Visual Art - Grade 11/12 (Wuhan)

Exquisite Creatures in Fantasy Landscapes - Grade 11(Wuhan)

Before completing the Pattern unit with little sculptures or fantasy paintings, students were exposed to the ideas of the Modern art movement Surrealism. Exquisite Corpse was a popular game played by Surrealists in the 1920s to both tap into the collective ‘unconscious’ of the group and explore the idea of ‘chance.’ Students worked in groups of four to tap into the creative potential of their subconscious minds. An A4 piece of paper was folded into four equal sections. Each student drew a ‘head’ trying to avoid conventional and clichéd solutions. The page was then folded (so that that the next young artist would draw without being influenced by the existing head) and passed to the group member on the right. Next, the upper torso was drawn. The paper was once again folded over to hide the existing drawing and passed to the group member on the right. The waist was drawn. Paper folded. Passed to the final group member, who completed the feet. Only small lines at the top of each section indicated where the next young artist would start. After completing the feet, each group member would keep the paper they had in their possession and open the drawing, revealing the unusual character. The next part of the task involved taking ownership of the collaborative character and redrawing and shading it to create a believable sense of volume. Minor adjustments could be made, but the character had to stay true to the group effort. In a professional context, artists often have to work from a brief or meet the requirements of the patron commissioning a work. It was also a fun collaborative process and as the character was purely imaginative, students’ understanding of how tone is used to create a believable sense of volume was assessed. It also paved the way for thinking about exploring and splicing existing reference in the creation of fantasy characters (for the Alebrije sculpture and Exquisite Characters in Fantasy Landscapes painting projects). Imagination and novel processes were explored whilst exploring Art History and a post-war context.

For the Exquisite Creatures in Fantasy Landscape, the students took the group Exquisite Corpse drawing and created a narrative. They were to give the background to the creature, and a storyline of what was happening in the creatures life, and even where the creature came from. They then needed to capture the essence of the creature and story into compositional sketches to explain the story or part of it visually.

The students were exposed to various painting techniques which created textures and colours by 'chance', based on the artists from the Surrealist period and more specifically Max Ernst. After creating various painted textured surfaces' the students created stencils and built up the images by sticking layers over each other. A 'chance', yet guided experience in creating completely original art pieces.

Zentangles and Patterns - Grade 11/12 (Wuhan)

Students explored the repetitive, mindful process of using the relatively new pattern-making technique of Zentangles. Emphasis was placed on the BC curriculum and exploring new creative processes, image development strategies, the Elements of Art (with focus on line, shape, form, tone, colour and texture) as well as the Principles of Design (specifically contrast, balance, emphasis, repetition and unity). The complexity of creating a sense of volume without shading was explored by juxtaposing zentangle patterns with varying levels of contrast.

Patterns: Culturally-inspired Patterns - Grade 11/12 (Wuhan)

This activity was centred on exploring and utilising existing art-making techniques, methods and iconography as inspiration for creating a unique product or design. Students all used the same four images as a starting point for their designs. Before embarking on this process, the cultural use of pattern-making in traditional Australian aboriginal, Canadian First Nations, African Zulu and Islamic cultures was studied in order to understand the stylistic choices and iconography used in the four examples. These solutions were carefully considered and students expressed a variety of interpretations.

Tonal Studies -Grade 11/12 (Wuhan)

These tonal studies were completed as part of the process of generating ideas for the printmaking project. A range of organic shapes were explored with flowers and nature in general as subject matter. These images were later stylised into either organic or more geometric designs in which students drew their initial inspiration from nature. These images were generally comprised of a number of different reference images, or merely one in particular depending on their taste. Whilst the reference material was photographic, emphasis was placed on pattern, repetition and composition as well as avoiding visual plagiarism. Use of students' own photographs was encouraged.

Printmaking - Grade 11/12 (Wuhan)

After the tonal studies of nature the students needed to stylize the image down into a pattern that could be transferred onto a lino block. The design needed to take into account that the printed image would be reversed when printed. Deciding what needed to be carved away was a very fine line to follow as too much taken away could make the design very simple. There was a focus on the creation of line work and texture as well as design.

The students learnt how to transfer the design, use carving tools, roll ink and printing the image successfully.