order, one on each section. 4. Start at the bottom or top and draw a head or feet of your choice. Extend the lines that reach the fold just slightly over it so that the next person has a starting place to work from. 5. Fold the paper so that your work can’t be seen by the next person. 6. Pass the pieces back and forth or around in a circle until all spaces have been used up and then reveal the end results to the group. For a really surreal result, leave off the names of the parts of the body and let people draw whatever they want as long as it visually connects between sections. 7. There many variations on Exquisite Corpse so feel free to make it your own!

I had a busy day planned and I wasn't sure when I would find time to collaborate. So when I checked Facebook and saw an invitation for a digital collaboration I jumped on it. My collaboration group included Andy Garrabrant (he coordinated the collaboration), Rachel Welsh de Iga, and Catherine Mehrl Bennett. We agreed to make a much loose interpretation of Exquisite Corpse. Rather than forming a corpse, we made abstract compositions. We each chose a subject matter and materials and created a square composition. My composition was a chalk stencil print inspired by National Pasta Day. I chose to do a chalk stencil print because that is my next Grade 3 lesson and I needed an example.

We then shared an image of our compositions and each of us created a new work of art incorporating each composition. It was fun to see how different each completed work is, considering they all came from the same 4 images. When I created my work of art, repeated each image, rotating it every time and then played with  the tonal balance of each image, giving them all a greenish tint.