Tag Archives: Sousanis

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allentownjack_phelanstormI wanted to include images form the graphic novel- The Storm in the Barn. I can remember reading this when I was in school, it tells the story of the 1937 Dust Bowl in Kansas as seen through the main character – Jacks perspective. What a great resource that remains engaging and displays powerful imagery that acknowledges feelings of hope, despair, hardship and fear –  executed through the art of comic…

 

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Upon reading this article I was in awe of this artist, how clever to write your entire dissertation in the form of comics!  After researching Sousanis further and also browsing his webpage, I learned he is quite spectacular. He was just awarded the Lynd award for best graphic novel (among many other achievements). The artist describes his latest comic column titled, “Against the Flow” written for the Boston Globe, as inspired by his fathers lecture about entropy in connection with a Robert Frost poem….. and also Sousanis’s own investigation about when things swirl.   I never before realty thought of implementing comic study into my own teaching practices- I almost feel that comics are taboo these days, we no longer read comics for recreation although they really do function as a departure for visual thinking.

Before joining this program, I was previously enrolled in the literacy program (Birth – 6th Grade). In a children’s literature class, I now recall our professor emphasizing the importance of incorporating graphic novels into classroom libraries. The importance of graphic novel study ( as well as picture books) allow children the freedom to make meaning of the images presented to them. Sequential images, juxtaposed, allows predictions to occur then leading to inferring and better recall. The joy of comics is that children do not need decoding skills to comprehend the text. Even in the early stages of child development, we associate words with pictures. In pre-k, children are often presented with phonemic awareness games such as rhyming games utilizing picture cards. Word families are represented by images- such as mat, bat, cat, rat etc. As children, we are natural detectives trying to make sense about the world around us and all the things in it.  Our sense of sight helps us determine imagery cognitively before making verbal sense.

Myself, I think comics can employ the skill of drawing as another dimension of thinking. Imagery has the power to contribute to our visual processing thus encouraging artistic thoughts.  In figure two, the artist is using eyes to represent the multiple perspectives we may perceive the world as. The eyes are symbolic of our sense of sight and that is unique among every individual. Comics import meaning as artists import meaning through their own artworks. I am looking forward to sharing some of Sousanis’s work with my own students, hopefully it will motivate them to utilize their sketchbooks more as a tool for journaling and documenting, thoughts, words, ideas and sketches…..

 “Language is a sea in which we swim in”- Sousanis

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It was interesting to read of the process involved in actually creating a comic as Sousanis described it. I was particularly interested in how he gained inspiration from a conversation he once had with his father.  Hearing about his experience and using a past conversation as a base on his art-making shows how ideas can develop and manifest into a visual form over time. What may seem inconsequential actually has all the possibilities of being an influential piece of inspiration in our own art-making- we just need to stay aware of such things and events.

These readings lead me to think more about comics as a resource in learning. I feel that often times they are overlooked as not something that can be academic and teach much. But the use of imagery is an extremely interesting approach and can at times help convey an idea better than words can. One of my favorite examples of utilizing comics as an educational resource is “Maus”by Art Spiegelman. It is a comic that depicts Spiegelman interviewing his father about his experiences as a Polish Jew and Holocaust survivor during WWII. The imagery of the comic is key to telling the story andhaving a comic format itself helps engage readers who otherwise may not be interested in reading such a story.

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Comics use imagery as a visual language that anyone is able to read and decipher.  The very making of comics is all about the visuals.  As Sousanis describes it, there is an “attention to the size, shape, and location of the panels on the page – where they are and what they’re next to – really a consideration of the entire composition as a whole experience”. This could not be more true. For many years, I worked at an art camp in which cartooning was a given subject for the campers. In that, the students learned about designing their own comics and how to set up a panel that convey information successfully.  They learned how the visuals of a comic alone can tell a story and the overall power of imagery.  It also taught them, similar to Sousanis’ process, how to sketch out their ideas beforehand and let them develop as they are working.

I also found the timing of this reading to be interesting  as just this past week, I was reading Carpenter and Tavin’s graphic depiction of the reconceptualization of art education (2010. “Drawing (past, present, and future) together: a (graphic) look at the reconceptualization of art education”. Studies in Art Education, Vol. 51, No. 4., pp. 327-352).  While it was a topic that I was familiar with, the inclusion of imagery and visuals made it all the more interesting and engaging.  The power of imagery is really extraordinary and there are time that with the current push for academic writing in schools, I forget just important and influential images can be.

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If words are limiting, then can’t pictures be as well? Especially pictures that are not coherent? Yes, the pleasurable thing about art is its ability to be open ended and relatable to all, but don’t artists—generally- create with intension? These are a few questions that came to mind when reading Nick Sousanis’s “Behind the Scenes of a Dissertation in Comics Form.” I enjoyed the synopsis from his dissertation, but I struggled with understanding much of his imagery in the raw form. I think I would have liked to see a few more “polished” strips. This leads me to another question, one in which he mentions text and imagery being a generative cycle. If his sketches are created for the intention of generating thought, is his intension to generate thought just for him or for the viewer as well? How can an artist create something that generates thought for the public and not just generated for the artist’s thoughts?
Sousanis’s excerpt generated many questions for me, especially since I document my work in a less creative manner. Much of my work generates from pictures. Pictures I have taken with my camera phone. I find that I am one who is guilty to being a slave of time. Due to that, I constantly take pictures on my phone of things I want to revisit. I don’t often carry a sketchbook around with me anymore because it takes up space, but instead, I allow the space to be consumed by my phone. A device that can capture what “captured” me more accurately—but maybe less creatively. However, I do appreciate his argument for visual thinking. I have seen many statistics on how humans obtain information mainly though seeing. This one, I have copied and pasted from http://velvetchainsaw.com/2012/05/23/your-senses-your-raw-information-learning-portals/:
Neuroscience and cognitive psychology research has uncovered the amazing power of our senses. This was unimaginable a few years ago.
According to researchers Dr. L.D. Rosenblum, Dr. Harold Stolovitch and Dr Erica Keeps, here’s how much information each of our senses processes at the same time as compared to our other senses.
83.0% – Sight
11.0% – Hearing
03.5% – Smell
01.5% – Touch
01.0% – Taste
That’s surprising. And it flies in the face of some of our conventional educational theories like VAK (visual, auditory and kinesthetic) and Learning Styles. No matter how you slice the pie, our brains give preference to processing vision as compared to our other senses.

So why don’t we emphasize the visual more in education?

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It wasn’t until college when I realized I needed to give reason for my art. Well, reason beyond “because I wanted to.” I liked that Sousanis discussed his process and why he feels that ‘yes’ is an appropriate answer to whether pictures or words come first. I find it pretty unrealistic to expect every artist to give reasons for their work, especially in college. I felt forced every single critique to give a deep, thought-provoking reason for why my art exists, when in reality I just created because I love doing just that. I think artist statements should be optional, but I do like reading them when they exist. I liked reading and seeing Sousanis’ dissertation because I feel he’s pushing boundaries and allowing art to be a form of expression just like writing. A few years ago I was told by my professor that my art didn’t mean anything because I couldn’t explain why I was making it. Then I sold it to Prince.