Artist Prompt: Material Play
At Dia, our education department works closely with artists. These artist-designed prompts encourage people of all ages to connect with their surroundings as they relate to the body and find ways to be creative within the home.
Material Play
Designed by Hannah Verrill
Timing and Frequency
Try these material play exercises every day for fifteen minutes over the course of one week or longer.
Prep
Clear a small area of space in your home and use tape or string to define it—perhaps creating a square, rectangle, or circle of space. This will be your creative space to work within.
Take a slow and meandering walk around your home, noticing any objects or materials that catch your eye. Perhaps it is a specific color, texture, or shape that pulls you in and sparks your curiosity. When you feel drawn to something, ask yourself, why am I interested in this?
During your walk choose five materials (they can be fabric, kitchen items, small- or medium-sized objects, cardboard…the options are endless) and bring them to your creative space.
Asking Your Senses
One by one, consider each material using your senses:
Using your sense of touch, ask your hands to feel the texture of the material. You can close your eyes as you do this in order to focus on your sense of touch.
Using your sense of hearing, ask your ears to notice if your material makes any sounds when moved or manipulated. You can use your hands and sense of touch in this exploration. You can also close your eyes to focus on your sense of hearing.
Using your sense of sight, ask your eyes to see your material. Try moving the material so that you can see it from every angle. Try bringing the material close and observing it in detail. Try looking at the material from far away.
Using your sense of smell, ask your nose to observe the material. Notice if the smell of your material brings forward any images or memories into your mind’s eye.
Material Play
Begin to explore your materials within your creative space, finding different ways for them to be with one another. Arrange and rearrange the materials into a sculpture that is constantly changing.
If you find yourself feeling excited about a particular sculpture that you’ve created, you may wish to document your creation by photographing or drawing it. Then you can move on and continue practicing material play, every now and then capturing a particular moment in your process.
Moving Forward
You can continue to grow your collection of materials day by day, continuing to notice what materials inspire you.
If you are able to go outside, choose some of nature’s materials to build your collection.
We would like to see your creations and add a selection of them to the blog. Please share images of your work by emailing submissions@diaart.org.
Hannah Verrill is an artist and educator who works with the body as an experiential instrument contending with dynamics of time and space. She uses movement, video, text, and installation to break open these experiences, resulting in performance events. Verrill has an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA from Oberlin College, Ohio. She is currently studying the world of plants at Arbor Vitae School of Traditional Herbalism in New York City. Based in New York, Verrill is an artist educator at Dia Beacon working with the Arts Education Program.
