Colour as Stimulus: Zoe Appleby and Marcus
I asked a few participants if they could send me a recording of their books either solely audio or together with images (easily done on a mobile phone) so i could actually reference examples when i speak about this project at the 'Thinking With John Berger' conference in September: WHAT A BEAUTIFULL EXAMPLE from Zoe Appleby and her son! Her aproach is simply:
When my young son draws, he generally uses an explosion of colour to mark make. He's a very verbal 2 to 3 year old. As he scribbles, dabs, smudges and colours there is an amazing stream of verbal description to accompany his images. These descriptions are somewhat depleted when he proudly shows his work to others, then his pictures become an abstract art piece. Having been subject to his verbal outpouring during his image making, I can often see the "big scary crocodile with pointy teeth going shopping for cheese and there's his tail" or similar looking back at me from the seemingly innocent pictures.
For our conversation I would like to help my son's descriptions realize another pictorial representation. I will listen carefully when he's drawing, then later will represent his imaginings. This will be a personal journey for him and I, I will endeavor to show him my efforts before we start a new picture, thus our previous images will inform the next creations. We'll be using mixed media, as exploring the media is synonymous with exploring imagination and storytelling. As for style, it will simply be his and mine. I will do my best to represent his ramblings as he and I imagine them and amalgamate my representations with
his picture making.
