Left: The Post-it poem in progress Right: Richard Diebenkorn, Interior with View of Ocean (detail), 1957. Photos: Rachel Goldberg
After we explored Luncheon of the Boating Party through Shel Silverstein’s We’re Out of Paint, So . . . , poetry tour participants looked closely at Richard Diebenkorn’s Interior with View of the Ocean. Together, we create a group Post-it poem to capture the essence of the painting.
To start off, each person wrote down one word on a Post-it note. Together we grouped and organized the verbs, nouns, and adjectives and then regrouped them according to their mood. We started with a phrase that conveyed a negative mood and then moved to the more positive words.
Then we added lines based on questions I posed to the group. What does this painting taste like? What does this painting sound like? We discovered it tasted like ‘sweet citrusy sea salt’ and sounded like the percussion triangle (ding, ding, ding, ding!). Our final product posed a perfect end to our poetry tour:
An Ocean View
Lifeless scorching geometric cube.
Refreshing citrusy summer sea salt view with
Vivid triangles: DING DING DING DING!
Peaceful, breezy
Simplicity.
Margaret Collerd, Public Programs and In-gallery Interpretation Coordinator