About word art

The theme of my "from words to actions" project is word art. What it is? It's a strange, somewhat scary term. I asked my friends what thoughts it evokes in them:

"Skillful wording. Can put familiar words in such an order that a thought arises."
"Literature, poetry, lyrics in music, also all kinds of puns, palindromes, anagrams."
"It's not a familiar term. Smells like gimmicks: art for art's sake."
"Spoken word stories come to mind. So a bit like stand ups who don't laugh. Like the ones Henry Rollins seems to support himself with these days."
"The first thing that comes to mind is Bob Dylan."

They, like me, consider the term very high cultured. It can be, but it doesn't have to be. According to the Finnish National Board of Education, the goal of verbal arts is to find the joy of language, writing and reading, and to understand that they are closely related. The starting point of the methods of word art are imagination, creative writing, oral narration and word games and reading literature. (https://www.oph.fi 7.1.2019)

This is the point! Imagination, writing and the joy of reading. Although I am suspicious of the term, according to the state's official position, verbal art is reading, writing and speaking. Even creative writing may be scary as a term, but it doesn't sound as bad as word art. The best advice I've seen for creative writing is to take the plunge, don't take yourself too seriously. Art is born from that basis, including verbal art.

Verbal art can be just words, the kind that was already done in caves and smokehouses. Already in the first poem of the Kalevala, the art of words is spoken of: "My mind makes me, my brain thinks, let me sing, let me dictate." In the coffee rooms of workplaces and club premises, you will certainly hear word art. Word art is also just reading. With that, I can justify to myself that the main focus of my project is book advice. In promoting reading. However, all development starts from literacy and reading.

Even though I have now found out for myself that word art is not a bad thing, I admit that its part in my project is exciting. My target group is adults, and it is not easy to involve adults. At least I feel bothered at events where the audience has to participate. To play and sing. In the words of Juice Leskinen: we don't want to have fun, but to be entertained. I now promise everyone participating in my word art and book advice sessions that you will get through easily. No one needs to dance and sing or write a novel. As long as there are few words.

mika. kahkonenimatra.fi (mika[dot]kahkonen[at]imatra[dot]fi)
Tel: 020 617 6602