The Power of Words

The inspiration for this project came from viewing the works of nine women artists who explore the use of language in their work. 

Their work is featured in the exhibition 

Girl Talk 

                                                              Women and Text 

Contemporary Art Museum (CAM) 

We examined the way the artists explored the ambiguity of language in their work.

The students decided to create their 'word collages' based on the work of the artist Kay Rosen.

This project had six steps:

1.The students looked for words in a variety of books, newspapers, and periodicals.  

2. From the variety of words, we each decided to use only one word.

3. We created new words out of a singular word by rearranging or adding letters.

4. We used black sharpies to write our new words on water color paper. 

5. We used water colors to paint over the letters.

6. We cut the letters and created our word collages.

During the art process, the students were able to discuss word choice and creation of new words with their fellow artists.

   

Kay Rosen

The student learned that Ark is the Latin word for box.

Kar is an Armenian word meaning "stone".

Rak is a river in Slovenia.

Kay Rosen

Kay Rosen