Blackout Poetry 

Resources

 

Newspaper Blackout 

Austin Kleon has authored hundreds of blackout poems from newspaper articles. You can view his creative process on the website. He also has published a book of his newspaper poetry; you can view several of his poems/book pages on this site. Students can even share their poems on his site!

 

"Steal like an Artist"

Austin Kleon details the history of blackout poetry and artists stealing each other's ideas and work in this fascinating TED talk. This works as a great history lesson, particularly art history. Kleon is an engaging speaker and you learn a lot about blackout poetry!

 

Blackout Poetry Art

This incredible video shows artists creating both typical blackout poetry and blackout poetry art in action. The video, created by "Make Blackout Poetry," shows an artist spray painting and splatter painting to create one piece of blackout art and then pans to show the bunches of other blackout poems made by this artist. A fascinating watch!

 

Whiteout Poetry Art

This artist does employ white paint to create what she calls "censored poetry" (based on the book "Unstuck" by Noah Scalin) but is essentially whiteout poetry. Uniquely, she uses watercolors to create an illustration and then mounts it as the cover of a children's book. The site also provides detailed instructions to replicate her process. 

 

Elements of Poetry

The basic elements of poetry are defined on this site with great examples that will help students really grasp the concept! This site is simple but will act as an easy guide for students as they explore poetry and attempt to identify aspects of the poems they are reading and writing. 

 

Principles of Design

The basic principles of design of visual arts are conveniently detailed on this website! These principles allow for formal analysis of art as well as a better understanding for students of how to improve their artwork.