Remember playing “telephone” as a child? In the game, you whisper something to one person, that person whispers it to someone else, and so on and so forth. By the end of the line, the story is completely different than when it started. Everyone hears and interprets it a little differently. Stories that have been passed down through generations are like a long game of telephone, with multiple versions and interpretations.

Sylvia Sykes has taken this approach to well-known bible stories, reinterpreted to fit into a modern-day context in her Akron Soul Train Residency show, “The Book of Akron 3:30.” In this workshop, Sylvia will give an artist talk, introduce the stories behind her pieces in the show and explain how she brings these stories into a modern context. Then we will play a game of “telephone,” and create unique artwork based on how we each perceive the story we hear.