Rules for Creative Experiments

  1. Use the materials and spaces of your choice: fancy or plain, special or ordinary, comfortable or challenging. It may help to pretend you’re a little kid.
  2. Do what you like (or change it so you do like it) and leave the rest.
  3. Just once, try doing the one that seems most outside your comfort zone.
  4. Be gentle with yourself.
  5. Have fun.

Writing Starters:
Write the starter words and then keep going, keeping the words coming one after another even if you’re writing “I don’t know what to say next, but if I did…”.

Making your Mark:

With the mark-making utensils of your choice (color adds meaning and fun), make marks in response to the suggestion. Be as sketchy—or as elaborate—as you want to be.

Objects in Space:

Find a flat surface you can use for these experiments. You need to be able to leave it, have it be undisturbed, and come back to it the next day. Find household or run-of-the-mill objects or make your own.

Sounding it Out:

Start with a rhythm—clap or tap on a surface. Add a repetitive sound—pitch, volume and duration are up to you. If you’re a musician, feel free to use an instrument. If you’re “not a musician,” use your voice and body to make noise. Break free of the repetition and experiment.

So the Drama:

Set up two empty chairs, facing each other. As you change roles, move from one chair to the other. Feel free to get up and move around. If someone unexpected shows up, add a chair.

Move Through it:

Make your body into a pose representing the idea: adjust your facial expression, how you hold your head and torso, how you position your arms and legs. Once you have the pose, begin to move out of it. Let how fast you move, how you move and how you’re using the space grow from the idea.