SURREAL WORLD
Students will contemplate how Surrealist artists used playfulness and experimentation to generate artwork rooted in the artist’s subconscious mind. In this project, the students will learn about and interpret the art of Surrealist artists from America, Europe, and Mexico, while creating contemporary digital Surrealist artworks. Students will then utilize Adobe Photoshop CC to create a surrealist work digitally.
ESTABLISHED GOALS /
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS
Essential Questions:
How do contemporary artists apply the Surrealist movement's core values and artistic methods in this digital age?
Enduring Understandings:
Art inspiration does not need to come from our surroundings but instead by tapping into our subconscious mind.
NATIONAL CORE ART STANDARDS
MA:Cr2.1.1.HSI: a.Aesthetic criteria in developing, proposing, and refining artistic ideas, plans, prototypes, and production processes for media arts productions, considering original inspirations, goals, and presentation context.
MA:Pr5.1.HSI: a.Demonstrate progression in artistic, design, technical, and soft skills, as a result of selecting and fulfilling specified roles in the production of a variety of media artworks.
COMMON CORE STANDARDS/NGSS
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.1.d: Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.2.d: Use precise language and domain-specific vocabulary to manage the complexity of the topic.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.9-10.5: Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grades 9-10 here.)
OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to sort pictures and objects according to oral instructions.
Students will be able to navigate the functions and tools of Adobe Photoshop.
Students will be able to utilize the elements of CHANCE and PLAY (as done by the surrealist artists) to find inspiration/let inspiration find them.
Students will be able to create a dream-inspired piece of Surrealist work in Photoshop.
Students will be able to analyze and critique the work of their peers according to class discussions, class established expectations, and rubric.
Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge of content.
Students will be able to develop a language for art.
Students will be able to develop observation skills to break down images.
Students will be able to maintain well organized Cornell note-taking style.
Students will be able to maintain well-organized group roles to develop a collaborative work of art.
WEEK #1
Surrealist Play. Introduction to Surrealism
The week's goal is for the students to embrace the surrealist ideology and play games of chance. PLAY is essential for the students when it comes to our first attempt at MAKING ART. Many students can get nervous or lost when making something for the first time, so we will play Surrealist games because it allows them to create art that is neither bad nor wrong.
The students will let these games of chance decide how their artwork will begin. They will then utilize their current art ability to render out an image inspired but these games of chance.
- Play Telephone
- Co-Create an On The Edge Poems
- Automatic Writing
- Exquisite Corpse
- Dadaist Poem
- Cloud Gazing
- DECALCOMANIA: Seeing Into
WEEK #2
The week will include a look at surrealist works from Salvador Dali, Rene Magritte, Paul Delvaux, Stellan Morner, and the rise of Surrealism as a reaction to World War II. The literacy aspect of the project will center on dream interpretation. We will reflect on dreams of our past and discuss the Freudian theories (Oedipus complex, subconscious, déjà vu, dream interpretations Friuan slip) that heavily impacted the founding of the Surrealist Movement.
SURREALIST GAMES (STUDENT WORK)
Seeing Into Images / Exquisite Corpses / Dadaist Poems / On The Edge Poem
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WEEK #3
Using the work of the Surrealists, students will use Photoshop and found images from Google, and build a piece of Surrealist Work. Since the Surrealists worked primarily creating pieces that felt more like a dream than reality, we will do the same. Unlike the surrealists, we will be using digital capabilities to create spaces, places, and events that one could only see in a dream. The students will be encouraged to be as silly and “unrealistic” as possible and simultaneously not shy away from referencing some of the same themes and symbols of the original surrealists.
Photoshop Introduction. Students will work and experiment with different tools, techniques, and filters. Photoshop can take a while to make sure all of the students understand and can navigate independently. Photoshop shortcut worksheets and procedural notes will aid in the building of the memory. Students will be given short assessments at the end of each week to ensure their knowledge of the tool techniques and shortcuts.
WEEK #4:
Students will discuss possible ideas for their final group projects. Handouts will describe the project with questions that will help students develop their ideas for their surreal image. Students will utilize class time to work with one another to discuss possible ways of creating unity throughout their separate Photoshop images.
Surrealist Layers Montage:
Able to navigate through the basic menus and toolbox of Photoshop
Able to save a file in PSD format to preserve layers
Able to manipulate layers individually
Able to adjust the opacity, blending modes, and style of each layer
Able to effectively use the eraser, hand, move, paintbrush, pen/pencil, and paint bucket tools in the toolbox
Able to manipulate layers to create a unified, visually dynamic finished piece
Layers adjustments work well together to create an effective composition
The locked layer remains in place to combine with the entire group’s composition
WEEK #5:
Surrealist Layers Montage (Connecting Group Works):
Group members will begin to connect their works and make any adjustments as needed to create a sense of unity and wholeness. Group members should show consideration for the content and concepts explored by their fellow member’s artwork. Group members will discuss the process, content, and ideas explored in the finished piece.
