I had no doubt this would be a fun one for my kids; they have such a wonderful sense of humour for silly and strange things. I started with some fun vocabulary: weird, wonderful, strange, peculiar, surreal, unusual. We discussed examples and meanings am out to they all contain things that appear out of place. My most enthusiastic instruction was to use their imaginations and make it really weird. Throughout the making I would whisper weird suggestions in their ears, such as “Can you imagine clocks for eyes?”; “What would a carrot or banana nose look like?”
I didn’t want to get into Salvador Dali in any depth on this one, because I knew I would geek-out on all the artists and mediums his work influences, including a few famous Bugs Bunny cartoons (which I wasn’t ready to show them… yet.) So, I let this fun video inspire them: “Surrealism for kids! Modern Art History Lesson (Who is Salvador Dali?)”
I intended to let them use only crayons, both for the need to slow down while colouring, and the fact that I hadn’t really used it much up to this point. One student asked if he could use markers and I imagined the possibilities for different textures on the same composition. So I instructed them to use crayons, pencils, and/or markers. They could follow the video]’s example or do their own crazy things.
Along with our usual mantra of mistakes are beneficial to learning and art comes fro the heart, I shouted “HAVE FUN!” The couldn’t wait to get started. I made sure to have time for the show and tell and instructed them to thin k of a story to tell about their work while making it. Note to self: I really got to start taping their stories! They are beyond hilarious!
Here are the results…
The New Renaissance Mindset 