Rapid Fire Text
on view at Hopkins Hall Gallery
Rapid Fire Text is the result of an improvisational ink workshop facilitated by Lori Esposito, P.h.D candidate in the Dept of Arts Administration, Education and Policy with her class “Visual Culture: Investigating Diversity & Social Justice.” Taking inspiration from poetry, jazz, and graffiti, this rhythmic drawing approach merges the expressive potentials of ink with the written word. “Rapid” implies speed, quickness of movement and thought. “Fire” calls to attention the potential power and explosiveness of speech and the written word. Rapid Fire Text acknowledges forces that can manipulate, elevate, sensor, or silence. Harnessing this ancient fluid media (ink), students become familiar with how duration and speed can function as tools for developing their writing, self-representation, and expression within a classroom community.
The works created by the students during this workshop are currently on view at Hopkins Hall Gallery
About the “Rapid Fire” Improvisational Ink Workshop
Though a series of durational works, students practice syncing their physical movement of painting with the pace of their thinking. By the completion of the event, their drawing surface is saturated with layers of calligraphic text. These surfaces may be excavated for meaning or remain semi-illegible. The materiality and viscerality of ink may be interpreted as expressive marks or it may deliver more nuanced messages as does the written word.
The improvisational ink workshop experiments with an alternative platform for developing material-led thinking processes that foster meaningful in-class discussion. The student is invited to apply various durations (1 minute to 3 minutes) to structure their thinking processes. The event facilitator introduces the materials and provides durational prompts. Students are asked to express themselves through the materials and express their culture and identity as pertinent to the context of the course (ARTEDUC 2367—Visual Culture: Investigating Diversity & Social Justice).
Images and videos of the workshop now exist in a virtual exhibition over at Urban Arts Space from Home.
Hybrid Arts Lab is a multi-venue teaching lab that experiments with how art is imagined, made, viewed and understood within physical and digital spaces. Venues include Hopkins Hall Gallery, Stillman Hall Tent, and online @ UAS from Home.
