Change Can Be Good: Drawing and Writing with Xochitl

Here is a fun and reflective activity you can try with just the following materials:

• regular sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 in paper (or scratch paper as long as one side is blank)

• scissors

• crayons, color pencils, or markers

• Pen or pencil

Step 1:

What is an activity you are sad to miss, something that had to be cancelled or moved online, during this time? Perhaps it was a birthday party, a family trip, a day at the beach, etc. On a regular sheet of paper, take five minutes to draw an image of what that day was supposed to look. Be sure to use many colors and to cover the entire paper from side to side and up and down. 

Note: This is a quick drawing and so it doesn’t need to be perfect. The only thing it needs to do is cover the whole one side of the paper.

Step 2:

Once you have covered your entire paper with a drawing of something you’re sad to miss, follow the video below to fold your drawing into a book. Just make sure to have your drawing “facing out” when you are done folding and cutting.

Step 3:

Once you’ve folded the paper you will find your drawing has changed. Some parts will be flipped upside down, and others will be cut off and distorted by the folds. Each page has become something new.

Take some time to go through each page to explore what your drawing has become. As you flip to each page, take a pen and write what you see. You can write a list of three to five words describing what you see (cap, hand, etc.), or a sentence inspired by what you see (cap floats midair like a kite).

Step 4:

Once you’ve written something down on each page, go through and read what you wrote out loud. This is your new poem!

Some questions to think about:

How did it feel drawing out plans you can’t do? How did it feel to fold up those plans and cut them? At the end, were you still sad, or did you discover something new? What can we learn from this activity about change and art?

—Xochitl-Julisa Bermejo