Response to Todd's Ideas

Todd is a Multimedia artist and MIAD graduate he uses Print, Water color, Ink, and Videography. He got his BFA in painting and drawing from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. He recently came into our Writing class to talk about his personal experiences with writing. He told us that after taking writing classes at MIAD he didn’t revisit writing until 20 years later. He was motivated by a friend to pick up writing again and now for the past two years he’s been writing more and more. 

We started off our meeting with Tod by asking him what influences his writing style. He said he starts with an inspiration usually it's something that may be overlooked by others that captures his attention. He asks himself why would other people want to go see the art galleries he writes about. This reminded me of what we are trying to do as a class finding artistic influences in the community that maybe overlooked. I'm specifically interested in MIAD Graduates furniture pieces that are being commissioned and getting them attention. 

Tod said he doesn’t really start with an outline and it comes out of his artistic sensibilities. He jots down notes and its a two week process. He keeps a dry erase board by the kitchen sink and lets the ideas flow naturally while his mind is quiet. He says allowing your mind to explore in a state of relaxation helps the ideas come easily. He recommends being present and meditation do yoga This gave me some ides as to how I would like to approach my article. 

Tod explained how the art he makes influences what he writes about. He said in art and writing they are both a deep investigation. His fine art is normally produced in series allowing him to investigate his process. The same is true for his writing style he went to the show 8 times before knowing that he was going to write about it. He decided to explore writing about it to gain a deeper understanding of how the work was curated and the meaning behind the pieces. The 9th time he went through the gallery he went through to make sure hit every point he was trying to make. 

I really Enjoyed having Tod come in to speak with us it helped me gain a lot of insight into how I would like to approach my article. I hope to use some of his approaches to writing myself. It was really cool hearing Tod speak about the connection between his writing and his fine art. I would like to pursue this with my own work as well I think that this would benefit the way that I think and speak about my work. I found that I have a similar writing experience to Tod's. I really enjoy writing but I don't do much of it anymore outside of my course work and now this class is influencing me to jot down my thoughts and pick up a pen when I can. I hope to do more personal writing in the near future.