Instruct your students to select a piece of artwork. The type of art is not important: it may be sculpture, painting, graphic design, pattern or even a child's drawing. A photo of artwork is effective for this activity, as well as the real thing. The subject matter of the artwork is not important to the success of the exercise, as even inanimate objects elicit thoughts and feelings.
Have students view the piece of artwork and write anything that spontaneously comes to mind: words, phrases, bits of poetry, lines from literature or movies, or anything else that viewing the art brings to mind. Remind students that they must not pay attention to spelling, sentence structure or other mechanics of writing. They should just let the writing flow.
Caution students to stay in "the zone" even after they begin to feel the writing taking form. The zone is that state of mind where the subconscious has taken over and is operating the body. Athletes speak of the zone when they are in peak performance with single-minded concentration. Likewise, creative artists describe the zone as a "flow state" in which their work seems to happen of its own accord. Leaving this state by shifting focus to the mechanics of the writing will end the exercise before it's complete.
Inform students that tapping into the right brain through the use of art allows them to experience the freedom and ease of writing from the right side of the brain. Instruct students to continue writing until their narrative takes on a beginning, a middle and a logical end. When writers stay in the flow state, they know when the work is complete. There is nothing left for them to say and there's a sense of completeness.
Encourage students to use the right-brain activity of writing about art to tap into their intuitive, perceptive subconscious anytime they experience writer's block or a desire to add dimension to their writing. In the flow state, the writer accesses thoughts and feelings, even knowledge, that they did not know they possessed. Often, after completing a piece of work written while in the flow state, writers are amazed at what they have created.