Every Word Counts

Notes from theÂ Every Word Counts workshop with Diana Sherlock.

Pitching, basics of pitching.

Discussion of ethical writing practice:

conflicts of interest
routed in notion of being objective
need to be aware of decision you make to make sure you keep to your story of your opinion but never let artist read it (this includes catalogues)
keep some objective distance
can’t be paid by the artist you are writing about (otherwise it is promotional writing) publisher + writer /= artist

Questions addressed:

1. What kind of writer are you? Poetic, ficto-criticism, daily journalism, art journalism, blogs.

2. What is critical writing? Critical framework through which youÂ interpret. Open up the work to other contexts.

Deconstructing the writing process

Invention/pre-writing

brainstorming
mind mapping
free writing
the pentad (who, what etc)
when you have the impetus get the ideas down have faith that your idea matters, focus on idea of resonance.

Drafting/Disposition

Texts discussed (in small groups)

Kristeva + Noise by Andrea Williamson Hand Held Fall 2011

Poem by Laurie Fuhr Hand Held Fall 2011

If a video is shot in the forest by David Garneau Hand Held

Rex vs. Singh by Kerilynn Ming Ho

Into the Light San Facon’s Limelight by Kay Burns

Other points from the afternoon

think about form of text, audience etc
thesis will give us a direction for a persuasive argument
item that is missing from critical writing, the way a good sentence is crafted
formal description of an artwork can serve to bring out the context of critical
address reception of artwork in critical writing
‘fill in the blanks’ writers sometimes assume a lof of things and we don’t describe what we see
use description as an analytical tool every characteristic of an artwork has an effect

Then we watched Eclipse by Joe Kelly and then we described it.

Editing types of feedback – read through three times for:

mechanical (small stuff, like typos etc)
mid-level (structure, thesis and context carries through and develops – look backwards at linking)
global (logic and big ideas)

Writers are readers!

List of encouraged publications:

Post Pacific Post by Amy Fung

When did this happen? October 20 and 21, 2013.