LAB 03 The Walk

 

1.PLACE: Situate to the place that you want to explore for this walking lab. Record the following items:

1. A few blocks away from my house near Laketrail School in Courtenay B.C. Canada
2. A forest with a large strand of old trees
3. I see this strand of trees when looking out my upstairs studio window. I have not been over there for a number of years.
4. UP + DOWN perspective:
5. Take time to look downward (Take 2 interesting photos – change angles and perspectives).

• Take time to look upward (Take 2 interesting photos – change angles and perspectives).

Take a photo of you that serves as a portrait but does not include your face.

 ACTION: Take 10-20 steps (or more steps), stop.

3.  TOUCH: be as descriptive as possible

1. Feel a surface and write down 1 sentence to describe it. 

The tree bark feels rough and flakey to the touch like old toad skin.

• Feel a second surface and write down 1 sentence to describe it. 

The ground feels dry and crispy and makes crunching noises as I walk.

• Write a sensation felt within the body and write down 1 sentence to describe it. 

I instantly started feeling dry and thirsty and wanted a drink of cold water.

4. SEE: be as descriptive as possible

1. Describe a colour and texture of an object – do this for 2 objects
2. The small brown pinecones are dried and prickly, littered all over the ground. 
3. A brightly red colored maple leaf blazed a fiery trail across the forest.
4. Describe the texture or colour of an object surface and cross it with another sense – do this for 2 objects
5. The dankness of green
6. The watery blue sky

• Take a detailed photo of one element you wrote about for this section.

 ACTION: Take 10-20 steps (or more steps), stop.

5. HEAR: take 3 minutes in stillness, with your eyes closed and listen. 

1. List the various sounds you hear, a minimum of 8  sounds
2. Cars
3. People talking faintly
4. Small birds chirping
5. The wind in the leaves
6. Trees creaking
7. Crow cawing
8. Music from a car radio
9. Dog barking
10. Pair each sound with 1-2 descriptive word
11. Cars – Pollution Machines
12. People arguing – Communication breakdown
13. Small birds chirping – Verbal happiness
14. The wind in the leaves – Hollow message
15. Trees creaking – Ancient souls
16. Crow cawing – Call for a Murder
17. Music from a car radio – Teenage Angst
18. Dog barking – Sharp warning
19. Doodle on a piece of paper (lines, marks, dots) in reaction to a sound – label the sound(s) you focused on. Note how long you doodle for 20 sec, 2 minutes. 

• Take time Listen to your breath. Write words to describe it.

Regular inhalation with a slight smokers wheeze on the exhale. Breathing in deep the oxygenated environment and feeling it surge in my body.

 ACTION: Take 10-20 steps (or more steps), stop.

6. SMELL close your eyes and take a deep breath. 
7. Write 2-3 descriptive words to explain the smell of this place

Dry, dusty smell of dirt being kicked up as I walked due to no rain. An organic plethora of spores.

• Write 2-3 descriptive words to explain the scent of a specific object in that space. 

The dark, dank smell of decay within the mossy overgrowth of a rotting log.

 ACTION: Take 10-20 steps (or more steps), stop.

7. TASTE be as descriptive as possible (this one will be explored in your imagination:)
8. Write 1-2 sentences that if you could taste this sense of place, how would you describe it? 

The tangy sharpness when chewing on pine tree needles. Everything is tasting earthy and slightly bitter due to the shortage of rain.