We Like Sheep - Wandering Astray

One of the things I enjoy about the tradition I have situated myself within is the breath of methods they created and codified for structured conversation. Here are some notes I put together about one of those methods I use, for a friend of mine.

I checked my notes and the details notes I had from the Art Form method talk were not there. So here is what I remember off the top of my head.

The basic idea of the art form method, is that it is a structured conversation to allow a group of people to process the experience of being addressed by a piece of art. As such your not really trying to communicate what the piece is about, but instead trying to open up their eyes, so they can be addressed and then make space for them to respond to the address.

You basically do it with a series of questions, the goal is to go around the room, so that each person answers a question in each phases and that they can gain something from other people's eyes as well.

1) Objective (not really objective, but the idea here is to keep interpretation to a minimum):
* What color do you see?
* What shape do you see?
* What place did your eye go?
2) Emotional (what feelings does this bring up):
* How do you feel looking at this?
* What one character or object is most attractive to you? Most scary, etc.
* What do you think the artist felt like when he painted this?
3) Analytical:
* If you had to give this painting a title what would you call it?
* If you had to put yourself in this painting, where would you be?
4) Decisional (at this point, sometimes some context about the work is helpful):
* After noticing the painting, what are you going to do differently?
* If the painting took you to a happy place, what do you need to do in your life to get there?
* If the character reminded you of someone in your life, what do you need to do to respond?

If the piece of art has become a rupture, then some decisional questions will come up, if it never ruptures anyone in your group, those questions won't take you anywhere. So that really depends on the art and the people. Its the one that requires the most improv / tuning.