Visual Poetry - Library Workshops

In January 2018, Helene and I gave workshops at Toowong and Chermside Libraries in Brisbane, on the art of writing and illustrating poetry.

Our major focus was visual poetry and inspiring the children using the design, art and poetry features of Magic Fish Dreaming to think about interesting ways to present text alongside their poems.

We drew inspiration also from the art of visual poetry and shared some examples of that from other inspiring books.

We used a method of mini writing sprints, brainstorming, and reading poetry with and to the children to inspire their writing. They received some tips about working with water colour from Helene as well as tips on design.

The children produced some amazing work in the two hour workshop to share what they had absorbed from the session. But the workshop was more about process not just production.

Helene and I hope to do more of these workshops in the future, whenever we have time.

A big thank you to the Brisbane Libraries for making this possible.