Round Robin

WELCOME TO

This here compiles the most random story I ever started.

Part 1: Daniel Kellis

The mother buffalo did everything she could to saver her baby, but Chief Squanto is the sharpest shooter in the Waikiki tribe.

Part 2: Neil Reed

Just hours earlier she had begged him to call off the beachside duel. How could he shoot? Didn't he notice his lack of opposable thumbs?

Part 3: Madi Huber

No! He was going to duel if it was the last thing he did. Which, because he didn't have opposable thumbs, it was. NO she, as his second, must take his place.

Part 4: Danny Hunt

She still remembered that day, the first of many kills. She remembered holding a pistol in her hand, and the feeling that it was holding her.

 Part 5: Max Johnson

It was a movie, not a hostage situation. But he didn't have to tell her that.

My Response

Tiny stories make for quick effective brainstorming. It’s much easier to find a source of inspiration and create a tiny story when you have a 30-word limit, a 24 hour deadline, as well as a previous story and image to use as a springboard. This practice of quick turnaround is helpful to understanding the creative process.

As soon as I received and read the tiny stories sent to me, I couldn’t help but immediately think about what I was going to add to it. This energy is something that we all could channel into our daily interactions with art. Of course, art is all around us. The sound of a timpani crashing, the contrast of the shiny clouded blue sky with the rocky mountains at sunrise, the paintings in the Sacred Gifts exhibit, all these are powerful, emotion-engaging experiences which contain specific artistic elements that I, before doing the round robin exercise, would simply enjoy passively. Actively practicing the process of experiencing an illustrated story, taking an interesting element from it, and thinking about what could be taken from or added to it has opened my eyes to the countless creations surrounding me that I should not only enjoy as an audience member but also seize as an artist as possible inspiration funnels for future projects.

For a couple of the stories I compiled, I created a web-diagram with topics that stemmed out into sub-topics. These really helped me to find creative connections to others’ stories, especially with Max Johnson’s first story. It was difficult to know what to add to it because it was so abstract. As I put words together in that diagram, I was able to come up with the snail in the rain, a trial of being outside of himself.

Albert Einstein said, “Real faith…involves the problem and struggling of searching.” If creating were as easy as a breath of air, art wouldn’t be astonishing or alluring. Albert Einstein seems to be emphasizing that there is more to art than just technical skills. Yes, there is a science to the stroke of a brush, but the process of creation and the steps that lead to that first brush stroke aren’t as logical. There is some talent in both the writing and composition of images, but for the most part, sketches, finger painting, or photography aren’t our fortes. The real benefit of this assignment was instead practicing and finding processes that foster creativity.