Sampling the "We R What We 8" Workbook!

Image from sample PDF of We R What We 8: the WORKBOOK.

Here is a 22-page sample of my We R What We 8: the WORKBOOK available as a PDF download. Hopefully, it will inspire you to experiment and look at words from different perspectives. This is a workbook showing how I assembled the We R What We 8 aleatory poetry book employing a combination of techniques, including ekphrastic inspiration and found words from an image. It's part of my Consumerism Series, which contemplates family values processed and sold back to us as products.

The project evolved when my husband and I were selling our house. We cleared out personal items and staged our home. Removing personal photographs and leaving empty photo frames triggered contemplation of what we fill our frames with. What are memories? What are we? What makes up our physical bodies, ways of thinking, and who or what is family? How do we value our moment in time?

I’ve had a lifelong creative admiration for advertising. Text and images. How we shape what we say and frame it for consumers to digest. Packaging information and greeting card imagery provided the words for the found poem. The aleatory chance operations provided by the cutting-up technique freed me from most of my personal views or baggage around how easily consumers are manipulated and influenced into living out slogans. Austin Kleon’s attitude and book Show Your Work inspired me to sit down and do this project. Don’t be afraid to show the work, mistakes, and all.

If you are interested in the complete workbook or in having me virtually visit your classroom, please contact me.

Sample Workbook PDF download