On Saturday, March 7th, students from the Sequential Art course in the Newcomb Art Department led a free drawing workshop for kids at the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. Professor Aaron Collier’s Sequential Art class, an intermediate drawing course, explores using a sequence of images to construct a visual narrative. The course is a nexus of research, writing, and image making, and is incredibly conducive to public service. Tulane's Center for Public Service connected Collier and his students with the Southern Food and Beverage Museum on Oretha Castle Haley Boulevard in New Orleans. Museum staff and students collaborated to create a small publication of food-related narratives for the Museum's educational endeavors. Each student in the course selected a food or ingredient important to the South and developed images and text surrounding the topic.
Using newfound approaches to image making and narrative techniques, Sequential Art students helped children develop their own stories at the Saturday workshop. The kids enjoyed creating images to accompany creative prompts such as the step-by-step rendering of a person eating a hot pepper in three to four panels. The event culminated with a comic strip activity, which the museum staff called a "jam comic," with each child starting a seven-panel story. After five minutes, each child passed their story to a neighbor who would then render the next panel in a five minute session. Participants kept passing the panels until the story was complete, eventually passing through the hands of seven different kids!
When asked about the workshop, Sequential Art student Doug Rothman said, “As the kids streamed in I was surprised to see how many of them began drawing before the workshop even began. It was easy to facilitate and guide them through the miniature projects, and I definitely enjoyed messing around ideas with them. Some of the kids really took off once they caught an idea that they liked, and it was hilarious to see where their "food related" comics went. Later in the workshop I was happy to see some of the more reluctant and timid kids come forward and not only come out of their shell but also decide to share with the rest of the class. Definitely a Saturday morning well spent!”