Vikram Madan - Artist & Author
  • Art
    • Paintings
    • Public Art
    • Illustration
    • Cartoons
  • Books
    • A Hatful of Dragons
    • Lord of the Bubbles
    • The Bubble Collector
    • A Rupture of Robots
    • A Rumpus of Reapers
    • The Lost Tales of Ixi and Mup
    • Happiness Is... A Cup of Coffee
  • Buy
    • Catalog
  • About
    • Media Kit
    • Testimonials
  • Contact
  • School Visits
  • Blog
  • Search
[Art with a Sense of Humor, since 2014]

Author Visit to Redmond Middle School

12/16/2014

1 Comment

 
I was recently invited by the teachers and librarian at Redmond Middle School (RMS) to make an 'Author Visit' and present my poetry and art to RMS 6th grade classes (all 11 of them - totaling about ~330 students).

RMS certainly rolled out the red carpet for me:
Picture
If I'd ever wondered what my name would look like up in the lights ... here it was!
Picture
Hallway display with samples of my art and copies of my book!
Picture
Seating space set up in the RMS library
I conducted five 40-minute sessions meeting 2 to 3 6th grade classes at a time. I split each session between introducing myself, reading a few poems from my book (including talking about sources, inspiration, the writing process, rejected poems, alternate endings, forms, styles and intentional poetry construction), conducting an interactive poetry-plus-drawing exercise, showing and talking about some of my art, (for some classes) showing how to draw cartoon faces and expressions, and fielding questions.
Picture
Above: sharing one of my early formative experiences with the combination of poetry and cartooning, a 1954 MAD Magazine cartoon interpretation of Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven by comic genius Will Elder.  Since this comic is almost impossible to find, and well worth reading for any poetry or comic fan, here are links to the panels:


Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

Picture
Above: Reading a poem (titled 'Curse of the Catchy Tune') from my book. Here the kids are raising their hands in response to my question: "How many of you have a song stuck in your head RIGHT NOW?!?"
Picture
Above: Interactive drawing exercise with the kids where I first read a poem to the kids ('The Yipiyuk' by Shel Silverstein), then ask them to imagine the creature and give me one-word descriptive adjectives. We collect a bunch of these adjectives and then I draw the cumulative creature for the kids. Yes, this is design by committee and the results are well worth it. 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
By the end of the sessions, many of the kids were excited (and, I like-to-think inspired - at least a couple came up to me and professed they love to write poems and draw and want to "do what you do")(My response: "Go for it and let nothing stop you!!!"). One class even took my business cards and insisted I autograph each and everyone of them. So touching and humbling! :)

Thank you RMS 6th graders for being such a wonderful and engaged audience. And many thanks to the School Librarian and Language Arts Teachers for inviting me.

I am looking forward to visiting RMS again in the future. Go Grizzlies! And never stop chasing bubbles!

Click here to LIKE this on Facebook.
Picture
1 Comment
Andrea Becket link
12/30/2020 02:48:25 am

Great share, thanks for posting

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Abstract
    Acrylics
    Art
    Art Exhibition
    Art Fairs
    Art For Wine Lovers
    ArtistHack
    Artist Hack
    Art Piano
    Award
    Awards
    Blog Tour
    Book
    Book Signing
    Bubble Collector
    Cards
    Catalog
    Coloring Book
    Commissions
    Funny Poems
    Gallery
    Golden Ratio
    Hatful Of Dragons
    Holiday Show
    Interview
    In The News
    Jigsaw Puzzles
    Kickstarter
    Landscape
    Lil' Reaper
    Math
    Mini Murals
    Murals
    Newsletter
    Notecards
    Oil Paintings
    Open House
    Paintings
    Poems
    Poetry
    Postcards
    Public Art
    Radio
    Residency
    School Visits
    Self-portrait
    Show
    Sketch Book
    Spaceworks
    Studio
    Tacoma
    Tips For Artists
    Toilet Paper Art
    Urban Sketching
    Videos
    Watercolor
    Wine

    Archives

    December 2020
    November 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

Home

Art
Books
Paintings

 

About
Buy
Search

 

Contact
​School Visits
Blog

 
© COPYRIGHT 2020 VIKRAM MADAN. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.