Surreal Fun!

We had a snowstorm late on Thursday, and the streets looked like the inside of an oreo cookie after you've scraped it once with your bottom teeth.

In my art class the impending storm was in the air. A bunch of kids were finished with their art projects, so I had them play a game. My pal Keith taught me this game: a person draws a character and writes words in a text balloon, and the next person also makes a character and writes words in a text balloon, but without seeing what the first person has done. Each person is writing in the balloon pointing to the other person's drawn character without knowing what it is. By dividing the page in half and hiding what you've written and drawn from the other person until the end, you make the final cartoon a surprise. I find it so fun and silly. My text balloon said, "I told you not to open that door in daylight." The student who was my cartooning partner had drawn a guy about to hit another guy with a huge mallet. On the other side of the page I had drawn a guy playing cello, and the text balloon that she had written said, "I love cats." The whole page when unveiled as one big scene made me laugh and laugh. I love random surrealist stuff. Maybe tomorrow the text balloons could hold tiny poems. Or the text could be a piece of what you happen to overhear in the classroom.

I also love the game Exquisite Corpse: someone draws the head of a person or creature, folds it over so it can't be seen, and passes the paper to another who draws the torso, folds it over, and then a third person does the legs and feet. Then you open it up and see what you've created. There's also the game of drawing a squiggle and passing it to someone who has to incorporate it into a drawing. As a kid I played that game for hours with my little brother on long car trips. I think it's cool to have these games that link students together, and there's absolutely no way to fail! I think they need a little of this wacky fun stuff. I know I do! These drawing games are like theater improv games except using writing and drawing. I'd like to get my adult friends to play this game with me, or perhaps the next time I am waiting in the dentist's office or at the Department of Motor Vehicles I will ask the nearest stranger if they'd like to play!