Submitted by Amy Buttner
Time Frame:
Two 50-minutes class periods
Materials Needed:
Art materials for the type of project chosen: paper, pencils, colors, paints, magazines, glue, computers with drawing programs, etc.
Description of Task:
As a final formal assessment students will be requested to create their own rendition of a surrealistic work. Upon completion, they will be asked to briefly present their work to the class by combining the vocabulary they will have learned in this lesson with their background knowledge. Students will be allowed to use cue cards with words and phrases, but not complete sentences during their presentation.
The rubrics are found attached for both the oral (see "Attachments") and artistic (see "Attachments") assessments. In order to assist students in feeling more comfortable in presenting their project before the whole class, the teacher may provide time in class for students to present their work to their partner and/or to a group of 3 other people in class. The teacher should also encourage the students to practice at home by themselves or for an audience of family and/or friends.
A few suggestions about the final project creation:
Because this is not an art class, it may be helpful to direct the students to begin their creation of the surrealistic work by drawing some ordinary objects in a natural scene. To create the counternatural effect the students can add things to their objects. For example, the student could draw a pencil in the sky and add wings. Juxtaposition can be effectively used by beginners as well by drawing an ordinary object, such as a train, and juxtapose it so that it is coming out of the sun instead of a tunnel. Discussing the elements that are found in the art more specifically before beginning the project will help avoid confusion on the student's part.An alternative to having the students draw would be allowing them to create a surreal montage using magazines. They would employ the same ideas as above, but by using pictures cut from a magazine.
A third alternative would be to allow students to use a drawing software program to create their work on the computer. This would allow students the potential to create something more like the more recent work of the digital surrealists.